YA Under My Skin: Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - Book Review by Amy at YA Under My Skin

Monday 10 August 2015

Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - Book Review by Amy at YA Under My Skin

Quick stats:

Author: Erika Johansen

Hardcover: 528 pages

Publisher: Harper Collins (9th June 2015)

Series: Sequel to the Queen of the Tearling

If you haven’t read the first book in this series, you really should! It’s a very original story with a great cast of characters, and it follows Kelsea Glynn’s journey to take her place as Queen.

Now that Kelsey is the Queen of the Tearling, she has to deal with the aftermath of her decision to stop shipping slaves to the kingdom of Mortmesne. This has caused their frighteningly powerful queen to invade the Tearling. The Mort army is approaching, when Kelsey somehow becomes connected to a woman called Lily, who lives in a previous time period. Kelsey must try to save her people, and work out how Lily’s story from the past may impact on their future.

I was a huge fan of ‘The Queen of the Tearling’, so I started this with that subtle mixture of anticipation and really hoping this would be good! Fortunately, Erika Johansen has crafted another amazing and utterly engrossing novel.

For me, there was a lot to like about this book: three strong female narrators, an array of mysterious and handsome potential love interests and plenty of action. Lily’s new narrative in particular was a great way to flesh out the history of the time period. Kelsea also continued to be an interesting, realistically flawed character, whose impossible situation as ruler made me really feel for her!

Without giving too much away, the ending of was very satisfying, tying up the key threads of this story but leaving enough trailing for an exciting sequel.

A slight issue I had with this book was the beginning. It started with an extended description of the history, which I found myself skipping over (even though it was probably really important). Then we followed the third person perspectives of two new characters. I grew really attached to both of them, but would have preferred to become reacquainted with familiar faces before getting to grips with new ones.

That being said, I would definitely recommend this book. Erika Johansen has created a rich, captivating fantasy world, with a riveting historical element developed in this instalment. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!