What do you think?
Rate this book
The Stars and Green Magics #2
The Shadow Rule
Dressa Rhialden has all she ever wanted—except she only wanted Lesander, gorgeous prince of an enemy high house, not the kingdom meant for her sister. Unfortunately, her betrothal came with both, and now she has a lot of catching up to do. But she’s falling hard for Lesander in the meantime, and with her kingdom on the line and Lesander maybe her enemy, is falling in love really a good idea?
This book has main characters who are queer, nonbinary, trans, agender, genderfluid, ace and/or aro, lesbian, fat, POC, disabled, ND, and generally awesome. (Not all rep is stated, some is implied.) Barring the occasional burst of strong language, this book is PG-13.
When alien attacks that shouldn’t be possible plague her kingdom’s distant worlds, Dressa’s new position is put to the test. Why are the pacifist Kidaa attacking now, and were the attacks made by the Kidaa at all? There’s more going on than an internal power shift, and she has far more secrets to uncover to keep her kingdom safe.
Ari Rhialden had her whole life planned out: excel at being the Truthspoken Heir, controlling her kingdom with her shapeshifting powers, and then one day excel at ruling the kingdom. But when she contracts an incurable illness and loses her ability to shapeshift, those plans are derailed.
Ari’s sent undercover to a resort world for treatment, but all is not right in paradise. A young gardener with a mysterious past is taking too much interest in Ari’s new persona, and a possessive duke is bent on capturing her attention for himself. Are these just the ordinary machinations of noble guests or something far more sinister?
In a kingdom where subterfuge is the norm, coincidence is never just that, and now events are rapidly spinning out of control. Can Dressa and Ari find their way to truth before the kingdom comes crumbling down around them?
The Shadow Rule is the second season of The Stars and Green Magics , an epic space fantasy serial set in a diverse, queernorm universe with shapeshifting royals, plotting nobles, and space magic! The Shadow Rule collects episodes 37-93, the complete second season previously published on Kindle Vella.
This book has main characters who are queer, nonbinary, trans, agender, genderfluid, ace and/or aro, lesbian, fat, POC, disabled, ND, and generally awesome. (Not all rep is stated, some is implied.) Barring the occasional burst of strong language, this book is PG-13.
338 pages, ebook
Published December 15, 2022
56 people are currently reading
702 people want to read
About the author
Novae Caelum
42 books274 followersNovae Caelum (he/they/starself) loves royalty, cloak and dagger, and sparkly queer magic, and will unapologetically write things with all three.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 30, 2024
I read the first book which was riddled with grammatical errors and plot holes among many other things. Decided to give the second book a shot to see if the author got a better editor or if they stopped using AI. They did not. The story has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. But sadly it is not put together well, needs massive amounts of editing, and honestly just needs better writing in general. I really really wanted to like this series, but I just couldn’t get through it. :(
April 19, 2023
I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was excited to continue the story in book 2. The Shadow Rule is a great sequel and I enjoyed reading more about Air and Dressa as well as the other characters. I felt this book had a bit too much set up earlier on, lots of setting the stage for later reveals and I got a bit impatient for things to happen at times. The later half has a lot of those things playing out and there are some very exciting chapters where I had trouble putting the book down as I wanted to know what happens next. I enjoyed seeing it all play out and the way the last chapter ends makes me eager for the next book.
The Shadow Rule is told from multiple points of view like the previous book, but unlike the previous book all the characters are now facing their own issues instead of all the story lines being more or less related to the main events that are going on. Ari is on a planet far away trying to heal from the bruising sleep, but something is not quite right at the estate she's staying at. Dressa is now the Truthspoken Heir and getting used to her new duties. There are mysterious attacks going on and Dress and the Seritarchus have to figure out what's going on. Then there is Rhys who is going back to the military ship they serve on and they meet a magicker on the way there. While Maja is taking a break from ruling the kingdom. There is a lot going on and while I liked all the storylines, the switching could be a bit jarring for me. I often used the point of view switches as convenient stopping points. Due to the multiple point of view it also felt like it took even longer for things to start progress as it takes a while for events to progress with the breaks in between when the other point of view are there.
Despite those issues I really enjoyed this book. There is something fascinating about seeing it all play out, there is so much going on politically, but also on character level. It was interesting learning more about the truthspoken and the shapeshifting and also how they could ground themselves in their own personality and return to it. I liked learning more about the green magickers and green magics, which got more attention in this book than in book 1. There are some great twists and turns as well as exciting scenes, especially in the later book. And there are all these little hints and set ups and it makes me eager to see where everything is going.
I really like reading about these characters, they all have their own personality and their own issues. I like the way the characters are written and how they're all interesting to read about. I like how we get to see many different points of view, although sometimes this means a twist or reveal for one character the reader already knew due to reading about it in another point of view. I thought Ari's point of view was the least interesting at the start as not much is happening, but once things start happening there I got very invested in that storyline and seeing how she dealt with everything. I liked seeing how she immersed herself as Imorie and how that worked was very interesting. I thought having Eti's point of view made Ari's feel a bit slower as I already knew part of what was going on due to his point of view. Dressa's storyline started off quite interesting, but then meandered onward a bit it felt to me. Iata and Maja's storylines felt quite important to the plot in this book. And I liked the little glimpse of Rhys we got in the middle of the book even if it was only a few chapters.
