Now I Rise

"They are soldiers. They depend upon routine, and anything out of the ordinary will give them pause. And they are men. They hate to be insulted, but they love to hear others mocked. And they are fools, because they cannot imagine that a woman alone in the woods would be a threat."


That was AWESOME. I guess it's my "western" ignorance that keeps me thinking of this series as fantasy. It feels, to me at least, like fantasy. And yet, both And I Darken and Now I Rise are brutal, dark, fictional tales based on historical truth.

I love this 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, reminding me somewhat of Adelina from The Young Elites, but she's much nastier than that.

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.

Radu is working as an insider within Constantinople and reporting to Mehmed, but the handsome young Cyprian makes him start to wonder where his true loyalties lie. I love the moral conflicts of Radu's character, and the lessons he learns about life and love along the way. Lada, on the other hand, is so fucking badass. She must fight against all the male nobles and soldiers who dismiss her because of her sex, and she is torn between playing by their rules to gain an advantage, and saying "screw it!" and doing her own damn thing. She doesn't disappoint.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the funny banter between Lada and her loyal soldier boys on the road:

"She is so beautiful," Petru whispered, peering through the hedge they hid behind. "You look nothing like her."
Nicolae cringed. "And that, Petru, is why your line will die with you."


And THAT ending. Oh my, it was absolute perfection. I don't know what it says about me that I love reading about Lada and her perspective so much. But as much as she is a tough-as-nails murderess, it's hard not to have a certain admiration for her ingenuity and determination.

Look, I wouldn't come searching for historical accuracy in this series, but if you are looking for some seriously dark, seriously dramatic thrills-- I cannot recommend these books highly enough.

NOW I RISE is dark, sophisticated YA at its best. I loved the beginning of the series and adored the latest instalment of Lada and Radu`s journey. Separated and facing their own horrific trials, I loved seeing the sibling`s realise that despite their stark differences the distance separating them illuminated their true feelings for each other.
White`s writing is atmospheric and razor-sharp. I devoured her latest offering and will despair until the final instalment.

"She was not a lady. She was a dragon and this whole country would know it before the end."

* * * *
4 / 5

And I Darken was one of my favourite reads of 2016 and, as such, I had very high hopes for Now I Rise. Whilst it is an excellent book with two excellent and engaging main characters, Lada and Radu, I found Radu's sections to be longer and less interesting than Lada's. The book suffered a touch from "middle book syndrome", but overall I absolutely enjoyed this. Also the cover (US edition, I think) is one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen.

"She thought that she would be enough. She knew now that nothing she could do would ever be enough. She had only these sharp men and sharp knives and sharp dreams, and no way to make use of any of them."

We pick up the narrative with Lada having left Radu and Mehmed to return to Wallachia with her recently freed Wallachian Janissaries. Radu remained in Edirne, having infiltrated the inner circle of Halil Pasha who is secretly allied to Constantinople, to spy on behalf of Mehmed who is now the Sultan. Mehmed is consumed by the desire to fulfil a prophecy, for the Ottoman empire to retake Constantinople which is currently held by Christians after a Crusade.

Lada Dracul wants to be Prince of Wallachia. For some reason, none of boyars or powerful men she meets will support her claim. So Lada and her men take up arms with Hunyadi of Hungary, the man who was responsible for the deaths of her father and older brother, Mircea. I loved the interactions between Lada and Hunyadi, and between Lada and her close-knit group of men: Bogdan, Petru, Nicolae, Stephen. They are friends, brothers-in-arms, and the only ones who take Lada, the Dragon of Wallachia, seriously. Her arc is purely about claiming the throne, and I definitely preferred her chapter's to Radu's.

"The world will destroy her in the end. Too much spark leads to explosions."

Lada is even more brutal than before. She kills. She orders her men to kill. She has sex. She liberates the downtrodden and assassinates and murders whoever stands in her way. And it is still not enough. As a character, Lada is very close to my heart; she is not a man and she does not want to be one. But she wants the power of a man because the power of a woman is tied to the power of a man: a husband, a lover, a father. Lada Dracul picks up a knife, binds her chest, washes the blood from her underwear, and goes as a woman, as a soldier, to claim her throne. As a character, I am inspired and disgusted by her, I am impressed and I pity her, and I applaud White for writing such a lovable, hateful, dynamic and interesting character.

Radu, on the other hand, is playing a political game of another nature. Married to Nazira, who is in love with her maid, loves Mehmed who loves his sister and uses Radu's love to manipulate him. All very complicated. Radu's arc is about politics, loyalty, love, and religion, and it is, like Radu, a more tender and slow-paced journey. When Mehmed asks Radu to go to Constantinople, to act as a spy and to attempt to disrupt their war effort, he goes reluctantly, Nazira in tow, with the ambassador, Cyprian who is a wonderful new character, to pledge allegiance to the imaginatively named Constantine. Whilst I did enjoy his chapters, I thought they were a bit slow and there was entirely too much focus throughout the whole book on Constantinople.

"His duties to God. His duties to the Ottoman Empire. His duties to Mehmed."

