Meg Burden
Brown Barn Books (2010)
ISBN 9780979882418
Reviewed by Avni Gupta (age 15) for Reader Views (02/10)
When I received “The King Commands,” I was super excited to read it! I had absolutely loved the first book in the series, so I was sure that I would love this book as well. It definitely did not disappoint me at all. In fact, I would say that this book surpassed my expectations.
This book began with Ellin in the Northlands, again with her favorite royal family. Now that Alaric is king, Ellin thinks that things are going to be different for her and her fellow Southlings. On the outside, things seem different, but when they are looked at more closely, the inner turmoil can be seen. And then, to top things off, Alaric, the man that Ellin is in love with gets engaged to another. Can things be any worse for our protagonist? Apparently, yes they can. Ellin is charged with treason and is forced to return to the Southlands.
There were so many parts in this book that I had not expected. Ellin being in love with Alaric probably topped my list of unexpected parts to this novel. I thought that she would end up being in love with Garreth, but nope, that didn’t happen. Even though I did not expect it to happen, that occurrence caused the book to seem even more interesting to me.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was all of the detail that was put into describing the “tainted” people in the forest. I enjoyed how vivid the imagery was. It made it very easy for me to picture the events of the story in my mind.
One thing that confused me was the cover. Who are the two people on it? The blond one is probably a prince, but the red-haired one must be a Southling, but there is no real mention of any Southling guy who could be the one on the cover. When I was looking at the cover before I had started reading the book, I thought that this book was gong to have Ellin having to choose between “her” princes and someone from her old home, but nothing like that ever really happened.
Overall, I feel as though anyone who read the first book, and enjoyed it, will enjoy “The King Commands” quite a bit because, for me, it is one of the few sequels that is just as good, if not better than the first book in the series.
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