The Shadow Throne, by Jennifer A. Nielsen, is the third and final book in the Ascendance trilogy. It is an action and adventure fantasy story about a young King. The story mainly takes place in a country called Carthya, in the middle ages when Kings and Queens ruled the land. King Jargon has many adventures while trying to protect his country, his people, and his friends in the fight for Carthya’s future. King Jargon is a young King, who has brown, rough-looking hair, green eyes, and is a pretty average height.
He is an extremely stubborn boy that can’t stand being wrong, yet he can be kind and understanding to the certain people he has grown close to. Jaron was not the perfect king at first, but had grown to fit the position well, and he learned to be exceptionally good at leading his country. Jaron had always thought he had no source of weakness because all of his family had died, and he had no one else he could hurt if he made the wrong choice. He soon figured out that he had fallen in love with Imogen, and, as he was afraid of, was used against him several times in the war.
All of Carthya thought King Jaron was not exactly suited for the role of King because of his young age, but he worked hard to earn the trust of his people, as they learned how great and loyal of a king he could actually be. Imogen is King Jaron’s love interest. She has long brown hair and deep brown eyes, which Jaron admires greatly. She is extremely protective of Jaron, and still loves him even when in denial. She is very giving, and courageous. Imogen was a cook and servant, so she has proved she is good at cooking, and tending to wounds.
Her weakness is Jaron himself, she will do anything for him even in his dangerously stupid plans, which he is known for. She was forced to pretend to be mute, so her social skills are kind of rough, but now she is the Queen of Carthya, married to Jaron. Mott is King Jaron’s servant, and best friend. He is tall, black, and has very little hair. He is protective, brave, and wise. He is tremendously good with a sword, and can fight off almost anyone. As it gets tough at times, Mott has grown to love Jaron as a brother that he should protect, and he gets worried when he runs off and injures himself.
Mott has great advice that Jaron is urged to take under pressure, but never does, and Mott always has the best plan for the situation in everyone’s interest. Roden is the commander of Carthya’s army, and Jaron’s friend. He is really strong, buff, tan, and looks similar to Jaron. He is demanding, powerful, and dangerous against the wrong people. He is a great sword fighter, and is good in hand-to-hand combat. He was always worried that he would let his country down by being a bad commander, and, even worse, let Jaron down because Jaron believed in him as to put him in that position.
He had never thought he could command an army as well as Jaron thought he could, but his commanding, with Jaron’s help in times, won the war for Carthya with a lot of sharp turns. Jaron demonstrated the theme of this story greatly by being persistent in just about every aspect. When Carthya and Avenia went to war, Jaron never stopped believing that Carthya would win for the sake of his people. Jaron had signed Carthya over to Avenia as a surrender, and the Avenian King thought it was all over. When it came down to it, Jaron was just about to give up and get hung, but even then he had a plan to get them out of it.
In our modern society, there are still countries at war, losing lives just like in Carthya. Battle plans are always made in our wars, similar to all of the dangerously stupid plans that Jaron has. There are also those people in our society who are willing to risk their lives to save their country just like in Carthya and Avania. The moral of this story is gaining respect and learning to use it right like Jaron did when he became king. King Jaron said this to Roden when he was appointing him to be the commander, “Nobody gives you respect in this life.
You must take it, you must earn it, and then you must hold it sacred, because no matter how hard respect is to attain, it can be lost in an instant. ” This quote is one I live by because there are so many people in this society who take it for granted. The plot effected all of the characters because the war caused damage to everyone in one way or another. Such as, Mott got injured and almost died, and Jaron and Roden almost got hung, but in the end Mott got better, Roden found his father, and Jaron married Imogen. They all had rough times, but it evened out in the end.
The author did an amazing job writing this book. It is a complex plot with lots of events, twists, and turns, and I barely ever could guess what was going to happen next. The way she wrote it was very effective because it made me think about what exactly was happening at that moment, and I feel like I was actually one of the characters with their feelings, mood, and troubles in a certain situation. It is a very suspenseful writing style, with a surprise on every page. The vivid imagery the story had helped me imagine what this type of living looked like, and how all of the characters adapted to it.
The tone the author had changed a lot during this story because how she felt about what Jaron or the other characters were doing changed. For instance when Jaron was about to get hung, the tone was very suspenseful and almost sad because the author wanted us to be on our toes, but in a dreary way that we didn’t really want to know what was going to happen next. She wrote this in first person as Jaron’s point of view, so you were always in on what Jaron was thinking, and it let you in on ideas the other characters didn’t know about. Overall, this book had a very thought out plot that I connected with well.
