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the white roseWhat: The White Rose (The Lone City #2) by Amy Ewing

Who: Walker Books

When: October 1st 2015

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Walker Books Australia for review.

Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Matched, this is the second book in the Lone City trilogy, following on from Amy Ewing’s shocking and compelling debut novel, The Jewel.

Violet, Ash and Raven have escaped the palace of the Duchess of the Lake, but Regimentals are hunting for them across the city. Nowhere is safe, and they are dependent on Lucien and his secret society for survival. If they can reach the safety of the White Rose then Violet may be able to help Lucien in his plan to rescue more surrogates. For one surrogate, however, it is already too late. Violet’s best friend, Raven, is pregnant. And in the Jewel, surrogates cannot survive giving birth.

3cats2I gotta say, that after that massive cliffhanger at the end of The Jewel, I thought that The White Rose would be an incredibly intense novel. It wasn’t. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, because I’m pretty sure all of you know by now that I actually quite like non-busy novels, but The White Rose was certainly not what I was expecting.

Even though I liked it, here are the things I’d change about The White Rose:

  1. Violet dumps Ash to be with Raven.

I still wasn’t feeling the romance between Ash and Violet, and I actually kind of found Ash a little annoying in this book. I get that his past is horrible, but like … he keeps throwing it in Violet’s face, and pulling the whole ‘you don’t understand’ lines and Violet sort of just sits there and takes it. Not a huge fan. She’s been through intense shit, as well. She was forcibly impregnated for crying out loud. So I’m pretty sure she knows what a crappy life looks like. So yeah. Not a huge fan.

BUT. Violet loves Raven so much, and she is constantly talking about how much she loves Raven, and she risks her life to save her, like, three times. And I could 100% get behind a relationship between Violet and Raven. I seriously think that it could have been written that way, with Ash as a friend rather than a lover, and then this book would be a favourite of mine.

  1. A little less journey, a little more discovery.

There was a lot of journeying from The Jewel to The Farm in this book with stops in The Bank and The Smoke, and I really thought that more would happen in terms of storyline. Eventually it did, and it was kind of awesome, but I also feel that the things that happened towards the end of the novel could have had a little more focus throughout.

  1. Some more emotion from Violet.

To be honest, I quite like that Violet isn’t a Katniss/Celaena/badass sort of character because I have to say that not every sixteen year old girl is going to come up against adversity with guns blazing. I mean, to be honest, as much as I would like to believe I’d react well and be a complete and utter badass taking down the whole world … I’d probably be scared shitless while doing so. So I like the fact that Violet gets scared, and doesn’t always know what to do, and needs help. Because I feel like that’s how most people would react in such a situation.

However, sometimes I feel a bit of a lack of emotion from her. I remember this one scene where Ash was talking about his sister, and Violet possibly saving her, and Violet just said “I don’t think it works like that”. No ‘I say softly’, or ‘I say apologetically’. Just that really harsh line. Even though Ash isn’t my favourite (although I felt so much for him when he was talking about all the horrible shit of his past), I felt pretty cut on his behalf, to be honest. Violet is sometimes just disconnected in terms of emotion.

~

Overall, though, I really did like The White Rose. The book ended on another cliffhanger, and this one is even bigger than the one in The Jewel, and I’m really looking forward to reading the third book in this series!

© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

trigger warning: torture, domestic abuse, rape, and murder in this novel

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Posted on: October 21, 2015 • By: Chiara

12 Responses to Things I’d Change About The White Rose by Amy Ewing

  1. Kayla says:

    I REALLY don’t know if I’m going to end up reading this one. I read The Jewel because Amy Ewing was coming around near me and sort of liked it because it’s an awesome concept but it could be done better, I think. So I’m not sure if it’s worth working through the next two books… though, if Violet did get together with Raven, THEN I might really want to read it, haha!

    • Chiara says:

      Yeah, I feel like this series has a lot of potential, but the execution just isn’t really on point. I’m definitely going to read the last book because I have made it this far, haha! OMG, I would adore this series if Raven and Violet were an actual ship!

  2. I didn’t hate The Jewel but I had MEGA problems with it. (Especially that insta-love…) I’m interested in reading the sequel to see if it improves. One thing I dislike in “journey” books is when the characters make so many pit stops. The whole pace of the book slows down. But I think The Jewel’s concept was pretty original, and I want the magic powers aspect to be elaborated on in book 2. Can you give me any non-spoiler clues about that? :)

    • Chiara says:

      There were quite a few problems in both The Jewel, and this book, but I still enjoyed reading them! Yeah, there were a few pit stops in this one, but it didn’t slow it down TOO much. The magical aspect is more prominent in this one! You actually get to learn where those powers come from, and how they’re actually supposed to be used, which was good :D (I was annoyed in the first book that there was no explanation about the magic so YAY.)

  3. Wow, I can’t remember anything from The Jewel O_O Might have to flick through it again. BUT YES TO VIOLET AND RAVEN, why isn’t that happening??

  4. I wasn’t a fan of the first book so decided to creep away quietly from this one…but yeah. I can totally see all these points!! I think there aren’t enough emotional characters in dystopians. I mean, I am rather a stoic IRL myself…but I like to read about characters with vibrant emotions sometimes?!?! And I think if the Raven/Violet ship sailed, that would be wonderful. :D

    • Chiara says:

      Haha! Dystopian characters tend to be quite stony, don’t they? Although June and Day in the Legend triology were perfection all ’round. IT WOULD BE THE BEST SHIP EVER.

  5. I quite liked the first book because of just how unique it was, but yes sometimes it’s good to picture a different love interest isn’t it? Its kind of refreshing that violet isn’t a kickass Katniss but it sounds like she lacked a bit in terms of emotional connection. Great review Chiara!

    • Chiara says:

      Right? I could have gotten behind a Raven/Violet ship A LOT more than the one that is actually in this book. Yeah, the main character definitely lacks in the emotional department, but that might change in the third book – who know? Thanks, Jeannie <3

  6. I’ve heard some relatively negative reviews about this series as a whole, so I’ve been avoiding it a bit, but your review makes me almost curious to see what it’s all about. Sorry you didn’t love it, but I’m glad you liked it all the same. :) Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! ♥

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