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shaliss · 2 years

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RESEÑA

Hija de las tinieblas

AUTOR (A)

Kiersten White

EDITORIAL

V&R

TRILOGÍA

1/ 3

PÁGINAS

496

SINOPSIS

Nadie espera que una princesa sea brutal. Pero Lada, la hija de Vlad Drácula, siempre lo fue. En cambio, su hermano Radu es un joven gentil, inteligente y sensible. Todo lo que Lada y su padre desprecian. Cuando Drácula condena a sus hijos al destierro y los deja en manos del sultán otomano, Lada y Radu conocen a Mehmed. Por primera vez, Radu siente que tiene un verdadero amigo y Lada tal vez encuentre en él a alguien por quien valga la pena sentir algo. Para Radu, el imperio otomano es su hogar. Para Lada, el enemigo. Ella será capaz de sacrificarlo todo con tal de volver a su amada tierra. Lada, Radu y Mehmed crean un triángulo oscuro y apasionado, que desafiará todas las reglas, lealtades y sentimientos.

OPINIÓN

Esta novela es una adaptación de la historia real del principe de Valaquia, Vlad Drácula o Vlad Tepes, El empalador. Pero en esta ocasión siendo un personaje femenino llamado Ladislav Dracul, mejor conocida como Lada.

La historia y la ficción van de la mano, en la novela, Lada, es hija del principe de Valaquia, un hombre que al saber el género de su hija al nacer, no siente ninguna clase de apego por ella, puesto que el poder siempre ha constituido algo fundamental en su mundo, su desilución fue grande al saber que su descendencia con su actual esposa, comenzaría con una niña, algo que para él constituía una gran debilidad.

Cuando nace su segundo hijo, Radu, fue diferente, sintió mayor simpatía porque era hombre, sin embargo, el tiempo le demostraría que quien poseía la tenacidad, valor y determinación de sus hijos era Lada, quien no hacía más que complacer a su padre y demostrarle que era una hija digna, mientras que Radu, era tímido y temeroso. Quedando completamente abandonado y relegado a su nodriza, puesto que la madre de ambos eligió irse, en lugar de quedarse a cuidar de sus hijos. Desde entonces Lada crece con la idea que su padre sembró en ella, su verdadera madre era Valaquia, el reino que quería gobernar.

Con el tiempo tanto Lada como su hermano, terminan siendo prisioneros del sultán otomano, Murad, quien los usa como garantía para que el padre de ambos le sea leal, sin embargo este lo traiciona, sin importar la suerte de sus hijos, es entonces cuando conocen a Mehmed, el tercer hijo del sultán, quien se hace muy cercano a ellos.

Al crecer un poco más, Mehmed se convierte en la única opción del sultán como heredero, es entonces cuando empieza una verdadera conspiración para deshacerse de él, por parte de los enemigos, es entonces que Lada y Radu se unen para evitar que algo malo ocurra con su amigo, con quién han desarrollado una estrecha relación que dará origen a un triángulo amoroso, en el cual se pondrá a prueba la lealtad de cada uno y sus verdaderos sentimientos. Cada accionar causa expectación por saber en qué terminará todo cuando se concluyan los tres libros.

La relación entre los hermanos Lada y Radu, suele ser en un principio difícil, Radu siente admiración por su hermana al ser tan fuerte y decidida, y a pesar de ello, Lada pretende humillarlo constantemente por la debilidad que refleja frente a los demás, sin embargo al crecer comprende que solo se tienen el uno al otro, por lo que su perspectiva hacía él cambia, desde entonces sus acciones se inclinan a protegerlo.

Durante toda la novela, la personalidad de Lada está muy bien desarrollada. Demuestra ser una mujer decidida, tenaz, aguerrida, segura de sus decisiones, salvaje y cruel. Odia ser mujer por el papel que debe desempeñar en ese entorno, satisfacer a los hombres y darles descendencia. Está convencida de tener un propósito muy diferente a ese , por ello se entrena hasta la desesperación para ser hábil y feroz. Tiene un fuerte temperamento y a pesar de ser muy joven, sabe cómo dirigir un ejército. Su apariencia no es muy agraciada, pero eso carece de importancia. Decidió desde hace mucho que prefería ser guerrera antes que una damisela.

Radu, es tímido, sensible, temeroso e inseguro, pero con un buen corazón, antepone la lealtad y la amistad ante toda decisión. Busca llenar las expectativas de su padre y hermana, odia ser débil, y más en un mundo donde los hombres deben ser todo lo contrario.

El rechazo de su padre lo marcó al punto de depender de su hermana mayor, pero poco a poco irá demostrando sus capacidades intelectuales que le ayudarán a su amigo Mehmed en su travesía como Sultán.

Mehmed, se identifica tan bien con ambos hermanos, debido a que ha vivido una situación similar, el rechazo de su padre, a ello se debe que su dedicación se ha centrado en aprender de política y en compartir momentos inigualables con sus dos amigos, por quienes siente un fuerte lazo, en especial con Lada, a quien empieza a ver con otros ojos.

La novela me pareció muy interesante, sobre todo por abordar datos históricos reales incorporados a la trama. El personaje de Lada, es de mis favoritos, la fuerza que posee es inspiradora. Además los capítulos están muy bien estructurados, hay escenas emocionantes que no podía dejar de leer, pero también las habían leves, las cuales hacía un poco difícil avanzar.

La construcción y crecimiento de los personajes principales se percibe claramente, cada uno tiene una personalidad inconfundible.

La ambientación es bastante descriptiva, el contexto histórico es una de las mayores fortalezas dentro de la novela.

La tensión y el peligro están en la obra, así mismo el juego político y el conocimiento religioso de la época y regiones involucradas.

Es la primera vez que leo algo de Kiersten White, en un principio se me dificultó un poco encontrar el ritmo, pero según se avanza , es mucho más fácil.

Es relevante prestar atención a los nombres y descripciones porque son muy necesarias para la comprensión de la trama, después de todo se trata de ficción histórica, hay muchos detalles, que pueden complicar la asimilación de la misma y por lo tanto, se dificulta un poco la lectura.

En conclusión es una trilogía, que deseo seguir conociendo, el primer libro me gustó bastante y estoy ansiosa por saber que ocurrirá en Renace de las sombras.

