Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

War brought them together. Love will tear them apart. Auranos has been conquered and the three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But alluring, dangerous magic still beckons, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the world. . . . • CLEO is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people • MAGNUS stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia • LUCIA is haunted by the deadly outcome of her breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms • JONAS watches at the palace gates, a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius When Gaius announces that a road is to be built into the Forbidden Mountains, formally linking all of Mytica together, he sets off a chain of cataclysmic events that will forever change the face of this land. Praise for Falling Kingdoms “From an opening dripping with blood, magic, and betrayal through complex interweaving plots detailing treachery, deceit, and forbidden love, this novel . . . will immediately engage readers and keep them intrigued.”—Booklist “[It] will gut you emotionally . . . make you ache, cry, and beg for the sequel as you turn the last page. I absolutely loved it.”—Julie Kagawa, New York Times bestselling author of The Iron Queen “This triple-layered tale of bloodshed, heartbreak, and tangled court intrigue kept me turning pages very late into the night.”—Lesley Livingston, author of Wondrous Strange and Starling

“A gown does not make a bride, just as a few empty threats do not make a rebel.”

This is one of those series that has a multitude of different characters and plot lines to follow and I absolutely love it. While at times it can be a little confusing to follow all the different story lines, they all weave together into this epic fantasy.

The strong point of this book was definitely the characters. I love each and every single one one of them. Magnus is by far my favorite character. He is so complex with all these different intricacies that make him into this character you cannot help but feel bad for and want to see him succeed. There is definitely a lot of character growth in this book for him. He is grappling with the changes brought about in Falling Kingdoms and where he stands in the fight against King Gaius.

Speaking of Gaius, I absolutely hate him. Which I know is a given in this series, but he is overly maniacal and cruel. He leads through fear, rather than respect. I hated how much he hurt everyone around him, whether it was Cleo, Aron, Jonas, and even his own family of Magnus and Lucia. He even had his own wife killed. I cannot wait for when we finally see his downfall, in what I assume will be the final book.

Another character I love is Cleo. She is dealing with a lot in this book, but she still has time to be compassionate and a strong character. I really loved her and Magnus in this book and I really want them to become more than friends. Right now it kind of seems like we are leading to that which is awesome!

There are a bunch of other characters in this book I could talk about, but I don't want this review to be all me gushing about the characters. In this installment, we definitely learned more about the prophecy and how the rest of the series is going to unfold with the search for the Kindred. I cannot wait to pick up Gathering Darkness and be completely caught up with the series, even if I have to then wait until December for Frozen Tides.

I was pleasantly surprised by the second instalment in Falling Kingdom series. Well, I didn't expect much from it and it's still far from perfect, however, it turned out to be much better than Falling Kingdoms.

Let's go about good things in Rebel Spring:
1. Action-packed plot. There was always something happening.
2. Good characters' development. There were certainly less unreasonable decision and characters generally they became more fleshed out.
3. Unexpected things. You will not find a grand plot twist here. However small things sum up and slowly lead story away from what you predicted.

Now I'm all ready for the next part.

Around halfway through, I realized I was getting annoyed because everything was happening soooo slowly. I eventually forced myself to finish listening, but I'm not going to keep going with the rest of the series. The ideas seem cool, but the pacing is just too aggravating for me.