Jack never saw the truth coming. And knowing Sebastian has been lying to him changes everything. Yet, despite his misgivings over whether their relationship can be repaired, he finds himself on a ship to Padora, Sebastian’s homeland. Awkward isn’t the word. And peril, as ever, is just over the next wave.
Sebastian’s whole world is falling apart. His magic is broken. His father, the king of Padora, is dying. And Jack… Well, Jack hates him, and not in the usual Jack way. He’s really messed up this time, and doesn’t know how to put it right.
Can Jack and Sebastian survive to save the day once more? And if they do, will it fix what was broken between them?
Comment: This is the third installment in the 13 Kingdoms series by author HL Day. I liked but not loved the first two stories but I still wanted to try this last one and get some closure on the whole thing. Perhaps because it's the last and perhaps because it does give a certain nostalgic vibe, I've ended up enjoying this book more than I did the other two.
Jack has just discovered that Sebastian, the man he was annoyed at, then curious about, then used to and now in love with is actually a prince. Since his opinion on royals is not a secret he feels Sebastian had plenty of opportunity to tell him the truth and he plans on being angry for a while. However, the truth comes out in the figure of Sebastian's mother, the queen of Padora because Sebastian's father has been ill and no healer anywhere has been able to help. Therefore, they all sail back to Padora and talking with this person and that person, they learn who the most competent healer is but she has been kidnapped by pirates. This is how Jack and Sebastian go on another adventure, trying to find this healer and, ultimately, help Sebastian's father before it's too late...
Somehow, this story did enthrall me a lot more than the previous one. I should say that the issues I wish were different in the other books remained as obvious here as before, but there was still a more appealing atmosphere all around and I embarked on this adventure with a lot more interest than before.
Jack and Sebastian are a very grumpy/sunshine type of couple but of course their abilities and personalities kind of complement one another. I was quite annoyed with the other books because it always felt things were unbalanced between them since Jack took everything with an apparent more seriousness than Sebastian and this kind of annoyed me, I wanted them to be on the same page more often and what happened is that Sebastian felt like a man child at times.
In this story, probably due to the concern over his father and how Jack will see him now that he knows he is royalty, shows us a more mature Sebastian or, at least, I've felt that. At the same time, it also felt the author was thinking about where to lead things so the series could be finished and that meant a more considerate choice of what the characters would do. I did like the general feel of this book when compared with the others and I'm actually glad things ended up in a positive vibe for me.
While in Padora, Jack also gets to see another side of Sebastian, because it's inevitable that he will now need to interact with more people who know him and who have been part of his life before he left to be wandering prince. I did like seeing another side of Sebastian and learning more about him just because he needs to deal with others. This also allows us to have a different perspective on Jack and on how their relationship can be because a big conflict for Jack was the idea he and Sebastian are not of the similar backgrounds and this might change the way they could be happy on the long term.
By having them go on an adventure to find help for Sebastian's father, the author also made it possible for some loose threads to be solved. I still think the humor/comedy aspect went a bit too far, in the sense that some situations, even in a world of fantasy, were a bit too much for what the actual plot needed, but I can accept this because other elements gave balance to the story as a whole.
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