CALIFICACIÓN

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

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books-to-add-to-your-tbr · 1 year

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Title: The Conqueror’s Saga

Author: Kiersten White

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2016

Genres: fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, romance, retelling, LGBT+

Blurb: No one expects a princess to be brutal, and Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother Radu were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move...for the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets. Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. When they meet Mehmed - the defiant and lonely son of the sultan - Radu feels that he’s made a true friend, and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion. But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against...and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

#the conqueror's saga #and i darken #now i rise #bright we burn #kiersten white #series #2016 #fiction #fantasy #historical fiction #romance #retelling #lgbt

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starxchildx · 2 months

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Ok, even if black people weren't becoming samurai, the AC universe is pretty obviously a alternate universe that loosely mirrors our own. Hence the ISU and the whole assassin/templar war. So, since this is an alternate universe, is it that hard to suspend your disbelief that a black man was able to become a samurai? After all, this is the same universe where the Greek monsters are real, there's golden balls of mind-control and a Native American assassin allowed George Washington to live. A black man becoming a samurai is less astounding than any of those previous things. Anyway, if you don't want to play a black man, Naoe is right there.

Thank you for your sensible answer, I appreciate the eloquency of it. I see your point and understand it (as a Bridgerton fan where they had Queen Charlotte as a black woman, I don't mind alternate versions where things are different, in fact her and Lady Danbury are my favourites besides Benedict and Eloise so I totally get it.)

My opinion doesn't stem from the lack of being able to enjoy diverse media, it comes from the belief that the Japanese are already rarely represented, even more so represented properly. I know they were all looking forward to playing an ethically Japanese samurai, that is why. True, there is the girl but take the game Origins, for instance. It's actually my husband's favorite and he plays the black man in it, no issue with that since historicaly speaking, Egypt was a pot of diverse races at the time, especially if we just narrow it down to Cleopatra's rule.

You have a lot of things included that respect history, however so I wouldn't say it just loosely mirrors it. They respected things like Caesar's assassination, Blackbeard real life's speech, the whole Medici storyline...

I will give you an example from my own culture that, despite changing some aspects, still stuck to the historical aspects it was set in. To clarify, my husband has the Japanese side, I am Romanian/Polish. Anyway, there was a book published a few years ago by an American author, based off Vlad the Impaler, Radu the Handsome and Mehmet the Conqueror.

Now, since that period was greatly tied to my country's history, but as a fan of Turkey's history I was greatly familiar with it as well... You can imagine my curiosity. The fiction aspect that changed things was the premise: What if Vlad the Impaler had been born as a girl...

I was skeptical, thinking they will take the things that made Vlad, Vlad to write their story but I gave it a try nonetheless and was not disappointed. She was still cunning, still fearsome bordering on cruel, still stubborn about not paying tribute. Non cliche writing, actual character development while still respecting history. Vlad, well Lada in this case, didn't just give up her throne out of love for both her brother, who adapted to Ottoman society or even love for the Sultan (arguably another fictional aspect that the story put though in history it was told that they cared for one another deeply and it hurt them, having to wage war.)

But I digress. That book respected everything it needed to fit both history and fiction. So, it can be done.

#history #assasins creed #fiction related #asian culture #japanese

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shipcestuous · 2 years

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Bright We Burn (Conqueror's Saga 3) (submission)

Back again and with more quotes than ever, it is I, the And I Darken anon! I was rereading the series, and since my original writeup was lost in the wretched Tumblr purge—and my later ask was unfortunately based on fuzzy memory—I wanted to do a new writeup of the final book, Bright We Burn, to go with the ones I did for the first two books. It’s horrendously long, and I’m not sorry.

First: I want to note that, in my ask I sent a couple years after reading the book, I forgot some of the plot details (and/or misunderstood something during my first reading), and accidentally made the ending sound happier than it was. The ending is bittersweet; however, it’s still happier for Lada and Radu’s relationship than the dark tone of the series would lead you to expect.

To recap important events from the first two books: Lada and her younger brother Radu are the younger children of the prince of a vassal state. Lada is stubborn and brutal; Radu is sensitive and clever. Her first word is “mine,” about him, and she does consider him hers, even telling him that nobody will kill him except her.

In their early adolescence, their father essentially trades them to the Ottoman Empire as political prisoners in exchange for their help defending his throne. The siblings befriend Mehmed, the son of the sultan, and both fall in love with him; Mehmed is also in love with Lada. Although this causes friction between Lada and Radu, they still care for each other deeply (and the first book is ultimately the best in terms of their relationship). When Radu has to choose, in a split second, to save either Lada or Mehmed, he chooses his sister. Ultimately, Radu’s chief priority is the people he loves.

However, both Lada and Mehmed’s top priorities are their individual political ambitions. At the end of the first book, Lada leaves her brother and Mehmed in order to reclaim her throne after her father’s death. She wanted Radu to join her, but he declined. In the second book, he’s sent by Mehmed as an inside man to help Mehmed seize Constantinople, and Radu is deeply traumatized over his months in the siege. Meanwhile, Lada’s attempts to take the throne meet with a lot of opposition, both because she’s a woman and because she’s ruthless, and when she does eventually take power, it’s through a lot of bloodshed.

That catches us up with the present.

I want to note that, although the second book is the worst for the Lada/Radu relationship since they’re never together, the book—and the series—hammers home that the Draculesti siblings are two halves of a whole. Without each other, they’re weaker, and both reflect on this regularly. They perfectly balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and it’s very clear that, if they had stuck together, things would have gone better for both of them. Radu wouldn’t have participated in the prolonged siege that left him traumatized and guilty, and with his political finesse by Lada’s side, she could have had a quicker, less brutal ascent to her throne.

Unfortunately, at that point in the series, Radu chose Mehmed over Lada. It’s interesting how, when it’s an instinctive decision, Radu will choose his sister, but when he has time to think it over, he chooses Mehmed. His heart and his instincts favor his only family, but when he overthinks, he remembers how he wants to escape from Lada’s shadow and prove himself. (Understandable and valid, but often with tragic results.)

Early on, Mehmed and Radu are discussing the rumors that surround their relationship, and we get this passage.

“And Lada?” Radu asked, dragging his sister into the space between them, where she always was.

Mehmed frowned. … “We three were always meant to be together. I have you. She will come back to us.”

