Book Review: Eden Conquered

Eden Conquered (Dividing Eden #2)

By: Joelle Charbonneau

Published By: HarperTeen

Publication Date: June 5, 2018

Page Count: 320

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or IndieBound

Source: Purchased by Reviewer

Young Adult - Fantasy

Review of Book #1: Dividing Eden

Eden Conquered picks up immediately after the events of Dividing Eden, and it will be a little impossible to refrain from spoilers for the ending of Dividing Eden here, so stop reading now if you don’t want to know! 

 Princess Carys is on the run from everyone in Eden, in the company of Errik, Garret and Larkin. She is still recovering from the withdrawal symptoms of the Tears of Midnight and the quartet really have no idea where they are going or what they are doing to start with. Carys is also struggling with her emerging powers over the wind, and as she breaks free of her addiction, the problems get worse. This is an interesting angle to pursue for the story and I enjoyed it, but I felt quite taken by surprise at the magical developments. I liked it but I felt like it was a bit of a curveball which took a while to swallow. I enjoyed following Carys developing into a great leader and how she dealt with the attentions of both Errik and Garret. This potential love triangle was fairly muted though, which I as grateful for as I’m a little over love triangles – they just aren’t that realistic! 

 I enjoyed the mystery of what was going on in the court of Eden, trying to figure out who was a baddie and who wasn’t OK... my only issue was that I found it really hard to separate the elders from the council from each other and I kept getting confused about who was who. This made it hard to really grab the schemes by the tail as a reader. I also felt like Andreus was going to make more of the woman in the North Tower than he did; I felt like she had more to give in the story. Andreus was really very annoying to start but got a lot more likeable as the scales fell from his eyes and he became less naïve. 

 I was pretty excited throughout this book for the finale; who would be the ruler of Eden, would they ever get to the bottom of the Xhelozi, who was the rotten apple, which suitor would win out... ultimately I felt that only about 70% of my questions found a resolution and I’m not sure that I liked the ending that much. It felt resolved but also not. I would recommend this duology to readers looking for an interesting and entertaining fantasy read, but it isn’t a story that I will probably consider revisiting in the future as it didn’t capture my imagination or heart quite like I hoped it would.

Summary:

The electrifying conclusion to the Dividing Eden series by the New York Times bestselling author of the Testing trilogy, Joelle Charbonneau.

The Trials of Virtuous Succession have ended. Prince Andreus is king—and Princess Carys is dead. 

But even as he’s haunted by what he did to win the throne, Andreus discovers that his dream of ruling only brings new problems. The people love his twin even more in death than they did when she was alive. The Elders treat him as a figurehead. And worst of all, the winds of Eden are faltering. 

 But despite what everyone believes, Carys is alive. Exiled to the wilderness, Carys struggles to control the powers that have broken free inside her. And as she grows stronger, so does her conviction that she must return to the Palace of Winds, face her twin and root out the treachery that began long before the first Trials started. 

 The Kingdom of Eden is growing darker with each passing day. Brother and sister, former foes, must decide whether some betrayals cut too deep to be forgiven—and whether one will wear the crown or both will lose everything.