Conqueror

by Ella Pyne

How can you move on when everything you love has been taken from you?

Leda won’t.

She refuses.

Those that she cares for most are gone, and with them what remains of her sanity. She’s broken, alone, and can think of nothing but revenge. This time, she won’t allow herself to be helpless.

She’ll put her trust in the traitors and liars she hates.

She’ll scour the most hostile reaches of the Five Kingdoms for answers.

She’ll defy the gods themselves.

There is nothing she won’t do to get back what she lost, even if it means sacrificing what little she has left.

Genres: Fantasy

392 pages, Unknown Binding

Published February 20, 2024

About the author

Ella Pyne lives in London with her husband and a thriving banana plant.

She hangs out on instagram at @ellajpyne and loves to talk all things book-related!

She's been obsessed with writing since she was young and has been coming up with fantastical stories since she could pick up a pencil (though the quality back then was questionable!)
​
Counterpart is the first novel in her debut fantasy romance series The Gemdark Dynasty.

Reviews

[Marcelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 3 was in fact better than book 2, is a 3,5-3,75, an improvement from my 3,25 rating of book 2. The characters that felt out of characterization got back to who they were in book 1, and the author gave some explanations to what may have caused the problem. I think Pyne should have given hints in book 2, such as someone saying that they noticed the change of attitude in a monarch before, but at least I got an explanation.

Book 3 is more focused on politics than romance, and there's some problems with pacing. First half of the book is good for character development and characters interacting, but there's not so many things happening, at least not as important as what happens in the second half. Pyne doesn't rush what's going on, but there's no time to properly deal with some characters returning. I wouldn't mind seeing more on siblings relationship, Leda's mother should've been brought back, the addiction could be explored deeper, but it's ok.

I liked how Leda is flawed and not suitable to do what she's put on to do by others. Other authors like to write the main character as the greatest in everything, but Pyne wrote Leda as a plain woman, and this is who she is. I also liked the solution for the big problem, and the steps it took to get there. I just think there's no reason to explore more of this world, so I don't know if I'll read Elina's book. I want to read a different fantasy from the author, so I'll probably read whatever other world Pyne decides to explore.

Overall, I recommend this trilogy to those who like good romantasy and want to read something original, without faes, male, female and alfa/beta BS.

[Ariadna · Rating 2 out of 5]

what I liked

+ It's a FAST read!

IIRC, I read the first 20% in 30 mins and the remaining 80% in around 2 hrs the next day. This author's writing style is engaging.

+ The ending worked

I'm satisfied with the way the main story's conflicts got resolved. Although I'm not sure how permanent the solutions will be, everything made sense. There was no Deus Ex Machina or any other type of 'magical' answers.

So...why the low ranking? Well...

What I didn't like

- The actual plot kicked off at the halfway point

NGL, given how intense Book 2's cliffhanger had been, it was frustrating to see the book stay in a holding pattern of sorts for the first half of the novel. THANKFULLY, something happens at the 51% mark that was SO WTF that it reeled me back in just as I was considering DNF'ing.

- One character gets benched

Sighs. IMO, it's possible that the author had no idea what to do abt [Character], so they got put the side for a good chunk of the story (including the ending.) I can only SMH abt that.

- Setting up the spin-off novels

So, early on in this book, I started to pick up that three characters started to get pushed into the forefront of the story. It was an obvious 'backdoor pilot' type of move for the next batch of novels in the series. Although I get the logic behind it, I truly don't care one way or another abt any of the three characters (with one of them being introduced in full in the third novel). So I found the whole thing hella irritating.

Trigger/Content Warnings: Grief/mouring; Character goes on a 3-months long drug binge; Character goes thru a detox process and sobers up (seemingly for good); Character ends up with a potentially lifelong side effect of feeling the urge to vomit at random times; On-page mentions of vomiting; Character gets killed by getting stabbed thru the heart; Character attempts suicide by poisoning (character survives); Characters end up in a coma state (one wakes up, the other one doesn't); Character have intrusive thoughts that incites that character to harm others

TL;DR: The (thankfully good) ending didn't make up for what ended up being the weakest book of the entire first trilogy. My recommendation would be to read Book 1 (and deal with the fact that it has a soft cliffhanger) and let the rest of the books alone.

I know there's a planned second trilogy, but I seriously don't care abt the characters involved. So I'm calling this series as done and moving on with my life. I read this book via KU.

[Sherbert Says · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly this next installation of the Gemdark Dynasty was a major disappointed (still giving it a bonus star for the sheer sentiment of the first book and indie-publishing accomplishments) .

First, you know that tiktok audio that's just "I'm alive, I'm dead again, I'm watching TV"? Yea, that's the first 30% of this book-- and I got real tired of it real quick. I don't think we actually had confirmation that Pyrrhus was alive (and that damned audio loop was over), until about 50% through the book, and by then, the heart was no longer yearning. I was sick of the wild goose chase, the random attempts at bounty hunter peril, and seething over Azaria.

Second, none of it even mattered. If you wanted to have complicated conversations about all the trauma we went through? Well too bad, literally everyone is in a comatose state, (don't even get me started on how unrealistic that was). This book had so much to start with, and promised the same heart pounding tension of the last books, and failed to deliver on any of it.

