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Sevalian Chronicles #2
To Serve the King
Jenna’s dream to become Sevalia’s first Lady Knight in centuries is now within reach. Finally, she can live out her destiny to become a powerful warrior mage, or so she hopes. Although the Crown supports her, many others do not. Her father disinherits her, several powerful nobles attempt to lock her into Sevalia’s mage Towers, and her Rahtani relatives from the southern desert call for her to abandon Sevalia entirely.
Meanwhile, Jenna becomes embroiled in palace politics when she is called to help strengthen the tenuous peace with the new republic in the north. A peace that is threatened by sedition in her hometown of Salara. With her family in danger and war once more on the horizon, Jenna must choose between divided loyalties.
Meanwhile, Jenna becomes embroiled in palace politics when she is called to help strengthen the tenuous peace with the new republic in the north. A peace that is threatened by sedition in her hometown of Salara. With her family in danger and war once more on the horizon, Jenna must choose between divided loyalties.
- GenresFantasyYoung Adult
394 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 30, 2016
30 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Lane
20 books95 followersWhen not daydreaming about fantasy worlds Naomi works as an energy consultant in downtown Boston. She also lives in Boston with her husband and their two cats.
She's been daydreaming up silly stories for as long as she can remember, and one day, she thought it would be fun to write some of them down. After finishing the first story, she then wanted to be able to share it with her friends and family, and so self-published To Play the Lady.
Email her at toplaythelady@gmail.com.
She's been daydreaming up silly stories for as long as she can remember, and one day, she thought it would be fun to write some of them down. After finishing the first story, she then wanted to be able to share it with her friends and family, and so self-published To Play the Lady.
Email her at toplaythelady@gmail.com.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 13, 2016
Jenna is coming closer to becoming what she has dreamed of doing, becoming the first Lady Knight in centuries. While the crown and others support her, others do not, including her father, who has disinherited both Jenna and her brother, and many nobles want her locked in the mage towers. With Jenna involved in palace politics and peace talks Jenna may ultimately need to choose where her loyalties lie?
To Serve the King is an enjoyable second book and I did not see some of the story points coming. I found this book very slow paced but there was more world building. The main problem I had with this book is that it seemed that the ultimate story arc for this series changed between To Play the Lady and this book.
Jenna annoyed me in this book as she was easily distracted from whatever task she had at hand, acted before she thought and did not seem willing to fight for what she wanted. I also wasn’t a fan of the romance as I thought she liked Sebastian and he would be the series love interest, but that changed at the beginning of the book and the new love interest came out of nowhere and the age gap felt too big considering Jenna’s age.
Despite the problems I had with this book I did like it, and I am looking forward to reading the next book. I would recommend To Serve the King to fans of the first book To Play the Lady.
This and my other reviews can be found at Amethyst Bookwyrm
To Serve the King is an enjoyable second book and I did not see some of the story points coming. I found this book very slow paced but there was more world building. The main problem I had with this book is that it seemed that the ultimate story arc for this series changed between To Play the Lady and this book.
Jenna annoyed me in this book as she was easily distracted from whatever task she had at hand, acted before she thought and did not seem willing to fight for what she wanted. I also wasn’t a fan of the romance as I thought she liked Sebastian and he would be the series love interest, but that changed at the beginning of the book and the new love interest came out of nowhere and the age gap felt too big considering Jenna’s age.
Despite the problems I had with this book I did like it, and I am looking forward to reading the next book. I would recommend To Serve the King to fans of the first book To Play the Lady.
This and my other reviews can be found at Amethyst Bookwyrm
August 29, 2018
I have mixed feelings about this book. The first book, which was very disappointing on a second read-through, made me leery of this one. I was happy to discover the writing a lot stronger, and the characters deepened. The world building was one of the stronger points, and I think really helped keep the story afloat.
Jenna is a rather puzzling character. She turns 14 in the story, which is a milestone for girls in her country - they are now of marriageable age. However, this does not reduce the creep factor when she falls in love with a 21-year-old prince. Even if that's culturally acceptable, it's too big a gap at that age. Though she usually acts and talks like someone a lot older (perhaps 17 or 18), there are fits of pique - usually when something doesn't go her way or she loses her temper - when she acts 5. She has an aggravating arrogance and expectation of being included in things that aren't necessarily her business that I find extremely annoying. Her chosen one-ness is also quite overpowering. Though we learn more in this book, and Lane is obviously going somewhere with it, it's so painfully obvious.
Lane self-published, so there are a number of grammatical errors that were rather irritating. By the end, I felt like there was a lot of lazy writing. The romance between Jenna and Dominic felt forced and rushed, and it was weird because a) she'd already had a fling with Dominic's younger brother not that long ago, and b) he's half again her age.
