Bright We Burn (The Conqueror’s Trilogy) (The Conqueror’s Trilogy, 3)

OHMIGOD I AM A HUUUGE FAN OF THIS SERIES NOW.im already in love with this author and I can't wait to read more of her books. This trilogy has made me fall in love with the characters in multiple occasions. I did have problems with keeping up with reading it cause it got boring some times but when the plot thickened I couldn't keep it down. Though I did not like Radu in the beginning of the series cause I thought he was a bit mean (a different mean. Not lada mean. Lada's meanness is lovable) and a huge attention seeker and wouldn't accept the fact that there may be people who don't like him, later on his character progresses and what a pleasant surprise. I love him now. And nazira and Fatima and CYPRIAN AND MY ABSOLUTE LOVE NICOLAEEEEE.this series is one of my favourite historical fiction series. Ever. READ THIS WHOLE TRILOGY IT IS SO WORTH IT OHMIGOD

“War made monsters of them all “My heart is still recovering from all the damage this book did to my heart . Do you know those times when something hurts you so much but you love it ? I’m having that problem with this book . It twisted my heart about its beautiful claws and I still love this .And I Darken and Now I Rise were both dark and I expected this to be just as brutal . But every time I think I’m prepared , White deals me new surprises . I love it . I love the darkness and the brutality of it all . This is brutal and cold . It will make you weep and you’re going to love crying .Lada is the best thing about this book . She is so hard to understand , so complex and so inhuman . She will kill , plot for power , use people and discard them…but you will feel so much for her . It is actually disturbing , the idea of sympathising for someone who slits throats without thought .I don’t think I could say much without giving the book away . Go read this . I absolutely recommend this series .

“Without Radu to gently push her in new directions, she was turning into the most brutal version possible of herself.”The quote above is both the culmination and problem with Bright We Burn, Kiersten White’s final book in her trilogy about Vlad the Impaler (if Vlad were a girl named Lada).Lada has grown truly ruthless now, willing to kill thousands—and earn her nickname by displaying their bodies on stakes—to cement her claim to the throne of Wallachia and free it from vassalage to the Ottoman throne. This is in keeping with her character, but unfortunately so is the personal vendetta Lada wages at the same time against Mehmed, the Ottoman ruler. Their tortured love results in even more bloodshed and makes them both hard to like by the end.As a counterpoint, White presents Radu, Lada’s brother, as an example of what can happen when a smart, capable person seeks love instead of power. He doesn’t become a legend like Lada or achieve Mehmed’s lasting influence, but he also comes closer to finding peace than his childhood playmates. It’s a nice thought, and Radu is easily my favorite of the three. I wonder if he was White’s as well. At one point, when he finally reconciles being gay with being devout, she has him say this: “I believe that God is merciful and great and beyond our comprehension. And Nazira [Radu’s wife for appearance’s sake] always told me she feels closest to God when she feels love. I think she is right. In a way, love is the highest expression of faith—in ourselves, in others, in the world. I can expand my faith to allow myself happiness in this life, and trust in God’s love and mercy after this life.” I liked this thought too.Yet even though Radu gets nearly as many point-of-view chapters as his sister, the story revolves around her. Lada’s evolution from captive to rebel to ruler remains the draw, and it’s why I picked up the series in the first place—“A female Vlad the Impaler” is a heck of a tagline. So does it work? I thought so through the first two books, but I’m less sold after finishing the third. White tries to make Lada sympathetic by having her upend the Wallachian social structure, empowering peasants on the basis of merit rather than birth. I’m not sure how accurate this is. But if the real Vlad was in fact a populist, and the series was meant in part to suggest how he’s been misunderstood—and why he was willing to be so brutal—casting him as a woman complicates that narrative. Lada is ultimately fighting to take her place in a man’s world; her historical counterpart already had one.Bright We Burn also suffers from a weak ending, with the last several decades of Lada’s life crammed into a few chapters. But I’m still glad I finished it. White is a talented writer, and Lada a character worth following.I just wish I’d liked her as much as her brother.

