The Essence (The Pledge, #2) by Kimberly Derting

“Danger, dread, mystery, and romance” (Booklist) continue in the second book of The Pledge trilogy, as Charlie’s reign is under siege from the most unusual of enemies.

At the luminous conclusion of The Pledge, Charlaina defeated the tyrant Sabara and took her place as Queen of Ludania. But Charlie knows that Sabara has not disappeared: The evil queen’s Essence is fused to Charlie’s psyche, ready to arise at the first sign of weakness.

Charlie is not weak, but she’s being pushed to the brink. In addition to suppressing the ever-present influence of Sabara, she’s busy being queen—and battling a growing resistance determined to return Ludania to its discriminatory caste system. Charlie wants to be the same girl Max loves, who Brook trusts, but she’s Your Majesty now, and she feels torn in two.

As Charlie journeys to an annual summit to meet with leaders of nearby Queendoms—an event where her ability to understand all languages will be the utmost asset—she is faced with the ultimate betrayal. And the only person she can turn to for help is the evil soul residing within.

The sequel was okay. It didnt pull me in right away and i was a bit confused about what was going on for the first part as i had forgotten the events of the last book, so it took me a while to get into it.

Charlie is now queen but has the spirit of the old queen imprisoned in her body. The is quite a hard situation for her and i felt sorry for her. She seemed more or less the same to me in this book as the last one with no particular character development.

Max unfortunately who i did really like before was hardly in this book and i felt his absence throughout the entire book. This also meant that the romance was non-existent which is another thing that annoyed me.

The plot was good, mostly revolving around Charlie coping with becoming queen and the enemies out to get her. There is more action is this one than the last one which you'll enjoy.

There is a new character called Niko who i had mixed feelings about. He may or may not be a love interest in the next book and i really hope he isnt. Zafir, Aron, Brook are all back and all have massive roles in the book.

There is sort of a cliffhanger but nothing too massive. Overall, it was a good book but not as interesting as i wanted it to be.