The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

The Immortal Crown (Age of X #2) by Richelle Mead

Fantasy/Dystopia

Rating:  5 Stars

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.

My Thoughts: What an ending!! I was completely surprised. That doesn’t happen to me very often anymore. Novels are so predictable these days but this book surprised me. I was really excited to get into this one because I just finished the first in the series and loved that one as well. I received this copy for my honest review through NetGalley.com. If you don’t know what NetGalley is you need to look it up, it’s an amazing site with tons of titles and genres. I was really excited when I got accepted to read this one and I was not disappointed.

            Justin was very unlikable character in the first book of the series. He was a jerk and he deserved to get slapped. I know it’s a part of his charm but it was annoying. In this book though, he was so courageous and protective of Mae. If you read the book you understand what I mean. He had to make a decision no one wants to make, true love or freedom. He definitely improved in this book and made him easier to understand and makes it easier for us, the readers, to love him.

            This is a different world and this book explains how different it is from now in a great way. They travel to a place called Arcadia that basically is what I would compare to Amish in the sense of how different the two places are. While we thrive in technology the Amish live a life without out. In this world the RUNA runs every piece of existence of technology while the people in Arcadia runs every piece of existence with religion. They have some basic technology but they don’t allow it to get in the way of their worship. Arcadia is not a place I would ever want to go though mostly because how they treat their women. If a man tried to beat me up because I accidently showed someone my leg you can bet I will fight back and he will be regretting that decision completely.

Cover: 5/5

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Overall Score: