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Audiobook13 hours
The Immortal Crown
Written by Richelle Mead
Narrated by Emily Shaffer
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series.
Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect-special humans marked by the divine-are turning against one another in bloody fashion.
Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin's old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA's dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.
Meanwhile, Mae-grudgingly posing as Justin's concubine-has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter's connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission-and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.
Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect-special humans marked by the divine-are turning against one another in bloody fashion.
Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin's old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA's dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.
Meanwhile, Mae-grudgingly posing as Justin's concubine-has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter's connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission-and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.
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Author
Richelle Mead
Richelle Mead lives in Seattle and is the author of the Vampire Academy series. When not writing, she can be found watching bad movies, inventing recipes, and buying far too many dresses.
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Reviews for The Immortal Crown
Rating: 4.036764730882353 out of 5 stars
4/5
68 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Review to come closer to release date.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Read from June 16 to 22, 2014Listened for Review (Penguin Audio)Overall Rating: 4.25Story Rating: 4.25Character Rating: 4.25Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)First Thought when Finished: OMG the end of The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead made me start counting down to the next one!Story Thoughts: There were zero pacing issues with The Immortal Crown. It was zero to 60 from the beginning and kept me on the edge the whole time. I thought it was interesting that Tessa's storyline was strong. I actually felt like I could almost figure out why she is so important to the story. I know she is important to Justin but I just see her being something "big". As far as Mae and Justin--I am sort of tired with the push/pull relationship already. I just feel this is another Rose/Dimitri, Sidney/Adrian, Georgina/blah blah blah--you get it. They won't get an HEA till the very last chapter of the last book. I will just have to ignore the overtones until then. Though I did really enjoy Mae and Justin's "case" this time. I thought it was timely, edgy, and shows the drastic differences between "races" or "countries" in this world. Also, it compelled both to accept their roles with the gods (or fight against them but no longer live in denial).Character Thoughts: I feel the same about the key players that I did in the first book. They are strong, interesting, and in typical Richelle mode--annoying on the romance front. I am liking Tessa more and find it interesting that I am drawn to the teen's story more than Mae/Justin. I liked learning more about some of the side characters and I am very curious about the character at the end. That kind of threw me.Audio Thoughts: Narrated By Emily Shaffer / Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins Emily does an excellent job with the narration of the Age of X series. I am really impressed with how much subtle difference she puts between the characters (speech, emotion, pitch). She really brings their personalities alive. I will be continuing this series on audio.Final Thoughts: After than ending, I need the next one now :)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Justin and Mae have to deal with the fact that there are gods out there trying to gain power and that two of them have an interest in their lives. They're brought to the very conservative RUNA, a state where women are chattels and treated very badly and Mae has to deal with being treated as lesser. She has heard rumours that her cousin is being held and will be sold to the highest bidder. They have to try to deal with so many issues, it's a complicated bridging novel. I'm looking forward to see what happens next.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Action, Multi Cultural, Mythologies, Power Struggles, Zealots and Addictions and Fantastic Characters.
More action, more revelations and more powers and more game play than I've seen a book for a while. I was a bit lost. I hadn't read the first book so it took me a while to connect to this world. After about 30 % it all started to form together and I loved it the gods the power struggles the back room games. Illegal religions being taken down was a interesting plot line. Justin with his issues and Mae with her strength made a nice pair or characters to read, and there is more building between them. Flawed realistic characters always win with me.
A very well done book but I would recommend reading book one first. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Justin and Mae are back, in a second, fantastic adventure. All the plots keep thickening, even as more answers about the gods' jockeying for power are revealed. Several heartbreaking "oh noo!!!!" moments, several sighs of relief, and they just get swept further and further into confrontations and terrifying choices, with the crowned goddess making an appearance (at last!) and some serious plot twists keeping the whole story rolling. Riveting! And yes, the cliffhanger is killing me.
