Kiersten White

The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White is a fitting end to the trilogy. All three books made me rethink the entire Arthurian legend, but this final book got me looking at it long and hard from many different angles. In true White fashion, I ended up switching my sympathies from Arthur to the Dark Queen as she fights to maintain magic in the world. I wasn’t expecting Guinevere to change as much as she did, and the ending was equally unpredictable. I love how White manages to take such a show more famous, very masculine, story in which the women do not fare well at all and turns it on its head to make it fresh and exciting and very feminist. Well done! show less

Initial thoughts: “Kiersten White is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors of all time. It is like she knows exactly what gets me excited when it comes to stories. In fact, I may love her a little. What she does with familiar stories is empowering and ferocious. She treads that line between creepy and exciting with aplomb. If anyone was going to get me out of my reading doldrums, Ms. White is the author to do so.”

Now: I love this story. I might not love it as much as her Lada show more Dracul series, but I do love The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. Elizabeth is so angry and so tired of letting men dictate her life. You could not ask for a better heroine for today. Plus, I LOVE how Ms. White stays true to Mary Shelley’s original story in the background while showing us another side of it. I can only hope writing The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein was as cathartic for Ms. White as reading it was for me because seeing Elizabeth refuse to continue to take any man’s shit, let alone Victor Frankenstein’s, is as inspiring as anything you can get these days. show less

Kiersten White is fast becoming a favorite author of mine. Although I had some small quibbles with this one--the ending's pacing felt rushed, mainly--I enjoyed this book so much overall. The concept, the writing, the characters...I just fell in love with it almost immediately and didn't want to put it down. I do expect some readers would be put off by the number of POVs that slip in, as I'm usually happy to have plenty of POVs and even I got a bit annoyed early on in this one, but in the show more end, I felt like they were all justified and added to the book.

There are layers to this book, and it comes together in something of a puzzle, so be ready for that. I don't often re-read books, but I think I might need to reread this one to appreciate all of it, especially in relation to the less-present POVs and chapters that are more mysterious early on in the book.

Absolutely recommended for readers of YA Horror or Gothics. show less

The curious thing about Now I Rise, with it being a reimagining of Vlad the Impaler’s life were Vlad a female, is how you react to the violence used in the name of justice and social change. Even though Lada is just as angry and vengeful and violent as Vlad was, you understand her reasons for her anger and for her use of violence to enact her revenge. You cheer every brutal step she takes on her path towards obtaining her throne. You empathize with her misery at not being a man and giggle show more at her discomfort on those rare occasions she must wear a dress. She is like so many of us who grew up female in a male’s world and find ourselves spending all of our energy proving that we are every bit as capable to lead, if not more so. Lada makes impaling seem perfectly normal because she is only doing what she learned about effective leadership from the Ottomans. And yet, she is nothing more than the female representative of what some people call one of the most brutal leaders in European history. One could have a field day dissecting the difference gender makes in how one understands and accepts certain behaviors by just studying Lada versus Vlad.

Ms. White also plays around with Radu’s history, making him a much more sympathetic character than perhaps he is depicted in history. In this novel, we see Radu struggle not only with his feelings for Mehmed but also to accept his general attraction to men rather than women. All this occurs while he is trying remain loyal to Mehmed II and not get caught as a spy, even though he develops sympathies for the very people he is going to betray. His divided loyalties, between his sister and his friend, between the Turks and the Greeks, endear him to the reader as he attempts to be true to himself and to those he holds dear.

Now I Rise is a fascinating look back at the Ottoman empire during the fifteenth century and the tumultuous power struggle against its Christian neighbors. Ms. White breathes life back into the time period with her evocative descriptions, while her nuanced understanding and unique approach to this famous trio fleshes them out as more than historical characters on a page. Their way of life might be completely foreign and ancient to modern readers, but they still resonate with modern readers due to their struggles for happiness and success, things that are timeless. Ms. White’s prose draws you in to history through their wins and setbacks and makes you forget you are reading about something that happened almost 600 years ago.

In Now I Rise, the fact that the Dracul siblings are apart allows them to flourish as individuals and creates another set of divided loyalties among readers. Even readers who may not be familiar with the Vlad II/Mehmed II relationship will understand by the end of the novel that something big is coming to stress the trio’s relationships. Those who know what exactly that is can only sit anxiously and wait for Ms. White to write the third book so we can find out how she resolves this historical showdown. Will she stay true to history or will she remain as faithful to history as she has to date? I, for one, cannot wait to find out! show less