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?
As nations fall around them, the Dracul siblings must decide: what will they sacrifice to fulfil their destinies? Empires will topple, thrones will be won…and souls will be lost."
I just love this series and it's reimagining of Vlad the Impaler as a woman called Lada. I love that Lada is allowed to be every bit as mean and bloodthirsty as Vlad, but also, somehow, demand sympathy from the reader. Well, from me anyway. She stands out as one of my favourite characters from all the YA series I've read in recent years.
This book is - in short - about the fall of Constantinople and Lada's reclamation of Wallachia (you should read the actual history of this, if you're unfamiliar; it is fascinating). It is split into two stories that rarely meet, but both are extremely exciting and compelling.
And I Darken was a well-written and developed book, but I had mixed feelings on the romance and wanted a bit more in the character department. I did not expect either aspect to improve. I definitely did not expect White to fix BOTH of my issues with book one. It's not often a sequel can surpass my expectations so much, but this sequel is undeniably better than book one. Now I Rise both does away with the love triangle drama and far surpasses book one in terms of character work.
Lada doesn't get any less fierce during this book; in fact, she gets even more brutal. Yet she's not completely heartless; she has some very compelling relationship development with several side characters. While she just doesn't have as far to go in terms of development, I still enjoyed her journey and conflict over duty to family.
Then there's Radu, who I didn't particularly care for in the first book. Here, though, he got an incredible character arc. I am still reeling from this character arc. I cannot get over how much Radu has grown and changed. Radu's inner debate over which side truly deserves to win Constantinople really stands out throughout the book, in both his internal and external conflict. It's incredibly difficult to write characters on both sides of the fence, but White executed it brilliantly.
White's writing, while brilliant in the first book, also feels like it has matured. There where so many stunning description. The dialogue feel natural yet poetic. None of these side characters are one-dimensional. Even my least favourite side characters never felt like plot devices but rather fully fleshed out people that demonstrated different ways this war effects people; they're all morally ambiguous and they're all interesting. I must also call out White's brilliant way of writing about difficult topics. All the themes about religion and its role are brought up with delicacy and respect, yet never comes off as didactic or preachy. This series is so good at discussing religion in a non-offensive way.
The queer rep and dismantling internalised misogyny was brought through from the first book. Lada fighting to discover her own way of being a women, Radu feeling like an outsider and constantly unworthy of affection where all handled brilliantly. While this series is technically a YA it feels so much darker, brutal and complex.
Age Rating 16+ Sex, death, war, murder.
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