Review: The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May

Title: The Vanishing Throne

Author: Elizabeth May

Series: The Falconer #2

Genre: Fantasy/Mythology

Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC

Publication Date: June 21st, 2016

Edition: Kindle Edition, 472 pages

Source: Purchased

Purchaser: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis: 

My name is Lady Aileana Kameron.

First the fae murdered my mother. Then they destroyed my world.

Now I’m fighting for more than revenge.

   Aileana took a stand against the Wild Hunt, and she lost everything: her home, her family and her friends. Held captive by her enemy, and tormenting herself over her failure, escape seems like only the faintest possibility. But when she gets her chance, she seizes it . . . to rejoin a world devastated by war.

   The future is bleak. Hunted by the fae, running for her life, Aileana has only a few options left. Trying to become part of a society scarred by – and hiding from – the Wild Hunt; trusting that a fragile alliance with the fae will save her; or walking the most dangerous path at all: coming into her own powers as the last of the Falconers.

Review:

It took me a few chapters to really get into this book. It had been several years since I read the first one. After remembering more of the first book, and after this book hooked me, I remembered what I loved so much about the first book.

On to the plot!
So, the book starts kind of, I assume, where the previous book leaves off. Aileana is captured by the fae, the guy has a plan for her. We don't know what that is for a good while of the book, but he is torturing her for what feels like ages for our MC. Time moves differently in the fae world, and she is trapped in a mirrored room so she's also slowly going insane. She does escape, and finds out she's been gone for years, but she didn't age during that time because she was in the fae realm. Then things really start to hit the fan. Not to give too much away there.

The last third of the book and the first third of the book were what I liked the most. The middle, kind of lagged for me. This was also around the time I kept getting books from the waitlist at the library and had to set this book down to read those so that might have something to do with it. But there was a slight pacing issue, for me, in the middle of the book. It just felt like not a whole lot of interesting things were going on. Lots of arguing, that didn't really move the plot along in my opinion.

As I mentioned, the last third was good. In fact, it was great. Lots of action and plot movement. Some new characters, some secrets and questions about the past of some characters were revealed, the origin of the Falconers was explained. And I really enjoyed it. The last 10 pages were pretty amazing and I am so excited to read the next book and really happy that I don't have to wait because I already own it.