I listened to the audiobook from Audible. The narration was spot on, perfect. The accents and voices for the different characters were perfectly executed so I was able to keep everyone straight. I especially recommend the audiobook for the *flawless* pronunciation of all the Romanian and Turkish names and places. The proper pronunciation for Dracula (Drah-coo-lah) and Wallachia (Vah-lah-hee-yah)... you don't even know, go listen, it's BEAUTIFUL.

I hadn't previously read anything by this author and only did a cursory glance at reviews before ordering it (such a pretty cover... that will get me every time), but was just bowled over by how gorgeous it was.

It's historical fiction, not fantasy, but the author has taken artistic liberties. She's rewritten the famous Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Impaler) as Lada Dragwyla, a female princess with some major bite. No vampiric puns intended, even if Vlad Dracul allegedly inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula character :D

Lada is a fascinating antihero, and I think a lot of reviewers who didn't like this book maybe didn't quite get who she's an historical rewrite of. Vlad Dracul was an incredibly violent and ruthless ruler. If you study him at all, you'll probably be horrified by the methods he used to keep the peace. But many Romanians and Bulgarians laud him as a true leader, a hero, one who did what was necessary to reclaim Wallachia from corrupt nobles and protect it from the Ottoman Empire.

Writing Vlad as a gender-swapped Lada? Super interesting and fun. Especially if you like history and want to fall down a rabbit hole reading all about the real Draculas, the order of the Dragon, the Ottoman Empire, the various Mehmed sultans, and Lada/Vlad's real brother Radu the fair (who is gay in the book and was gay in real life as well).

The real Vlad the Impaler was a prince of Wallachia. When his father lost his throne to the nobles, he fled, selling his younger children Vlad and Radu to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire where they were kept as ransom for dad-Vlad's loyalty. In return, the Sultan helped Vlad regain his throne. The book follows this as well, only it's Lada instead of Vlad, and I can't even tell you how beautifully it is done. The way White imagines their childhood, their impossible-to-please father, their unhappy mother, and what may have occurred to shape their lives makes for absolutely breathtaking reading (or listening).

Religion absolutely comes into this novel, it has to given the time period and the reason for most of the wars, but it is delivered with an un-preachy, very fair hand. Wallachia was a Christian country - the Ottoman Empire, of course, was Muslim. Radu eventually converts to Islam and though Lada isn't what anyone would call a devout worshiper of Christ, she certainly eschews the Islamic religion. The reasons she does this are so varied and nuanced; she considers herself a slave, someone sold into bondage. Refusing to become Ottoman is one of many acts of defiance -- ugh, you guys, her character is amazing. She can be hard to like, yes, but that's the whole point. White has done an AMAZING job at creating a history, a past, an upbringing that would shape a person into someone like Vlad the Impaler. It's a really incredible job, and I'm still shaking my head in awe and wonder and intense-clapping like the Rock over here.



Some reviewers are upset by Lada and Radu's friend, the younger Sultan Mehmed. They mostly seem to be griping about his harem, and perhaps about his petulant character, but y'all... this too is an amazing imagining of what Mehmed could have really been like. His mother (also, holy cow, wonderfully imagined since, thanks to male-dominated annals of history we know practically NOTHING about her), his status as the son of a concubine, his desperate need for both Radu and Lada as friends and playmates, his instant respect for Lada's barbs -- as with Lada, White has filled in the blanks to create circumstances and situations that could have occurred to give us the real Mehmed the Conquerer. It's really, really well done. It feels so believable that it's hard to remind myself that much of it came out of White's brilliant head.

In real life

Spoiler

Radu and Mehmed were lovers. Mehmed kept Radu as a concubine... and I wonder if this will come into play in the second novel, since Lada leaves (and breaks Mehmed's heart) at the end of this book, but Radu stays. Mehmed's mother certainly hinted to Radu that that was a possibility, so...

I guess we'll see.

For conservative or younger readers:

Lada comes of age in this book. She gets her period (ugh, I wanted to hug her and mother her, poor thing... even though she'd punch my face in for calling her 'poor thing'), questions why men are attracted to breasts as she develops them, meets two sets of harems and understands what goes on there, feels jealousy towards the harem, makes out, but refuses to let it go any further, is shocked when she learns that women can experience pleasure during sex, and questions Mehmed on whether or not he cares or ensures his harem members have a good time.

Radu, sweet Radu. He is gay, yes. He is not, however, your typical token queer person in a book. His character was gay in real life. White handles his own coming of age and figuring out his sexuality with such sensitivity and kindness. Radu is kissed by another man, is propositioned by another, and longs for

Spoiler

more with Mehmed, but nothing graphic occurs. In the book, Radu

Spoiler

marries a woman who, in a touching scene, explains she understands him because she must have her maid with her always. Like, always, always *wink, wink.* This is a departure from history, I believe, though Radu did marry and have a child, there's no evidence his wife was a lesbian.

There is mild swearing, but not much. There are wars and people die. It is overall clean, with some mature material. This book will absolutely, definitely spawn study of real history, so if you are a parent of a child ready to handle more mature themes, that is a definite bonus.