Mehmed realizes that, even if Lada hates him, she still loves Radu deeply despite herself and desires to reunite with him. Also, Lada always being in the space between them, and Radu always being in the space between Lada and Mehmed too. Ultimately, the sibling relationship is more enduring than either of them’s bond with Mehmed and we love to see it. (Sorry, but Mehmed sucks. He’s as selfish and ruthlessly ambitious as Lada, but without ever being in his POV, he’s a lot less sympathetic.)

Speaking of Lada hating Mehmed for being a threat to her country, she sends him the mutilated bodies of his envoys. Remember, this series is dark. Radu is haunted by Lada’s actions.

She would have to be answered. When she was, Radu did not know how he would feel, or what he would want to happen.

He had chosen Mehmed’s side the year before when Lada asked for his help. He would, it seemed, have to make that choice over and over again for the rest of their lives. He had changed his faith, his life, even his name, but he could not change or escape his sister.

Their dynamic is deliciously complicated by their conflicting goals… and yet, in the end, he can’t escape his fondness for her, either. Even after she’s done monstrous things, he doesn’t want her to die. When Mehmed and his advisors tell Radu that, if Lada won’t compromise, they’ll have to kill her, Radu plans to capture her. In a decision almost as ruthless as Lada herself, he decides he’s willing to betray her to save her life.

He had failed her before. He would not fail her this time. But to protect her, he would have to betray her….

“She will not compromise. When she comes to meet me—as she must, because I am her brother and it aggravates her that I have belonged to someone else these last years—I will bring her back here.”

He resolves to do so, even if “it would kill whatever love she has left for both of us.”

But the fun thing about that is, when Lada learns he’s coming her way, she decides to kidnap him! Despite their differences, they can be surprisingly alike. When asked why she’s going to kidnap Radu, Lada thinks to herself, “Because he should have been hers regardless. Because she missed him, and she hated him for that…. Because even after all this, she knew in the blood that flowed through her veins that she could trust Radu.”

However, right before he’s set to arrive, Radu receives word that his (platonic) wife Nazira has finally been found, after being missing for so long. And Radu loves her like a sister—more on these peripheral pseudo-sibling dynamics later—so after talking with his brother in law, they decide Radu will go get Nazira, and Nazira’s brother Kumal will capture Lada. I suspect it’s also because, despite the necessity, Radu doesn’t want to personally betray Lada like that—he’s cunning, but very tender-hearted.

Anyway, Lada is mad that Kumal arrives instead of Radu, but she’s quite amused to learn that Radu was planning to kidnap her just as she planned to kidnap him. Still, she hates Kumal more than she hates most people—feeling like he and Nazira stole Radu from her—and brutally kills him.

Meanwhile, when Radu reunites with Nazira and her wife (reminder: Radu married Nazira for security, so she could be with her real love despite society’s rules against queer relationships), Radu reflects about Lada, “He loved his sister, but… But did he? Knowing that she had finally become the worst of what she had always had the potential to be?” Spoiler: yes. Yes, he does.

Lada sneaks into Mehmed and Radu’s camp, intending to kill Mehmed, yet the two of them end up sleeping together one last time. (It’s relevant to the plot later.) But she ends up angry with him when she leaves, because he’ll always choose his ambitions over her. On her way out of the camp in disguise, Radu spots her.

Radu had never realized how well he knew his sister’s walk, but it was unmistakable.

“Lada,” he said.

She did not stop walking. He was not sure she had heard him. He could still catch up to her [and take her hostage]… Instead, he watched her leave.

The next night, she returns with her army intent on killing Mehmed for real. However, when she enters his tent, Radu is there to greet her. She reflects on how much he’d aged since they last saw each other, noting how “he was beautiful. And he was a stranger. The boy she had known, the boy she had loved and protected, was gone.”

They discuss their childhood as hostages to the Ottomans, and how Lada had tried to protect him. When they tried to beat Radu to punish Lada for disobedience, she allowed it without protest—because she realized, if they believed Radu could be used as leverage against her, they would never stop hurting him. To her, that was the best way to protect him, by pretending she was indifferent. Radu is amused and sad to hear this reasoning, and Lada realizes “he was not her delicate, weak baby brother anymore” and feels a sense of loss.

Then, she asks why Radu is in Mehmed’s tent—basically trying to figure out if the two are in a relationship now. Radu tells her he’s only there because he knew Lada would come to kill their friend, and he asks her if it was Mehmed who came between them, or if they were always destined to end up on opposing sides. She realized how, even if they shared the same childhood, it shaped them into very different people.

Lada tells Radu to flee the camp, and she’ll give the order that he isn’t to be killed. She then asks him to join her.

Lada crossed the space to him and took his shoulders in her hands. “Tonight. Tonight, it is an option. We can kill [Mehmed]. For [our homeland]. We can finally be free of the cage our father crafted for us, once and for all. Make the right choice tonight.”

Radu, so much taller, so much fairer, looked down on her. He stepped forward, folded her into a hug. She stood stiff, unsure how to respond.

“I hope I already have.”

Then he holds her still as he calls soldiers into the room to take her captive, apologizing to Lada that he couldn’t bear to see her killed. Lada is furious that Radu would choose Mehmed again (even if he’s really doing this for her and for their country’s future). For Radu’s part, he regrets calling the soldiers in so soon, reflecting that this might have been his and Lada’s last conversation and he didn’t want it to end.

He found her more precisely, more powerfully herself than she had ever been. He was… proud. In spite of everything. And it made him devastatingly sad. She had worked so hard and fought so long for this. They were going to take it all away.

…Radu sighed. It would have been such a different reunion. Well, no. Not with Lada. But it should have been different.

Even when she’s against him and doing horrible things, he still admires her. And when she accuses him of betrayal, he throws it back in her face, pointing out she intended to betray them, too.

Lada opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. A shocking giggle escaped her mouth. It made her almost girlish. “I suppose that is true.”

Caught off guard, Radu found himself returning her smile. “We always have contingency plans, you and me. That has not changed.”

Lada’s smile deepened and darkened. “You have no idea what is coming.”

“Are you certain about that?”

Unease crept into Lada’s face. Her deep-set, hooded eyes narrowed, and her full lips pressed together. Radu had a shameful thrill that she now respected him enough to question herself. He would have given anything for a moment like this as a child.

Mehmed interrupts them (ugh) and says he should kill Lada right now. Lada tells him to make Radu do it, and says Mehmed knows he would if it was the best option, as he’s always disregarding Radu’s feelings. Trying to drive a wedge between them without knowing there’s already one there. Then Lada frees herself, and Radu draws his sword to block her escape route. Yet he refuses to actually strike her, only defending himself, and she escapes anyway.