Third, fucking Ambrose . Tell me you want to spin off the character without telling me you want to spin off the character. To suddenly make him so important, infuriatingly handsome, and so frustratingly convenient to the plot-- I was terrified he'd be the replacement love interest!! I can't not expect him to get his own book.

In summary, the trilogy was an impressive feat at first, but was not planned out as such . I really wanted to like this, and was hurting after the second to be optimistic; but not even Ella Pyne's intelligent prose could save this red herring plot.

[Tara Houston · Rating 3 out of 5]

started off a little slow, but the second half of the book reminded me why i liked the series in the first place. the ending was strong as well which is all you can really ask for.
overall i really enjoyed the counterpart series! it was authentic and unique, which is a rarity nowadays!

[Mindy Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have dnf'd this book. I loved book one, liked book two, drudged through this book. If I can convince anyone to stop at book one, do. 'She makes a decision and chooses to live for herself' was such a powerful move for me. Then books two and three the lesson is, no your life doesn't matter you should always be willing to give up what you want for the betterment of others?

Spoiler lite...

One of the first things the love interest says to main is a jibe at her addiction to pain killers, and I was thinking "bye Felicia". I hated him and his self centric views by the end. The author had to keep telling us that they couldn't be without one another because there was no proof of that on page. When he relents and lets her go back to her simple life, he has already completely upended everything she was doing there without any discussion. Also her realistic battle with pain killers becomes no biggy because she just gets told she has to stop.

There was a lot of emphasis on the child killer. She, I guess is our new heroine, so...yay.
Azaria was the most interesting character with the deepest depths to explore so she was thrown away completely by the end, as you do.

Also the big end epiphany was the most obvious answer in the world, I had been asking for it from the beginning, but thought that there was a reason that the kingdoms couldn't be independent, like they were constantly at war and people were dying or something. But no, no big complex political ideas, just split, then it's all cool. Not one advisor or either super smart dude holding up the heroine will think of the simple answer. PS it isn't a loop hole if you just say, never mind, I don't want to buy what you're selling. It is just an end of partnership.

[Kirsten Van Hooland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an incredible way to wrap up Leda & Phyrrus’ story! Adore how the characters grew in their unique way. I was slighly sad that it might be the end of this world, but now I’m shaking from excitement that book 4 is a fact! Can’t wait to see how Elina’s story will play out!
5⭐️

[The Arcist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a person that leaves reviews before release but if you're not reading this series you're MISSING OUT

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 - This book was a little rough to get through. It was a little on the slower side (like the other books) but it seemed to take a LONG time to get to the point we all new were we heading too (Leda taking the throne). I wasn't a fan of how it ended although I'm happy with how Leda/Phyrrus' story ended. I still felt frustrated with so many things but I do think that was part of the point - to cause you to think what's the right moral choice? Save the one or save the many?

Overall, this series really made me think which I loved but I did feel that the two main characters both being introverted and hard to express feelings led for a REALLY dry romance.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, book 3 didn't get any better from book 2. I really enjoyed book 1, but I feel like the story just fizzled out after. I never really felt the same sense of urgency that kept me reading in book 1.

I didn't enjoy the repetitive push and pull of the romance in book 2, so when Pyrrhus finally woke up and she immediately pushed him away again, I was about ready to throw my Kindle. Luckily, it didn't drag out as long as it did in book 2.

I enjoyed the banter and the characters as much as I did in book 1, so I appreciated that.

As a whole, I didn't love the trilogy, but I didn't hate it. I would be interested in reading more from this author.

[Hold-my-beer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can safely skip the first 50% of the book, nothing happens there.
Too many villains, too many characters that hate each other, weird move for the plot after book 2. Feels like this book was hastily put together after the first two, it has more magical elements despite hardly any "magic" being present previously except the mythical pantheon which had had more of a hypothetical power. But now we have weird supernatural voices, objects, and multiple curse-breaking or creating.


Not interested in reading any more books about any other characters in this world.

[river · Rating 3 out of 5]

very fast paced and still exciting, sadly however i did not like it as much as the others. it is a weaker end to the series which is probably only because the first part of the series especially the first book is so good.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fave character: Phantom

[Molly Adaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was my least favorite book of the series, I'm giving the entire series 4 stars overall. Very unique premise and complex characters.

[Colie Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love this series

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel so lucky to have found this series. More cannot possibly come fast enough for me.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The relationship between Leda and Pyrrhus is sweet and that’s probably all of what I liked about this tbh.

[Katy Barnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[E.J. Arnott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was 3 stars, but the series as a whole clocked in at a solid 4.
What I really liked about book one was the incredibly unique and emotionally charged plot, the fatally flawed characters, and a super cute forbidden romance. However, this book had none of that. In fact, there was a point in which I started to become really annoyed with Leda (the main character). How thick can one person be? I liked her because of her uniqueness as a YA protagonist, then she turned around and slapped me with the classic "I can't allow myself to be close to anyone because I can't stand to be vulnerable,"
Blah.
But there were plenty that the book and series had going for it as well. Overall, I am very happy to have read this series.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trudged through this book, some 2* moments, some 3.5* moments but terribly predictable and the repetitive prose made it an average of 3*.