agriffis's review
3.0
Enjoying this series. Love the starting premise, especially the two misunderstood Rules, and the plot is unfolding at a good pace. Wandering perspective drives me a bit nuts—I hope Kade kills that habit in his future writing.
brodyd21's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
pixi_reads's review
5.0
Damn, Kel Kade is killing me with these characters. I need to know they are going to be okay. This story will have you holding your breath in fear for the characters and what is happening around them. Once again, after finishing this book, I immediately went to the next book. I just couldn't wait!
warriorpickle's review
5.0
I am in love with this series. It is a pleasure to read. The characters are well written and mostly enjoyable. The ones that aren't enjoyable are purposefully that way. My only complaint about these books is that they end so abruptly. This book had a much more satisfying ending than the first book, but it still feels like this was one humongous book that was forced to be chopped at certain points to create a series. I can't wait for the third book.
Also a shout out to the audio version. Spectacularly narrated by Nick Podehl.
Also a shout out to the audio version. Spectacularly narrated by Nick Podehl.
powder_and_page's review
4.0
Okay, deep breath. Reign of Madness was a superb sequel to Free the Darkness and I’m still riding the emotional high off the ending, so this review might be a little more of a fan-fest than usual. Kel Kade’s storytelling ability has exceeded all of my expectations, which I must admit were not that high before beginning the series. I’m always skeptical when I see books with many positive reviews that haven’t been mentioned by fellow Fantasy lovers. I figure someone else has to have read it if it were good, right? WRONG. This book- the series, really- is so much fun to read and I’ve not heard anyone else rave about it!
As soon as I finished the first book, I downloaded Reign of Madness and went back about my business whilst ignoring people to the best of my ability. After all the action in FtD, RoM may seem slow by comparison. There’s considerably more dialogue between the characters, which is great because it allows the reader to get to know and love the new additions to the cast as well as serving the purpose of fleshing out the world, culture, and political climate. There were some parts where I briefly wished everyone would stop their yapping and pillage a town or kill some bandits. This book was almost a strategic info dump because it expounds so much on the “Outworld” as Rezkin so refers to the world outside of the fortress he was raised in. It fills in many of the gaps that were sort of noticeable in the first installment, and needed to be remedied for the plot to have merit and I think Kel Kade did an admirable job.
The story was packed with emotion, which more or less made up for the serious lack of battles in the first half. The group of characters, now expanded to include Frisha’s cousins and several other nobles, is travelling to the King’s Tournament in Skutten, where great swordsmen and women from all lands gather to compete. Rezkin is trying to find answers, but clearly the most accomplished sword master in all the realms cannot forgo such an opportunity to further his own agendas. There’s a good deal of intrigue going on here and Rezkin is doing that thing where he doesn’t let his friends in on his secrets. Not all of them anyways, and perhaps not the most important of all- Frisha. That poor girl is left alone wondering what he could be doing, and while he doesn’t lie to her outright he lets her make assumptions and that is dangerous. This kind of thing leads to betrayal!!!! See Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy for examples.
All in all this was a great sequel but I feel I can’t quite give it full marks. The events had huge significance, but it felt like the whole thing was a preamble to the third book- one giant set up. I was also disappointed to find that “the Raven” was barely present at all during this book, especially after all his hard work dominating the criminal underworld. That too will likely play a very large role in the third book and I do look forward to seeing how all that plays out. Once again Nick Podehl did a great job on narration. So great in fact that I wished Rezkin would have pushed Shiela Jebai off the ship because she was a horror and her voice was equally obnoxious!
As soon as I finished the first book, I downloaded Reign of Madness and went back about my business whilst ignoring people to the best of my ability. After all the action in FtD, RoM may seem slow by comparison. There’s considerably more dialogue between the characters, which is great because it allows the reader to get to know and love the new additions to the cast as well as serving the purpose of fleshing out the world, culture, and political climate. There were some parts where I briefly wished everyone would stop their yapping and pillage a town or kill some bandits. This book was almost a strategic info dump because it expounds so much on the “Outworld” as Rezkin so refers to the world outside of the fortress he was raised in. It fills in many of the gaps that were sort of noticeable in the first installment, and needed to be remedied for the plot to have merit and I think Kel Kade did an admirable job.
The story was packed with emotion, which more or less made up for the serious lack of battles in the first half. The group of characters, now expanded to include Frisha’s cousins and several other nobles, is travelling to the King’s Tournament in Skutten, where great swordsmen and women from all lands gather to compete. Rezkin is trying to find answers, but clearly the most accomplished sword master in all the realms cannot forgo such an opportunity to further his own agendas. There’s a good deal of intrigue going on here and Rezkin is doing that thing where he doesn’t let his friends in on his secrets. Not all of them anyways, and perhaps not the most important of all- Frisha. That poor girl is left alone wondering what he could be doing, and while he doesn’t lie to her outright he lets her make assumptions and that is dangerous. This kind of thing leads to betrayal!!!! See Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy for examples.
All in all this was a great sequel but I feel I can’t quite give it full marks. The events had huge significance, but it felt like the whole thing was a preamble to the third book- one giant set up. I was also disappointed to find that “the Raven” was barely present at all during this book, especially after all his hard work dominating the criminal underworld. That too will likely play a very large role in the third book and I do look forward to seeing how all that plays out. Once again Nick Podehl did a great job on narration. So great in fact that I wished Rezkin would have pushed Shiela Jebai off the ship because she was a horror and her voice was equally obnoxious!
truthaurdare's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
pinkfloydian's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
thenerdybookfairy's review
4.0
Kel Kade's King's Dark Tidings series continues in this second book in the saga, "Reign of Madness", and it does not disappoint! Part fantasy & part political thriller, this series will keep you up reading well past your bedtime. The story picks up right after the first book ends, and continues the journey of Rezkin and his companions as they head to the king's tournament.
We learn more about King Caydean, and the political situation in the land of Ashai. We also learn more about Rezkin... but, do we?? It seems like the more we learn about him, the deeper the mystery about who - or what - he is only intensifies. The reader is as confused as Rezkin is himself.
Book two ends on a major cliffhanger, and I had to jump right to book three and read several chapters before I could write this review because I wanted to see where the story might go. So far in book three, there are still no definite answers. Suffice it to say, Kel Kade knows how to write a compelling story.
There's a lot of action, drama, and intrigue which draws you in and keeps you up way past your bed time reading just one more chapter. I highly recommend the series so far - unless you need your beauty sleep. Then forget it, cuz you won't have much!
We learn more about King Caydean, and the political situation in the land of Ashai. We also learn more about Rezkin... but, do we?? It seems like the more we learn about him, the deeper the mystery about who - or what - he is only intensifies. The reader is as confused as Rezkin is himself.
Book two ends on a major cliffhanger, and I had to jump right to book three and read several chapters before I could write this review because I wanted to see where the story might go. So far in book three, there are still no definite answers. Suffice it to say, Kel Kade knows how to write a compelling story.
There's a lot of action, drama, and intrigue which draws you in and keeps you up way past your bed time reading just one more chapter. I highly recommend the series so far - unless you need your beauty sleep. Then forget it, cuz you won't have much!