DNF at 39%

I was intrigued by this story, but only picked it up because it came in an email as a “read it now” on NG. I was hoping the tag line of “Three Dark Crowns meets Pretty Little Liars” would pay off.

Right from the start, I was trepidatious from the three POVs. The three girls all sounded the same, even with entirely different backgrounds. With each girl, there’s a different set of characters and for me, it was overwhelming to keep track of who the people were. Annnnnd it only got worse when they got to court.

Plot wise, it was really redundant. Each of the girls is getting blackmailed and how they find out is supposed to be unique, but again, it was too similar. Especially when each reveal came one chapter after the other.

Overall, it was an interesting idea, but the execution wasn’t for me. I just could not get captivated.

FYI: the magic system relies on the person cutting themselves to bleed as a “tithe”. There are countless scenes and descriptions the characters doing that.

**Huge thanks to Little, Brown BFYR for providing the arc free of charge**

I really wanted to like this book. The overall consensus seemed to be good, but for me, it fell short.

Ren, Zofi, and Adelyn are three children to an ailing king. One of them will take over the rule when the king dies. The problem is, these characters are so underdeveloped, I found no connection. I really, really struggled to get to the end.

Sorry, just not for me.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title!**

Three girls with nothing in common.
1- Zofi is a Traveler. She has spent her whole life with her mother and their nomadic band, traveling the Outer Reaches, practicing magic in a way that few others can.
2- Akeylah was raised in a rich merchant's house, abused by her father and mourning for the mother who died years ago.
3- And Ren, raised in the castle as a serving girl, dreaming and scheming to get a better life for herself.

Each has a very important secret to keep, and each has been summoned before the king. Each is expecting to be tried for her crimes... and is surprised to find out the truth. The King is dying, his only heir has just been murdered, and these three girls are all his daughters. One of them will be the future Queen... if they can make their past secrets disappear.

I loved Rule! I thought this book was great, It has an interesting plot, fresh and new. I loved the three girls, Florencia, Akeylah and Zofi. I liked the politics and the thought process that went into the writing. The ending, big cliffhanger (how could you?) I can't wait for book #2. The setting was awesome and the visual in my head was beautiful. Thank you

I give Rule 5 stars for its riveting plot and fascinating characters.
I would recommend this book to Fantasy Fans.

3.5 Stars.
I actually won’t be surprised when this becomes the next hyped up popular teen series.
There are three girls who live completely different lives and from different parts and they all discover they’re royalty. It is never really explained how the King had a relationship with their particular mothers, all around the same time. That bothered me as a pretty big plot hole.
The people can do “blood arts” which basically means if they draw blood, they’re able to perform certain magical tricks. Not sure why or how, but whatever. The three girls realize that their lives and their secrets from their pasts are in danger as they try to see who will be the next heir.
The beginning is slow, the end is rushed, and there is a huge cliff hanger at the end. That said, I still think it will be popular. There are a lot of popular elements; Strong female characters, magic, another world, royalty, love, passion, easy read, page tuner towards the end, mystery, etc.

Content: This book deserves a huge content warning for self-mutilation, There is also non-descriptive sex, medium language, violence, child and servant/commoner abuse, alcoholism, kidnapping, sapphic relationship with someone semi-related to her (and annoyingly insta-love), etc.

I read an ARC from Net Gallery and the final book may be a little different from the version that I read. The review is my own free opinion.

Rule is a twisty fantasy novel about three strong girls that I enjoyed!

One of my favorite things about Rule is that the protagonists are all strong female characters with different personalities and voices. There's Zofi, a fierce girl who's traveled from place to place all her life, Akeylah, a quiet bookworm who's been mistreated by her family, and Florencia, a servant who is determined to rise above her rank. I love that all of these girls have different personality types, and I think it shows that there is no one type of strong woman—they come in all types.

Two of the three girls are people of color I believe (as well as some side characters) which is great because it's so important for there to be more poc in fantasy! There is also a sapphic main character. (Though I feel it's important to note that the sapphic relationship is between a main character and her stepmother—they're the same age, and the stepmother was married off to the main character's father for political reasons, but it may be uncomfortable for some readers.)

Another thing I really liked about Rule is how the three leads don't like each other at first, but their relationships grow and develop over the course of the novel. I really didn't want the book to turn into a nasty, competition thing where all of the sisters hated each other, and I'm so glad this wasn't the case!

