The Emblem Throne

I enjoyed The Buried symbol a lot and I was excited to get into The Emblem Throne. The adventures of Brock and his friends is one that never ceases to be fascinating. I was curious about the direction this book will take after the ending of the previous one and I got a lot more than I expected. I had high expectations for this sequel and it surpassed every one of them. 
The series just keeps getting better and better, the ingenuity of Jeffrey L. Kohanek keeps showing.
The Emblem Throne began with the POV of Ashland and progressed to that of other characters, it was incredibly nice to see the world from the mind of the others in the group. Filled with nonstop heart pounding action, great feats of magic, adorable romance, exhilarating adventures, The Emblem Throne made itself one of my favorite books of the year. It is incredibly well written, each scenario paints a clear image in my mind. Learning more about Chaos, The Unchosen and The Banished Horde is another aspect of this book I enjoyed, I love the way the author portrayed every detail. 
The whole worldbuilding is very entrancing and I really enjoyed reading about it.
My favorite quote from the book is:
“Shipwrecked and lost in a foreign land, yet Ashland still appreciated the beauty surrounding them. How could he not love this girl?.”
That just gives me feels. 
The ending of this book is well crafted in a way that leaves me anxious for the next installment in this series, The impending battle is one thing I can't wait for. 
The Emblem Throne has it all monsters, friendship, love, humor, magic, Apocalypse, betrayal and it is one book I can recommend to all Fantasy lovers out there.

Brock, who is destined to be a Master of Order is dismissed from the Academy and imprisoned when it is discovered the he has the rune of Chaos on his forehead, the antithesis of the rune of Order.  His companions free him and they escape, encountering horrible creatures along the way who intended to ravage the population.  They master some of their magical powers and prepare for a great battle.  Great fantasy and I was disappointed to have to wait for the sequel to find out the outcome.  The story may be for the young adult reader but I enjoyed it none-the-less.

I was given an electronic copy in return for an honest review.

I hadn't read the first book in The Runes of Issalia but I still managed to understand the start of this book quickly,which is book II in the series.  The first few chapters introduced me to the characters, and as they left the Academy I found myself being being transported into their lives and journey.  I had to keep turning the pages way past the time of which I should have been sleeping.  

For anyone wanting to read this book I would recommend that you start with book I and take the compete journey.  As I finished The Emblem Throne I found myself wanting to know how the series started.  This book finishes in a place where you need to pick up the next book (not yet published).  And, I will hang around now, patiently awaiting the third book of which I will definitely continue to follow the journey with these characters.

By part II, the plot had completely taken over my nightly routine; by the end of part III it had taken over my day.  There was more action as each part developed.  There were numerous climaxes that kept dragging me back into each characters lives.  As I got to the last ten pages, I realised I was not going to get to the end of the plot before the end of the book.  This is when I became disheartened as I was not ready to finish the journey I had been taken on.

When it comes to second books in a series, I am always wary whether they are going to live up to the first book. I am glad to say that The Emblem Throne very much lives up the expectations set out by The Buried Symbol.

The Emblem Throne picks up shortly after the end of The Buried Symbol, and we are quickly drawn back into the story as the characters discuss and think on what happened at the end of The Buried Symbol. I found this extremely useful because there have been many times when I have read a previous book in a series months before reading the current one, and I find it hard to remember certain elements and consequences. This method not only shows us the characters processing what happened, but is also used as a way of helping the reader remember what occurred.

One aspect of the book I thoroughly enjoyed was being able to delve deeper into each characters’ background. I don’t want to discuss this too much as I think these scenes were a joy to read, and I don’t want to give out spoilers. What I will say though is that the interactions that occur not only help you discover why a certain character acts the way they do, but ait lso helps you understand their reasons for wanting to join the academy.

The aspect that intrigued me the most is that we learn more about a particular rune, its source and what its capable of. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it because this was one aspect I wanted to see more of in “The Buried Symbol”. The characters wanting to learn more about it also naturally helps progress the story and the characters themselves because we see the lengths the are willing to go to find more information.

The only slight issue I had with the book was that there were certain scenes I felt were rushed, and, due to this, I had one or two occasions where I felt that maybe I had missed some information or a particular scene due to something occurring so quickly. I think if these scenes were drawn out a bit more or more information was given, then it would go towards strengthening an already great book. Thankfully though  this only happened once or twice, and I don’t think it derailed the general flow of the book.

All said and done, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and was really excited to get back into its world. I think the book flows very well. If you enjoyed the first book then I would highly recommend you pick up this one as well, as it gives you a lot more information on certain elements from the first book and improves on them. If you haven’t yet read The Buried Symbol, then I would highly recommend you do so.