Review: Now I Rise (Kiersten White)

Ok! Wow. I plowed through this sequel to And I Darken in less than 24 hours (thank goodness for a free weekend). In Now I Rise, any and all respect you may have had for Radu flies out the door, and we get to watch Lada be Lada on her path to the throne, tearing down anyone who gets in her way.

Radu's obsession with Mehmed almost becomes religion--a driving force in his life that he questions but ultimately remains loyal to, even at the very end of the siege on Constantinople. He was so pure in And I Darken when juxtaposed with Lada, but now that they are split, you see he can be perfectly horrible in his own right. Nazira, as sweet as she is, is cunning and and an enthusiast about the divine right as well, so she remains dutifully at his side. Radu's kind host and purported savior get the butt end of the stick; his feelings reciprocated by Radu but too little too late, as Radu reveals his betrayal.

Lada's story in this one is way less intriguing than Radu's (probably much less artistic license one could take with a real documented person's path through history). However, White more than makes up for it with great lines and insight from Lada about her status as a woman prince:

You will always have to fight for everything. Even when you already have it, you will have to keep fighting to maintain it. You will have to be more ruthless, more brutal, more everything. Any weakness will undo everything you have accomplished. They will see any crack as evidence that they were right that a woman cannot do what you do.

 I am really struck by White's ability to sculpt not only the visuals of a scene, but the emotional gravity of the scene as well. The violence is unavoidable but never gratuitous. I cannot wait to read the third book of this trilogy. 5 stars!!!