Rule's plot mainly follows the three sisters as they adjust to life as royals, all while trying to hide the secrets from their pasts and figure out who is blackmailing them. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and found it to be engaging and fast-paced. I think the secrets and the blackmail aspect really made this story interesting, as well as the Vulgar Arts, a forbidden form of the world's magic system that comes into play over the course of the book.

My main problem with the book's plot is the ending—I found the plot twist at the end to be really predictable, and the ending in general felt like it was perhaps a bit rushed. I had SO many unanswered questions, although I guess that and the cliffhanger are meant to get people to read the second book, which has not yet been published. I will most likely pick up the sequel when it releases, which means that in my case, Ellen Goodlett has succeeded!

Goodlett's writing was immersive, and I had no problems with the writing in this book. I thought the author did a really good job of creating distinct voices for the three POVs in the book—never once did I forget who was narrating, which is a sure sign of a multiple-POV book done right! I also liked the discussion of prejudice that came up throughout the novel.

All in all, the ending wasn't my favorite, but I enjoyed this one! There are a lot of interesting aspects of the story's plot that make it stand out from other books in the genre, and I liked the three main characters.

Rule by Ellen Goodlett is a rare case of a fantasy series that actually got its world building just right. The author managed to get me invested in the story and the world it was set in without unnecessary details or a lack of any thereof. I also loved the three protagonists - Florencia, Akeylah and Zofi! The story had a great mystery element built into the Fantasy which I adored. There were a few issues with pacing in the beginning of the book but the middle and the end were definitely worth the read.

I look forward to reading the sequel of this one because the first book definitely has me intrigued.

Rule by Ellen Goodlett
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Book Review

First and foremost, a huge thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers, for this Early Release Copy of Rules by Ellen Goodlett. I fell in love with the plot and could not wait to read it, so happy I was able to!! Release Date is September 11, 2018. So long now folks, get ready to order if you haven't already pre-ordered!! 

Three girls, three secrets, one throne...

"She might die. First, she would fight back."

Zofi, Akeylah, and Florencia or Ren, all three have something in common. More than one thing in fact, they just hadn't known until now. What will their secrets bring them now?  

Zofi was a traveler, her band was her family. She would do anything for her band. Including playing their games. She had woken to a talon at her mothers door, and had crept out the back. However, that didn't help and he still caught up to her. Sure it for all the wrong reasons, but how very wrong she was.

Akeylah, was an Easterner. Living on the war front seeing death first hand at every turn. She had wished for it at times now, since her mother passed during birth. Her father blamed her, and abused her often. She loved the moments he was to deep in a bottle to hit her. Guards cane for her too only Akeylah did not want to fight. Regardless of her glowing secret.

Ren, aka Florencia. She was the closest to the king already. Sure she was being arrested or on the way to execution, she was nervous when guards, to came to retrieve her. She was a ladies maid, which meant she was there to serve them, and so she would. Despite her wants and tries to move up in status, she held her secrets close to her.

However they had more than their lies in common to worry about. They weren't being arrested, or executed, in fact they would all be moving in!! That's right the girls are the kings illegitimate daughters. Falling ill, and his last heir murdered, he brings them to the palace, as they must stay at court to see which of them will take the throne. They are the last if his heirs!!

To their surprise, and possibly still to their death. They still hold their secrets, and on the night of their introduction as the kings heirs someone let's them know not to forget. They are all being threatened, but each thinks it is the other. Desperate to find the truth, hide their secrets, and take the throne the sisters must work together and alone. See how it all plays out when you read!!

This book is everything!! Romance, friendships, frenemies, and family bonds. Romance, action, and magic all tied into one amazing novel!! World building, and character building is detailed and artful, genius!! Multi character narrative, easy to follow, and capturing to read!! Fast paced storyline keeps you turning the page, you wont want to put it down!! I felt entwined with the characters, and could picture the lands!! Vivid and imaginary, a amazing addition to this years awesome releases!!

"Three sisters. Three deadly secrets.
Only one can wear the crown."

Zofi: a Traveler. While trying to protect the man she loved, she killed Prince Nicolen. But someone knows her secret…

Akeylah: From the Eastern Reach. Tapping into Vulgar Arts, she planned to curse the man (“father”) who took care of her after her mother’s death, realizing too late she was actually slowly killing her real father, the King.