She continues her rain of terror on the Ottomans. When they storm her capital, they find it empty of the living, but with the bodies of 20,000 Ottomans impaled on stakes in front of the castle. Everyone is horrified, Radu included, yet even then, he still reflects on her indomitable will.

Lada is betrayed by a neighboring king she thought was an ally, and is held captive for months. While Radu’s allies think she’s dead, Radu isn’t so sure.

He could not imagine that Lada would die alone and in secret. Or that she could be dead and he would not somehow know. Surely her death would be marked by something. A comet. A great hole opening in the earth. A tempest, a flood, a fire. A force such as Lada could not depart this world without leaving one last mark.

Just… the way he thinks about her, no matter what the current state of their relationship. It’s great. Even shortly after, when he resolves to go out and kill her (lol, as if), it’s while thinking, “Everything led him back to Lada.” Like… what more can I say?

It’s at this point that I want to take a break to talk about the non-platonic relationships in our Draculesti siblings’ lives, because one of those will be important soon. What I find interesting is the parallels we can draw here between their relationships with others and their relationship with each other. Starting first with Radu—I already mentioned he’s married-for-convenience to the wonderful Nazira, who he referred to in a prior book as his “ideal sister.” Like Lada, she’s fierce in her own way, willing to go after what she wants—yet she also supports Radu and treats him more kindly than Lada does, in the ways Radu wishes Lada would care for him.

Though it’s less relevant here, I’d like to mention that after moving on from Mehmed, Radu does end up with a love interest—the late Constantine’s nephew Cyprian, whom Radu deceived to enter Constantinople as a spy. Cyprian is Lada’s opposite in basically every way, to an extent that almost feels deliberate. He’s sensitive and almost too forgiving to be believable. (Again, Radu lied to him for months and it resulted in his uncle’s death and his city’s siege by enemies. It would’ve made more sense for Cyprian to never want to see him again.) Yet he’s also strikingly similar to the way Radu used to be, albeit more open with his emotions. Radu is falling for Cyprian at the same time he’s losing that old self, and it’s almost like Radu’s drawn to the version of himself from before the siege and before he and Lada were separated, even if that’s doubtless not the author’s intent.

But anyway, onto Lada’s relationship with Bogdan—the son of her and Radu’s nurse, the woman who raised them for most of their childhood and really, the closest to a mother figure they have. As a child, Lada refers to Bogdan as the brother of her heart, yet she “marries” him (or the closest a kid can do) nearly in the same breath as calling him that. When they reunite as adults, they fall back into the old pattern of Lada telling him what to do and Bogdan happily doing anything for her. Bogdan is truly in love with and in awe of her, while Lada honestly views him as the most convenient option. Yet she does care for him, as he’s basically a more obedient, (no offense) dumber version of Radu who never questions her.

Oh, and Radu hates Bogdan, having always resented him as a kid because Lada seemed to prefer him.

Anyway, back to the story. Lada decides to cave in to Bogdan’s wish to marry her, to “reward” him for his undying loyalty. As they’re about to get married, Bogdan decides to bring this up: “Do you remember when you told my mother that I was your brother, and Radu a worm? Now I will be your husband. This is where we married the first time, too.” Such an interesting anecdote to bring up, how they were basically like siblings growing up.

But anyway, as the priest is starting to marry them, Lada’s stomach is fluttering. She (very belatedly) realizes she’s pregnant—remember how she slept with Mehmed one last time, and how I said it’d be relevant later? Anyway, while she’s still reeling in shock from that, an arrow hits Bogdan, and he falls to his death. RIP, he was loyal to the end.

She looked up, searching the mountain opposite them.

There.

A long figure, standing, a longbow at his side.

Radu lifted a hand and waved. Dazed and in shock, Lada lifted hers and waved back.

The first cannonball struck the fortress. The resounding crack of stone on stone jarred Lada from her dreamlike state. He was not waving. He was signaling his men.

It’s a tragic scene, but this moment is almost funny and cute. Lada acts tough, but here she’s just like, “Oh, it’s my brother! He’s waving at me? Better wave back.” Not yet realizing that Radu was the one who murdered Bogdan.

As Lada tries to escape the falling fortress, she falls and is knocked unconscious. Radu finds her (because he too is familiar with this fortress from their childhood) and rests her head in his lap, stroking her hair as she wakes up. She backs away to the opposite wall, and soon she demands to know why Radu missed when he shot at them. Radu says he didn’t miss, and she’s shocked to realize he meant to kill Bogdan—her oldest friend and the son of Radu’s beloved nurse. Radu did it because he knew he needed to utterly break her in order to stop her from this path, in hopes of saving her life.

“I needed you to understand the cost of this. To feel loss.”

“Or you simply hated Bogdan.”

…It was true. He had hated Bogdan. But hate had not motivated his actions.

It was his love for his sister that had motivated those… though his jealous hatred of Bogdan had also been motivated by his desire for Lada’s affection, so…

Anyway, Radu then mentions how Lada killed his brother-in-law, and she responds that she isn’t sorry, because “he took you from me.” I know her actions were terrible, but I still adore her jealousy.

Back in their childhood, the siblings heard the story of a man who—trying to win the woman he loved—tried to cut through to the heart of a mountain. Now, Radu asks if Lada remembers that story.

“We are in the center of my mountain, Radu, and I see no heart.”

Radu smiled. “You are wrong. There are two. Yours, and mine.”

…

“I wish it was not you,” she said. “I could take a blade happily from anyone but you.”

They acknowledge that, as long as she lives, she won’t stop fighting for her goals, and Radu acknowledges that he cannot protect her if it means stopping her from being the person she is, and he can’t begrudge her that. He accepts that she really did try to protect him during their childhood in her way, and asks that she let him protect her in his way now. He respects the reforms she wants to make for their country, even if he doesn’t like her cruel methods. So, although he cannot stay by her side forever, he offers to stay with her for a little while to earn her a more stable position on the throne.

Lada admits that she does need his help, and always did—but he wasn’t there for her, didn’t choose her. And then:

Radu knelt in front of her, holding the knife out. Knowing that he had just killed her best friend. Knowing that he had stripped her of everything. Knowing that an injured, cornered wild thing was the most dangerous type.

