She has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she’s always had: herself.

After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada Dracul is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.

What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?

YES YES THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED. The main reason I was a little er on the last book was Lada’s love interests, I just want girls that burn the world down and stab men not pine after them. This book delivered me that and so much more that I’m shocked and pleased. If you want to see my full thoughts on the first book, do the clickies.

Centered a lot on Radu we see his struggles with the choices he made in the last book and how much he has grown into himself.

I love the amount of detail that is in this book, it’s truly what makes the story but it can just get so weighed down at times with different names and places, and families that it takes some real concentration to place whats going on, making it more slow-paced for me at least.

The war, the fighting, the storming castles, Game of Thrones fans join me I haven’t read the GoT books (#fakefan) BUT the battles in Now I Rise reminded me so much of the battle of the bastard and other scenes I could imagine it so terrifyingly well.

 

“No one will be more brutal than me. No one will be more ruthless. And I will never stop fighting.” 

Lada is so dark, definitely a villain in most peoples books but man do I love her, I love the mentions of her struggles being a woman in these times, not even in the respect way, the talk of periods and female hygiene is something so missing from every YA I’ve read and a historical fiction managed to slid it in effortlessly.

I have a thing for stabby characters and Lada is the stabbiest, she really has no other redeemable qualities, she’s not remorseful, she’s not even that cocky or witty, she’s mainly stabby and I can get down with that.

The ending, the set up for the intensity that is going to be the third book! I am excited to see where it takes us.

4/5 Stars

Have you read this? Is it on your TBR? Let me know your thoughts below! HOW THE HECK IS THIS SERIES GOING TO CLOSE?! I am excited for more Lada

 

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review