Florencia: Raised as a servant in the Palace. However, Ambassador Danton sweet-talker her into falling in love with him, while also tricking her into helping him find a grave secret that would kill many.

Someone knows all three secrets. Someone related to them is behind the threats. But who? Are they the only ones with a secret? Will the girls figure out who the blackmailer is before time runs out?

Looking around Goodreads and other blogger’s websites, this novel wasn’t a fan favorite. And honestly, I did like it, not love it. I thought it was even-paced and kept the reader wanting more. It was nice to see the perspectives of the three potential heirs. However, the only downfall, to me, was that I felt it predictable. But, then again, I’m always good at figuring out mysteries. I would definitely read the sequel when it comes out (I want to see if my predictions are correct)!

I really enjoyed this book. The writing switched between the points of view of the three main characters. My 16 year old daughter also read this book. She reads books similar to this & would recommend this to her friends. Thought she said it was a bit predictable.

I feel like I say this all the time, but sometimes you find a story that is so hyped, and has this gorgeous cover, and loads of marketing coverage, and between all of that, people start thinking, It’s got to be good, right? And then, the reviews start rolling in, and the responses are less excitable than we all hoped they would be, and I find myself wondering how many stories were given no marketing at all—better stories, stories that deserved the hype—to make room for one that didn’t.

Sadly, this book is a prime example of that scenario. I almost passed on this one altogether, because my gut feeling was that it would be a disappointment, but when it went up on “read now” status on Netgalley, I decided I’d take a gamble, and man, did I regret that decision. I almost DNFed this so many times, but it was a quick enough read, with enough things that made me downright angry, that I had to finish it (plus, my buddy read partner and I agreed that it was opening up the floor for some hilariously salty rants/conversations, at least).

My single biggest problem with this was the world-building—or the complete lack thereof, I should say. There’s a very important magic system in the story, yet we make it through almost the entire first half of the book before we get even a touch of history or explanation, and what we are given is nothing more than bread crumbs. The only things we learn about the world are vague explanations given through political debates, and the plot holes are absolutely blaring.

There are some interesting aspects to the plot—such as the involvement of the Vulgar Arts, which one of our three ladies has committed herself to despite risk of certain execution—but even these bits weren’t explored nearly enough. I understand that it’s only the first book in the series, but I don’t believe in saving all of your world-building for the second book; to me, that’s not a sign of good writing.

On top of the writing itself, very little of what happens lends to any suspension of disbelief. Characters constantly do big things and receive small consequences, if anything. One character takes on a fight she should realistically never win, and then nearly does win via cheating—which everyone is aware she is doing, yet nobody investigates. Even at the base level of the plot, when the three girls learn the big twist that they’re royalty, none of them are surprised or spend even a second’s thought in denial; they just go along with it without hesitation, which struck me as not only naïve, but also incredibly bizarre. The list goes on, but I won’t keep you here all day.

The biggest things I want to talk about are the content warnings that I’m seeing very few reviews mention. This book deserves a huge content warning for self-mutilation, which is literally the basis of the magic that everyone in the story utilizes. On top of that, there are themes of child abuse, alcoholism, kidnapping, and royalty abusing commoners (including forcing famine on entire masses of people). The rest of these things are challenged, of course, but I wanted to be very clear in that, if you are triggered by depictions of self-harm, please proceed with caution!

The last thing I want to mention (read: rant about) is the romance in the story. Each of the three girls has a love interest, and none of the blossoming relationships are even remotely enjoyable to watch unfold. One character is in love with her childhood best friend, but when we meet him, there’s no chemistry. Another character has a sexual history with a man from a neighboring area, who seems to genuinely care for her, but she spends the entire book acting like a spoiled child who’s been blinded by privilege every time he speaks to her. The third girl’s love interest is a woman, which should be great—yay, sapphic representation!—but falls short thanks to a nasty case of insta-love (as well as the fact that it’s the girl’s step-mother, which is a bit awkward).

