#Review - Rise by Ellen Goodlett #YALit #Fantasy

Series: Rule # 2
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Release Date: June 11, 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Dark Fantasy

Dark pasts and forbidden romances haunt three ambitious sisters as they fight to inherit the throne in this sequel to Rule, which New York Times bestselling author Elly Blake called "dazzling" and "pulse-pounding."

Sisters Akeylah, Ren, and Zofi are all a step closer to their dying father's throne, a step closer to the crown that will allow one of them to rule over Kolonya. But the sisters' pasts continue to haunt them. Each hides a secret marked with blood and betrayal, and now their blackmailer is holding nothing back. When King Andros discovers the sisters' traitorous pasts, the consequences will shake the entire kingdom to its core.

As Kolonya's greatest threat stalks closer and closer, weaving a web of fear and deceit around Ren, Zofi, and Akeylah, even the people they love are under suspicion. If the sisters are going to survive, they'll have to learn to trust each other above all else and work together, not only to save themselves, but to protect everyone and everything they hold dear.

With shocking reveals and suspenseful storytelling, this breathtaking sequel to Rule will keep you guessing until the very last page.

 

Rise, by author Ellen Goodlett, is the second and final installment in the authors Rule duology. Author combines perennially popular fantasy and adventure tropes--a battle for the crown, dark magic, secret heritages--with a romantic, commercial plot, including a central F/F romance. This is the perfect duology for people who like a little bit of Pretty Little Liars with their Game of Thrones. The story picks up immediately where Rule left off and rapidly moves quickly. It is a story filled with betrayals, surprises, and a mystery that held my attention until the very end.

Sisters Akeylah, Zofi and Florencia (Ren) have come up against a villain who calls themselves "the true heir." They've been told that they must step aside and allow the true heir to take their place or they face dire consequences. After a brutal campaign of blackmail, and putting the characters into difficult situations, including nearly killing Ren, Akeylah becomes the odds on favorite to rise up and become the heir of King Andros. After all, it's pretty apparent nobody knows what she did before being summoned to meet her father.

Meanwhile, Zofi is accused of killing the Silver Prince Nicolen, while Ren's role in what happened in Burnt Bay is exposed in a big way. Someone has intimate knowledge of what Zofi and Ren did before their father summoned them to compete to be his heir. But, Zofi and Ren aren't done fighting just yet. Zofi, banished from the capital rather than face execution, finds her way back to her family (Travelers) where she hopes to find a cure for her father's curse. Zofi finds a companion in Vidal, a member of the Talons who chooses to follow Zofi.

Back in the castle, Ren spends a great deal of time being a prisoner in her own room with few friends, including Ambassador Danton and Audrina, spending any time with her. Ren and her mother surprisingly come up with a few revelations concerning a certain Queen and whether or not she is actually involved in the blackmail against the sisters.  Ren has always been the one with the most experience dealing with court politics. But, now, politics and blackmail stand in the way of Ren becoming the heir.

While her other sisters are struggling with the heir's manipulations, Akeylah is standing in for the King, as well as figuring out her relationship with Queen Rozalind who may or may not be involved in what is happening. I wasn't a fan of the romance between the two. But, I also understand that Rozalind's marriage to the King was for political reasons. But, Rozalind has a few secrets of her own, and ends up just as caught up in the conspiracy as the sisters. 

The ending wrapped up things quite nicely. Although I feel a bit for Zofi, she really does get exactly what she wanted. The relationship between the three sisters is often tested to the breaking point. When things are looking really bad for the heroines, they might waver in their belief and trust in the other, but when all is said and done, they are solid and they wouldn't change a damn thing.

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#Review - Rule by Ellen Goodlett #YALit #Fantasy

Series: Rule # 1
Format: E-Galley, 384 pages
Release Date: September 11, 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

Three Dark Crowns meets Pretty Little Liars in this sensational and striking new fantasy from debut author Ellen Goodlett.

Three girls. Three deadly secrets. Only one can wear the crown.