This series is one where every chapter and event seems to slowly expand the world and world building. I liked what this book added and how bit by bit we learn more about the world and the people that inhabit it. This book touches upon the Kidaa, more about the green magickers, more about the how ruling system works and more about shapeshifting as well as other bits and pieces about various topics. I continue to enjoy the way the chapters start with a short piece from a letter or note from someone that adds to the understanding of the world and characters.
To summarize: This was a great sequel. I enjoyed reading about the characters and seeing the events play out. I felt this book was a bit slower and there was a lot of set up and hints of what was to come, especially in the earlier half, but the second half and especially the later chapters were really exciting with lots of things happen and are set in motion and I can't wait for the third book. The characters all feel real and are interesting to read about. I like how the multiple point of views lets me read about many different characters, but the switches between point of views could be a bit jarring at times and made for convenient stopping points. I also thought having multiple point of views ruined a few reveals and twists that would've been more of a surprise if another character hadn't already know it and through them the reader as well. This book expands on the world building and I liked learning more about the world, the green magickers and the truthspoken shapeshifters. This is such a great series filled with political intrigue and interesting characters and I look forward to book 3!
The Shadow Rule is told from multiple points of view like the previous book, but unlike the previous book all the characters are now facing their own issues instead of all the story lines being more or less related to the main events that are going on. Ari is on a planet far away trying to heal from the bruising sleep, but something is not quite right at the estate she's staying at. Dressa is now the Truthspoken Heir and getting used to her new duties. There are mysterious attacks going on and Dress and the Seritarchus have to figure out what's going on. Then there is Rhys who is going back to the military ship they serve on and they meet a magicker on the way there. While Maja is taking a break from ruling the kingdom. There is a lot going on and while I liked all the storylines, the switching could be a bit jarring for me. I often used the point of view switches as convenient stopping points. Due to the multiple point of view it also felt like it took even longer for things to start progress as it takes a while for events to progress with the breaks in between when the other point of view are there.
Despite those issues I really enjoyed this book. There is something fascinating about seeing it all play out, there is so much going on politically, but also on character level. It was interesting learning more about the truthspoken and the shapeshifting and also how they could ground themselves in their own personality and return to it. I liked learning more about the green magickers and green magics, which got more attention in this book than in book 1. There are some great twists and turns as well as exciting scenes, especially in the later book. And there are all these little hints and set ups and it makes me eager to see where everything is going.
I really like reading about these characters, they all have their own personality and their own issues. I like the way the characters are written and how they're all interesting to read about. I like how we get to see many different points of view, although sometimes this means a twist or reveal for one character the reader already knew due to reading about it in another point of view. I thought Ari's point of view was the least interesting at the start as not much is happening, but once things start happening there I got very invested in that storyline and seeing how she dealt with everything. I liked seeing how she immersed herself as Imorie and how that worked was very interesting. I thought having Eti's point of view made Ari's feel a bit slower as I already knew part of what was going on due to his point of view. Dressa's storyline started off quite interesting, but then meandered onward a bit it felt to me. Iata and Maja's storylines felt quite important to the plot in this book. And I liked the little glimpse of Rhys we got in the middle of the book even if it was only a few chapters.
This series is one where every chapter and event seems to slowly expand the world and world building. I liked what this book added and how bit by bit we learn more about the world and the people that inhabit it. This book touches upon the Kidaa, more about the green magickers, more about the how ruling system works and more about shapeshifting as well as other bits and pieces about various topics. I continue to enjoy the way the chapters start with a short piece from a letter or note from someone that adds to the understanding of the world and characters.
To summarize: This was a great sequel. I enjoyed reading about the characters and seeing the events play out. I felt this book was a bit slower and there was a lot of set up and hints of what was to come, especially in the earlier half, but the second half and especially the later chapters were really exciting with lots of things happen and are set in motion and I can't wait for the third book. The characters all feel real and are interesting to read about. I like how the multiple point of views lets me read about many different characters, but the switches between point of views could be a bit jarring at times and made for convenient stopping points. I also thought having multiple point of views ruined a few reveals and twists that would've been more of a surprise if another character hadn't already know it and through them the reader as well. This book expands on the world building and I liked learning more about the world, the green magickers and the truthspoken shapeshifters. This is such a great series filled with political intrigue and interesting characters and I look forward to book 3!
November 14, 2025
Im listening to these audio books because I want to like them and I already purchased the series.
that said, book 2 is better. the digital narrator is hard to take seriously but the story has caught my attention
that said, book 2 is better. the digital narrator is hard to take seriously but the story has caught my attention
May 12, 2025
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.