I genuinely didn’t mean for this entire review to turn into one massive rant, but I can’t help myself. This book was such a tragedy from start to finish, and while the ideas behind it were interesting at times, it failed terribly for me. When I started writing this review, I thought I would give the book 2 stars, but after working out all of my feelings onto paper, I’m realizing this is a 1.5-star read at most. If you don’t mind mediocre fantasy with a lot of plot holes, go ahead and give it a try, but if you’re someone who reads a lot of fantasy and has come to expect a certain level of depth, I don’t recommend picking up Rule.

Rule follows three half sisters who are raised in vastly different environments and don't know their father. Their father, by the way, is the King. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read the next one. I did think that it started off a little slower than I would have liked. I wasn't immediately captivated by it, however, I completely fell in love with it. My only issue with it is that it seems like it was cut off in the middle. Just when things were getting interesting the book ended. I was left with a tv show end-of-season level cliffhanger and I desperately need the next book right now! I really enjoyed the style of writing in this one!

I was provided with an advanced copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest and fair review.

This book is fantastically mysterious and magically. The world is brilliant. The story is breathtaking. The characters are magnificent. A true tell of magic and power that everyone should read.

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!

The idea of RULE was very exciting. Three lower class girls are summoned to the castle and find out that they actually illegitimate daughters of the king. With the death of the only heir and the declining health of the king, they must compete for a chance to inherit the throne. And, to make things even more difficult, someone is blackmailing the girls, each of whom hides a treasonous secret.

The word "compete" is used, but there was very little to no competition between the half sisters. I expected it to feel a lot like THREE DARK CROWNS. That was not the case. I appreciated the fact that the sisters decided to band together instead of work against each other.

While the story was fast paced and full of action, I didn't really love it. It felt like the whole thing just kind of scraped the surface when I was longing for it to dig deep. And the way the blackmailing happened felt very cheesy to me.

I did like the magic system, which was blood-based and not something I've seen a lot of before. I also liked that the sisters, who came from lesser backgrounds, were able to voice their opinions and trigger change, even if it was very small. Gotta start somewhere, right?

I received an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this book but I think it could have been great if there was just a little more meat on the bone of the story. I like the characters but felt they could have been more fleshed out. I just wanted a little more. I also wanted more from the plot. Not a whole lot happens once the characters are in place and we know what’s going on. Most of it is just internal monologue about “who done it” and not a lot happens plot-wise. I was also disappointed in the ending as it left a lot more questions than answers. With that being said I would definitely read the next book to see if we get some answers and see if things develop more in terms of plot. I gave this one three stars with crossed fingers for improvement in the future.

Messy. That's the first thing that comes to mind with this book. I honestly didn't even finish it, but I got halfway through, so...enough to give a review/rating.

It felt like parts of this were jacked from many popular YA series. Tithing for magic through pain/self-mutilation=Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Sisters competing for a crown=Three Dark Crowns. Blackmailing with HUGE secrets=Pretty Little Liars. Maybe "jacked" isn't the right word. But influenced, for sure.

There's some abuse, a lot of mutilation, shitty kings being shitty...and a lot of the timelines between the three sisters didn't make the best sense? There were moments when I loved the characters and their different personalities shone through. But there was so much else happening that those moments were diminished.

There's a love story for each sister, including a f/f one. Which usually I'm all about! But it's...insta-love. And, again, messy, because Akeylah falls for her step-mother. The queen. Yup. We're goin old school with tropes now!

Overall not awesome, but with a few shining moments. I give Rule two out of five silverwings.2

2.5 Stars

I should know better than to get my hopes up from simple buzz around a book- since that usually never plays well for me - and the buzz for this one was strong. But, I did hope that there would be moments that were really well done, and with the understanding that this is a debut - I dove in.

Told in three alternating POV’s this is the story of three girls who, are the illegitimate children of King Andros. King Andros is dying and he needs an heir to rule Kolonya. Two of the girls, Zofi and Akeylah, come from different regions, while Florencia (Ren) already lives in the palace as a maid. Once the sisters learn about their lineage, they are told that only one will be chosen to rule. Thus, they begin lessons on combat, politics, and honing special powers known as tithes.

Intriguing - yes? And that is where the intrigue fell flat for me - underdeveloped characters who are best thought of as near-interchangeable, without any real feeling of the voice matching the character or feeling very appropriate to the 'traits' they are said to possess. And, you can't seem to spit at a YA title without finding a romance thrown in there - yes, 3 romances, equally uninspired because apparently - learning you could be in line for the throne, have special powers and have to learn to function in a society that you never would have been exposed to in your life - we must have a boy. PLEASE someone allow a strong female character without adding a boy into the mix - allow them to grow and find themselves in hugely new situations first.