I did like the political intrigue, and again, the world building is a very strong point in this series. I think Lane has some great ideas, but she suffers from lack of an editor - it needs some cleaning and polishing and a bit of tweaking. I'm not sure if I will read the next installment.
Jenna is a rather puzzling character. She turns 14 in the story, which is a milestone for girls in her country - they are now of marriageable age. However, this does not reduce the creep factor when she falls in love with a 21-year-old prince. Even if that's culturally acceptable, it's too big a gap at that age. Though she usually acts and talks like someone a lot older (perhaps 17 or 18), there are fits of pique - usually when something doesn't go her way or she loses her temper - when she acts 5. She has an aggravating arrogance and expectation of being included in things that aren't necessarily her business that I find extremely annoying. Her chosen one-ness is also quite overpowering. Though we learn more in this book, and Lane is obviously going somewhere with it, it's so painfully obvious.
Lane self-published, so there are a number of grammatical errors that were rather irritating. By the end, I felt like there was a lot of lazy writing. The romance between Jenna and Dominic felt forced and rushed, and it was weird because a) she'd already had a fling with Dominic's younger brother not that long ago, and b) he's half again her age.
I did like the political intrigue, and again, the world building is a very strong point in this series. I think Lane has some great ideas, but she suffers from lack of an editor - it needs some cleaning and polishing and a bit of tweaking. I'm not sure if I will read the next installment.
February 11, 2016
Jenna's back and more powerful then ever! I am a sucker for this kind of novel. Kick ass heroine, horse magic, sword fighting, ball gowns, magic portals and budding romance.
In this installment Jenna is no longer forced into the pretense that she will become a Lady but can finally learn to become a knight and fight, like her brother. There is a lot more sword fighting and the magic system is fleshed out more as well. Because of this, there is all sorts of new trouble Jenna can get into and she does.
This installment really went into more detail about the history of Sevalia and its people. I especially loved learning more about Lord Harcourt and the princes, of course.
I will patiently wait for the next book.
In this installment Jenna is no longer forced into the pretense that she will become a Lady but can finally learn to become a knight and fight, like her brother. There is a lot more sword fighting and the magic system is fleshed out more as well. Because of this, there is all sorts of new trouble Jenna can get into and she does.
This installment really went into more detail about the history of Sevalia and its people. I especially loved learning more about Lord Harcourt and the princes, of course.
I will patiently wait for the next book.
May 29, 2016
Eh...I had such high hopes for this book after waiting years for it to come out! After reading To Play the Lady, The Sevalian Chronicles seemed like the answer to the Tamora Pierce withdrawal I had in that time (2011?). But, To Serve the King just didn't click for me. Some things seemed to happen a little out of nowhere, like . More development would have been nice. I think the way the plot unfolded just seemed less..something. Put together? The characters also seemed changed, personality wise, and come of flatter to me. Like Meghan, I guess I'll just have to wait to see how the 3rd book plays out. Although this book was a little of a let down, I'll keep reading out of love for the first.
May 9, 2016
Naomi Lane tells of a young teen sent To Play the Lady (ebook) Jenna and her brother are the first commoners set to court, she to be one of the queens Ladies, and he as an aspiring knight. Magical talents are usually found in the nobility, but Jenna is a mind mage, though she can only talk to horses when she arrives, and she has a magical sword and bow from her people’s magic. When her abilities allow her to stop an assassination attempt and prevent a war. This allows her To Serve the King (ebook) as a knight trainee. But people are using her merchant father to further their ends, drawing her in. I was fascinated by the tale and willing to wait for more.Review printed by Philadelphia Weekly Press
June 29, 2016
this exhibits the... what i like to call "YA fantasy age romance of yesteryear" where the main protagonist is, like, 14-16 years old and the romance counterpart is six or seven years older or possibly double the age, even. back when i was actually said young age i didn't question it, because it seemed Convention and even if i personally found it creepy, maybe others didn't, but now that i'm on the other side of this age bracket i find it, uh, distracting and still pretty creepy. i had forgotten the age of all these characters from book one (it had been quite a number of years) so i was pretty derailed to find said love interest was short of 21 and our main protaganist was 14 and so kind of got wound up in that instead of focusing on the slightly disorganized storyline.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2017
Just wonderful
Full of magic, a little romance, a lot of emotion, and tons of politics, this book is a surprisingly good book. Jenna's character is developed even more from the first book, her strengths and talents humanized by her bad temper, inability to keep secrets and follow orders, overwhelming curiosity and basic immaturity. The Peter character is sort of left on the dust, along with Sebastian and a couple of others, but other characters like Lucas and Raymond get developed a bit further, deepening the intrigue and essentially just working to make this this book even better than the first one. I can't wait to see what happens next!