When I started this book I felt very clear of one thing: There is no way Mehmed, Radu, and Lada would make it all out alive.It was also obvious that Lada would not take kindly to being told how to rebuild HER Wallachia.I will say that my initial conviction was, in a way, true. But I won't spoil you (those will be below the jump).Bright We Burn was everything the ending to a complex, deeply woven fantasy should be. It also saw all the characters finally being true to themselves. Lada was always true to herself, but Radu denied himself certain things because he was blindsided by his love for Mehmed, and Mehmed, even though he awarded Wallachia to Lada, was not happy by the way she was ruling and was ready and willing to go to war, as it seemed the son of Murad was always in the mindset for.Early in the novel, we learn from some peasants about Prince Lada and how she is perceived -- and everyone in Wallachia, minus the boyars -- are starting to experience prosperity in the way Lada intended.This was extremely fulfilling, right from the beginning, to see that she was able to do what she set out to do. That her gut instincts were leading her people to a better tomorrow. And she was doing what no prince had done before, yet she was a WOMAN. Once again, the feminist tone could not possibly be ignored.It also sees Radu finally choose HIMSELF over Mehmed in so many ways, which was so incredibly refreshing. To me, he'd gotten a little annoying, but seeing him finally take a stand or some things was really satisfying.I gave this final installment 5 HEARTS because I felt it successfully wrapped up the story and each character's story line.Here's where it gets spoilery ...From the beginning of the book (and really the end of Now I Rise), Mehmed has requested an audience with Lada, which she denies by killing all the Janissaries Mehmed sent to deliver the message and escort her and sends them back in boxes. Next, when Lada is expecting a visit from Radu, she instead finds herself face to face with Kumal Pasha, who she has long harbored a grudge against, as she sees him as a wedge between her and Radu. So she murders him.All the while Radu is off in Bursa -- he has finally heard from someone that Nazira is there and that she is safe after only just escaping the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans.After her actions, Mehmed and Radu have no choice but to fight Lada with the intent of reinstalling one of the Danesti brothers to the throne. While Lada's men and her clever trickery send him through a landscape of pitfalls and problems at every turn, seriously delaying their trip to Tirgoviste, they do eventually arrive to find the palace empty. Lada and her people -- all of them, soldiers, families, peasants, are all at the fortress in the mountain.But none of this happens before Lada, like a moth to a flame, finds Mehmed again and they sleep together. They negotiate the terms of a treaty, but Lada rethinks it and nearly kill Mehmed in the process -- and Radu nearly kills Lada.Not long after she and her people make it to the fortress, she is captured by Matthias, King of Hungary, who imprisons her and puts her nurse to work in the kitchen. Luckily, Stefan has been posing as a cleaning worker, and after nearly four months, she escapes, and discovers that she is with Mehmed's child -- though she couldn't been 100% sure until after she was born, since she was sleeping with Bogdan, too.Together, Radu eventually finds a way to end the war and install first, himself as prince, but then, eventually reinstating Lada. And when she gives birth, she gives the baby to Radu, Nazira, Fatima, and Cyprian, Radu's husband-to-be.I think the most satisfying part of this book was that Radu finally found love -- true love, not one-sided love.I do wish we got to see more of Lada's daughter as she was growing up. The prologue was too little, too fast for me.But despite that, I still give this novel 5 HEARTS!

I was not familiar with this author before picking up the first book in this trilogy in a thrift store, but I couldn't resist a Vlad the Impaler retelling that casts him as a bloodthirsty young woman. The pace of the first book kept me pushing forward because ultimately it read more as a traditional YA love triangle romance that didn't really spark my interest.Then the first book ended, and I instantly had to pick up the last two and read them in a whirlwind. The politics were realistic and brutal. The scenes of war maneuvering were just gasp-inducing, and the more I read the more I began to love some characters and hate others when my initial impressions were the opposite. In the end, Radu had my heart more than any other character. Lada was a badass that I began to love very fiercely, and Mehmed morphed into someone who was very difficult to respect or admire at all.I have recommended this series to so. many. people. I wish I could erase my memory to reread this series fresh to experience the emotions all over again.I hope that Kiersten White writes more books like this one. Her earlier work doesn't really interest me that much, but I love this brutal direction she is going in. Just incredible writing!