The Invasion of the Tearling

The Queen of the Tearling #2

by Erika Johansen

In this riveting sequel to the national bestseller The Queen of the Tearling, the evil kingdom of Mortmesne invades the Tearling, with dire consequences for Kelsea and her realm.

With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as Queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, she crossed the Red Queen, a brutal ruler whose power derives from dark magic, who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what is hers. And nothing can stop the invasion.

But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing, and she finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime. The fate of the Tearling —and that of Kelsea’s own soul—may rest with Lily and her story, but Kelsea may not have enough time to find out.

In this dazzling sequel, Erika Johansen brings back favorite characters, including the Mace and the Red Queen, and introduces unforgettable new players, adding exciting layers to her multidimensional tale of magic, mystery, and a fierce young heroine. 

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Dystopia, Audiobook, Magic, Adult

544 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2015

Reviews

[Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite book I read this year

[Ben Alderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS/SERIES I HAVE EVER READ BEFORE!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still have so many questions! I NEED to read the finale before the end of the year. Hold me to it.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK! LOVED IT!
{insert weird fangirl noises here}



This one has been on my radar since I read (and loved!) the first book last year. I was so freaked out that this one wasn't going to live up to the hype in my head, I couldn't even crack it open for 2 days after I got it.
Yes, I'm being totally serious. Yes, I know that's incredibly weird!



But once I finally grabbed my nuts and plunged in, I could tell pretty quickly that Queen of Tearling wasn't a fluke. This is a nice sized book at 551 pages, but I flew through it in a couple of days like it was nothing. Nothing!
{insert more weird fangirl noises here}



Ok, ok. I'll stop.
One more? No? Fine.
*cough*
Ok, so if you didn't like the first book, then don't waste your time with this one. I know this was a hit-or-miss book with a lot of my friends, and I doubt that anything that happens in this second book will make someone who hated the original change their mind about these characters. So.
Wow. This is harder to write than thought it would be...
How can I describe why I loved it without spoiling anything? Hmmm. Ok, I'm really going to try my hardest not to let anything slip, but if you're super-freaky about not knowing ANYTHING, then feel free to stop now. I don't want anyone getting upset with me...



Well, the best thing would have to be the Big Reveal about The Crossing!
Why's that, you ask?
Well, I've read several books with this It-Looks-Like-Medieval-Times-But-There's-All-These-Hints-That-Really-Everything-Just-Collapsed-At-Some-Point-And-It's-Actually-Taking-Place-In-The-Distant-Future...thing. So, while it's not a totally overdone concept, I wasn't flipping out over the originality of it by the time I picked up this book.
Ermahgard! There's a twisty-twist!



I'm not going to tell you what the twist is, but it's awesome!
Not to mention, the addition of Lily really threw me for a loop. I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped open when she started describing what her life was like, and what was going on around her. It was insane! Her story was heartbreaking and more than just a little scary to read. Plus, (and this is in the blurb, so I don't think it's a spoiler) when the lines between Lily & Kelsea start to blur, it got really interesting. By the end, I was totally freaking out on Lily's behalf!



Kelsea still had that unyielding badass attitude that I loved in the first book. She may not always be right, but she always does what she believes is the right thing. And when the General or some of the other men try to handle her & her crazy 'save the people of her kingdom' ideals?



Ok, her looks also change in this one. Why? Unsure! One more mystery of the stones, I guess.



But does it actually help her to become more beautiful? Shockingly, the answer is no. The people who already loved her, still love her, and the people who didn't...well, let's just say she finds that maybe beauty isn't everything she thought it would be.



Kelsea's my hero! Yes, even after everything that happens in this book. I love her! She's the perfect imperfect heroine, and I can't WAIT to see where the next book is going to take us!
I know not everyone is going to love this one as much as I did, but I absolutely did. This will be the second year in a row that Erika Johansen's book makes my top ten list!
{insert weird fangirl noises...again}



Ouch! Jesbus! Frick, that hurt!
*rubs head*
Anyway, it was everything I hoped for and more.



I do feel the need to point out, once again, that these books have some pretty graphic stuff in them. They are not Young Adult, and some people probably might not feel comfy handing this subject matter over to younger teens. Seriously. Lots of abuse, rape, torture, etc..
Have fun!

Also reviewed for:

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE: 10-19-2016 THIS IS ON SALE ON KINDLE FOR $1.99 ! It doesn't say for how long though




BLOODY HELL!

Okay so I loved the hell out of this book and I was confused about certain things!

Queen Kelsea takes a little walk on the dark side in this book, but that's okay, she's going to rock it. I just know it.... NEED NEXT BOOK!!!!!

Everyone that has read the first book knows that Kelsea sees things. Well she sees a lot of things that have to do with the Crossing! Every damn time she went there and here's this other world so to speak, this my face....



I loved Lily's story, but I'm still stumped. My poor ole head, because it went right over it!

That stupid jerk Anders became the new Holy Father and he did some bad things to people. I so wanted to see someone end him. He was cruel to sweet Father Tyler too!!



I will give a little spoiler and say he didn't get killed but he got a good beat down and trust me, he deserved it when you read some of the stuff he did. I was disgusted and well.. lets just leave it at that!!!!

There is finally the meeting of armies and the meeting of the Queens. Holy crow, we find out so much about the Queens and oh I forgot to mention there was some evil dude appearing to Kelsea, but that's a whole other story.

I don't want to wait until next year for the new book!! :( Gaaaahhhhhh, I want to know what is going on!



Because I'm confused in a way at the end and what the Crossing is....... help!

I loved the book regardless of my stupidity and I think the cover is awesome! Fin!

MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List

[Tomoe Hotaru · Rating 3 out of 5]

23 Feb. '15
blog | goodreads
Disclaimer: An advanced reader copy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

As before, folks. Come prepared with fries and your favourite condiment. Long and bitter review up ahead.

If ever I could use half-star ratings on goodreads, it would be now. Actual rating would be 2.5 but I decided to be generous and round up.