…

Lada reached out, her fingers closing around the knife. She held it up, playing with the reflections of light. “You are mine again?”

“For a time.”

“And then?”

“And then I am retiring to live out a happy, peaceful life far from thrones and rulers and impossible decisions.” He paused. “Or we could do that now. Come with me. Leave it all behind.”

Lada’s hand tightened reflexively around the knife.

“I did not think so, but I had to try.” Radu held out his hand. Lada sheathed her knife, and accepted his help.

“You do know,” Radu said, his voice as gentle as his arm around her waist, “that this will be the death of you. Not today. Not tomorrow, if we have any luck. But eventually they will end you for daring to demand power.”

“I know. But Wallachia is worth it.” In his sister’s voice, Radu heard her acceptance of the end. There was no defiance. Her words were almost tender, as though spoken to a lover.

Together, they walked out of the dark cave and into the light.

“Also,” Lada said, blinking as her eyes adjusted, “do you want a baby?”

Where do I even start? Radu handing his enemy a knife because she’s his sister and he still trusts her despite her having the blood of tens of thousands on her hands? Asking her to run away with him, even knowing she’ll reject it? “As though spoken to a lover!” Lada deciding to let him be the father of her baby! (Yes, context, but who cares about that.)

Lada stays with Radu and his found family while she waits to have the baby. During which time, she learns about his love interest and “she supposed she ought to be happy for Radu, but he was being very aggravating.” Aggravating because he won’t let her go around killing people willy-nilly, but maybe also because he’s being “taken from her” again?

The siblings’ nurse, Bogdan’s mother, is going to become the baby’s nurse. Lada and Radu don’t tell her the identity of Bogdan’s killer—it’s another secret they keep just between the two of them, because Lada doesn’t want to damage Radu and their surrogate mother’s relationship (no matter how possessive and jealous Lada can be).

And at the same time, Radu helps Lada establish a more peaceful, stable grip on her country. Lada has a reflective moment:

Radu made an excellent prince. She was not surprised. Nor was she even particularly angry. She had always wanted him at her side. Had always known that together, they could accomplish what neither could alone.

Perhaps if she had not broken so much to get him here, he would stay.

Again, the story hammers home that Radu and Lada separating at the end of the first book was the wrong decision in every way. In an alternate world where they’d stayed together, both would be better off. Even if their relationship is now in a far better place than we could’ve hoped for, it’s still a tragedy because they could have been together all along. And Lada knows this is temporary.

Lada and Radu also talk about Mehmed during this time, and how both of them carry hard feelings toward him now. Lada hates him for his betrayals. And Radu, despite still being kind of his friend, admits he doesn’t want to see Mehmed either.

Lada has the baby, in a scene that mirrors the opening of the first book where Lada was born. It’s a girl, and Lada—despite giving the baby to Radu, Nazira, and her wife—gets to name her, Theodora. Nazira and her wife take the baby from the room, but Radu stays behind with Lada even though she ordered everyone out.

He put one hand on her shoulder, felt Lada’s body contract with silent crying.

“Get out,” she said again.

He climbed onto the narrow bed and curled around her, holding her until she slept.

The time finally comes for Radu to leave her side—and I hate it from a ship perspective, even if I appreciate Radu’s character growth. He still loves Lada deeply and wants her to be safe, but has realized that he wants her to be who she is, even if who she is will ultimately get her killed. And he doesn’t want to pay the price for Lada’s ambition by serving her, or have to witness as Lada pays the price someday—and she will.

We don’t know how much time passes before Lada dies facing Mehmed’s forces in battle. We could check the historical records to see when the real Vlad the Impaler died, but the series doesn’t always follow that—heck, the real Radu died before his older sibling, so the books aren’t true in this case. We can feel free to imagine that she lived for several more years, met up with her brother from time to time, and who knows what happened?

What we do know is that Lada’s daughter, Theodora, never got to meet her aunt, but ends up being a lot like her in personality (even if she was raised in kinder circumstances) and admires the stories she’s heard of Lada. I can imagine Radu telling his/Lada’s daughter all these stories of his fearless sister growing up, though not the worst of what Lada did. Theodora also cherishes her aunt’s locket, which was originally a gift from Radu to Lada. She’s very much both of them’s child, and Radu almost certainly sees so much of Lada in her, looks and personality, that it has to be overwhelming sometimes.

The epilogue of the story takes place two decades later, when Theodora is twenty. It’s mentioned that Lada died years before that, but not how many years. Radu and his family, as well as Mehmed, have come to visit Lada’s resting place. Again, they lament how things should have turned out differently.

Lada’s tombstone reads “prince,” the title she sacrificed and fought in order to obtain. But in the final lines of the series, Radu adds something:

Radu smiled, kissing his fingers and laying them against the stones….

“I am returning home to my family.” He moved to stand, then, thinking better of it, took out a knife and carefully scratched two additions to Lada’s marker.

PRINCE

SISTER

DRAGON

It was enough.

The series ends with a moment showing how—even if Radu is middle-aged and has a family of his own now, and has been without Lada for years, she is still important in his heart. He feels the need to add to her grave marker, because “prince” doesn’t encompass everything she was—she was also as fierce as a dragon. And she was also his sister, and that’s just as important. You just know that he still thinks of her often no matter how much time goes by, especially with their daughter being so much like her.

And that’s the end of Bright We Burn. As I said, the ending is bittersweet, but the ending for Lada/Radu’s relationship is a lot happier and more amicable than I ever would have expected. They both grow so much, and that growth unfortunately splits them apart, but the writer gives the impression that they should have stayed together and it would have been far better for them, and the characters agree. Radu’s choice to leave Lada is sad but it’s done partially out of love for her, and he ends up with a big piece of her for the rest of his life in the form of her daughter/his adoptive daughter. I love that the whole series ends with him remembering her and the mark she made on him, as well as the world.

(One more point: I would give my entire kingdom for a solid Lada/Radu fic. Either a shipping fic or even one that just focuses on how integral their relationship is to both of them. I went looking after I reread the series, and found nothing! Which is a shame considering how important their relationship is.)

Here are the past posts on this series for anyone who is interested.

Thanks for a detailed description of the last book! It's great to hear from you again and to hear more about Lada and Radu. Wow, that was an intense ride! So painful to see the siblings as enemies and Lada putting her ambitions first. It was hard enough just reading what you wrote, I can't imagine what it was like actually reading the book.