I absolutely loved the dynamic between Radu and Nazira. She takes to the role of a spy like a duck to water, fishing information out of the wives of the army officers, and acting the role of the devoted and passionate wife in front of Cyprian. They are so caring together and Nazira speaks only sense to Radu about Mehmed, who is frankly quite unlikeable in this book. I have a lot of sympathy for Radu, who has had his heart broken and abused by Mehmed, who is still full of loyalty for the Ottoman empire but cannot bring himself to murder Constantine, who is by all accounts a good man. Gone is the burning passion for Jihad, for the claiming of the city. Radu has seen the reality of war and he is not fond of it, unlike his conquering sister.

The writing was superb. A lot of the time I thought White's wording was beautiful and I liberally used the highlighter feature on my Kindle. I think it was better, more mature perhaps, than in And I Darken. Now I Rise does still suffer from a few peculiar writing choices - this is clearly an older teen or even adult book, judging by the amount of violence, pillaging, and rape going on, but White still uses some "childish" language. For example, Lada has sex a couple of times. The word "sex" is never used, however, (I just checked using the search function) it's always "down there" or some other weird vague terminology. It bugged me a little, but was the only writing complaint I have.

"We saw everything that was not ours and we hungered."

Overall, I am so pleased I got to read an ARC of Now I Rise and I recommend it to everyone that has read And I Darken, and the entire series to anyone who has not read either book. Lada and Radu are such refreshing, novel, and heartfelt characters and I cannot wait to read more of them.

So when I first read And I Darken, I wasn't really sure how to rate it. I could not put it down, I ate up every word, I loved all the characters. But at the same time, the story had infuriated me. This can be in any case where you find a character that makes bad decisions. I didn't like where things were going, and even though I had fallen in love with everything else, I still gave it four stars out of bitterness.

But this time? This time I could not do it.

Who am I kidding? Giving this series four stars when it takes all of my attention and forces me to keep the book open? No, I don't know why I was holding myself back just because the decisions of one character was pissing me off. To make the one star drop even more unnecessary, the character with the bad decisions is my FAVOURITE character, so he can make as many bad decisions as he wants; I'm still gonna love him. Even if I am suuuuper disappointed in his actions.

Now I Rise continues from And I Darken, the story of Lada and Radu Dracul, the children of a weak king whose land is taken from him as they are taken to be raised by Sultan Murad in the Ottoman Empire. In the second installation, they have parted ways as Radu become the right hand man of newly appointed Sultan Mehmed II and Lada gathers together and army to take back the kingdom that is rightfully hers.

I am in no way a history buff. I barely listened in history class and gave it up at fourteen as quickly as I could, but I'm definitely starting to find a new found love of historical fiction, especially ones that actually take from historical events rather that just have a court with women in pretty dresses and romance drama. While this story is not wholly accurate and still called fiction, it's still really hard to not google 'Constantinople' and not spoil myself. I had an idea of what would happen, but it's nice to know that my lack of history knowledge is finally paying off.

I love Radu and Lada in so many different ways. First there's Lada, a headstrong, rage-fueled solider who is mot definitely going to become a tyrant. She's blood thirsty and cruel but also incredible. I would not cross her, and I want her to succeed so badly. Then there's Radu, my sweet summer child, the softest man in the Ottoman Empire who just wants love and appreciation and honestly? Now I Rise we finally get to see him as a protector of people who love him just as much as he loves them. I've never been infatuated with someone before, and it's clear that the events from the first novel are still deeply ingrained with Radu...hence earlier when I talked about a fave character making bad decisions. I love him, but sometimes I just wanna bang his head against the wall. YOU HAVE LOVE, RIGHT THERE READY FOR YOU. But what I do know that un-loving someone is hard, and I really hope book three turns out the way I want it too, without looking at Wikipedia impatiently.

I could never decide whose story I liked best because I loved them in different ways. I loved Lada's story; her soldiers who are loyal but also have the best banter, her cruelness and determination, the way she does not understand other women and yet they are of utmost importance to her, her realization that allies may not be allies at all.

I loved Radu's story; his loyalty slowly break away from Mehmed, his realization that good and evil are not black and white, his innocence shattering. NAZIRA AND CYRIAN TOO. What powerhouses.

If you've been umming and ahhhing about And I Darken, please give it a go. And if you're still on the fence afterwards, then know that this will be the book that will get you utterly obsessed with this trilogy.

I love love love this series. It actually scares me how much I love Lada's character despite her viciousness.

The novel follows two storyline. Lada's and Radu's. I would say that in Now I Rise Lada's story with slightly less engaging than in And I Darken but I think her character development makes up for it. Despite being as vicious and bloodthirsty as always, she seems to appreciate Radu's skills more and her ability to understand others and their motives also improves through the course of the novel.

Radu is as cunning and intelligent as ever. His storyline focuses on his conflicting emotions as he is sent behind enemy lines to spy on Mehmed's behalf. His eyes are opened in this novel and his love for Mehmed is not as blind.

I really enjoyed this novel, it was the highlight of my week when I read it. I cannot wait for the next novel in the series.