Book Review: Conspiracy of Princes by Justin Somper

#2 in the Allies and Assassins series
Pages: 496
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Received: Own
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

I'll start out this review by saying I love this series. It's fast-paced, easy to read, filled with peril, and the characters are likable. The first book, Allies and Assassins was a close-in murder mystery ending with high stakes and impending war. I even auto-bought the second book based on the strength of the first (something I rarely do).

A Conspiracy of Princes didn't feel as tight as the first book and there was one particularly juvenile scene that should have been edited right out as it clashed with the tone of the book and didn't serve any purpose. The rest was a mixed bag of lots of fun and kind of meh.

 Jared's mission was less interesting and very contrived (though, still fun enough), and, disappointingly, he definitely wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. He's the ruler now and yet he left his kingdom in peril as he went off on a quest. I mean, yeah, it was important, but that was a job for someone other than the leader. It was all very Richard the Lionheart-ish, and I've never been a big Richard fan.

But, Asta's adventures at home were awesome and filled with court intrigue and looming war. THIS is why I love these books! The introduction of the villains' perspectives was also enjoyable and upped the feelings of peril. Overall, I'm still very glad I read Conspiracy of Princes and I would definitely read this series to its conclusion. 

Heads up, the ending is a major cliffhanger and I've heard rumors that the author isn't contracted for a third book. (I'm still dying about that happening to the Killer Unicorn series. Publishers, WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?!)

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Book Review: Allies & Assassins by Justin Somper

#1 in the Enemies of the Prince series
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages:479
Received: Library
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads

A murdered prince, an assassin on the loose, a shady group of advisers, tensions between kingdoms? Yes, Allies and Assassins has all the making of a Small book for sure, and thankfully it lived up to almost every one of my hopes.

But I'm a character girl!

 
I say almost because the characters weren't quite real enough for me. I didn't dislike them, and I did actually like a lot of them, but none are particularly memorable or fleshed out beyond their surface roles. I'm intrigued by a bunch of them, but I never really felt like Justin Somper delved deep enough.

For a character reader like me, that was disappointing, but luckily everything else was so good this is only a minor complaint. Though, there is definitely a good foundation to dig in further and really develop them into fascinating characters. Since this is only part one of a series, I'm thinking this will likely happen across the story.

Trust no one

The mystery is what really hooked me and kept me reading. Information is doled out at a nice even pace, and combined with the shorter chapters I was able to fly through this big book pretty fast.

I had my suspicions early on as to who was behind the murder, and even though I was ultimately right, Justin Somper had me questioning everyone. There were several times where I was fully ready to believe the complete wrong person did it (and for the complete wrong reasons). There were also a few big surprises that I won't spoil now, but I will say my jaw very literally dropped after several totally unexpected twists.

That jacket hints at romance

Look, I'll be honest, I was hoping for a little romance between Jared and Asta. I mean, jacket blurbs can't just write "Asta and Jared take it upon themselves to hunt down his brother's assassin..." and NOT expect me to infer "and each clue they uncover propels them closer to THAT KISS." Am I right?

Apparently Justin Somper didn't get the slow burn romance memo. Asta and Jared are Just Friends.

Oh well. I'm sighing now, but by the end of this series I'm pretty positive I'm going to be clutching the books to my chest in happiness because, despite my frustration now, I think Justin Somper secretly DID get the memo and he's not going to spoil the series by doling out a premature THAT KISS.

And you know what? If that's what ends up happening, then that will be perfect.

Bottom line

This is what I was hoping The Goblin Emperor would be, so I'm happy to have found at least one book to fulfill my desire for a whodunnit within the palace walls kind of story. 

Allies and Assassins was well on its way to reading perfectly fine as, if not a standalone (because, impending war. Yay!) then at least a series start that ends nicely and allows me to wait in peace until the next book is published.

And then those last five pages totally blew any chances I might have had of being able to calmly wait until the next book comes out—which, by the way, is when??? I don't even see a title on Goodreads. How am I supposed to deal if I can't even mark the next book as "Want to Read" on my Goodreads lists??

So, clearly, I'm invested in this series and highly recommend it to fans of court fantasy and intrigue. The cover (is awful, but has good "boy appeal") screams middle grade, but it has crossover appeal to older audiences for sure, and actually touches on some not-so-middle grade subjects (so caution for younger audiences there).
   

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

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