Those quotes are really something. The way they think about each other and see their relationship - and the way the author does, too. The two-halves-ness, the love despite being enemies, the possessiveness.

I'm bitter, though, because can you imagine this story, but canon? The angst could power a city.

I will pray to the ship gods for the fic you desire.

#submissiona #asks #the conqueror's saga #lada and radu #r: brosis #nc #tw: incest #commentary #noiv #nr #bright we burn

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ladislavsad · 5 years

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Kierstenwhite the author of the And I Darken series put my Lada cosplay on her story and I'm freaking out. I've never tried cosplaying before yesterday and this is just amazing.

#lada dragwyla #and i darken #now i rise #book cosplay #bookish #books #kiersten white #ladislav #lada and radu

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kaysutcliff-michaelis · 3 years

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Bright We Burn ending rant (SPOILERS)

Under the cut you will find my opinion with lots of spoilers, capitals and cursing about Bright We Burn (and the Conqueror’s saga in general) written by Kiersten White.

Quoting from https://booksandreaderssite.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/bright-we-burn/ “This book was ruined by the author falling in love with her own character: Perfect Beloved Radu“

I finished reading the book like an hour ago and I’ve been complaining, crying, and looking for reviews since then. I hate it, hate it so much, as much as I loved the first two books and the beginning of this one.

The impression I get from the ending is not one I expected to get from a book that had a strong female protagonist as its main selling point. Mainly because said protagonist gets the worst possible ending. I didn’t expect a happy go lucky ending, I didn’t even expect her not to die or the author to stray too far from historical facts. Just because of the title I expected her to be like a shooting star, briefly burning bright. But she didn’t burn bright, she just burn. What I didn’t expect was the ending feeling completely alien to the rest of the saga.

Lada is ruthless, strong, smart, a great tactician and has her sights focused on her goal, being the prince of Wallachia. And fuck Mehmed, Radu, her father, and whoever tries to prevent her from ruling her country. She gets the respect of her men and the people of her country, she’s a good and fair ruler even if she got there with rather bloody methods. But haven’t they all? The Ottoman Empire Mehmed and Radu are so fond of is built on the blood of the janissaries they have taken from vassal states and the blood of the Christians from Constantinople. Yet the moment Lada kills the boyars (who have been leeching off Wallachia for decades) and Mehmed’s envoys (who burnt a village first), she must be stopped. How dare a woman make life easier for the people of the country?

And for some reason, the author allows two men to ruin what Lada has built with blood, sweat and tears. And to add insult to injury, the men who should have helped her (Mehmed even claims “he gave her the throne” as the selfish and self-centered asshole he is).

And she loses everything and everyone who is important to her. Petru, Nicolae, Oana, Stefan, Daciana, and Bogdan. Oh, Bogdan. How I wished Radu lost an eye to compensate for his murder.

And in case that was not enough, the dragon that was so strong and fierce suddenly turns into a girl that is lonely and hurt and needs her brother to survive and give her back her country. The country that never recognised Radu as prince. The country that loved Lada.

HE FUCKING HAD TO GIVE HER WHAT WAS ALREADY HERS. A MAN. AGAIN. HE FUCKING TOOK THE THRONE FROM HER AND FUCKING GAVE IT BACK AS IF HE WAS A DAMN SAINT. ALL SHE DID AND IN THE END SHE WAS PRINCE BECAUSE A FUCKING MAN ALLOWED IT. HOW IS THAT FEMINIST??????????? WHAT IS THE USE IN HAVING SUCH A POWERFUL FEMALE CHARACTER IF THE FULFILLMENT OF HER DREAM DEPENDS ON THE WHIM OF A MALE EVEN AT THE VERY END?

AND HE EVEN GETS AN “I TOLD YOU” MOMENT!!! THE AUDACITY!!!

And her death... such a warrior, killed by a nameless assassin with a knife to the back. A nameless grave. So disrespectful to what Lada was. I don’t care if all the things I didn’t like were for historical accuracy’s sake. Lada was her character and deserved way better than that.

Moving on to the treacherous rat that Radu has become, I liked him so much and in this book I could only pray for someone to smack him as hard as possible. He goes from the poor and traumatised soul that is being manipulated by Mehmed and has lost his best friend and potential partner to enabling Mehmed’s actions while being fully conscious of how he’s being used, instantly healing himself from a trauma that is not relevant ever again, not giving a damn about killing people, sending Kumal to his death without sparing it too many thoughts, and having a cute little happy family while wanting to imprison his sister for the rest of her life and thinking he’s doing her a favor. He actually thought it was good and fair to plan a happy life for himself while destroying everything his sister had fought for. The sister he never ever chose.

Am I the only one who loved that the Danesti brothers started being problematic as soon as Radu gave them the throne?? Boyars will be boyars, and I don’t understand how he thought those two would be better rulers than Lada, they wouldn’t enter the castle and still wanted the money, the lands and the fancy stuff.

I honestly cannot believe how much this character has changed (for the worse), and how he acts like he’s so good and only looking for the best for those he loves when he’s a traitor, a liar, a killer and the reason why Constantinople fell. He cannot forgive Lada for protecting Wallachia, but apparently everyone and their mother have forgiven and forgotten all the blood staining his hands. Also I find it unbelievable how he sells the way the Ottoman Empire is run to Cyprian but then when Lada tried to use some of the things she had learnt there to run Wallachia it was suddenly the worse thing ever. Radu is definitely not the good Dracul sibling, he’s the toxic one.

Speaking about Cyprian, I honestly couldn’t feel happy for them. When he came back to Radu I was already too angry and wanting to send him packing back to Edirne. Amazing how Cyprian can give counsel about how to deal with Lada when all he knows about her is second-hand but he can forgive Radu for lying to him, making the siege worse for everyone, being the reason why his uncle is dead and his city was lost (and even if he doesn’t know about it, the reason why Giustiniani may have died).

And Fatima?? How she “took care” of Lada at the end? I can’t tell if she’s too broken or what, but it was creepy how she could take care of Lada when Nazira wouldn’t even stand being in the same room. Even if she was going to give them her baby, it makes me wonder how messed up she can be to be able to behave that way with the person who killed her brother-in-law and they were so adamant to condemn.

I won’t even talk about the baby thing because that was just so unnecessary for the plot and for Lada herself as a character.

