For the False Prince I gave a four star rating, for The Runaway King I awarded three stars. Care to guess what The Shadow Throne gets? 
 If you guessed two stars than you get a prize! 
 Okay, not actually. I have no prize. Just a slightly disappointed review. 
 Why this book isn't one star: 
 1. It's exciting, I'll give it that. The action is almost non-stop and it was so easy to read I only had to sit down with it twice. 
 2. Jaron does have his ragamuffin charm of a clever trickster. His character did grow as he was faced with some of the toughest decisions he'll (hopefully) ever have to make. 
 3. I can honestly say that there were times I was completely convinced that there was no way to get out of the situations the characters were in. This point will make a reappearance in about two seconds. 
 Why this book is only a two star: 
 1. There were times I was completely convinced that there was no way to get out of the situations the characters were in. So completely convinced because there was NO logical way to get out of it. Nielsen moves heaven and earth to get her characters out of their dangerous situations. Her manipulation of the situation rarely made sense and at times bordered on ridiculous. Honestly, I think i would have liked this book more if the characters had actually been stuck and unable to get out of danger. It would have made more sense. 
 2. This is going to be a frustrated, spoilered rant: (view spoiler)[I have had it up to here with characters coming back from the dead. When Imogen 'died' I was sad, yeah, but I also respected that decision. Jaron had to make impossible choices. He was in an impossible game of chess. There was no way to get out of it without casualties. I admired Nielsen for the guts she had to let Imogen die. But, oh no, she has to reappear at the moment where he needs a boost and a reminder to win the stupid war. 
 And then Mott. To have him miraculously survive his injury... No one that Jaron really cared about died and that is hard to accept as true. He was in a war that looked hopeless. Where were the consequences? (hide spoiler)] 
 3. I'm am still disappointed with the generic, fantasy world. I was still hoping that the world would be more fleshed out and something would set it apart from the numerous other fantasy worlds. I guess that was too much to hope for though. I mean, if it didn't happen in the first two books, why would it happen in the third? 
 All in all, the book was exciting. Jaron is a delightfully roguish boy with a ridiculous ability to get into trouble. However, there were holes and it was simply too hard to suspend my disbelief.