The Immortal Crown (Review)

Age of X: The Immortal Crown | Richelle Mead

Published by: Penguin, June 5th 2014

Genre: Adult, Mythology, Dystopia

Pages: 389

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

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.

I LOVED Gameboard of The Gods, so I was dying to get my hands on this, its sequel. I pre-ordered it and sat impatiently waiting for that day it would come, then dived straight into reading it. But while I did really enjoy The Immortal Crown, and still loved its characters, I didn't adore it as much as the first book.

The first half feels really slow, like things happen but it still feels slow. And I could really have done without Tessa's POV. I really don't care about her. This book really suffered from the dreaded mid-series curse. But bad things aside, this was still an awesome novel, and I still can't wait for book three.

I really enjoyed the setting of The Immortal Crown. That's one of the major things I loved about GoTG, the world building, the colourful setting of the RUNA and everything involved in it. Going to Arcadia, the bordering country, and learning about its customs and traditions was pretty fun. But it lacked that magic of the RUNA, possibly because it treats women like slaves and sells six year olds as wives/sex slaves. But what I liked about Arcadia, minus its entire Arcadia-ness, was the contrast it provided to the RUNA. You have one world where women are encouraged to flourish, and another where they're taught to make themselves invisible, to be punished for accidentally showing their ankle.

The question that raised, the obvious comparison of both those worlds to the Earth I live in (specifically Britain) was what I enjoyed about that. Especially since I've become more aware of the horrendous inequality of the sexes in my own country and others. The Immortal Crown provides two worlds where, if combined, they would be very close to the world we live in right now. And that's frankly terrifying.

Not to mention the very obvious discussion about religion this book poses.

Also Mae/Justin is my OTP and the amount of times I squealed at this book was UNREAL. (Serious analysis time is officially over) MY BABIES!!!!!!! And the RAVENS!!! Magnus! And Justin being a priest!

(also on the back of my book it says Justine, not Justin, and I think this series could have been vastly improved upon had it been lesbian romance! (Then again, how would they get into Arcadia...? And does Odin stand for LGBT rights...?))

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★☆☆

Writing Style ★★★★☆