Reign the Earth follows the story of Shalia, a "daughter of the desert" with control over the element of earth in a world where her kind is persecuted. She is wed to a tyrannical King who aims to eradicate the elementae, torn between changing him to establish peace and joining the resistance against him.

This book was difficult to read, the reason that I had to take a huge break halfway through. It's emotionally taxing with it's depiction of a realistic abusive relationship, and all the other trials the main character endures. The romance that builds up is sweet and one of the book's strengths. So is the main character's strength and resolve. There is no info-dump world building, but one crafted and revealed slowly throughout the book.

This was an interesting and rather unique read personally. This is a book I would certainly recommend, with a warning that the abusive content is upsetting (despite being limited graphically).

DNF

Oh dearie me, this is absolutely not a Christina book.

I was SO excited, because FINALLY more books from A.C. Gaughen, but honestly blurbs should mention if pregnancy is going to be a major component of a book because no thank you. I was iffy on the first chapter, because the heroine's voice didn't grab me (a bit weirdly perky and passive), and spotted the pregnancy thing in reviews, so I looked for all the quotes with "baby" in them and omg not for me not for me not for me.

A creative and fresh YA fantasy with forbidden magic, illicit loves, and a compassionate young queen. I really liked Shalia and especially her crowd of brothers. The plot faltered a bit initially but grew stronger.

I didn't like this book unfortunately. I know lots of people love A. C. Gaughen's works, but I don't think they're for me alas.

After learning of some of the trigger warnings for this book, I ultimately decided not to read it myself. I do recognize how much others love it, though, so I'd still recommend it.

This story had a lot of potential but it never lived up to it. I couldn't make it past page 50. The characters and the story never grabbed me. See a longer review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxmDnco-zl0

This book really surprised me! It ended up being about much darker themes than I expected but I loved that. I really connected with the main character and her love for her family and country. She had to make some hard decisions and my heart broke for her. I found the magic and world building very intriguing and I'm excited to read more books set in this world.

I'm sitting here astounded that the same person that wrote the Scarlet trilogy wrote this novel. I was expecting so much more in the way of . . . everything, really. Because every aspect of REIGN THE EARTH, from the character development to the plot line is predictable and lackluster. I realize my opinion appears to be the decided minority, and that is fine. I'm happy it's working for so many other readers. Unfortunately, I felt disengaged on every level.

I was so disappointed with this book. From the start, I knew I wasn’t going to like it. It had little to no world building at all. We’re dropped into a scene where our MC is being married off to stop tension between a rival king. We’re thrown around from different and places and cultures, to different people. It was jarring and confusing. I never got a grasp on any of it and I don’t think there was ever a good explanation on any of it. I was confused on the places they lived and how they worked. Even that wasn’t explained at all.

Her husband is so abusive that I could hardly stomach reading it. Not to mention the kingdom she now lives in is basically a high fantasy the Handmaid’s Tale. I could tell from the beginning that she was going to fall in love with the brother and the big secret about who the king loved and was spited by couldn’t have been anymore obvious.

Predictable plot, lazy world building, and forgettable characters (besides her hunky brother). Big pass from me

This is definitely a YA that feels more adult. It could easily be shelved in the adult section of a library.

A great feminist fantasy! Really enjoyed reading this one and cant wait for book two in this series. Fast paced and great plot! Also loved the main character so much, she was so strong!

Reign the Earth follows Shaila, who was born and raised in the desert, as she is preparing for her arranged marriage with the ruler of a neighboring kingdom in the hopes that it will stop the war and protect her people. As she begins her new life as Queen of the Bonelands, she sees firsthand how far her husband will go to wipe out everyone with the ability to control the elements, who are known as Elementae.

So here’s the plain truth: I wanted to like it, it was well written so I felt like I should like it, but when it all boils down I just didn’t have much fun with it. The writing and the world itself were compelling, but I found that it wasn’t a wholly enjoyable read for multiple reasons:

1. At some points the pacing lagged, so I frequently skimmed and skipped to find places that caught my attention

2. I was in no way prepared for the darker, grittier themes of this book. I believe this is considered to be YA, so I approached this like a typical fantasy novel. I wasn’t prepared for the heaviness of the themes present in the book (physical/ emotional abuse, maritial rape, <spoiler> miscarriage</spoiler>) so it was a little jarring to veer so far from expectations.

3. The romance was a bit of an insta-love, and because there was a quick build-up I didn’t get very invested in it. Though I feel it very important to state that the romance is NOT with the abuser.

Side point: My heart broke for Shaila and the things she experienced. There were some points that were hard to read, but I don’t know whether to label that a negative or chalk it up to good writing? In any case I did quite like Shaila, and I thought she was a strong character.

So while it had a great magic structure, a detailed setting, and beautiful writing, the darker themes and rushed romance kept Reign the Earth from being my cup of tea.

LOVE LOVE THIS! This is a great new series by A.C. and I'm ready for the next book!


Shalia is making a great sacrifice. To marry a King she does not know, so that her people can have peace and she will become the new Queen. Her family gives her gifts and they party the night away. The next day she and her husband will head over to the Bonelands to begin their new life. Shalia won't be going alone, her brother will be going with them to the Bonelands and that will mean a lot to her.