I gave it a go, and it passed. Barely. Enough to convince me to read the third book once it's out? Absolutely. The writing style is simplistic and yet remarkably fluid, absorbing, and just keeps you turning the pages. I urge you to also take a look at the more glowing reviews, as I doubt reading mine would actually tempt you to read this book. But really, The Invasion of the Tearling deserves a fair shake and it may just be your cuppa tea.

But all that said, I have to warn some of you (potential[?]) readers -- this book should come with its own trigger warning for rape, sexual assault/harrassment, and self-harm. To give credit where credit is due though, I did not find these topics to be used in a romanticized way or gratuitously (although it teetered there in some ways -- which I will get to in the meat of my review later).

Speaking of my review. Please do not click the "spoiler" tags unless you are in fact prepared to be spoiled.




And not in the brush-your-hair-feed-you-grapes sort of way.

I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I'd like to; and for very similar reasons that I expounded in my review of The Queen of the Tearling, which you can find >>here<< should you be interested. As I've detailed them in my previous review, I'll not repeat them here.
The reason I enjoyed The Invasion marginally better than its predecessor is simply because at least it managed to answer some much-needed questions. Unfortunately this came at the expense of more questions, albeit little details, and so my enjoyment of it was really constrained.

My biggest peeve of this book in particular, and the whole series in general, would have to be Kelsea's inexplicably powered necklace, which so happens to be a deus ex machina. Nearing the end of the novel we're given a tease of the first sighting of the necklace. Yet by the time we close the book, we still know absolute Jack Schmidt about it -- where it came from, how it got its powers, what exactly were its powers and how did it function ..... Kelsea's deus ex machina necklace remains the novel's greatest mystery still.

This wouldn't be so much of a problem if literally everything weren't solved by it. Indeed, all Kelsea needs to do is twirl around at her new-found prettiness and let her jewelry do its job.
With this kind of unknown force, we have no idea what its limits are and how it operates. It effectively remains open as a miracle solve-all for indeed anything and everything until the author decides it inconvenient for her plot progression to use the necklace as an answer.
Case in point: Kelsea's decisions towards the end of the book in her face-off with the enemy. Instead of smiting down the Red Queen with her mighty powers, she chooses to ... not do it? and instead trade in her jewelry for not even eternal peace -- but a temporary peace? how is this a wise decision, O True Queen Kelsea?

Kelsea could have been substituted for any other character for all the effective agency she had. Everything was solved away by the magical mystery of her necklace, and her -- or its -- powers seemed to suddenly blossom during the last few chapters of the book.
Powers that we had never even seen before or heard mention of, suddenly were mastered and -- just when I thought I couldn't possibly dislike Kelsea even more -- came to save the day in a final battle that could only be described as mind-rape.

Again, I've gone through enough detail regarding Kelsea's character in my first review, so I'll only brush it briefly here. Suffice to say, her choices were so foolish, stupid, and made for no valid reason. It seemed extremely out of character for her to make, which makes it painfully obvious that it's all a huge set-up and foreshadowing for the third book.
Case in point: Kelsea's decision to release the shadow-man-thing, whom she knew for a fact to be a dangerous, lying, evil foe -- just to garner some possibly valuable information about the Red Queen's weakness. Oh, which she could have easily done anyway, given her mind-raping abilities towards the end of the book.

I suppose Kelsea was frequently "out of character", though. I call it puberty, or the Red Queen's libido somehow transferred on to her. It must be all that darkness brewing up in her soul. Funny, though, that the "darker" Kelsea grew, the more horny she became? I thought we were all pro-lust, here?
Speaking of puberty -- it did wonders for Kelsea, and not just on her hormones. Forget the author's rather extensive article on the "need for ugly heroines" -- she may as well take that back.




All of our protagonist's preoccupations on beauty in the previous book were not for nothing. Here, Kelsea transforms from an ugly duckling -- into Emma Watson. And by gosh you guessed it, that process involved losing weight.

I will just pause right there as we all take a collective gnashing of teeth.

But enough about Kelsea, and on to the world. You'll all be relieved to hear that we get a lot more info on the world's history -- although keep in mind, it all still needs to be taken with a mountain-high suspension of disbelief.
Case in point: so I was right and they did sail off into a void and pop up in a new world. But ... how? Does the author expect me to believe that magic exists in the actual Earth's dystopic future, that allows such interdimensional travel? And that such magic has never been noticed by anyone else on the planet? -- alright, I'm picking nits, now.

A plus point of this book were the glimpses we saw of Earth's future, leading up to the Crossing. These scenes I found to be interesting and a breath of fresh air between Kelsea's ..... hormonal woes. The depiction of women is very disconcerting, however -- as if with the sheer amount of women's rights movements and feminists nowadays, we could ever revert back to those dark, dark ages.
But never mind how plausible Johansen's future earth is. She needed it that way to show dissatisfaction and how low mankind have become. I'll let you decide for your own whether it was necessary for the author to use scenes of domestic violence and rape to illustrate just how despicable Lily's husband is. Just like I'll let you decide whether it was necessary or added any value to the story/characterization to have Kelsea self-harm.

Personally, I found it odd -- but only because there seems to be so much going on. It gives me the impression, and the first book gave me the same impression, that Johansen is trying to cramp her book full of contemporary issues that we all should be concerned about.
Self-harm, rape and sexual assault, religious intolerance, homosexuality -- it's all in there. Right next to allusions of child sex trade, deathrings ...
As admirable as it is to bring up these issues, the whole jumble of them makes it unfocused and actually cheapens the effect. As if the author has overreached herself and is trying to swipe at what is most likely to appeal to her audience.

Add to it that our protagonist, of course, falls on the "right" side of these issues. It's such a cheap way of making readers feel guilty and "wrong" should we dislike our heroine.

Unfortunately, I'm not one to feel much guilt. I detest you, Kelsea. You and your mind-rape and stupid decisions and hypocrisy.

Despite the overall tone of my review, I did not, however, detest this book.



my review of The Queen of the Tearling.
my review of The Fate of the Tearling.

***
more reviews are available at my blog
***

7 Feb. '15
Interesting article written by the author about "ugly" heroines, which I actually agree with. Enough with this preoccupation with beautiful female leads and a plot that centralizes on her romantic affairs!