March 3, 2024
The same pacing issues that plagued the first novel in the series continue in this one; it was definitely very well suited to its original life as a webnovel, but apparently very little editing has been done to fit it into the format of a traditional novel. Which is a perfectly valid stylistic choice! It is, however, not one that I find appealing.
There are many, many bite-sized chapters which are easy to read very quickly, but are not organized in a way that helps the sense of narrative tension; the book follows one person for six or seven very short chapters and then another person for the same, and I found this set-up to be clunky and unsatisfying - either the POV character needed to change more often to justify the shorter chapters, or the chapters needed to be combined. By the time the end of the book has been reached, again, there is no sense of narrative climax or satisfaction. It feels extremely serialized, much like a season of episodic television in which status quo is god, and one ends the season in roughly the same place one started. This is not a quality I appreciate in my books.
The plot IS progressing, to be entirely fair, and I AM curious to see where it goes. However, it's in this installment that some of the plotting starts to fall apart a little; the subplot regarding the monarch's major decision seemed to come out of nowhere, which might have been effective had he not been one of the point of view characters. The political machinations are ramping up and so far seem to be progressing well, and I'm curious to see how they bounce off the still-potentially-an-alien-threat, which subplot hasn't really moved at all.
I am still invested in many of the characters and it is not unlikely that I will read at least the fourth book. I do not like Maja nearly enough to want to read close to 600 pages of his early life, despite what the blurb for the third book says about the information being necessary for proper enjoyment of the rest of the series, but while I did not have as good of a time with this book as I did with the first one, I did still enjoy it enough that I'm considering moving on to book 4.
There are many, many bite-sized chapters which are easy to read very quickly, but are not organized in a way that helps the sense of narrative tension; the book follows one person for six or seven very short chapters and then another person for the same, and I found this set-up to be clunky and unsatisfying - either the POV character needed to change more often to justify the shorter chapters, or the chapters needed to be combined. By the time the end of the book has been reached, again, there is no sense of narrative climax or satisfaction. It feels extremely serialized, much like a season of episodic television in which status quo is god, and one ends the season in roughly the same place one started. This is not a quality I appreciate in my books.
The plot IS progressing, to be entirely fair, and I AM curious to see where it goes. However, it's in this installment that some of the plotting starts to fall apart a little; the subplot regarding the monarch's major decision seemed to come out of nowhere, which might have been effective had he not been one of the point of view characters. The political machinations are ramping up and so far seem to be progressing well, and I'm curious to see how they bounce off the still-potentially-an-alien-threat, which subplot hasn't really moved at all.
I am still invested in many of the characters and it is not unlikely that I will read at least the fourth book. I do not like Maja nearly enough to want to read close to 600 pages of his early life, despite what the blurb for the third book says about the information being necessary for proper enjoyment of the rest of the series, but while I did not have as good of a time with this book as I did with the first one, I did still enjoy it enough that I'm considering moving on to book 4.
October 25, 2023
The Shadow Rule is made most of smoke, mirrors, and shadows.
We find the heir-apparent showing that she has the mettle, chutzpah, and the will to not only take on the role of the ruler but do so as her authentic self. She is forging her own world with the woman she loves, and she dares to believe, loves her.
The story brings to my mind that old adage I learned when I was young.
Things are seldom what they seem; skim milk masquerades as Cream.
We find the heir-apparent showing that she has the mettle, chutzpah, and the will to not only take on the role of the ruler but do so as her authentic self. She is forging her own world with the woman she loves, and she dares to believe, loves her.
The story brings to my mind that old adage I learned when I was young.
Things are seldom what they seem; skim milk masquerades as Cream.
February 27, 2025
I wasn't sold on Season 1 because there was quite a lot of world building that had to happen. But after reading Season 2 I'm glad I stuck with it. Now I'm properly hooked - so much so that I was motivated to buy the whole rest of the collection.
In this book we see much deeper development of Dressa, Ari, Iata, Homaj, and especially Lesander. They all feel real to me now, more human and relatable. Ari's experience in this book was such a shock that I can't wait to see what happens next.
In this book we see much deeper development of Dressa, Ari, Iata, Homaj, and especially Lesander. They all feel real to me now, more human and relatable. Ari's experience in this book was such a shock that I can't wait to see what happens next.
December 23, 2024
This series is still not the "sapphic enemies-to-lovers secret identity romantasy" book I was hoping it would be, but the story around Ari is picking up the pace more than I expected. Sadly, the Maja storyline slowed the pace down again. I enjoyed the first book more than I did this one, but will keep reading and hoping to read more about Dressa and Lesander in the next book.
September 11, 2024
Can’t wait to read the next one! I’m liking the character development throughout. Nothing is ever quite what it seems. Even when you know (in a general sense) what’s about to happen- you really have no idea.
August 1, 2024
second book read
Totally immersed in this world and these people. Having a little trouble with the pronouns but completely endorse the gender fluidity
Totally immersed in this world and these people. Having a little trouble with the pronouns but completely endorse the gender fluidity
October 9, 2024
Ok...getting better and better....I just wish the author would stop using questions in the narration to push the story along. It gets annoying.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews