Book Review: Rule by Ellen Goodlett

Rule 

By: Ellen Goodlett

Published on: September 11th 2018

Rating: 3/5 stars

Summary: Three girls with three deadly secrets. Only one can wear the crown.

The king is dying, his heir has just been murdered, and rebellion brews in the east. But the kingdom of Kolonya and the outer Reaches has one last option before it descends into leaderless chaos.

Or rather, three unexpected options.

Zofi has spent her entire life trekking through the outer Reaches with her band of Travelers. She would do anything to protect the band, her family. But no one can ever find out how far she's already gone.

Akeylah was raised in the Eastern Reach, surrounded by whispers of rebellion and abused by her father. Desperate to escape, she makes a decision that threatens the whole kingdom.

Ren grew up in Kolonya, serving as a lady's maid and scheming her way out of the servants' chambers. But one such plot could get her hung for treason if anyone ever discovers what she's done.

When the king summons the girls, they arrive expecting arrest or even execution. Instead they learn the truth: they are his illegitimate daughters, and one must become his new heir. But someone in Kolonya knows their secrets, and that someone will stop at nothing to keep the sisters from their destiny... to rule.

Magic, mystery, and blackmail abound in this sensational and striking fantasy debut.

   This wasn’t a bad book. In fact there was a lot of elements I definitely did enjoy, such as the fighting for the crown, the romances sprinkled in, as well as the mystery and deadly secrets. However I just felt this book fell a little flat when it came to the book overall.

 

Okay so Rule is a book that follows three sisters on their quest for the throne:

• Florencia (aka Ren)- who has a bit of an upper hand growing up within the castles walls
• Akeylah- The shy reserved Easterner with an eye for the Queen
• and Zofi- The wild traveler who is ready to jump into a fight in a blink of an eye 

 Zofi was hands down my favorite and while she may be a tad cliche YA fantasy (especially with all her anti dress motives and kickassery in fights) I just felt like she was way more fun for me to read! Her daring impulses really just made me smile. Plus I really liked how Valrid and Zofi had a little thing going on... but than it was like he disappeared half way through the book and I was like no?!? Come back and then I only get one more dance between the two? I just felt like the romance could have been a little bit more spiced up?? Overall I was just feeling like I wanted more (it was very meh).

 Akeylah in the beginning was one of the characters chapters that I dreaded and every time I saw her name I couldn’t help groaning (theres always that one character when theres multiples POVS that you try to like but really at the end of the day they drive you mad) However I did end up liking her a bit more towards the end! That said overall I found her terribly boring and snooze worthy. Plus the f/f relationship with the Queen Rozalind was also very MEH!! What is with the romances in this book?!?! I need some more SPICE people because quite frankly these smooches were quite tasteless and made me feel nothing (which is quite hard to do considering I ship EVERYTHING).

 Florencia I didn’t love but I respected her. Plus Danton can go shove it because I thought they had a spicy secret rondavu and than I was like... nope Danton get out. You can just leave because I am so not cool with you right now. I also liked how they had history before we even met him... I thought that was interesting because so many books I read with love interests start from the two just meeting so that was cool. I also liked Florencia because she was tuff in a more calculating way unlike Zofi who just goes straight for her travelers knife Ren’s weapons were more court based tactics which I loved!

 I also like the bonds of sisterhood  I thought the author did a really good job of drawing out the sisters hatred for one another only to have them lean on each other. 

  Overall this book was an easy read and while the plot did move at a reasonable pace I just wasn’t as invested as I wanted to be? I felt like it was hard for me to connect with the characters because it seemed like there really wasn’t much for me to connect with! I needed more in depth relationships between characters, and I ached for more rich writing to really draw me into the suspenseful parts of this book! Because believe me when I say this book had all the right ingredients to be a total and complete five star read. In a word this book was very meh. Enjoyable and likable but overall just meh. 

 **A huge thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for an advanced copy of this book! This did not in any way affect my opinion and my thoughts are my own**

What about you guys? Is this book on your TBR? Have you ever read a fantasy book you thought could be more? How so? Let me know in the comments below!

-Bubblybooks