Published: June 5, 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Dividing Eden #2
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 320 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 4.0/5.0
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
The electrifying conclusion to the Dividing Eden series by the New York Times bestselling author of the Testing trilogy, Joelle Charbonneau..
The Trials of Virtuous Succession have ended. Prince Andreus is king—and Princess Carys is dead.
But even as he’s haunted by what he did to win the throne, Andreus discovers that his dream of ruling only brings new problems. The people love his twin even more in death than they did when she was alive. The Elders treat him as a figurehead. And worst of all, the winds of Eden are faltering.
But despite what everyone believes, Carys is alive. Exiled to the wilderness, Carys struggles to control the powers that have broken free inside her. And as she grows stronger, so does her conviction that she must return to the Palace of Winds, face her twin and root out the treachery that began long before the first Trials started.
The Kingdom of Eden is growing darker with each passing day. Brother and sister, former foes, must decide whether some betrayals cut too deep to be forgiven—and whether one will wear the crown or both will lose everything.
It took me 50+ pages to even begin to remember what happened in the previous installment of this series which isn’t all that surprising since I read 100 books last year. I am surprised that I enjoyed this one as much as I did, despite remembering so little of the plot. I suppose that speaks to the author’s skill at gaining and retaining an audience throughout the book. After the book though… I’m struggling to remember what happened (though I’ve read several books since then) so it’s not exactly memorable.
The story was pretty entertaining, with plenty of action, and two POVs that didn’t bore me to death. Carys spends most of the book hiding out from her own people because everyone thinks she’s dead and it’s beneficial. She’s also trying to learn to use her magical wind powers (she’s emergency windmill fuel). Andreus has taken the crown and has quickly learned that being King isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He’s got meetings galore and the council is trying to control/manipulate him for various personal reasons. Oh yeah, and he’s got to find out who’s endangering the kingdom by cutting the power. Of course, both characters end up doing some fantastically stupid things. I was pretty relieved that this book continues to avoid the love triangle trope. It pleased me especially that Carys, while she develops some feelings toward one of the characters, doesn’t turn towards hormone filled stupidity as a valid life choice.
The whole book was very entertaining, though like I said, not particularly memorable. It doesn’t stand out from the crowd of YA novels being released this year though I will say if you enjoyed the first book, you’ll probably like this one just as much. The author managed to throw some curve balls that I didn’t really see coming, which I always appreciate, especially when the curve balls actually make sense once they hit you. As of right now, this is still standing as a duology and I hope it stays that way since most series get profoundly worse once extended.
Powder & Page 
I’m not reading this series but I do love the covers😁
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They’re such pretty covers!
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