Now I Rise (The Conqueror's Saga #2)
Now I Rise (The Conqueror's Saga #2) by Kiersten White
Blurb:
She has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she’s always had: herself.
After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada Dracul is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.
What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?
After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada Dracul is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.
What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?
Review:
"The world will destroy her in the end. Too much spark leads to explosions. But your sister will destroy as much as she can before she goes out. She will go down in flames and blood."
This book was amazing. I especially realized that in the end when Lada was doing tons of, frankly, despicable things and I totally understood why she was doing it and even supported her decisions (well, mostly, there was one thing I wasn't quite on board with but, well, that's it really). Lada and Radu are such fantastically built and developed characters and I'm super curios to see where the story will lead them to in the final book.
This book was amazing but I need to turn it around real quick like because it did take me almost 2 months to read it. It's not that I didn't get through the pages fast enough (whenever I did read the pages practically flew by) but it was also very easy for me to put the story down for a while and forget about it when I wasn't reading it. Firstly, I blame myself for this the most. It really wasn't an ideal time to read this as I have been really busy and traveling and doing university stuff and all that jazz so I got into the habit of putting the book down and then being so busy that I simply couldn't pick it up again, which developed into the ability to completely disregard it for long stretches at a time. But, secondly, I also think this might have been due to the fact that most of the really dramatic things happen in the end of the story. Yes, there is always something going on but in the end there is so much drama and murder and conquering going on that kind of shifts the awesomeness of the story disproportionally to the finale of this instalment.
That being said, there is so much to love about Now I Rise. I can't stress enough how well the characters are developed and how great their evolution throughout the story is represented. The atmosphere is great, too; I felt truly connected to the story and what was going on. In other words, this is the kind of book that makes everything around you vanish and sucks you into a different world. Even now, thinking back on it, I feel like I can almost hear the bells ringing through Constantinople.
Plus the whole plot is just so interesting and the scale is so epic that it's quite enchanting. Especially when you start thinking about the fact that this is all based on, like, real history. Real history. Man, humans, we're crazy. And White is taking this craziness and transforms it into a grand story to be consumed by our eyes! Books are so cool. (If I haven't convinced you to read this book yet I don't know what will. Maybe another review written by someone who can actually articulate their thoughts properly.)
This book was amazing but I need to turn it around real quick like because it did take me almost 2 months to read it. It's not that I didn't get through the pages fast enough (whenever I did read the pages practically flew by) but it was also very easy for me to put the story down for a while and forget about it when I wasn't reading it. Firstly, I blame myself for this the most. It really wasn't an ideal time to read this as I have been really busy and traveling and doing university stuff and all that jazz so I got into the habit of putting the book down and then being so busy that I simply couldn't pick it up again, which developed into the ability to completely disregard it for long stretches at a time. But, secondly, I also think this might have been due to the fact that most of the really dramatic things happen in the end of the story. Yes, there is always something going on but in the end there is so much drama and murder and conquering going on that kind of shifts the awesomeness of the story disproportionally to the finale of this instalment.
That being said, there is so much to love about Now I Rise. I can't stress enough how well the characters are developed and how great their evolution throughout the story is represented. The atmosphere is great, too; I felt truly connected to the story and what was going on. In other words, this is the kind of book that makes everything around you vanish and sucks you into a different world. Even now, thinking back on it, I feel like I can almost hear the bells ringing through Constantinople.
Plus the whole plot is just so interesting and the scale is so epic that it's quite enchanting. Especially when you start thinking about the fact that this is all based on, like, real history. Real history. Man, humans, we're crazy. And White is taking this craziness and transforms it into a grand story to be consumed by our eyes! Books are so cool. (If I haven't convinced you to read this book yet I don't know what will. Maybe another review written by someone who can actually articulate their thoughts properly.)
Rating:
The thing is, this book was really, really good and it left me with this epic and longing sort of feeling but it was so easy for me to put this book away for long stretches of time very easily and, therefore/because of this, the story simply wasn't able to have as much an impact on me as it could have had - 4 out of 5 stars.
Details:
Name: Now I Rise
Series: The Conqueror's Saga
Author: Kiersten White
Previous Books in this Series: And I Darken (#1)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 471
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