This is one of the prettiest book covers! ❤ Unfortunately, I didn’t care for the inside as much as I thought I would. I think I need to take a few days off from reading. I might be heading into a slump.
This is a big book and with that I felt bored a lot. The pacing was just so slow. I really loved the beginning of the story, when they were kids. I found it really interesting and was expecting a lot more when they were older.
Unfortunately, I really disliked Radu. I could not get over his constant love struck thoughts. The whole book he’s doing everything and anything because he’s so in love with Mehmed. He even knows that Mehmed and his sister, Lada have a thing. Yet, he turns to hate his sister and STILL fall all over Mehmed. Um, dude… it takes two! I just got really tired of reading the same thing over, how much he loved Mehmed. He could do no wrong in his eyes. Yup, Mehmed does plent wrong.
Lada on the other hand was my favorite character! She is brutal and yet she does not let love stand in her way. She sticks to who she is and what she wants. She will break her own heart, if it’s to do what she feels is right, for her. She’s strong and fierce but still able to love. She has a different way of thinking that was nice and refreshing. She takes what she wants and has no regrets. I was constantly rooting for her! I wish that we would have gotten only her POV and I probably would have loved this book so much more. She was a rather entertaining and interesting character to read.
By the end of the book, I really disliked Mehmed too. I really do think he knew how both Radu and Lada felt and kind of played it to his advantage, especially Radu. He sometimes pushed the boundary with him. I was really annoyed about how he loved Lada so much but still was popping out kids with his “concubines” every 5 minutes. It’s “duty,” Please *rolls eyes* I just didn’t really care what happened to him, either way.
I think that White did a great job writing about Eastern Europe and all the religious aspects. Although, she did not impress me with all the politics. It took a huge chunk of the book and I felt like I was just reading the same words over and over. It was really boring and I found myself wanting to not continue. I will not be reading the rest of the series. I liked this book okay but not enough to continue. At least, this is one book off my actual book shelf completed! Yay!
I find it funny that we disliked this book for completely opposite reasons. I adored Radu; he was so sympathetic from the beginning and his crush on Mehmet was more tragic than annoying in my eyes. Though it did frustrate me at times.
I found it impossible to relate to Lada. While I can’t say I hated her I foils it very hard to be invested in her story because she was just too brash for my tastes.
I think we can both agree that Mehmet was so annoying in the end. By the end of the book I was hopeing he’d get assassinated by janissaries so Radu and Lada could get over him and find guys much more worthy of their love
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Haha, yeah.. I was reading a lot of Goodreads reviews after I finished. A lot of people either liked Radu or didn’t. Same with Lada! Funny how that works out! Did you keep going with the series?
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No, I wanted to wait for Bright We Burn to read me out just in case book Now I Rise had a major cliffhanger so I’ll probably continue on with the series sometime soon. I’ve head nothing but rave reviews for Bright We Burn so I’m hyped to continue on.
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Awesome! You will have to let me know how it is!
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I couldn’t finish this and gave up the whole series, it sure has very pretty covers but that’s it!
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Yeah, I really didn’t want to finish but it was a book I owned and pushed through. I will not be reading the rest!
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I was debating whether or not ot pick this one up but from what you pointed out I don’t think I will be…
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Yeah, I had the same debates for a while and did get it… so if you were on the fence, I wouldn’t!
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