3.5, on the 4 side

--

He much preferred the Hagia Sophia dark, with the sound of birds fluttering near the roof. That had felt closer to prayer than this.

Tragically, given that I hit a massive reading slump during BOTH the first and the second book of The Conqueror's Saga, I must concede that there's something about the writing that slooooooooowwwws me down. I don't know what, exactly, it is. I do generally enjoy my time in the world, and when I actually sit down to read, the chapters go fast. The thing is, I'll get through one or two and then put the book down because I just have no drive to keep moving forward.

Otherwise, I think that this was a great second installment in the series. White certainly isn't pulling any punches where tragic character arcs are concerned:

How much more of herself would she have to lose to get where she belonged?

Both Lada and Radu experience profound growth and change during this volume, though much of it isn't what most people would consider "positive." Radu's damned assignment in Constantinople helped to remove him from Mehmed's influence and placed him in the heart of enemy territory. Meanwhile, Lada burned a destructive path straight to the Wallachian throne (literally). Lada's chapters were somewhat slower and less action-packed than Radu's, but there was a sort of childishness (?) to Radu's chapters that lessened my enjoyment of them. Ultimately, I found myself enjoying both POVs roughly the same because of their balancing strengths and weaknesses. Kinda like the characters themselves.

I love that Lada was unscrupulously ruthless while still retaining her womanhood. Her struggle with feminity is extremely compelling, and I appreciate that White demonstrates that Lada's sexuality is an intrinsic part of her, not a weakness to be conquered:

"I have no wish to be a man." Then she cringed, the memory of Mehmed's hands and tongue and lips on her body. She had never been happier to be a woman than she had been in that falsely precious space. Her body had not felt like a stranger to her then. She wanted to reclaim that feeling.

I much prefer seeing female sexuality become a vehicle for self-expression instead of having it become an endless detente between "give in and sacrifice selfhood or abstain and retain selfhood." That just isn't satisfying for me as a female reader, sorry. I'm glad White moved away from this theme in volume two.

Radu's journey was less satisfying to me, despite his chapters containing most of the plot-driving action. The narrative spent way too much time fixated on Radu's doomed, codependent love for Mehmed. His relationship with Cyprian was meant to be the absolute foil to Radu's one-sided affection for Mehmed, but their interactions - and particularly their dialogue - came off forced and infantile. It was like White was trying too hard to make Cyprian the uncontested "better man," and as a result, I found myself uninvested in both potential romantic partners. Do I want him to end up with Cyprian in the end? Yes, because Mehmed is selfish and manipulative and Radu deserves better. But I just wasn't all that moved by the relationship, despite being thrilled with Cyprian's appearance at first. Hopefully, given the events of this novel, we can get a bit more authentic tension between Radu and Cyprian in the third book.

And a lot more Nazira, of course, because I love that woman so. much.