Review: The Invasion of the Tearling

The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This will contain spoilers for The Queen of the Tearling.

After The Queen of the Tearling, I was anxious to read the next installment. I rushed to the library, snagged a copy, and finished it in just a few sittings. I found this book to be even better than the first, an wonderful surprise. I really enjoyed reading from the perspectives of multiple characters, and I especially loved reading about Lily and Pre-Crossing America. Erika Johansen's stories are slow compared to some YA fantasy, but they are not boring. Her world building is complex, her intrigue and politics confounding, and her plots astounding. The whole book just gets more intense and exhilarating with each page, and I could not stop reading the last half of the book. I was up until about 3am finishing this book.

This book became very dark very quickly. We see Kelsea become much more violent and vengeful, we see awful marital abuse, and we see the inner workings of the Red Queen's mind. Once again, I was appreciative of Johansen not having a major romantic subplot. There was a little liaison, but it is not detailed, and it exists more for character development than fluff. Kelsea continues to be a badass queen who makes mistakes but values the Tearling above all else.

I can't wait to finish the next book!!!

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