Too bad her "ugly" heroine doesn't translate on screen though. Don't get me wrong, I love Emma Watson, but one of the points of Kelsea was that she wasn't attractive by any traditional standards. But like Hermione, Emma just doesn't capture that aspect of the character, and it kind of diminishes the point the author was trying to make.

Or, I don't know, I could be wrong. Perhaps they've found a way to dress Emma down (if she really does end up playing Kelsea on film).


PS. I personally like this cover better:




18 Oct. '14
How does this have ratings? Is there an ARC out already???

[Dear Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the first book but... this was a clusterfuck. In a really, really, Dali-trippy kind of way.

Like, seriously, those flashbacks?! Migraine. MIGRAAAAAINE.

Me, when I finished the book:



Ugh, so disappointed.

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 3 out of 5]

1.) The Queen of the Tearling ★★★

I didn't enjoy this book more than The Queen of the Tearling. This book felt like it dragged way too much in some parts and I'm not a huge fan Kelsea seeing memories from the past. I understand her necklace(s) is very powerful and helpful, but I just didn't enjoy this concept as much as I hoped.

Yes, Kelsea can now see memories from a girl named Lily, who lived in pre-crossing America. Even though Lily is rich and married to a powerful man, while most the population lives in terrible conditions, she isn't safe and lives a very sad life. As much as I really loved Lily's story line, it just felt too abrupt and jarring switching back and forth from her past and Kelsea's present.

Kelsea has her own major problems going on - The Mort army is getting closer to her kingdom every day. The Red Queen wants her sapphires and will do anything to get them. All hope seems lost to Kelsea, but her kingdom believes in her and she will go to dangerous lengths to prove them right.

This book has many important and thought provoking topics that need more discussion in our world:
-Women are not alive to just get married and bear their husband children.
-Woman can be raped by their husbands.
-Men do get raped, not just women.
-Sometimes it's hard to get out of abusive relationships.

This being said, this book has many triggers for abuse, rape, and self harm, so please use caution while reading.

This book also deals with body image in a weird way, which I'm not sure I liked. In The Queen of the Tearling Kelsea is stated as being chubby and plain constantly. Well, in The Invasion of the Tearling Kelsea is subconsciously using her powers to be more attractive. People comment on the change of her looks a lot, and it sort of feels bad to read. Kelsea herself has inner monologues where she understands that men should like her regardless of the way she looks, but she obviously prefers being thinner and more beautiful. I mean, I know most of us would, which is why it feels weird. I don't know how I feel about this part of the story, but, regardless, use caution if you feel this might be something that would upset or trigger you.

“This, I think, is the crux of evil in this world, Majesty: those who feel entitled to whatever they want, whatever they can grab. Such people never ask themselves if they have the right. They consider no cost to anyone but themselves.”

There isn't much romance in this book, and what romance is in this book is pretty weak. I'm totally team Pen all the way, without question, but let me just say, for the record, the Fetch is so annoying and lame. Why does Kelsea even have a crush on his circle-talking-ass? Oh yeah, he's so dreamy looking.



Again, I feel like this story is so unique because of how it is set in the future while also being medieval feeling. This second book helps you understand the history of the Tearling and the events that took place that made the Tearling what it was and what it is currently.

I really think Erika Johansen writes phenomenally and I very much appreciate her take on what could happen to the world we live in today. Her feministic views shine brightly in this book, and I loved every difficult point she brings up. These difficult discussions are so powerful and so needed, and for that alone I would recommend this series.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and will for sure continue on with The Fate of the Tearling when it is released later this year. This book does end on a HUGE cliffhanger, while we also discover an equally as HUGE twist/revelation. I'm not sure if I could ever resist The Fate of the Tearling if I tried just based on those two factors alone.

“There's a better world out there, so close we can almost touch it.”

Blog | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Youtube | Twitch

[Shannon A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread November 2016: flawless are always. Finally ready for FATE. #dyingggg

Full video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rfLM...

This arc was sent to me from Harper in exchange for an honest review*

-----------------------------

First impressions:
Five glorious stars - this was a fantastic sequel, maybe the best I've ever read. I wasn't sure how I was to like the new character and perspective that was added to this book but I LOVED it so much. This book outdid the first one and I am so excited for the third book!!!

[Simona B · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

“I have news for you, Arlen. We're on my chessboard now.”

•This series is the umpteenth proof of the fact that the most deserving books are very often the less known and hyped. This series deserves to have her praises sung for the whole world to hear. I have no words and I'm in love with such perfection -save for one tiny thing that annoys me to no end, which I'll explain in a minute.

•First things first, they say, and the first thing here can only be her: Kelsea Glynn.

“Even I won't defy her. She is terrible.”
“Let me tell you a secret, General. I am worse.”

And she is. Good God, she is.

I've already applauded her in my review of The Queen of the Tearling, and now I confirm everything I said there: she's unflinching, unshakeable in her resolve to protect her kingdom, while inwardly feeling lonely and at a loss. I loved her contradictions and I loved her courage; I even loved that she gave in to the darkness of her powers before finding in herself the will to stand and walk only on her own legs.

“Always she had been a child of the light [...]. But the world was also full of darkness, a cold gulf that beckoned. The people hungered for violence, and suddenly Kelsea wanted, more than anything, to give it to them.”

Her struggles felt poignantly real, the difficulty of her task exacerbated by the fact that in spite of being surrounded by people ready to help her and stand by her every step of the way, she basically is profoundly alone, and hopelessly isolated from everyone. She's too powerful, too intelligent and too burdened to keep up any pretence of normality. She'd rather give it up altogether. I can't express the sadness, the empathy I felt for her character.

•Blessed be the Queen's Guard, all of them, without exception. But you'll forgive me if I feel that the Mace deserves a special mention.

“Are you my father, Lazarus?”
Mace’s mouth twisted. “No, Lady. I wish I was. I wanted to be. But I am not.”

•Unpopular as it may be, I also adored Lily's chapters, though it's true that, at first, they seem to be rather unconnected to the main story. And in this regard, let me say that this is not a young-adult novel. It contains violence, domestic abuse, and contents I would never feed a twelve or thirteen-year-old kid. I don't honestly know why it's labelled as a YA, but trust me, it's not.

•There is one great little thing that truly bothered me in the whole book, or rather, in the whole series, and that's is a thing concerning the world building. Lily's chapters were fundamental in understanding what the Crossing is and the reasons why it took place, and I was very satisfied and happy with the explanation. But one crucial doubt is still there: where does the magic come from? Basically, it popped up out of thin air. We're given no explanation for it and the characters are not even close to being dumb enough to justify their being apparently okay with the inexplicableness of this thing. It wasn't even necessary to provide the full explanation now: I think that, for it to be realistic, an attempt on the characters' part to formulate some hypothesis would have sufficed, since what clashes here is the fact that they roll with it as if it were perfectly normal.

•Also, why do Kelsea's features change so as to look like Lily's? I was confused.

➽ Needless to say, I've got high expectations for the conclusion to this series, and I don't want to let go. Couldn't it just go on forever? I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to say goodbye to Kelsea and the Mace, or this world. And if The Fate of the Tearling turns out to be a disappointment, I think I'll die of heartbreak.

[Anja H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.15 SAPPHIRE STARS*

“Even small gestures of kindness have the potential to reap enormous rewards. Only the shortsighted man believes otherwise.”

This book took me months to finish. I just couldn't seem to get into it, while I absolutely loved the first book in this series. (Although, after reading my review on that one, it appears that The Queen of the Tearling also took me quite some time to get into lol).
A few days ago I made up my mind about finally pushing forward since the last book in this trilogy gets published next month, and I read the remaining 300 pages of this book in 2 days... 2 DAMN DAYS! While the first half took me 6 months!
And boy, after that initial slow start, this was really good, so very very good!

What I didn't understand and found completely unnecessary about this book at first were the seemingly random visions that Kelsea started having about a woman from another world and another time called Lily. I just seriously couldn't wrap my head around that, but in the end it all started making sense and now I think it was absolutely brilliant! The way everything came together nicely, kudos to Erika Johansen!

Also, I love how this book doesn't involve a lot of romance. I do love Pen and the Fetch (who didn't have nearly enough appearances in this book imo) ofcourse, but I love the fact that this book focuses more on politics and strategy! It kind of reminds me of Game of Thrones in some ways, which can only be good!

Let's talk about Kelsea next! I really love her as main character! She went through some major character (and physical) development throughout these 2 books. I love that her strength doesn't come from the body, I don't think she even knows how to fight, but from the mind! Her magic is pretty awesome and she's so smart, I really have nothing but respect for her.

What I didn't really like were the endlessly lengthy chapters! Some of those even went on for over 50 pages and that's a little too much, even for me. I sometimes even found my attention wavering and then I started skipping forward just to see how many pages I still had left to read until the end of the chapter.

Overall, this book was really enjoyable once you get through the first chapters and I would recommend it to everyone!

[Always Pouting · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem with reading series is that unless I read them back to back I literally forget everything. I don't remember anything that happened in the first book bu that didn't take anything away from this one. I really like when I can just pick up a book that is part of a series and it can be read mostly as a stand alone.

I enjoyed this one and I found it held my attention, so much so that I kept looking forward to when I would get to read again. A lot of people were saying they didn't really enjoy Lily but I found that part of the book to be stronger for some reason. I actually kept getting annoyed when it wouldn't get back to what happened to her. I think mostly I was just anxious about her situation and how it would get resolved.

I did however find the whole premise of how the Tearling came to be weird honestly, not sure why but I felt like the contrast between Lily's time and then Kelsea's didn't work well enough for me personally. I wish I could articulate it better but I don't even know what specifically about it didn't work for me.

Maybe I'll try to get around to reading the last book this year before I forget this one.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review originally posted @ www.whatkarareads.com

*Please note I received an advanced copy of this novel. It does not effect my review.

Let me just start by saying that this next installment of the Tearling series is abso-flippin-lutely brilliant. Haters of Queen be damned because here in Invasion of the Tearling we begin to get some answers about the history of this world. This is where I get in the faces of every single hater sippin on the haterade, proving you all wrong, wrong, wrong!

Invasion of the Tearling is a slightly different book than we would expect of this series. The point of view shifts back and forth between Queen Kelsea preparing for the invasion of her country, and Lily, a seemingly insignificant woman living in Pre-Crossing Connecticut. I thought it was absolutely brilliant that we got to see the world of the Pre-Crossing, a place where America is pretty much a giant flippin’ mess. You’re either uber rich, or shit poor, and women’s rights? Yeah we got set back quite a few decades in that department. It’s actually quite scary to think that, with the way our society is, we could wind up there sometime in the near future. I also thought that it was pretty sweet that we actually see the Crossing. And guess what–it’s not what you would think! (Awesome shock #857402 of this novel).

Another thing I love about Invasion is that Kelsea gets darker. She fights inner battles and has urges that we all have and deal with, making her that much more realistic. She literally doesn’t give a F what anyone else thinks in this novel and it’s amazing.

Iffy issues are not glossed over, and I admire Erika greatly for this. There’s sex, there’s violence, there’s rape, there’s assault. But they make sense to the story. You see much worse on the news every day, so I don’t want to see any whining from reviewers. If you don’t like a book with real topics, go back to reading 50 Shades of Grey (I'm not even going to justify that title with italics) and leave the good books to people who actually want to read something of substance.

I can not express my love for this series enough and how much you need to read this. If you didn’t like Queen for the lack of information, I recommend you give it another shot. Read Queen immediately followed by Invasion. You might just be surprised and change your mind about it. Erika is an amazing writer and I’m officially a fan for life. This book isn’t due to be released until June, and I’m already itching for the next!

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Invasion of the Tearling picked up where the last book left off. The Mort army is invading the Tear because of the actions of Kelsea, their new queen.

I won't say what exactly those actions were, in case you didn't read the last book. Let's just say: she's breaking with tradition in more ways than one.

Kelsea has started to embrace her power in this book. It suits her.

The girl who had been raised by Carlin Glynn would never have trusted in visions, but Kelsea's world had broadened well beyond the width of Carlin's library. The Mort would come, and the Tear army wouldn't be able to stop them. All they could hope to do was slow them down." pg 33, ebook.

I remember being rather unimpressed by the first book in this series. It felt cliched to me and predictable, except for the shadow creature and the introduction of the magic of the gems.

This book has more of both of those things. I approved.

Trigger warning in The Invasion of the Tearling for anyone who has had issues with cutting.

"Just the skin," Kelsea whispered, staring at her arm, focusing all of her will on a tiny inch of flesh. She had borne worse; surely she could handle this. "Just a scratch." A shallow line of red appeared on her forearm. Kelsea bore down, watching the line deepen, her breath hissing through her teeth as the skin parted with a sting, allowing a thin line of blood to well up and hold." pg 117, ebook.

There's also domestic violence, rape, non-graphic torture and some hints of sexual abuse. I suppose a young adult could read this, depending on their maturity level. 16+ may be appropriate. I would hesitate to go any younger.

Queen Kelsea has a lot on her plate: "My people are starving and uneducated. We have no true medicine. On the eastern border is an army that will crush us into dust. These are real problems, and so for a time I've let the others lie." pg 208, ebook.

Will she be able to save everybody?

"And Kelsea wondered suddenly whether humanity ever actually changed. Did people grow and learn at all as the centuries passed? Or was humanity merely like the tide, enlightenment advancing and then retreating as circumstances shifted?" pg 381, ebook.

I wonder that sometimes too.

Recommended for readers who enjoy their fantasies on the gritty side. I don't feel like it ever veers into the truly "dark" but there are some disturbing elements to The Invasion of the Tearling.

[Nassy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real rating: 3.5

Full Review
Interesting but not as much as the first book.

What I liked
- This book is mostly about the past and the people that contributed to the creation of the new society. It was interesting reading about that, especially since the goal was to build a utopian society which clearly did not work out.

- We get to know more information about the red queen, specifically, her past which I enjoyed

- We also got more information about the dark thing that can only be summoned through fire. I find him really intriguing

- I enjoyed Father Tyler and a new character, Ewen’s POV.

What I did not like
- This book went back and forth between the past and present. Like I said before, it was interesting to learn about the past, but it sometimes got boring.

- I felt that the violence in this were sometimes too extra and unnecessary. I don’t mind violence, but it should have a point. For instance, there was this woman that was being abused by her husband. At first I was like ‘yeah okay, that’s bad’ but then he became worse and worse and it got to a point that I was losing interesting/feeling about the situation and was waiting for the point of all the abuse. Plus, why are the majority of the guys in this so overtly sexist/violent. It didn’t seem believable to me.

- Kelsea made some bad decisions that were either weird like using her ability to cut herself when she was angry or wanted to punish herself or disappointing for instance, her sleeping with pen even though she was in love with someone else and no one seemed to be able to challenge her because she was queen.

Overall, I liked it and there are still a few questions I have that I hope the last book would answer.

[Anniebananie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Band 2 hat mir besser gefallen als Band 1. Wo mir im ersten Teil noch Tempo und Plot fehlten brilliert Teil 2 mit gutem Pacing und einer spannenden Story. Man taucht noch viel mehr in die Welt ein und erfährt einige sehr interessante Hintergrundinfos und Zusammenhänge.
Das größte Manko war in diesem Buch für mich einfach unsere Protagonistin. Kelsea war doch im ersten Band nicht so krass unsympathisch, oder?! Mann, die Alte ging mir etappenweise echt gehörig auf den Senkel.
Nichtsdestotrotz ein starker zweiter Band der Trilogie, der Lust auf das große Finale macht! 👌🏻

[Sara Bow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am Anfang ist es mir wirklich unheimlich schwer gefallen, in das Buch hineinzukommen. Ab dem 2. drittel konnte ich das Buch allerdings nicht mehr aus der Hand legen und finde die Entwicklung der Geschichte wirklich super! Ich freue mich schon wahnsinnig auf den dritten Band und bin unheimlich froh, diesen bereits in meinem Regal stehen zu haben!

[Misstdennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

without a doubt, this book deserves all the stars in the universe.
5/5

“You can defend your kingdom, or you can defend your people, Majesty. You don’t have the manpower to do both at once.”
“People are more important than land.”

Holy shit, this book may have taken me 57 years to read(okay, maybe 5 days) thanks to my lingering and unwanted flu, but this had me hooked from the very first page and I never wanted to put this down!
THIS BOOK IS FUCKING GENIUS
Someone save my soul because I'm low key dying right now.

I absolutely adored where this story was heading and the split stories between the past and present was just so damn good.
Like holy shit that ending like what the fuccckkk. I legitimately read that last sentence and felt utterly shooketh.
I'm still having heart palpitations right now and my palms are still perspiring profusely.

If you're yet to pick this book up, I highly suggest you do so, but please be mindful that this book depicts mental & physical abuse and rape. Although I thought those parts of the book were very important, it's also quite confronting and real.

Those topics aside, I think Queen Kelsea, the main protagonist is an utter ruthless bad-ass and I would give my left arm to meet her. Seriously.
I cannot wait to pick up The Fate of the Tearling and consume every inch of that story.

I love this series. It has become my very existence.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greaat! And I called EVERYTHING.

[Constantine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Fantasy

Kelsea Glynn is acclimating to her new duties as Queen of the Tearling as each day goes by. She disobeyed the Red Queen, the cruel monarch whose authority is derived from evil magic. The Red Queen is sending her formidable army into the Tearling to seize what she thinks is hers. The invasion of the Tearling has started! When the Mort army gets closer to the Kingdom, Queen Kelsea decides to form an alliance with a woman called Lily in order to protect her kingdom.

