The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen (4/5)

The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen, is the fourth book in the pentalogy The Acendance Series. Fierce action and plotting, complex characters, and lots of swordplay keep readers glued to every page. First, a recap of the first three books. The first book (The False Prince) begins in a country that has just recently lost their king. In order to seize the throne, a rich noble plans to capture three boys and train them to impersonate the former king’s long-lost son, Jaron. The main protagonist is Sage, a crafty and witty orphan. The other two boys are named Tobias and Roden. Sage impresses Connor and is chosen to impersonate the prince. When Sage arrives at the castle he is challenged by Roden to a swordfight, he eventually comes out as the winner. Sage claims the throne but there is a twist, Sage is Jaron! Jaron, formerly known as Sage has Conner arrested and assumes his role as King. In the second book (The Runaway King), Jaron is met with his first major test, the threat of war from a rival nation Avenia. In order to have a chance in the war Jaron knows that he needs to get the backing of the pirates to win the war. Long story short Jaron goes undercover and defeats the pirate king in battle to assume leadership of the pirates. In the third book (The Shadow Throne), the war has begun. Avenia has allied itself with two other powerful nations, making Jarons life even more difficult. As the war wages on Jaron learns that Bevin Conner has allied himself with the Aenian nation to get revenge. After days of fighting, Jaron is captured and brought to the place where he was trained by Conner to be executed. Right before Jaron is about to be killed Conner saves Jaron and gets killed in the process. Jarons armies rally and he forces the Avenian king to surrender. In the fourth book (The Captive Kingdom), We learn that Jaron has a brother that everyone thought was killed named Darius. When Jaron is out at sea on a trading trip, he is captured by a woman named Captain Strrick and brought to an island. On this island, Strrick has enslaved an entire kingdom along with Jaron’s brother Darius. In the end, Jaron manages to escape captivity and free the enslaved kingdom. Jaron desperately wants Darius to come back to his kingdom but Darius decides to stay to rule the people on the island. This book was a great read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy or action novels.