The Second Ruler: Part One

by Novae Caelum

A BATTLE FOR POWER.
A FIGHT FOR THE HEART.

Dressa wanted to protect her wife from her monstrous past, but that past came back to haunt them both.

Imorie wanted to save the man they love, and now they're on their way into the heart of the enemy.

Iata wanted everything, but it was never his to have.

And Rhys wanted to matter, to mean something to their kingdom, but not in this way. Adeius, not in this way.

Enemies are stepping from the shadows, and the kingdom is poised on the edge. Can the Truthspoken be the change to see them all through?



I was halfway through writing The Second Ruler when I realized it was going to be around 1000 pages or more. That's a lot of story! So to get you the story sooner, I’m breaking this story arc into three The Second Part One, The Second Part Two, and The Second Part Three. Each book is novel-length on its own, but is a part of the greater story arc.

Genres: Fantasy

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2024

About the author

Novae Caelum (he/they/starself) loves royalty, cloak and dagger, and sparkly queer magic, and will unapologetically write things with all three.

Reviews

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth book in this series and I continue to really enjoy this series. There's a lot of political intrigue and the characters are all interesting. I liked how there are a few chapters from each point of view until we switch to another point of view, this made it easier to get into each point of view. There are some interesting events going on and I was very excited to see all the plot lines progress.

I liked seeing all the changes the characters have to deal with. Dressa is now the ruler, but an enemy is trying to rule through her and influence her. Then there is Iata who lost his ruler-ship in a drastic way and now is struggling with who is and the new role he has to take on. Imorie is on their way into danger, but their point of view mostly deals with some character related matters on route were they are going, which were interesting to read. Then there is Rhys and I have to admit their point of view in this book took such an interesting turn. They're dealing with the Kidaa and there were some exciting twists and reveals there. They meet up with Maja and Maja has some difficult decisions to make. I am really curious to see how everything that happened there ans out.

This book is a bit shorter than the previous ones as the author decided to break this book up into 3 parts. I think the author picked a good point to end it, but those last few chapters were so exciting that I am really looking forward to part two now.

To summarize; This was another great book in this series. I like all the political intrigue and seeing all the various plot lines continue and progress. I like reading about each character and I like they each have a few chapters of their point of view before switching to the next one. They all have interesting things going on. The last few chapters had some exciting twists and turns and I can't wait to see how those all play out in the next book.

[Jay Wagemans · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really hoping I would finally get some clearity on what is happening with the Kidaa, but I haven't gotten that. The storylines with Dressa and Iata couldn't really hold my attention and I'm sad to say that I'm tired of waiting to find out what's happening with the Kidaa while having to go through all of the other storylines. I just feel like the climax of this story is going to be stretched out as far as it can and I just don't have the patience for that. This story has gotten so much darker and sadder than it was in the first few books, that it's gotten too heavy for me.

I started reading this series hoping it would be a fun "sapphic enemies-to-lovers secret identity romantasy" as I was expecting based on the author's marketing on Instagram, but that hasn't been my experience at all. I also feel like this book has been split up in a weird part of the story, since nothing has actually happened in this book apart from Rhys' contact with the Kidaa all the way in the end. Would have been nice to read just a little bit more about that in this book, but then again, I still think I wouldn't have continued with this series. I can totally understand why people love this series, it's characters and it's amazingly inclusive and interesting and well-thought-out world, but it's just not my cup of tea sadly.

[Kimberly Wick · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was amazing! cannot wait for the next steps in the cycle of the three!!

[lumi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Authors use of GenAI to promote, write, voice act, and produce special edition art cards is despicable. Queer stories deserve so much more than this.