Series: The Pledge, #2
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Publish Date: January 1st, 2013
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Rating: 2/5 – The biggest disappointment of the year so far.

Synopsis: At the luminous conclusion of The Pledge, Charlaina defeated the tyrant Sabara and took her place as Queen of Ludania. But Charlie knows that Sabara has not disappeared: The evil queen’s Essence is fused to Charlie’s psyche, ready to arise at the first sign of weakness.

Charlie is not weak, but she’s being pushed to the brink. In addition to suppressing the ever-present influence of Sabara, she’s busy being queen—and battling a growing resistance determined to return Ludania to its discriminatory caste system. Charlie wants to be the same girl Max loves, who Brook trusts, but she’s Your Majesty now, and she feels torn in two.

As Charlie journeys to an annual summit to meet with leaders of nearby Queendoms—an event where her ability to understand all languages will be the utmost asset—she is faced with the ultimate betrayal. And the only person she can turn to for help is the evil soul residing within. -Goodreads

Thoughts: I really wanted to like this book, and I really REALLY didn’t. I’m not even entirely sure why, so I’ll keep this short. I really liked the first book in this series, but The Essence just didn’t measure up.

What originally attracted to this series was the idea of a fantasy society built around language, but most of those elements have been abolished by book two. So now it’s just a book about a girl/queen who travels and doesn’t know who is trying to kill her. A lot of my favorite characters aren’t present, and the plot feels disjointed as Charlie is hopping all over the place trying to figure out how to be queen.

It’s not all bad, by any stretch. My favorite scene was really dramatic and unexpected, and I think Kimberly Derting did a good job of creating political tension.

I’m not sure yet if I’ll be picking up the next book in this series (assuming there is one), I think I’ll wait and see what the blurb has to say.

Buy The Essence:
@Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN) @The Book Depository

Second Opinions:
@Chapter by Chapter
@Finding Bliss in Books
@Much Loved Books