I liked the first book more than this one. I think it was more entertaining. I feel the biggest problem with book two is that it has more Lily than Kelsea. Even when Kelsea was there, she did not feel the same vibrant and determined Kelsea to me. That spark was not inside her. I’m not sure if this was an intentional thing by the author in turning her that way since now she has the fate of the kingdom in her hands. Maybe she wanted her to be more reserved as a character to make the reader more convinced about her new position.

The new character in this installment is Lily. Her life was not an easy one as she was the victim of domestic abuse. I don’t want to say more because I feel it will be a spoiler. However, you still need to check the trigger warnings related to this main character. Many times I felt this book was more about her than about Kelsea. In general, this is not a bad thing but if you got attached to the main character, you will want more of her and less of the others, especially with new characters in the middle of a series. The author’s writing style is simple yet very engaging. Despite being an entertaining sequel, I think the book could have been a little shorter. It would’ve made a big difference.

[Maja (The Nocturnal Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who enjoyed The Queen of the Tearling more than I could possibly put into words, I waited with bated breath for the continuation of Kelsea’s story. There was so much left to resolve and so many obvious dangers ahead of this simple yet sharply intelligent heroine. To say that I jumped at the chance to read The Invasion of the Tearling early is somewhat of an understatement. I begged for it and was more than ready to sell some small portion of my soul for it. Unfortunately, I would have paid much more than the book actually deserves.

Most of the criticism for the first book was aimed at its weak worldbuilding. The world we were given was well-built, but the details on how it all came to be were flimsy at best. Tearling may be a fantasy world, but it’s firmly rooted in our own; however, the connection between the two was never properly explained. In The Invasion, Erika Johansen overcompensates by giving us two stories, one in Tearling, and one in a futuristic dystopian version of our own world. The entire novel jumps back and forth between the two, usually at the most inconvenient of times, successfully distancing the readers from both main characters and making the narrative seem choppy and disconnected.

In addition to the extra storyline, Kelsea herself undergoes some serious changes. In The Invasion, she turns into a despicable person, giving us only brief glimpses of that sharp intelligence I admired so much. She becomes a rash, vain girl with only one goal in mind – proving to herself and to others that she’s all grown up. To say that I dislike seeing my heroines so thoroughly and senselessly ruined simply isn’t enough. Everything else that was wrong with this book was forgivable, but the utter ruin of this character was not.

However, at the end of the day, this is a simple truth we need to face: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We followed a simple forest girl as she turned into a sharp and honest queen, and then into a vain and powerful creature. We haven’t actually seen her redeemed, only partly, but even when she does find her path, I fear that she’s already done some unforgivable mistakes.

Finally, The Invasion of the Tearling wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be, but it deserves some credit for its originality and creativity in worldbuilding. Johansen’s writing is fairly simplistic, but impressively clever as well. Not all is lost, the third book might bring us a once again changed Kelsea and a differently constructed narrative. Let’s hope that it does.

[Giselle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Electronic Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss for review.

Warning: Includes violence and rape.

Lots of backstory added..this was definitely a book that suffered from second book syndrome. Though I enjoyed the intense character development for Kelsea.. Her insecurities from the previous book is still evident though. I ultimately loved seeing her slow descent into madness. You see her change as soon as she meets the Dark Thing (He gave me the creeps.) And I also like how this book isn't focused on romance. I just hated how women are treated here.. Like second-class citizens.. Raped or beaten, you name it was included. *shivers* So many questions about the past are finally answered and even though we get to see a glimpse into the Crossing, it still doesn't explain what happened with all the magic and how the sapphires became to be. It felt like it was just plopped into the story as a way to call it fantasy?

As for the characters, we see through the eyes from pretty much everyone including the Red Queen, the guards, and the Jailer. One of the most despicable characters had to be The Holy Father. He is evil and violent. Disgusting. What he does is in the name of God, yet it's so far removed from what God really wants. The scene in Father Tyler's room and afterwards was heart breaking..The brutality against him was just terrible.

There is dual point of views from the past to the present, and ultimately by the end, you get to see both converge...During the Crossing was a time where the very wealthy held lands and built a massive wall to keep the poor out. The story of Lily and Greg really made me angry. Here is a husband that thinks his wife is his property. Raped by her violent abusive husband. Painted as a criminal but also treated like a whore. It made me cringe every time Greg appeared. This book does not treat women well and I pretty much want to throw it at the wall every time.

Even though there wasn't much development, and it took FOREVER to get to the end, I still liked the writing and how it gripped me to the last page. I just needed to know what happened in the final showdown and there is a showdown all right. I was just expecting this huge fight but there wasn't. Overall, I'm still very much interested in what's to come in the last book so I can finally mark this series as read in my list. On that final note, I just have to say..THE COVER..GAHH it doesn't feel as memorable as the first one did. This is just too dark for my taste.

RATING 4/5

QUOTES

"Those who feel entitled to whatever they want, whatever they can grab. Such people never ask themselves if they have the right. They consider no cost to anyone but themselves." (99)

"Cruelty is in everyone. It only takes the tight application of pressure to coax it out." (124)

"You only judge because you can't see the whole picture." (177)

"Picture a world where there are no rich and poor. No luxury, but everyone is fed and clothed and educated and cared for. God controls nothing. Books aren't forbidden. Women aren't the lower class. The colour of your skin, the circumstances of your birth, these things don't matter. Kindness and humanity are everything. There are no guns, no surveillance, no drugs, no debt, and greed holds no sway at all." (182)

"It does no good to dwell on the past. The future, now…that's everything." (229)

"You only got one moment, and when it came, you had to jump, no matter the cost." (327)

"He thought that one good deed could make up a lifetime of terrible acts." (449)

"How easy and pleasant it was, to punish those who deserves punishment." (477)

"I simply see, where other people might notice nothing." (486)

[❄️BooksofRadiance❄️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second read - still a favourite. 🙌

[Jessie Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

gimme gimme gimme

for all those who love this series ---



if you don't like this series, Awkward Jaime sez BYE



So for a while there I wasn't sold on Lily's connection to the main story from book number one (which totally holds up on a reread btw) but then shit went down and wow and Jonathan you badass and Aisa you and Arya would be besties and then MAJOR stuff happens and omg Pen and I have feels again and what are you DOING Kelsea and holy shit Red Queen is the worst but also kinda the best?