Advanced reader copy provided by edelweiss. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5brutal!!!!!!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Justin and Mae travel to Arcadia, where they will come face to face with another powerful elect. Will they be able to return safely to the RUNA?Opening Sentence: Mae Koskinen was one of her country’s most elite soldiers.The Review:Dang, Richelle Mead knows how to end a book! I can tell you right now, you’re going to wish book 3 was available when you finish this one. I was looking forward to reading this book even though I thought the first one was a bit confusing at times. I’m so glad that I didn’t let my issues with the first book stop me from reading this one!Justin and Mae are continuing their work investigating potential religious cults in the provinces. Upon returning to the RUNA after one such trip, Justin meets with Lucian Darling, who tells him he’s putting together a delegation for a diplomatic visit to Arcadia, one of the RUNA’s biggest rivals. Seeing as Arcadia’s government is centered around one religion, Lucian would like Justin to join the delegation. Justin initially refuses, but Mae convinces him they should go.Mae has her own motives for wanting to go to Arcadia. She has long been searching for her niece, who she knows is in Arcadia. An unknown god has been sending Mae visions of where her niece is located, and while this worries Mae, she hopes that the visions are accurate and that this trip will give her the opportunity to find her niece.Thus begins what is going to be a very long trip. Not only is Arcadia religiously restrictive, it also has very old fashioned ideas about women, giving them no rights whatsoever. Since the RUNA’s delegation would not be taken seriously if women were brought along as soldiers, Mae must pose as Justin’s concubine. This makes it very hard for Mae to search for her niece. Justin faces his own difficulties when dealing with the country’s religious leader, who he discovers is a very powerful elect. Justin must deal with him while trying to hide his own elect status. Between his interactions with the Arcadian religious leader and his continued attempts to keep from becoming tied to Odin, Justin has his hands full. This trip is certainly not going to be boring!One problem I had with the first book in the series is that it seemed to thrust the reader into this world with very little explanation as to how the world operates. It took me forever to figure out what was going on. Thankfully, in this book, Richelle Mead does a better job of spelling things out, so I now feel I have a much better handle on how things work. This also resulted in me getting caught up in the action much quicker than I did when reading the first book.My feelings towards the main characters has also improved. I thought Justin was much more likeable this time around. A big reason for this is that the trip to Arcadia doesn’t allow Justin the opportunity to continue his womanizing and drug taking, something which made it very hard for me to like him in the first book. It was really nice to see him clear headed in this book.I also warmed up towards Mae. In her search for her niece, we get to see a much softer side to Mae, which was nice. She can still kick butt, which she proves on more than one occasion, but the added vulnerability gave much greater depth to her character, which I really appreciated.By and large, I found this book much more enjoyable and accessible than the first book in the series. By the end of the book, I was completely hooked and didn’t want it to end. And by the way the book ended, I really wish book 3 was here already!Notable Scene:Relax, Magnus said. Expand your senses. Think of me. Think of becoming me.You’re going to turn me into a bird? Justin asked him.Not exactly. Just try to let go of your own body. Focus on mine, on wings, on flight, on my essence.It wasn’t easy, and not just because of the metaphysical nature of the task. Justin had never seen Magnus physically-well, not since a brief glimpse on a smoky night. But Justin did his best to focus on that memory and what he knew of the raven now, of his personalty and nature. Magnus talked him through it, guiding Justin’s mind and breathing until time and his surroundings faded away. A strange euphoria began to fill Justin’s body, an indescribable power like nothing he’d ever felt, though it reminded him of the high brought about by some of the sketchier drugs he’d taken in his life.Suddenly, Justin had a sense of emergence, like he was breaking through a barrier or bursting from water. The room snapped into focus, clearer and more vivid than before as he looked down on it…and himself.There he was, still on the bed. His body sat in the same cross-legged position, but his blank, staring eyes were like those of someone stoned or comatose. The weirdness of it started to break Justin’s control, but Magnus talked him back.That’s only your body, your common physical form, the raven said. You’re sharing mine now. The parts of you that matter, your soul and your essence, are in this form. You’re safe. You’ll return to your body…eventually.Justin looked around the room again and became aware that he was circling it, gliding and hovering on large, black wings. By the door, Mae stared up at him with wide eyes, and while she didn’t look scared, per se, she certainly appeared a little disbelieving.She can see us, he told Magnus.Yes. We’re in my physical form. You don’t have the strength or power to go in my invisible form, unfortunately.What is that…joy I feel? Justin asked. That bliss? Is it just that awesome being a raven?Well, yes, said Horatio.Are you in this body too? Justin asked, startled.Magnus answered. No, but we are always joined. Thought and memory cannot be separated. As for that bliss, that is what it feel like to open yourself up to Odin. Now come. You won’t be able to stay in this state all night, and we need to go.Justin flew toward the open window, leaving a gawking Mae behind, unsure whether he or Magnus was the one fully in control.At times, as they flew through the darkening twilight toward the lights of downtown Divinia, Justin felt as though he were indeed the one powering those strong wings. Other times, it seemed as though he were merely a rider. Regardless of who was in control, that glorious feeling remained, burning within him.You’ve spent your whole life seeking the next best high from drugs or the arms of a woman, Magnus told him. When all along, all you had to was surrender to the god who wants you. Easier, isn’t it?That’s questionable, Justin responded. I can control when I take the drug. I can walk away from the woman. Something tells me that once I give in to Odin, there’s no going back.You won’t want to, Magnus assured him.FTC Advisory: Dutton/Penguin provided me with a copy of The Immortal Crown. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.