Going back to Radu and before talking about Mehmed, I hate how he is 100% sure that Mehmed knows about his feelings and is using him and said feelings and he??? just??? allows??? it???? Still does whatever he wants, still appears at his doorstep no matter his trauma with Constantinople, still makes Nazira and Fatima leave their house though they had just been reunited and Mehmed didn’t care that much about finding Nazira and STILL at the end, 20 years later is in good terms with him. He didn’t confront Mehmed about using him, never called him out. Radu is the friend who will listen to you when you’re explaining how a common friend has abused you and then will keep being friends with the other person and abandoning you :D

I am not Mehmed’s biggest fan, but it’s like he isn’t even a character anymore in this book. Even if we never have his pov it always felt like this story was a triangle, but at the end it was like he wasn’t there anymore, he isn’t even the source of conflict because Radu isn’t in love with him anymore. Even for all their alleged worries about Theodora being Mehmed’s biological daughter, that issue was glossed over in a matter of three lines. I do wish he had stayed more relevant (and that he had never left Constantinople).

Surely I’m forgetting something but I think my point is clear XD Radu is a hypocrite who didn’t deserve his happy ending, Mehmed became so irrelevant that the plot was missing something, and Lada, our dragon, deserved way better. Oh, and don’t write a “feminist” YA book if the female character is the one who’s going to have the worst ending. It just feels like you’re telling women they will end up alone and dead if they are as strong and determined as Lada, and to suck it up because men will always be forgiven for the crimes.

#the conqueror's saga #and i darken #now i rise #bright we burn #lada dracul #radu dracul #mehmed #kiersten white #spoilers #book rant

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thislanguageisunderrated · 4 years

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So, I have read about half of And I Darken. Here are my impressions so far:

It is much, much worse than I thought it was going to be. Lada is written like a psycopathic person with no emotion or genuine care for others, Radu is described from the moment he was born with language that is very creepy for a child, mehmed's early merits are stolen from him, and the wives he married because he wanted to are either not mentioned at all, or not mentioned by name, and only by calling them "concubine".

The timeline is also very modified, the years do not align at all to certain events or the ages of characters, and Lada and Radu were sexualised while they are still minors. There is a paragraph in the book where the narrator says Radu, about 12-13, feels the "effect the warm water had on his developing manhood", and there is a page later in the book, where Lada's breasts and nipples and described, Lada being 15-16 years old.

When I finish this book, I am making an extensive review, and even that wont cover everything problematic with this book.

#vlandom #lada.;;;;; lada!!!!!#keeping up with lada #vlad the impaler #vlad țepeș #radu cel frumos #radu the fair #radu the beautiful #radu the handsome #mehmed the conqueror #mehmed ii #fatih sultan mehmed #and i darken #kiersten white

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rosereview · 4 years

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Top 7 Favourite Fictional Siblings

Out of all the books and series I’ve read, I’ve always loved to read about siblings and their relationships. Being an older sister myself, I always thought it was fun to see the relationships of different characters and how family plays a big role in many books and stories. This post will also probably contain minor (or major) spoilers so be warned. Here is a list of my favourite siblings and their relationships with one another.

7. Vivienne, Jude, Taryn, and Oak Duarte

From the Cruel Prince, or Folk of Air series, by Holly Black, this is the main character and her siblings, both biological and adopted. Jude is the main character while Taryn is her twin sister, Vivienne is her older half sister, and Oak is their younger step brother (which you later find out is actually adopted and you see why in the books). First off, I love Jude and that’s mainly why she and her siblings are on this list. I also love Jude’s relationship with her foster father, definitely more than with her siblings, but that’s for another list. So at the start and end of the series, Jude is really close with all of her siblings, but during the whole middle when I like Jude the most, her siblings anger and annoy me. As an older sister, Vivienne does not do much to protect her younger siblings especially when they need it most, also mostly looking out for herself and failing to even try and understand the situations they go through to stay alive in Faerie. That always made me resent her a little bit because both Jude and Taryn could have used a lot of advice on how to survive in Faerie from their part Fae sister, but all Vivienne focuses on is getting out of Faerie and leaving them behind. Of course she makes up for it at the end and isn’t as bad as Jude’s next sister, Taryn. Now I’ve read every book Holly Black wrote related to the Cruel Prince, even the short story from Taryn’s point of view, but I still dislike her very much. She backstabs her twin sister with Locke and later, when she sees how much of an asshole Locke is, she runs back to Jude asking for her help because she’s scared of him. And Jude actually helps her! Ugh! Taryn is just so stupid and needy and so unfair to her sister who does everything for her. Even when she redeems herself at the end, I still hate Taryn and the way she treats her sister, so that’s the main reason these siblings are so low on my list. The last one is Oak who is the baby of the family, and sometimes it bugs me that he doesn’t help Jude out as well, but I can also understand his side and he’s just too young to grasp what’s going on. I agree with all the characters that Oak needed to be protected at all costs because he’s precious, but he makes Jude’s life hard at points, which upsets me.

6. Nesta, Elain, and Feyre Archeron

From the ACOTAR series by Sarah J Maas. I love this series and I love Feyre, so this one might sound very familiar to my feelings on Jude and her siblings too. At first, you hate Feyre’s sisters, and so do most of the other characters too, but they do get a sort of redemption arc which satisfies you at the end. But I gotta say the feelings of dislike were strong at the start of the series. It all starts off with Feyre, her OLDER sisters, and their father being very poor because of some bad deals he made and lost all their money. Because of this, they are struggling to survive, and Feyre (the YOUNGEST SISTER) does all the work to keep them alive. That frickin bugs me how Feyre does everything for her father and sisters when she’s the youngest, the baby, of the family. She has TWO older sisters who just sit on their asses and do absolutely nothing to help their own family (both waiting for their father to take control because he made the mess in the first place but he’s frickin depressed and injured!) Anyways, Feyre’s sister’s do help her out in the end, but I can’t help but still get really mad when thinking back to the very beginning of the story. Nesta was too upset with their father to do anything, and honestly I don’t even know what Elain’s problem was. She was just the good sister, who was too pretty and proper and nice to do any work whatsoever. Again, I now like them as characters, even though Nesta sometimes still makes me mad, but I also can’t wait for her new story to come out next year! (Sarah J Maas did say she was almost done writing it and that it was super personal to her, so for that reason I can’t wait). Also though, I think I am due for a reread of all her books because there are some details that I forget and I would love to be in her world again. Anyways, I can’t wait to read more from the Archeron sisters in future books and negative feelings toward the characters usually disappear when I read the latest books, so that’s good.