The king is dying, his heir has just been murdered, and rebellion brews in the east. But the kingdom of Kolonya and the outer Reaches has one last option before it descends into leaderless chaos.

Or rather, three unexpected options. Zofi, Akeylah, and FloRENcia.

When the king summons the girls, they arrive expecting arrest or even execution. Instead they learn the truth: they are his illegitimate daughters, and one must become his new heir. But someone in Kolonya knows their secrets, and that someone will stop at nothing to keep the sisters from their destiny... to rule.

Magic, mystery, and blackmail abound in the first book of this sensational and striking fantasy duology.

 

Rule is the first installment in author Ellen Goodlett's Rule duology. The series features three different characters in Zofi, Akeylah, and Florencia aka Ren. In case it wasn't obvious, the story also alternates between the three main characters as well. Do I think this is a knock off of Three Dark Crowns? Nope. Why? These are three stepsisters who have never met until the King's men show up with summons. They didn't grow together. They weren't suddenly separated into different factions. They weren't trained in dangerous arts in order to kill the other two in order to rise to the top. 

Let's break down each character: 

Zofi has spent her entire life traveling across the Reaches as part of a group called Travelers never stopping in one place for long. She's trained in the blood arts which makes the user super fast, stronger, and immune to harm for a short time. She knows her people are hated, and are targeted as though the King wants to rid the Kingdom of an bad stain. It's fair to say that Zofi is the strong female archetype who can fight, use a weapon and in a no-nonsense realization concludes that dawning the crowns means ending the oppression of her people.

Akeylah was raised in the Eastern Reach surrounded by brewing insurrection. Everyone in her family uses the Arts, sometimes the Vulgar Arts which allows you to tithe into another person's blood as long as they are in your bloodline. Akeylah adopted father is an abusive, alcoholic father. Her people are starving, and she’d do anything to escape her family, even accept the invitation of a king not knowing that something she did would come back to haunt her. Unfortunately, it is her secret that we find out to be the most devastating among them.

Ren grew up in Kolonya, serving as a ladies’ maid at court.  She knows her way around the place and is basically the information gatherer of the group. She wants out of her lower class status and into the high-life of palace life. She dreams of being a noble herself one day, but being ominously summoned to the king’s courtroom after a misdeed isn’t exactly what she had in mind. Ren's past actions haunt her every time she closes her eyes. She blames one person for her misdeed.

Each girl hides a dangerous secret–the kind that could get her killed for treason. But when the girls are brought before King Andros expecting an execution; they are all told the truth: the king is their father and he has brought them to court to compete for the chance to become his heir. Oh, and he is apparently dying and they are his only living heirs. Being summoned before the King is never a pleasant experience, especially when you're hiding dangerous secrets. Especially when anyone might be the person to expose your darkest secrets.

Not only must Zofi, Ren, & Akeylah compete for their father’s throne, but someone in Kolonya knows the girls’ secrets, and they’ll stop at nothing to keep them from taking the throne. Even going as far as making the women's life a living hell. You have three very different sisters from extremely different backgrounds, classes and worlds (although at times their personalities seem to mush together). By the way, don't ask me to tell you who the villain is. The author has left that doozy for the final book in the duology.

I would have liked this book better were it not for one particular feature that the author seemed eager to toss in the book to try to prove that she is a fan of diversity. One particular character (who shall not be named) falls for the Queen who is married the King in order to bring peace between two warring countries. This character perhaps felt an obligation to said Queen for helping with particular research or whatever. Whatever the point was, the Queen, in essence, cheated on her own husband with someone else. Could the Queen be the actual villain? Hmmmm....

The other part is pure Game of Thrones when you think about it. Here is a King who runs around his kingdom falling for three different women and sewing his wild oats. In turn, these three women have three different daughters but are kept in the dark about their true heritage until the King's men aka Talons, come knocking on their door.  Should I even bother talking about how utterly horrible the cliffhanger ending is? Ok, no, I won't. But, I will say that this isn't the first book this month that has had this type of cliffhanger ending. The only positive is that this is only a duology and the author has to make right what she devastated with that ending!

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