The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker: Book 2)

9/10

Few could forget the mind-blowing last chapter of The Innocent Mage, which turned the whole world upside down. Immediately picking up the pace, the Awakened Mage continues directly after the dreadful accident. Grief-stricken, Gar and Asher try with all their might to keep everything together. The odds are not in their favour though, since they are still completely unaware of the actual threat; focused instead on preventing Conroyd from getting more influence. Everything goes downhill as Morg (successfully) continues to plot their demise and another strike of misfortune hits Gar. There’s only one person standing in the way of total annihilation, our beloved yet overworked Asher…

Continuing her remarkable writing style, Karen Miller not only manages to make more jokes about fish but also manages to deliver an absolutely stunning plot. As reader you’re able to gather clues as to what will happen, and the whole book has the feeling of a downwards slope. You know everything will break to pieces; you’re basically waiting for it to happen. I have to admit that the build-up was a tad slow for me (about half the book), but when the key moment arrived you entered a maelstrom where you just couldn’t not read further.

The familiarity of the main characters makes this story once again a very pleasant read and you really feel for the characters when frustration and anger gets the better of them. The touching story and crude remarks by Asher will have your emotions swinging to and fro, but as the story progresses the sadness and finality of it all will overpower the earlier light-heartedness. I can only say that this is an absolutely phenomenal conclusion to the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker series.