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Kelsea Glynn has fast become one of my favourite characters and The Queen of the Tearling one of my favourite series. It is quite common for sequels, particularly when there is still another to come, to be a bridge between book one and three without much action or revelation. The Invasion of the Tearling doesn't suffer from this problem and is one of the best sequels I have read.

One of the biggest issues with The Queen of the Tearling was the confusing world-building. It was quite difficult to determine what the time period actually was and what kind of genre it was supposed to be. This is somewhat resolved in this book through the use of flashbacks/visions. Kelsea's sapphires cause her to have visions to a time pre-crossing. She experiences the life of Lily Mayhew who lives in a futuristic dystopian America where the rich are living a life of luxury and the poor are, literally, walled off. Technology has advanced but security and surveillance have increased tenfold and every movement you make is tracked via an implanted device in the shoulder. Socially, the country is in a mess and has returned to a time where women are constantly degraded and abused and backstreet clinics for contraception and abortions are the norm again. It is in this world that we meet William Tear; the man responsible for creating the "New World" and we begin to discover how the world that Kelsea inhabits came to be. There is still a mix of genres as we have fantasy, dystopian and a little bit of science fiction, but the world-building is vastly improved. There are still some mysteries, I feel like we've only scratched the surface, but it was interesting and I'm excited to learn more. I wasn't sure about the alternating timelines at first, and I did find myself more eager to get back to Kelsea's world, but it was a nice way of introducing us to the history.

Kelsea isn't always a likeable character and you know what? I think that's good. She does make some questionable decisions but ultimately she tries to do what she thinks is right for her people. She was still coming in to her own in the first book, still getting used to being a queen, and now she just doesn't give a fuck and I love her for it. I could have done without her appearance changing (*sigh*) but given that it appears to be related to something bigger I'm willing to let it slide and see what happens with that next.

I still love having viewpoints from other characters too. The guards are one of my favourite parts of this series. I love their protectiveness and loyalty. Mace is still an excellent fatherly figure and I am now even more in love with Pen than I was in book one. I approve of the Pen/Kelsea relationship a lot and can't wait to see where that goes next. The Holy Father is one sick and twisted man and I love Father Tyler (his story is left hanging a bit though.. where did he go?!)

This is absolutely one of the best series I've read in a while.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
All reviews are also posted to my blog: Nicola Reads YA

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time and Flesh, they work wonders on a novel, don't they?

Enough of being cryptic. I really enjoyed this second novel; but to be honest, I wasn't sure I would. At least, this was true during the first third of it. The introduction of Lily was rather a vindication of my many suspicions that these books were, indeed, science fiction. Of course, magic is still a primary focus, but by the end I felt joyous that I got two quite different novels in one package, Kelsea and Lily tied in each other's orbits and endlessly circling each other delightfully. The viewshifts were slightly abrupt and made me wonder if I had fallen into a completely different novel, but hell, that's all right. It didn't take too long before I regained my patience and started enjoying the future of the past. The dance between the queen and the housewife grew organically and became ultimately and satisfyingly clear by the end. I can't give that part more praise, and don't mistake me on this. It is high praise.

As for the additional viewpoint characters, I tend to only tolerate the extras. The novel added two more, in addition to Lily, to the list. I'm suspending judgement as long as the little knife-girl and the deceptive-jailor have increased parts to play in the next novel, but they really didn't have much to do with the core of this book, except to prop up the recurring themes and main characters. They weren't uninteresting. They grew on me as the novel progressed, but neither of them had more than an oblique touch on the main plot.

The plot was a straight line, but there was a ton of consequence and a lot of character building. Many questions that were teased at in the first novel were answered in this one; happily and at length. As for how the book made me feel, I felt the populace's terror, but more importantly, I felt the interpersonal horror more. I was rooting for Lily almost the entire time, and like her, I thought her situation was hopeless. I suppose there's a lot to be said about hitting the reader close to home. Men can be such pricks.

After reading this novel, I'm sitting with this bittersweet empty spot in my heart that can't be filled until I get to the third book. Snatching it up is not going to be a difficult decision at all. I was moved.

[Suzzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating! I was engrossed more towards the end of the book and did struggle with some of the books every now and then. This installment sets up for what I am hoping is going to be an amazing final book. Hopefully I can read a little of the third book tonight before bed!

Was nice to get more information on who the Red Queen is and about he Tears. I didn't warm up to Lily much though. Will see how these new and old characters play out in book three!

[Geo Just Reading My Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Translation widget on the blog!!!
O distopie care se desfășoară pe mai multe planuri împletite. O carte interesantă despre lupta dintre bine și rau, despre curaj și sacrificiu. Cu personaje încântătoare, adevărați eroi!
Recenzia mea completa o găsiți aici:
https://www.delicateseliterare.ro/inv...

[Cesar (Inactive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

Thank Jesus Christ I'm finally done with this book!



You would not believe the amount of time I had to devote to read every single chapter because holy crap they were long. I'm talking about between 30-45 pages long! Yes. That's right. Which is why it took me a while to get this book done. On top of all of that, I had school work to do so it was a miracle I managed to read this book in a short amount of time.

But enough about that, let's talk about The Invasion of the Tearling, A.K.A. Why the Hell does this book have long chapters!!! (Also, I'm calling it Invasion because I do not want to type such a long title.)

I finished The Queen of the Tearling a few days ago and I was eagerly anticipating what Invasion would have. I mentioned in my review for The Queen of the Tearling that I haven't read Invasion since it was released. And now that I finally finished it, I can now give a proper review.

Before I go into my review, I do want to warn you that Invasion does contain marital abuse/rape and self-harm. If this makes you uncomfortable then I do not recommend reading it. If you do want to read it, then read with caution if you have been affected by any of the warnings.

We start off with the plot continuing after the end of The Queen of the Tearling. Kelsea is preparing for the impending invasion from the Mort army, having to deal with politics, corruption in the church, and the Kelsea herself struggling with morally gray decisions. On top of that, Kelsea is getting visions of the past from a woman named Lily who somehow holds the secrets to the events leading to the Crossing. Kelsea has a lot on her mind and is struggling to keep her kingdom under control while trying to come up with a solution about the Mort army.

For the most part, I did like Invasion. The plot progressed well from the previous book, Kelsea and the other characters grew on me, and I did like the bits of political intrigue. However, there are flaws within the book that did bother me.

The Good

Kelsea did grow a lot on me throughout Invasion. She may have her flaws and can be stubborn as hell sometimes, but she still has her kingdom and the people in her heart and is trying her best to counter the impending invasion. There's also the fact that at some point in the story, she is dealing with the ambiguity of morally gray decisions. I won't go into detail, but she does consider doing some things that could help but also have repercussions. I do like it when characters are having to choose to do the right thing while also slowly exploring gray areas of morality.

The inclusion of Lily and her story was also a nice touch. It may seem confusing at first why she's there, but when you get to the end, her inclusion is explained. She is going through a lot in her story and my heart goes out to her. She wants to be free but can't and her situation speaks volumes and can be very heartbreaking to watch.

We also get to know more about the world was like before the Crossing and let me tell you... it's not good.



Basically, if you're a POC, a woman, somewhere on the queer spectrum, or are outside of the US, you're pretty much fucked. Not the ideal place to live.
It's like the Handmaid's Tale except worse.
And since Lily lives in that world, she has to navigate it while being in an abusive relationship. But when you get to read Lily's story, it can be horrible to read but you cheer her on when she starts to stand up for herself.

Mace is here as well and boy do I love this character. I mentioned before that he is rough around the edges but he does things with good intentions, even if it means making Kelsea mad. In a way, Mace is like a mentor to Kelsea and he isn't afraid to tell Kelsea that she's wrong sometimes and doesn't agree with everything she says. Because Kelsea does have that stubborn side to her and she tends to act on emotions rather than strategy sometimes, and Mace steps in and tries to control the situation and not make Kelsea do something she might regret. They both act as buffers for each other and I love it.

We explore the politics and history of the Tearling and it can bore people if they don't like either, but those two traits are what I love in a fantasy book. I love getting to know the world more and learning about the politics. It wouldn't be a good book without having those elements.

Then we have the romance. There isn't a romance plot in the story, but the relationship between Kelsea and Pen is nice. Mind you, there isn't much of it, but I did like the sweet moments between them. In fact, I'm all for Pen instead of the Fetch. I never really understood Kelsea's crush for the Fetch as he isn't even involved that much in the story and he isn't a trustworthy person.

Pen.


The Fetch.


And now let's move on to the negatives.

The Bad

This won't come to a surprise to anyone, but he chapter length was a huge issue for me. The chapters are at least 30-45 pages long and frankly, that is way too many pages for a chapter. I understand there is a lot of story and plot progression, but at least cut them up into chapters. I would've gotten through the book so much faster. I had to mark the chapters with little post-it notes so I can tell how far I am from the next chapter while also seeing how many pages a chapter is. And in case you were wondering, yes, the next book also has long chapters. The Lord is testing my patience.

As much as I did like Lily's story, I did think parts of it dragged. It was a good story, don't get me wrong, but I do wish some things moved a bit faster.

(NOTE: For these next gripes, I will hide some spoilers so you don't have to worry about being spoiled. These two gripes were what made me give Invasion 3 stars.)

The magic system is not explained very well. I'm holding onto hope that it will get more explained in the next book, but for now, I am not impressed by it. There is magic in the world, but it's never explored nor does anyone even try to understand it. That annoyed me quite a bit. Especially with the gemstones. Am I just really supposed to accept that the jewels have magic in them and not have any explanation? I hate it when books leave out any explanation and just expects us to accept it. Fuck no.

The revelation about the Crossing was something that really bothered me that the only way I could describe it without spoiling it is through this gif.



Basically, the setting does not take place in the distant future, but rather, the gemstones (I think) created a dimensional hole and the ships on the Crossing went through it. They went into another dimension. And I fucking hated it.
The Jewles have magic in them and apparently, it was strong enough to open a dimensional hole in the fabric of space. What????
It felt like a big let down considering the magic system isn't even explained. Am I really expected to just sit there and accept that the jewels have magic in them that opened a hole to a different dimension? With no explanation about the magic, this made me hate the revelation. I did not like it whatsoever

Now that I'm done, I want to address something. The final book, The Fate of the Tearling was released in November last year and... I'm not that excited to read it considering everyone didn't like the ending. From what I'm hearing, the ending ruins the book and series. It's gonna be one of those bad endings to a series. I'm keeping my expectations low so I won't be dissapointed.

Verdict

It was hard for me to give The Invasion of the Tearling a 3 star rating because while I did like it, the pacing, the magic system, and the big lackluster reveal were not presented well. And with the 3rd book having so many mixed reviews, I'm worried about what I'll get into.

Rest assured, I will finish this series.

Thanks for reading my review!

-Cesar

[Helene Jeppesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great fantasy series with a lot of interesting elements to it. I love how Erika Johansen combines a fantasy world with our modern world, and in this book we finally get an answer as to how this is possible.
However, while I really enjoy the story and its creativity, I was slightly underwhelmed by this sequel, and that's because it undervalues the things that I loved about book one. Namely Kelsea and her extraordinary and kick-ass journey was a favourite of mine in book one, but in book two we barely hear about her in the first half of the book, and when we do you don't get the same feeling of her being a kick-ass protagonist. Actually, it's the opposite: Kelsea is insecure and somewhat indecisive and I was a bit disappointed.
Another thing that I loved about book one was that even though it wasn't action-packed, it was hugely entertaining because it dealt with fascinating elements and characters, and everything played out very well. However, this sequel is even less action-packed than the first one, so if you didn't like the lack of action in "The Queen of the Tearling", then I don't think you'll want to pick up this book.
But it has to be pointed out that I really find this story fascinating, despite the weaknesses which I've just pointed out. This is an original fantasy story because it mixes two worlds in a beautiful way. It's hard to know where things are going, and that definitely maintains my interest in the books and Kelsea's journey.