Jaye L. Knight

When a group of mysterious, dragon-riding cretes arrive seeking aid in a dire mission, those in Landale must face impossible odds and a series of tragedies to try to rescue a teacher of Elôm and the last known copies of the King's Scrolls.

The King's Scrolls

Mary Horton

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

I was hoping this would be the book that would knock me off my feet, straight into the Ilyon Chronicles Fanclub.

BUT

I have issues. 


  The characters //


Jace: I'M SORRY BUT I STILL DON'T LOVE HIM. Like, I can appreciate that he's a good character...and I want to see him safe and protected...but I just can't love him yet. He's kind of "unapproachable" to me, I guess. I think his relationship with Kyrin is sweet (view spoiler)[page 368 though *grins* (hide spoiler)], but I don't particularly LOVE Jace. Sowwy. :P

Kyrin: *groans* I'm honestly tired of her. She's kind of bland and a bit too "perfect," if you know what I mean. I don't relate to her. I'm just SO TIRED of being in her POV. Again, not to say she's a bad character - not at all - she just really needs a bit more personality. 

Kaden: HERE IS WHERE I SCREAM FOREVER. I loooooooove Kaden and honestly wish he were the main character instead of his twin. #sorrynotsorry He's the adorably protective older brother. I love his fiery temper (I'm sorry, it's endearing) and the way he always looks out for his sister.

Liam: He's my baby. <3333 I want to hug him forever pleaseeeee. I'm so pleased he got more of the spotlight in this book.

Marcus: I KIND OF LOVED HIM, NOT GONNA LIE. His conflict between his duty/family was one of the most impactful things in this book. I loved how well-drawn he was as a character. I JUST LOVE ALL KYRIN'S BROS, OKAY??

Trev: oKAY why was he mentioned only like twice in this book? I wanted to get to know him better, but he just faded into the background and that makes me Unhappy.

Daniel: He was super intriguing and I kind of already love him?? Please give me more Daniel. *puppy dog eyes*

Others: Leetra was -_-, Timothy was -_-, most of them were just -_-. Except the dragons!! I loved the dragons. The cretes were an interesting group, but I didn't particularly like them because they just seemed really snobby. :P (Except for Talas, whom I did like.)


  Lovely Things:


- Family conflict. This is arguably a very UNlovely thing, but c'mon. This family conflict made the plot 1000x better. BECAUSE ALL THE EMOTIONS YESSS. I had a love/hate relationship with it, but it's the thing that made me most interested in the plot so

- The setting. We got to see more of Ilyon and IT WAS LOVELY. Plus, it's winter, and that added the perfect atmosphere to their quest. 

-The plot. Speaking of plot...this book had a MUCH better plot with MUCH higher stakes. I loved all the quest elements, "secret missions", undercover agents, and of course, family conflict. It was SO GOOD.

- The characters. I just did a pretty thorough overview of the characters but GUYS. I love a lot of these characters. That just needs to be said again.

- Dragons. *knowing nod*


  Not-So-Lovely Things:


- Where's the humor?? I'm sorry, but did I miss something here? Haven't these characters ever heard of something called laughter?? LIKE YES I GET THAT THINGS ARE SERIOUS. I get that life isn't peaches and rainbows for them...but a little comic relief every now and then would really be appreciated. 

- The writing. Herein is where my main problem lies. I know I listed this in the positive section of my review for the last book but...things have changed. I have discovered that the writing is what's keeping me from loving this series. It's like the author is narrating everything - including the characters' emotions. IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY. Because as much as I love the characters, I feel like I'm only seeing a narrated version of them. Different POVs don't FEEL different because the author is just telling us everythingggg. I want to FEEL what it's like to be a hot-tempered, protective Kaden. I want to FEEL what it's like to be a young, rather -sarcastic-at-times Trask. I want to FEEL what it's like to be a gentle, compassionate, and confused Liam. I WANT TO FEEL EVERYTHING LIKE IT'S REAL. 

- Unrealistic perfection. Kyrin feels too perfect to me, but she's not the only one. Different characters' personalities feel suppressed because they "have to make the right decision" and "can't act on emotions." UM, excuse me...but is that realistic? Are we as human beings always able to think sensibly and do the right thing instead of acting on emotions? I'm not saying I want the characters to go crazy and do whatever the heck they want...but I want them to make mistakes and learn from them. (view spoiler)[Kaden is a good example here. He feels too impulsive and headstrong to ALWAYS follow his orders and do the right thing. He's the kind of person who acts on emotions. I wanted to see that. Also, his relationship with Marcus seemed to miraculously heal once Marcus joined them.
 That...doesn't seem realistic?? I mean, the two clashed a lot their WHOLE LIVES. I feel like there needs to be a period of healing before "everything is perfect." :P (hide spoiler)] I'm not even sure if this even makes sense to anyone, but it does to me. *shrugs*

- A couple minor things: Why hasn't their camp been found yet? Where are all the female characters? Just little things like that. :P

OKAY SO YEAH. I expected to love this but...I didn't. I LIKED it, don't get me wrong...I just feel kind of disappointed. Still, the plot was really interesting and I LOVED Kyrin's brothers and all the family conflict. 

3.5 stars

The King's Scrolls

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