Originally posted on Small Review 
 3.5 stars 
 Yes, this is a sequel. I tried to avoid major spoilers and hide anything that might be spoilery, but you WILL get some spoilers for the first book. 
 Want to read my review of Legacy instead? 
 Did the writing improve? 
 Um, no. 
 The writing is pretty much exactly the same as the first book. Lots of useless information and sentences that say in twenty words what could easily have been said in ten. This frustrates me and I sigh about it an awful lot, but it's clearly not a dealbreaker for me since I keep reading these books. If you managed the writing in the first book, then you'll manage the writing in Allegiance. 
 Will I get to see a lot of Steldor? 
 YES! Sorry ladies, but if you're Team Narian, be prepared for a distinct LACK of Narian. He doesn't even appear in any significant role until the final showdown. (view spoiler)[But don't lose hope, your boy wins in the end. *grumble* (hide spoiler)] (Read that spoiler if you want to know which guy wins the love triangle). 
 I loved it! (You may remember my hatred with the power of 1000 suns for Narian? Yeah, I didn't miss him very much). I am 100% Team Steldor and my appreciation for him only grew after Allegiance with everything he went through. He showed real maturity, putting his duty ahead of his personal wants and emotions. And oh my lord does that man have patience. I can't even count how many times I wanted to reach into the book and hug him and offer to be his queen instead of Alera. 
 Does London pull a disappearing act again? 
 London is always off doing something covert (and, really, don't his stealthy secret missions account for at least a quarter of his hotness?), but don't worry, he still gets a ton of page time. 
 When reading Legacy, I was really curious about London's mysterious past. Thankfully Cayla Kluver finally dished in Allegiance and I got all the dirty details. Rarely do Big Reveals like that meet my expectations, but I have to say this one satisfied me. 
 Do I have to suffer through long stretches of boredom? 
 Allegiance can be roughly divided into two parts. The first part is very similar in tone, style, and pacing to that of Legacy. The pacing was pretty slow and not much happened in terms of action. Mostly Alera pined for Narian, cursed Steldor, and tried to exercise her new role as queen with petulant attempts at independence. Blah, blah, blah, basically. 
 The funny thing is that I actually wasn't bored and I never considered DNF-ing. I would even go so far as saying I zipped through it. While it's true that not much actually happens and Alera continues to annoy me, the side characters are all wonderful. 
 Of course I also liked all the focus on Steldor. Not only that, but Cannan (Steldor's father) becomes a much more involved character and yet another contender for my heart. 
 The second part is where the action really picks up. I'm talking WAR. Yes!! I was positively giddy with this turn of events (even though it was all stupid Alera's stupid fault). Cayla Kluver did a fantastic job really driving home the bleakness and utter devastation of the war. She made me cry and rage and wail in despair that NO THAT CANNOT HAPPEN PLEASE NO! 
 She also took things in a direction I never expected and don't think I've ever seen an author take. That scored her major originality points. Seriously, I loved it. 
 The only thing that brought down all of this awesome was the fact that Alera was narrating. Now, this isn't ALL because I dislike Alera. The fact is, in her world women don't really do anything. At all. 
 So while all of the male characters (and my gosh, there was practically a harem of hot male characters getting all sexy and gorgeous with this whole war-torn-brothers-in-arms thing), I was stuck in Alera's useless head ineptly heating up porridge and feeling empowered because she hacked off her hair. She also sleeps a lot. 
 Whoop-de-do. I could have been in a battle! *STOMPS FOOT* I was SERIOUSLY gypped. 
 So what's up with the lower star rating? 
 Ugh, Alera. 
 Everything else I could give a pass, but Alera makes my stars shrivel up and die. I want to offer her a sleepover party invitation just so I can then snatch it back and dance around like a tiny little meanie gleefully crowing "SIKE! None for you! Hehe! None for you!" 
 She's just...she's dumber than a box of rocks, to put it mildly. And so totally childish. If she were the queen of my kingdom, I think I'd puke with fear. Every single bad thing that happens to her kingdom is the direct result of some utter piece of stupidity brought to them courtesy of Alera. And, of course, she doesn't see it AT ALL. She gets haughty and blames everyone else. 
 And did I mention she's selfish? Oh my word. While Steldor shoves aside almost every personal desire he harbors that may in some way conflict with his ability to properly run his kingdom, Alera does the complete opposite. All she ever thinks about is what SHE wants and how everyone should worship and obey HER and how she'd better get HER way or she'll do something even dumber than before. 
 Plus, the girl's priorities are all kinds of messed up. We're in the middle of WAR, tons of her countrymen dead, more dying, lots of very bad things happening, and what does she focus on? Whether or not Narian still loves her. Dude, REALLY?? 
 Bottom line 
 If it weren't for Alera, I would Special Shelf this book. Cayla Kluver may take a while to tell her story, but what a story it is! That surprise twist in the latter half was fantastic. And the men. Oh my oh my, I can't even count how many attractive men there are in this book. That alone makes me want to read the final book. 
 About that third book. When I finished Allegiance I wasn't sure I wanted to continue on with the series. It ended really well and I couldn't imagine what would happen in the third book except (view spoiler)[a super annoying romance between Alera and Narian. *barf* (hide spoiler)] 
 But then Cindy told me there was a prologue for book 3 included at the end of Allegiance and, after reading that prologue, I can't wait for book three! I'm even holding out a teeny tiny bit of hope that some of the guys will get a shot at narrating! (*please please please*) 
 Originally posted on Small Review