The Invasion of the Tearling

A Novel

By: Erika Johansen

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In this riveting sequel to the national best seller The Queen of the Tearling, the evil kingdom of Mortmesne invades the Tearling, with dire consequences for Kelsea and her realm.

With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, she crossed the Red Queen, a brutal ruler whose power derives from dark magic, who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what is hers. And nothing can stop the invasion.

But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing, and she finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime. The fate of the Tearling - and that of Kelsea's own soul - may rest with Lily and her story, but Kelsea may not have enough time to find out.

In this dazzling sequel, Erika Johansen brings back favorite characters, including the Mace and the Red Queen, and introduces unforgettable new players, adding exciting layers to her multidimensional tale of magic, mystery, and a fierce young heroine.

©2015 Erika Johansen (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

Change of narrator threw me off

I really enjoyed the first book. The narrators voice was perfect. But why change the narrator on second book? It wasn't right.

Intriguing followup to Queen of the Tearling

The Invasion of the Tearling is the second in Erika Johansen’s YA Tearling fantasy trilogy. It continues the story of young queen Kelsea Glynn as she prepares to deal with the aftermath of her actions in the first novel, The Queen of the Tearling.

I’ll start this review by stating that I hadn’t actually intended to continue with this series, given that I had significant issues with Johansen’s worldbuilding and character development in the first book. However, I recently read the book blurb which indicated to me that Johansen was taking clear steps to address some of the issues with the worldbuilding at least and so I decided to give the series a second chance.

What I liked

Additional point of view character. For this second outing, Johansen has added a second point of view character, Lily. Lily is a woman from the pre-Crossing era who has a strange connection with our protagonist, Kelsea. Through her eyes we learn more about the history of the Tearling’s founding and what led William Tear to strike out to begin his utopia.

I absolutely loved Lily’s story and, personally, I was far more engaged with her plight than Kelsea’s. These sections were wonderful both from a plot point of view and character development. Throughout, I really found myself rooting for her. This section of the book reads more like a dystopian novel than the traditional fantasy of Kelsea’s section, but it worked very well.

It should be noted that Lily’s section deals with some issues which are far grittier and more adult than those generally found in young adult or even new adult books, and was written in a more adult manner. Lily is notably older than Kelsea and is in a different life stage. It could well be that’s why I connected more with her, as I too, am older than your average young adult protagonist!

Lily’s character development was beautifully written.

Kelsea’s romantic life. Often in YA, this can be a particularly problematic area, with the romance either subjected to the inevitable love triangle or so overblown with stars and rainbows it becomes intolerable. I get it. First love can be awesome. Too often though YA authors portray it through rose-tinted spectacles. Johansen’s portrayal of this part of Kelsea’s life felt grounded in reality and was excellently written.

In general I found Kelsea more consistently written in Invasion of the Tearling than she was in Queen. I particularly enjoyed how the connection between her and Lily played out.

The pre-Crossing history. The promise of learning more about the founding of the Tearling was what drew me back in to give this series a second chance and Johansen certainly made good on that promise. I loved what we got, but I’m not one hundred percent convinced, though, that she has allayed the concerns I had from the first book. I still can’t see the logic in why Harry Potter survived the Crossing but the internal combustion engine didn’t. We still have a lot to discover, so I’ll suspend final judgement on this aspect until after the final book.

What I didn’t like

Additional point of view. Yes, I know I had this listed in part of my Likes; let me explain. The two main point of view characters are in different worlds, and are at different life stages and more, importantly, are written as such. It feels almost like two completely separate books, and I’m not certain that they are targeting the same audience.

The audio narration. I had a bit of a problem with the audio narration. The book is narrated by Davina Porter, who, don’t get me wrong, does a great job. My issue is that she is best known to me as the narrator of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. Ms Porter has a distinctive voice and half the time I kept expecting Jamie Fraser to come sauntering into the scene. That was my personal issue though and it may not be one for you.

In summary then, I found Invasion a stronger book than Queen of the Tearling. That’s not to say it’s perfect by any means. I’m still not completely certain Johansen can pull together a completely cohesive overall story arc by the end of the trilogy, but I’m invested enough that I want to read book three to find out.

I gave Invasion of the Tearling 3.5-4 stars out of five.

great story

....not a fan of the change in narrator. she sounded too old. more like the angry queen of England.

This is mostly a really frustrating listen.

First off I'd like to say that I had no issue with the switch of narrators, I think both are excellent and close enough in affect that it's not jarring, though I'm listening to the first and second books one right after the other. My issue is with the central character of this novel, Kelsea Glynn. She is the most incurious, self-absorbed person imaginable. At nearly every turn she's encountering some sort of magic and it never seems to occur to her to ask people about how it works, or what their experiences are. She mostly just seems obsessed with sex and self-mutilation. I find myself needing to take breaks from listening because I'm so frustrated with her. I just really hope that this gets better, I have about 4 hours left in this book and I'm not sure if I'll bother with the third when it comes out. I did enjoy the first in the series, it was a promising start.

The dreaded middle child

Well this book is the dreaded middle child, unloved and under appreciated. It is a necessity as far as trilogies go. Ya know the struggle building to the climactic and hero last novel. I get it. But I can't say I loved it. I did like the little twist at the end but was frustrated that Kelsey didn't do the third choice, which I won't share so not to spoil it.

The narrator was ok. Not terrible but not Katherine Kellgren. Sigh. She would of done all the voices so much better! I would get confused between the red queen and Kelsey's voice occasionally due to both of them being preformed the same. Kellgren put a French accent on the red queen which was very good. It was also sad that Lily had an English accent when she should've sounded American. Oh well, I got used to it after a while. Looking forward to the third and final hero book!

Good, but not better

I miss the old narrator, but the story got pretty unique. Suffered from some pacing issues. I don't like how character growth went.

no where near as good as the first book.

The Lily chapters ruined this book for me. It made the story to disjointed and took me out of the original story arc. it's never taken me so long to finish a book due to my lack of interest in the outcome.

Great Book

Book 1 was good enough to listen to book 2. Book being read by Davina Porter was a game changer. She is the best narrator around. She pauses at just the right times. Just helps you become part of the story. Now only if audible would have her redo book 1. I can't wait for book 3 to come out. Great story. I found myself checking to see how much time was left, not wanting it to end.

Wonderful story, I can't wait for the next one

I love the story and the writing but I was very disappointed it was not performed by the same narrator as the first book.

A brilliant continuation of the first novel

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The plot device through the character of Lily is unique and ingenious.

Any additional comments?

My only negative comment on the second book of the series is that Davina Porter does not provide the same quality performance as Katherine Kellgren from the first book. In particular, Ms. Kellgren gives the Morte and the Red Queen French accents. If nothing else, it helps you differentiate between characters. Overall, the performance is still very good and the book is excellent. I cannot wait for the next novel in the series.