"Nothing is as it seems in the kingdom of Antora. Kestra Dallisor has spent three years in exile in the Lava Fields, but that won't stop her from being drawn back into her father's palace politics. He's the right-hand man of the cruel king, Lord Endrick, which makes Kestra a valuable bargaining chip. A group of rebels knows this all too well - and they snatch Kestra from her carriage as she reluctantly travels home. The kidnappers want her to retrieve the lost Olden Blade, the only object that can destroy the immortal king, but Kestra is not the obedient captive they expected. Simon, one of her kidnappers, will have his hands full as Kestra tries to foil their plot, by force, cunning, or any means necessary. As motives shift and secrets emerge, both will have to decide what - and who - it is they're fighting for." - Inside cover

This book enthralled me. I was so anxious to see what would happen to Kestra and all the people she met along the way that I jumped right into book 2 and then book 3. The whole series was great! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes YA Fantasy.  There will definitely be things you don't see coming.

Well, it's not really a surprise that my sons have great taste in literature.  My oldest has been telling me to read The False Prince for 7 years!  My youngest just finished reading Jennifer Nielsen's The Mark of the Thief series and pretty much devoured it.  I see now what their enthusiasm is all about, because I'm already into chapter 4 of the second book in this Ascendance Trilogy.  Never underestimate so-called "kid lit" -- this is some great story-telling!  

My oldest, now 17 and a senior in high school, became a huge fan of Jennifer Nielsen books with this title, and he has read everything she has written since.  His younger brother, age 14, finally got on board and is currently reading Nielsen's Mark of the Thief series - devouring it is not an exaggeration. After finishing the second book he wanted that third installment RIGHT NOW - and we searched a bit to try to find where it had become misplaced away from our bookshelves.  It was traumatic, I'll tell you.  Blaming his brother for "hiding" the book to torture him...  Well, after everyone went to sleep tonight, I did a little sleuthing and found it.  Placed it on his book bag where he will find it in the morning before school.  The joy!  And... I figured it was time I saw for myself what all the excitement is about.  Here we go...  

This was amazing. The story was exciting and so entertaining. I loved Sage and how witty he was. This book had danger, friendship, humour, and so much more.

This book happend to keep me up until the wee hours, laser focused and transfixed. I'm not sure if it was the writing, the 3 cups of Jasmine black tea or my insomnia but I found it difficult to put down and then even more difficult to eject from my brain in order to let the sleep in. There were annoying parts a plenty... A voracious itch in my cozy reading space that refused to be satiated. This was mostly due to a drawn out, ferverous Hate to an All consuming, unyielding, unparalleled Love that blossomed in just 3 days. "I love her but does she love me? If she does I'll love her always but if she doesn't?!? I'll still love her. She does?..but she shouldn't, but she can't fight it, but she must..blah blah blah". It was sweet at times and the other times it was absolute torture to endure. There were a couple of plot twists that I was blindsided by...YAY!.. and a couple of easier ones to suss out...Meh. The story was told in a duo of dueling POVs. Both Kestra and Simon had unique voices so it was never necessary to flip back and forth in order to remember whose head we were in...especially since Simon's main concern was any and all things Kestra. Kestra on the other hand was a mess making, extremely pretentious turned slightly less pretentious though all around bull headed, wishy washy wet noodle (mainly on the Love front but still...), pain in the rear. I never fully got behind her no matter what her deal was at that moment, especially difficult to pull off since who/what she was changed so often. I wish I liked her better and was able to feel/experience along side her but alas, I found myself stuck between an obnoxious wreck of an MC and a whiny/pining lump of a supporting MC hence the lower rating even though it kept my attention quite handily. The story was interesting BUT, in my most humble of opinions, you've got nothing if you don't have at least one character you can really align yourself with and this bunch?!? They earned a big NOPE from me.

3 stars for the plot BUT the character woes, insta-love mess and overall sense of Meh it cultivated in me lead me to penalize the rating and ultimately wish I had skipped this one. Book #2, Traitor's Heart, is definitely not in my future.