Suffice it to say, if the flat characters didn't frustrate me, the corresponding lack of development of the world, and the many elements untouched regarding the 'magic system" had me wanting to just walk away- it was bad enough that I didn't care at all about the what next. Goodlett has the potential to be better with work on her craft and some serious effort spent on building worlds and characters - it just didn't come together for me and I'm not intrigued enough to continue with the series.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review.I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=" https://wp.me/p3OmRo-a0o /"> <a> I am, Indeed </a>

I started Rule with the expectation that I wouldn't enjoy it and that it was just going to be another YA fantasy series about kingdoms and princesses (and truthfully, I was more interested in reading it because of the cover). The latter was true, but I was also surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. I feel it will be hard to review the book without giving away too many spoilers attributed to the plot, but I will try my best. The chapters switch among the three main characters, Zofi, Akeylah, and Florencia, who are all from different parts of the country of Kolonya, with different cultures and upbringings. The king of Kolonya is dying, and one of them will assume the throne. But each of them has a secret that someone is threatening to bring to light lest all three step down.

The book starts off with the usual rivalry among the three women, but they soon start working together to uncover the mystery of who is blackmailing them. It was refreshing to read a book where the women are not pitted against each other, and they play on one another's strengths while helping one another out when needed.

This book also has quite the bit of romance, but not so much that it leaves nothing to the imagination. It also doesn't overpower the plot of the story, something that a lot of YA novels are guilty of.

The story features a myriad of POC characters, as well as an LGBTQ pairing. There is magic, and a way of life most people of Kolonya utilize called "tithing" that is explained with great detail and precision, and will make you wish it was something we all had the ability to do.

While the world building is almost restricted to the castle where the girls stay and the surrounding area, future books will hopefully venture out to the other "Reaches" mentioned in the story.

For people who enjoy fantasy, magic, mystery, and girls supporting girls, I think this is a good story to read, and the ending will make you eager for the next book.

I was excited to read this book. The premise sounded absolutely amazing, and if anything is compared to Three Dark Crown, I'll most likely going to read it. And I would say that it was a solid first book in a series, but it left me a bit disappointed because I was expecting so much more and it didn't fulfill those expectations I had before starting the novel.

One of the main issues I had with the story itself was that nothing was actually really happening. Since it's a first installment we got to see a fair picture of the world, though I wouldn't say it was that complex, but the plot itself was pretty basic. I found no satisfaction after finishing it, because I was mostly in the same place where I was at the beginning. We don't know who's this character that is blackmailing the three girls, and though I can totally understand why the author wanted to keep the mystery for the next books, I was pretty pissed, because it ended in a cliffhanger and I wanted to know more about that, and I feel it was slower than it needed to be.

I found some parts a bit repetitive throughout the novel. We were constantly remained of some of the events that already happened or were happening where Rule took place, and they were a bit unnecessary in my opinion. I feel it dragged in some parts of the book, as well, and that made my experience a bit worse, because all the action and most of the revelations happened in the last 40 pages, whereas in the rest of the book nothing was going on.

The characters, I have to say, weren't my favorite at the beginning of the novel. They were very basic and plain, and they didn't outstand to my eyes. However, as I kept reading the story, I started to like more and more the relationships forming between these three girls. They had a nice development throughout the story, and their interactions became less and less cringy as I kept reading Rule.

The romances in my opinion, were either a hit or miss to me. I didn't like two of the relationships going on in this installment, and I wasn't the biggest fan of their romances as well. They were super rushed and odd and didn't make a lot of sense to me that those were happening so suddenly. However, there was a particular one that I was living for, and that's mainly one of the reasons why I want to keep reading the next installments, and it was an adorable f/f relationship that started to develop throughout Rule. I really enjoyed those two characters and would love to read more about their relationship and interactions in the next books.

Overall, though I had some issues with the plot and the storyline itself, I enjoyed the journey these characters went through in Rule, and the relationships formed in the story, so I'm interested to see where the story would go in the sequel, because I feel the issues I had in this one will be solved in the next installments.