They have been under attacked and met some some loyal folks all on the way to their home. Once they finally arrive Shalia is going to realize just what she signed up for wasn't exactly as she thought. Shalia will see a side of Calix that makes her blood boil. He is not so kind, doesn't think before ordering a kill, and once he even hit Shalia and that was way out of line. Right off the bat I could not stand Calix.


As the ending came near, the intensity grew to on the edge of your seat kind of reading. Shalia has done nothing but try and be the best Queen and wife she could be despite her secret of being an Elementae. She gave her people hope, more work to help feed and care for their families. Strong and elegant she is determined to make the kingdom even better. But now, Calix turns on his wife and is determined to kill her. He took away her family. Shalia will not back down without a fight, she and the resistance will stand against Calix until he is stopped and change and peace can begin. But until then there a long way to go before this war is over.

While I very much thank the publisher for the approval on this title, it was unfortunately not a good fit for me. I did, however, add it to Goodreads, so that others may see it and find it more in line with their tastes.

I picked up this book for a fun fantasy and opened up a much darker story that I didn’t fully appreciate until I really thought about it as it ended. Reign the Earth is an incredible novel beautifully told that tells the story of a strength of a different kind.

What I Liked:

The friendship. Shalia and her best friend had such a special bond. I loved that as a part of the deception in the story Shalia never once mentioned to her husband anything about the friend she loves. Keeping the secret while necessary was also a true show of their friendship.

Shalia’s strength. Shalia is not your conventional heroine. She is not truly physically strong, but she has a loyalty and an emotional strength that I almost never see in ya. She is a woman who endured. She endured pain and suffering to save the people she so loved. She never made excuses. She never complained and that is a whole new kind of strength. At first it made me angry. She never really fought back, but in the end I realized that she was much wiser, fighting for peace by being the sacrifice and that was the hardest for me to understand. For a while, I basically thought she was a pushover, but I was so very wrong. She did more then I ever could by enduring everything and trying to make the best out of a horrid situation and I have come to love Shalia for that.

The magic. The magic in this novel is really cool. I love the idea behind having whole cities being built by earth magic. I also like that it was removed and is now back in the world again and people gaining abilities in a seemingly random fashion. It is really interesting.

The world building. The world itself is much bigger then it is just on page and the fact that I felt like this was taking place in a much larger world was really cool. It made me want to explore in the universe the author created and that’s a lot of fun!

What I Didn’t Like:

The man I hated. From the moment Shalia married her husband I hated him. I hated him as he slowly warped into being the a-hole that he is. I hated him as he said he was one of the faces incarnate of their God. He was arrogant, cruel, nasty, and he caused so many people a whole lot of pain. I wanted to strangle him the whole book. He almost made me mistake Shalia for being week (totally not my own fault) so I hate him for that too.

Gaughen's new series starts in a thrilling way, with plenty of intrigue and action. The world building is phenomenal, the characters are well-developed, and the plot woven through with conspiracies and secrets.

I really enjoyed the adventure and worldbuilding in this novel! Strong females are the way to my heart and crazy plots are just as good! Buy it, read it, LOVE IT!

It seems this book was just not for me. I tried to read an ARC, a hardcover, and listen to the audio and nothing clicked. I do feel that this book just wasn't for me.

I've enjoyed A.C. Gaughen at times, but I had my doubts about her ability to sustain a long narrative. This book happily proved me wrong.

Let’s just get this part out of the way first: I despise Calix. He is an awful human being, completely and utterly cruel and hateful. That’s a little obvious from the summary, but reading the book I felt this desire to reach through the pages and punch him–repeatedly. So, I guess I can give all sorts of compliments to author A.C. Gaughen for writing a character that makes me feel that way.

Speaking of, this is the first book by Gaughen that I have read, and it was fantastic. Now I find myself wanting to give Scarlet a try. I mean, I was intrigued by it anyway because it is a twist on Robin Hood, but now I really want to read it.

*Ahem* Anyway, back to this book. I enjoyed the worldbuilding. I didn’t think that this was a fantasy novel that overdid the descriptions of the land or the culture or the religion. It was just enough to highlight the differences between Calix’s people and Shalia’s people, and some of that came from the characters actually having discussions about how their cultures are different, which I rather liked.

The characters felt nicely developed too, like living and breathing people instead of words on a page. I liked Shalia and Galen and Danae and Kai and Kata. And I already talked about my feelings towards Calix.

I admit that there were a few things that I didn’t see coming and they surprised me, some in a good way and some in a not so good way. But I liked that I wasn’t trying to figure out what was going to happen. I just let myself soak in the experience of reading the book. Sometimes it is nice to just exist in the story as it unfolds instead of predicting what could occur later.

With everything that has happened in this book, and with how it ended, let me just say that I hope we get more information about the second book soon, because waiting for the next release will not be easy. Then again, I guess I do have a rather large TBR list so…maybe it won’t be that difficult after all. Still, my point is that I really want to know what happens next.