5. Helen, Mark, Julian, Tiberius, Livia, Drusilla, and Octavian Blackthorn

From the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare, this family was my favourite family to read about, although, like the previous two sibling groups, I have a lot of positive and negative feelings about how all the siblings treated each other and so on. Like Jude and Feyre, Julian is my favourite Blackthorn sibling, and my feelings towards the other ones are based on the way they treat Julian. Now I do understand how the whole novels and series show all the hardships that the Blackthorns go through, which is why some characters act the way they do, but it still makes me frustrated. To start off, I do love each sibling individually and I thought Cassandra Clare did a good job in giving each character their own distinct personalities, but in relation to Julian, they made me upset, specifically Ty, Livvy and Dru. Tavvy is honestly too young for me to get mad at and that’s probably the only reason why he doesn’t annoy me too. Firstly, Ty, Livvy and Dru all look up to Julian, which I understand, but they totally depend on Julian, and when something doesn’t go the way they want it to, they honestly kinda blame him. This was evident when Mark first came back to the family (I also love Mark), and he came from years of living with the Fae and doesn’t even remember how to function in regular society. But the kids still expected him to be the new big brother even when he can’t function and literally get mad when Mark doesn’t fill in Julian’s role. During this time, they just dismiss everything Julian has ever done for them and say that Mark can take care of them from now on! Like… WHAT? How could you expect that from Mark and how could you take that away from Julian? Furthermore, when Helen comes back and tries to repair ties with her family and truly take over for Julian because she feels like she should have done that since the beginning, FRICKING DRU IS A BITCH TO HER! Honestly I do not really like Dru. Cassandra Clare got her preteen attitude spot on which especially makes Dru a bitch because she’s young and learning. I remember those years, but that doesn’t make me like Dru. The whole time she’s whining and complaining that no one treats her like an adult but at the same time gets mad when Helen doesn’t make her pancakes for breakfast. IF YOU WANT PANCAKES, MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN PANCAKES! That’s when I started to love Aline though, Helen’s wife, because she stood up for Helen and then Dru started to like her big sister again. Lastly it annoyed me how much the kids depended on him. Like Tavvy I understand because he’s a baby, but the rest of them… UGH! They all demand his attention 24/7 and Julian has his own life to live! Like Julian watches horror movies with Dru, and picks bugs with Ty, and does spy shit with Livvy… like give the man a break. You watch your own horror movies Dru! You don’t need Julian to watch with you and then get mad at him for not fully paying attention! Honestly most of my problems stem from Dru, but the rest of them are just as annoying, including Emma, but we won’t get into that here. Last thing I want to mention (which is a major spoiler!) is that Livvy was the only decent one and then she died. She literally died just after talking to Julian about how much he does for them and how she wanted to help more so he could live his life. I got mad to say the least.

4. Lada and Radu Dragwlya

From And I Darken series by Kiersten White. These two are definitely different from the other siblings I’ve talked about, and that’s mostly because I don’t dislike them as much. It’s kind of weird, but Lada and Radu had a worse relationship from the beginning but I loved them as siblings more than other siblings. I was actually rooting for them from the beginning, wanting them to finally get close and show their love and understanding, and by the end they were practically there. They honestly always had lives separate from each other, especially in the later books, but the whole time Lada always wanted to care for her brother and have him by her side, even if he didn’t want the exact same thing. Although I do believe that Radu loved his sister, but he had to take his own journey through self-discovery and learn to love who he was and realize he deserved more than Mehmed. Honestly both Lada and Radu deserved better than Mehmed. Anyways, I think that the two of them had a strong bond that couldn’t be broken no matter everything that happened in the books and the way they both started, disliking each other.

3. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley

You can’t have a list of favourite siblings and not include the Weasley siblings. You just can’t. If you don’t know, this family is from the Harry Potter series and they are the best. All of the siblings are super close and love each other and they are a beautiful family to read about. Even Percy, who can be an asshole, is still part of the family and in the end, shows his love for his siblings. Fred and George are my favourite by far, and they are such good older brothers to Ron and Ginny, and when we finally meet Bill and Charlie too, they are such sweethearts. There’s not many specific things I have to say about the Weasley’s, except that I love them.

2. Alec, Isabelle, Jace, and Max Lightwood

From The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, these guys are like the OG Cassandra Clare siblings. They’ve been with us from the start and have gone through so much as a family and characters, that I feel like I really know them and feel for them. Technically Jace is not a Lightwood by birth, but I still consider him a part of the family. I loved watching them all grow together and one of the saddest parts in the whole series was when (SPOILER) Max Lightwood died in the third book. He was just such an innocent boy that tied the family together, and honestly when he died, the family kind of fell apart (mostly the parents). For the name Max to live on with Alec and Magnus’s son is just wonderful and he’s definitely my favourite character. Watching Alec, Jace and Isabelle together as siblings, with their banter and sass, makes me happy and brings me in a good mood. You can just tell how close they are from the way they fight together and laugh together and are in sync with each other. I will forever love the Lightwood family and the ones who I met first.

1. Jonathan and Clarissa Morgenstern

Also from the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Most people will be surprised that this is my top but I never said that this list was made up of the healthy types of siblings. I honestly love Jonathan and Clary as siblings because they are the whole reason for the series and I think that both characters have so much depth to them because they are siblings. (SPOILER) But one of my favourite scenes from the whole series, and actually of all the Shadowhunter books, is when Clary is in the demon realm and is shown a vision of what she most desires in her life. And it shows Jonathan being a normal older brother that loves her and wants to protect her (which he sort of wants to do anyways) and how life could have been if Valentine hadn’t been a psychopath and infused Jonathan with demon blood. Even at the end when he dies and is laying there with his normal green eyes, Clary and her mom mourns him. They mourn the boy he could have been and I thought that was really powerful. Even with Jonathan as a demon crazy person, he still only wants love in the world and someone who would understand him. He thinks that biologically, Clary has to feel that towards him so he fixates on her, which is bad, but you can see what he wanted. You can kind of see his side, which I always thought made a good bad guy. Although Jonathan was still bad in every way because he was literally a demon inside, but I always loved reading about his character.

Thanks for reading my rants and until next time!

~Rose Reviews

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