For fans of Pierce Brown and Firefly comes an epic sci-fi fantasy, hailed as “an important and relevant novel” by The New York Times. Empress Rhee, also known as Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta’an, is the sole surviving heir to a powerful dynasty. She’ll stop at nothing to avenge her family and claim her throne. Fugitive Aly has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of … above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. But when he’s falsely accused of killing Rhee, he’s forced to prove his innocence to save his reputation – and his life.
Madman
With planets on the brink of war, Rhee and Aly must confront a ruthless evil that threatens the fate of the entire galaxy.
Rhoda Belleza crafts a powerful saga of vengeance, warfare, and the true meaning of legacy in this exhilarating debut, perfect for readers of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles and Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman’s Illuminae Files.
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DNF 50%
I expect books of any kind to have proper grammar, and I’m sorry, but this was unacceptable. Also, basically, the only interaction the two main characters got together was locking eyes across a room (the book led me to believe they would be fighting side by side. They barely knew each other). I was promised an epic space opera but got boring space barbecue.
Completely unexpected, and yet not. There are a bunch of similarities in this novel to various forms of literature that deal with a displaced princess, but the way this novel goes twists it. Rhee is a displaced princess because her family was murdered, leaving her the sole survivor. However, this did not place her in hiding. Unlike most fiction which does so, instead, the novel puts Rhee in the spotlight leaving her a princess as well as a ploy for the villains. It is interesting how the novel takes a classic trope and finds a way to flip it on its head. It gives the narrative a freshness that could have been in the vastness of stories about displaced princesses’.
However, that was not the most significant hurdle Belleza faced in telling this story. The biggest challenge is building the universe that drives the story. It is such a vast universe that deals with prejudices all around, giving the story a grounding factor. This world is it is own entity, not like other stories that like to have an origin of people from earth going to a new galaxy. No, this story functions as a proper space opera, giving it its time to grow and flourish is. However, as with all stories that breathe and expand upon traditional tropes, that means the story has to fill the reader in on all the history and the different races and cultures in this world. Many of them resonate with what readers know of their own lives, as the story deals with prejudices of class and race, specifically touching on the color of one’s skin and challenging those prejudices. The various cultures explored in the novel are briefly touched upon and are in need of dire exploration. There’s so much touched upon that it is clear that Belleza has barely touched the iceberg of her story. Moreover, yet, the exploration, limited as it is, blooms throughout the story. Belleza explores this world without dragging down the narrative and pace of the novel. Belleza slips bits and pieces of history and cultural differences, as well as racial prejudices, into the narrative, both internal and external to give not only insight into the world but also the characters.
Rhee is driven by revenge, clouding her as a character, and she is also incredibly naïve. Rhee’s narrative makes her an unflattering character in the beginning. Yes, it is easy for the reader to sympathize with the character, but her blindness, her inability and refusal to see past the anger makes her unlikable. Her blindness and tone, however, to serve to make her a very human character. She is unlikable in the beginning, but she grows as she begins to see what rage does to a person. So there’s strong character development in the novel. She is not the only one. Aly is a tv star of sorts who faces racism all around. It hard for him to deal with, once again generating sympathy for the character. However, his attitude is much lighter, even after being framed for murder, he has this cockiness to him that makes him incredibly likable. However, Aly changes too. He goes from being this cocky goofy guy to someone who thinks things through, to someone who grows up and becomes more serious, carrying a weight he thought he left long ago.
The novel deals with so much, many societal issues, and in the background, there is this massive science fiction world that is just beginning to bloom. There’s intrigue and diversity and plot twist after plot twist. Admittedly, there is some confusion. There is such a vast world here, so many names drop as if the reader should know how these planets all relate to one another, except the reader does not. Moreover, the context does not always explain the slang. Much of this leaves the reader lost, scratching their head as they try to remember just where the characters are supposed to go, where things are, and how the language works here. So all of that leaves room for confusion to bloom, jolting the reader out of the story.
Nevertheless, it was quite the fast-paced novel and an excellent beginning to a new space opera.
I will not lie I struggled with a lot of things about this book and I wanted with all my bookloving might to love this book. I stuck with this book from beginning to end in hopes that something would spark and give this book something to look forward to. But it didn’t and I am sad about it. Why? Because the actual story is really good. The world the author has created is so intriguing.
Rhoda Belleza came up with such a great story and I found to be interesting and compelling. But what killed this book for me was the characters. I loathed Rhiannon throughout the entire book. She is selfish and childish. She has no wits about her at all. I understood her need for revenge, but she’s suppose to be the Empress, and when it was all over all she still wants is revenge. I didn’t like that she had nerve to judge others for same things she did/wanted to do. I didn’t much care for Alyosha much either because I felt he was a bit of a coward and was in constant denial about his situation. But towards the end, he grew on me. Despite his brooding personality, I liked Dahlen as well.
I will give the next book in the series a go because I loved this world and I think the story is going to get even better. I still have hope.