Author: Kimberly Derting
Rating: 4 stars
Summary: True love—and world war—is at stake in the conclusion to The Pledge trilogy, a dark and romantic blend of dystopia and fantasy.
Charlie, otherwise known as Queen Charlaina of Ludania, has become comfortable as a leader and a ruler. She’s done admirable work to restore Ludania’s broken communications systems with other Queendoms, and she’s mastered the art of ignoring Sabara, the evil former queen whose Essence is alive within Charlie. Or so she thinks.
When the negotiation of a peace agreement with the Queendom of Astonia goes awry, Charlie receives a brutal message that threatens Ludania, and it seems her only option is to sacrifice herself in exchange for Ludanian freedom.
But things aren’t always as they seem. Charlie is walking into a trap—one set by Sabara, who is determined to reclaim the Queendoms at any cost.
I finally figured out the genre of the Pledge series: medieval dystopian. I mean, Queendoms, old technology, magical powers...totally fits, right? Also, I really need to stop giggling when I read the word Queendom. It's awesome, and why haven't I read it anywhere else before.
All in all, The Offering is a great ending to the trilogy. It doesn't go on too long, things get figured out and I'm really happy with how everything turned out. But the whole romance in here irked me. There wasn't much Max and Charliana interactions, actually, but when there was...ahh let's just say unfortunately there was the "It's perfect." beat. "You're perfect." moment which just made me cringe so badly...but I got over it. Mostly the whole thing was gushy and annoying, but that's just me.
Cliche numero dos was Charliana valiantly going by herself (et sidekick) to turn herself in to the other Queen Elena that was so predictable, and really why do you have to do that, Charlie. After everything though, it wasn't some stupid selfless act; I liked how it played out. AND she let someone get sacrificed for her in the process. That's some strong Queenness, that is. War isn't pretty, duh.
Even though Charlie is Queen of her country and has like a hundred guards, I strongly supported her want of self defense lessons and hand to hand combat training. I didn't understand why this was so frowned upon, why she had to hide it. Wouldn't you be more comfortable if you knew your awesome queen was able to defend herself against possible traitors nearby, or out in the battlefield if that's where she ended up? Sure, her friends could be surprised at her for wanting to learn in the first place, but guys, get over it and support her. They did, it just took a little longer than I expected.
There is more technology and dystopian-hinted gadgets and ruins in the second book, and I missed that in here, we just got a few battles instead, which is okay. I really liked Caspar and his crew too, the forest dwellers.
If you're anxiously awaiting the release of the last book in the Pledge trilogy, don't worry, if you choose to pick The Offering up the day if its release, your new year will begin with a great, page-turning book.
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