I just love Richelle Mead!
I first discovered her with Vampire Academy, which I
loved, and then continued reading her with Bloodlines, which I adored even
more! Now, I decided to grab her newest adult series, The age of X.
In this first book, we meet Mae Koskinen (does anyone even know how to pronounce it?), a
badass praetorian with a mysterious past. After a little... mishap let's say,
she's assigned as Justin's bodyguard, an investigator
of religious groups and supernatural claim for the RUNA (Republic of United
North America). The crime they are trying to solve soon turns out to be more
complicated than they anticipated and everything Mae was thought to believe
will be challenged.
When I started reading
this book, I went in with an open mind because I knew it was completely
different from the other Richelle Mead books I had read in the past. And like the
previous two series, I really enjoyed Gameboard of the Gods.
First I need to warn
you about the title. Religions and gods are an important part of the book, but don't
do as I did and think it's going to be like American Gods or Percy Jackson
because it won't.
In the RUNA, religion is something that is strongly discouraged and could even
lend you in trouble if you don't respect the rules. It's one of the many
differences between our world today and the one in the book, which is
completely ok considering it's a bit of a sci-fi. The new rules are easy to
understand and I was never completely lost when a new concept was introduce, so
A+ for world building!
Now for the plot. It started it off great you know, with a normal
initial situation and all. But then I got to the middle and found myself in a
bit of a slump. The investigation was going nowhere and the characters did not
have any interesting conflicts. Fortunately, this slump didn't last too long
and soon, we were back in business! Everything slowly picked up again until the
end, where I was left wanting more. We did get answers as the book was getting
to an end, which was nice as there was many unanswered questions. Some were
left that way, which is fine too.
A lot of those questions were concerning our two main characters : Mae
and Justin. I wish I could have liked Mae more than I did. It just didn't feel
like she was the MC and I wish she would've had more depth. But Justin... Not
gonna lie, I might have a crush on him! Yeah, he falls into the bad boy category,
but he was real. His struggles were real, his feelings were real, everything
about him was real and relatable, which is something really important for me
when it comes to characters.
And Tessa! Who could not love Tessa?
''I understand bitchiness in any language'' I died!
All in all, it was a really good read and I will be grabbing The Immortal
Crown, Age of X book 2.
Sophie