Full of magic, a little romance, a lot of emotion, and tons of politics, this book is a surprisingly good book. Jenna's character is developed even more from the first book, her strengths and talents humanized by her bad temper, inability to keep secrets and follow orders, overwhelming curiosity and basic immaturity. The Peter character is sort of left on the dust, along with Sebastian and a couple of others, but other characters like Lucas and Raymond get developed a bit further, deepening the intrigue and essentially just working to make this this book even better than the first one. I can't wait to see what happens next!
November 25, 2018
Just re-read this, which I hardly ever do. I'd just as beautiful and magical as I remember. PLEASE tell me you are in the works of making a third one.... Honestly this series is one of my all time favorites and I want the story to continue!
March 8, 2016
I need to see how this plays out in book 3. I felt this one pulled its punches more than book 1. And was kind of mundane. Book 1 was bam! This was less bam
April 24, 2018
I liked it! Same comment than book 2.
November 17, 2018
3.5 stars. Reasonably good sequel. A bit too much "people acting stupid because they keep secrets from each other" for no good reason other than as a plot device
November 22, 2021
This sequel left me confused
I don’t often write reviews and others have left more detailed reflections. I do, however, feel compelled to add my own short notes.
The characters and the world building are nicely done, but the decisions made by the characters and their motivations often left me confused because they came seemingly from nowhere.
I read in one of the other reviews that the novel was self published and of true, that would make a lot of sense. The author has excellent ideas, but I think she would have benefited from more revision to help make her vision more clear to us all.
All of that being said, if a third novel is published I WILL read it. The characters are strong and engaging in an interesting world and I believe the author can absolutely be more clear on the other areas of concern in a future novel.
I don’t often write reviews and others have left more detailed reflections. I do, however, feel compelled to add my own short notes.
The characters and the world building are nicely done, but the decisions made by the characters and their motivations often left me confused because they came seemingly from nowhere.
I read in one of the other reviews that the novel was self published and of true, that would make a lot of sense. The author has excellent ideas, but I think she would have benefited from more revision to help make her vision more clear to us all.
All of that being said, if a third novel is published I WILL read it. The characters are strong and engaging in an interesting world and I believe the author can absolutely be more clear on the other areas of concern in a future novel.
June 23, 2021
Amazing!
I love these books. Usually I end up skipping lines, but this story always has me rechecking myself and going “oop gotta make sure I read EVERYTHING” because I don’t want to miss ANYTHING. Love.
I love these books. Usually I end up skipping lines, but this story always has me rechecking myself and going “oop gotta make sure I read EVERYTHING” because I don’t want to miss ANYTHING. Love.
March 10, 2023
I do recommend
Does it just end like that? I shouldn’t have started it yet but I didn’t think I would actually end up loving it!
Not to much romance. Which is okay with me. It could have used a little bit more fighting action but whatever.
Does it just end like that? I shouldn’t have started it yet but I didn’t think I would actually end up loving it!
Not to much romance. Which is okay with me. It could have used a little bit more fighting action but whatever.
July 4, 2020
Really good book.
I really enjoyed this book. The words flowed so well from one chapter to the next that I ended up reading the book in one sitting.
I really enjoyed this book. The words flowed so well from one chapter to the next that I ended up reading the book in one sitting.
June 21, 2023
Gah!! Where is the third book? Is this really how she ends the series? Horrible. If I knew it wasn't complete, I would not have started this book series.
July 20, 2025
It was an ok ending to Jenna's journey.
November 8, 2025
Amazing
Reminds me a lot of Alanna by Tamora Pierce. Definitely a favorite of mine! I love Jenna and all her friends.
Reminds me a lot of Alanna by Tamora Pierce. Definitely a favorite of mine! I love Jenna and all her friends.
November 29, 2025
This book was bad. There were more inconsistencies than the first one and the main character made the worst possible decisions at every turn.
Also the relationship with Dominic felt forced, and the age gap was objectively creepy. Multiple characters told him he was too old for her, and it was like oh but our bond is unbreakable, which like dude, your bond with a 14 year old as a 21 year old???? Very renesmee energy. Especially reading the sequel as an adult, the book does not make sense, the character decisions have no continuity, Jenna never has consequences despite low key paralyzing another kid, and the sensitive topics in here were not handled well.
Also the relationship with Dominic felt forced, and the age gap was objectively creepy. Multiple characters told him he was too old for her, and it was like oh but our bond is unbreakable, which like dude, your bond with a 14 year old as a 21 year old???? Very renesmee energy. Especially reading the sequel as an adult, the book does not make sense, the character decisions have no continuity, Jenna never has consequences despite low key paralyzing another kid, and the sensitive topics in here were not handled well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2016
Good book.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews