"... All i did was teach them to fear me. How does that help you? Next time you hit first, you hit harder, you make certain that your name means fear and pain. I will not be here to save you again."


"I am going to start sleeping with a knife."
"If you had had a knife, you would have killed me!"
"Yes, exactly. And than I would have gone back to sleep."
... "Nothing like cuddling a corpse to give you sweet dreams."

This book was a dazzlingly outstanding!
(Why yes i used "fancy" words! Look at that!)

If you have not yet read this book?
1. what the heck is wrong with you, why are you sitting here reading this and NOT spending that time reading this book?
2. Go read the first point i just made and do that!


But really... lets start an actual review.... or just gush... you guys know how that sometimes get a pit muddled together!


I was expecting to like this book, lets just be honest here. How could i not enjoy a book where Vladimir was gender swapped?
I basically enjoy every gender swap i ever read because thats just the best twist in my option! It offers so many ways to tell a well known story differently.

And Kiersten White? She sure did an outstanding job with this book!

Not only did she gender swap and created a badass strong and fighting female lead, she also seamlessly included so many wonderful other points into the story that made this the spectacular sensation it is.

But i once again jumped ahead here... so lets start at the beginning!

Can we just talk about that this book is set during around the years of 1450?
How many historical fiction are set during that time?
So that was different and fabulous.

Its great to see this type of history finally be in a very readable book because there is so much more to our history than just the middle ages!

Also Ottoman clan... points for that just because.


I loved the family dynamics between Lada and her brother Radu. Lada is this incredible strong and sure and unbelievably fight-wild character and than we have her little brother Radu that is basically the opposite of that. He is quiet and shy and would rather read a book than fight anyone.

But because of their gender (and if we would finally actually move on from that i could say "and because of the time the book takes place in, but yeah... that would be a lie so not adding that!) its expected that Radu wants of learn to fight and become the prince of Wallachia while Lada is just supposed to be a trading tool in political moves that stands by quietly and lets that happen.

Its great to see that exactly that is not how this story goes. And lets face it that is NOT a spoiler because we go into the story knowing that Lady is the gender swap character, so clearly we know that she is not going to be this nice, quiet little lady sitting in a corner and not saying anything.


I still didn't expect the sheer amount of "traditional gender" norms that White breaks in this book and how easily she points them out without constantly giving me (or generally readers i would think) the feeling of writing "here look, i did this thing where i made a male/female behave exactly opposite of what everyone expects them to do/be, did you see? DID YOU SEE??

She just wrote it, made it happen and moved on. And that was GREAT!

There is a need for more books that simple showcase a different version of gender norms and showcase that as normal.
All the points for that!

(is anyone keeping score? What are we up to? Way to many points already for this book to keep count? sounds about right....)


I also loved the religious aspects in the story.
There are characters that are deeply religious. That really do pray after Islamic standards and do so with a deep and faithful believe and its written into the story in a way that makes more sense to read the they are praying again as if it would be written that they weren't doing it. Once again great writing right there.
BUT its also fantastic to see that while we do have those deeply religious characters that have no doubt at all that god exist, we also get the completely non-religious characters. Those that don't understand at all why anyone would believe in any type of god. Why anyone bothers praying.

But we get those two different versions of religion without them hating on each other. And i only wish that that would actually exist more in a bigger scale in the world today as it does. Because it was just so nice to see this acceptance of both those that believe and those that don't. Neither understood how the other did or didn't believe but neither tried to convince the other that one is more "right" in their believe than the other. Which is just... yes thanks i am saying it yet again... GREAT.

Did i mention yet that that should be featured more often in the world today? If not lets just say it again!



This book also deals very openly with sexual relationships. Not only in the "traditional" way of a man with a woman. But it also "shows" that sexual interests between two men or two women already existed in that historical time. Which thanks! I always hate it if people pretend that being interested in the same sex just popped up out of nowhere a handful of years ago!

I love that its mentioned that a few sultans had harms made up of men. Because yes, those existed and not only in the Ottoman empire!

I love that the gay character in this book is not pointed out or shunned or questioned. Its just as easily accepted that one man loves another as it is that a man loves a woman or a woman loves a man.

And i love that there is also the casual mention of a man that enjoys being "entertained" by both men and women depending on his mood.

There is also a mentioned of a female/female romance in this....

And of course we have the castrated men mentioned in this were by the way we notice its written by a woman because Eunuchs are mentioned without the clear shutter that if anything like that is mentioned by a male writer everyone can read out without even trying. (Points for that!)


lets just say that White really did cover every kind of mixture. And ... why yes you guessed it! Thats GREAT!!


There is friendship and love and hate and hurt, protectiveness and overprotectiveness that backfires, lessons learned and misunderstood... there is just this perfect mixture of moments spread throughout the overall plot that keep the story moving, keeps you engaged and sucked into the story and involved with the characters and their plots and its done in the most brilliant way.


While i am more than willing to confess that i don't have the biggest knowledge on the Ottoman empire, the way the story is build up -with the political moves, the overall "climate" of how sons and daughters are treated, how men are treated and women, how people from countries that were taken over are treated and just generally how people were treated in this book felt real to me. It made sense, it had a logic, it had the feel of a book where the author thought about how it might have been like for characters during that time and in those political positions.

And in my option it makes sense. Its nicely done and i really enjoyed it.


even the ending of this book was done very well.



All in all?
This book is so worth the read, and lets just go as far as say its a MUST READ.

Still i can see how this book is not for everyone.

its dark.
Its brutal.
Its honestly human in so many places that a lot of people might not like it simply because of the fact that its a very honest and real book and for this type of story they want more fantasy aspects.

But its still one of those books that should be read by everyone simply for how real it actually handles so many different topics.


This was fantastic.

And i can't wait to read the second book -that i already have waiting for me.
And that kind of makes me really nervous because i loved this so much how can the second book possible keep pace?
But i will see and review the second book as soon as i get to it!


For now?

If you came this far in the review and haven't read the book yet?

GO TO IT!
And prepare yourself for an unforgettable ride!