The White Rose

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 7, 2016

Review

This is the second book in the Lone City Series. This fantasy/dystopian/ecological mashup, reminiscent in structure to Atwood's "The Handmaiden's Tale", has teenage Violet, surrogate to the Duchess of the Lake, fleeing the Jewel and her enslavement after being caught in an illegal romantic tryst with Ash, a companion to the surrogates. After many dangerous turns, trains and timely assistance from the secret society called The Black Key, she is able to get herself and her group to a safer place outside the Jewel in a forest and small cabin called The White Rose. As Violet takes on the plight of all surrogates, with a plan that draws a new magical power that she must learn to control, readers are left with a cliff-hanger ending that places her sister in the same dangerous position that she has fled. Readers choosing this book based on the book jacket art, which seems to promises a light romance, will be surprised with the graphic nature of the contents. Violet's close friend has her throat slit right in front of her in the first chapter, the complex sexual roles and the experimentation done to those enslaved by the royals are discussed at length, as well as, Lucien the eunuch explains how his father castrates him at the age of 10 so that he could become a male ladies-in-waiting. Fans for the first book will want to read this second installment as backstories are explained and the action continues.

Overall Book Score: fair