DNF

Oh dearie me, this is absolutely not a Christina book.

I was SO excited, because FINALLY more books from A.C. Gaughen, but honestly blurbs should mention if pregnancy is going to be a major component of a book because no thank you. I was iffy on the first chapter, because the heroine's voice didn't grab me (a bit weirdly perky and passive), and spotted the pregnancy thing in reviews, so I looked for all the quotes with "baby" in them and omg not for me not for me not for me.

A creative and fresh YA fantasy with forbidden magic, illicit loves, and a compassionate young queen. I really liked Shalia and especially her crowd of brothers. The plot faltered a bit initially but grew stronger.

I didn't like this book unfortunately. I know lots of people love A. C. Gaughen's works, but I don't think they're for me alas.

After learning of some of the trigger warnings for this book, I ultimately decided not to read it myself. I do recognize how much others love it, though, so I'd still recommend it.

This story had a lot of potential but it never lived up to it. I couldn't make it past page 50. The characters and the story never grabbed me. See a longer review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxmDnco-zl0

This book really surprised me! It ended up being about much darker themes than I expected but I loved that. I really connected with the main character and her love for her family and country. She had to make some hard decisions and my heart broke for her. I found the magic and world building very intriguing and I'm excited to read more books set in this world.

I'm sitting here astounded that the same person that wrote the Scarlet trilogy wrote this novel. I was expecting so much more in the way of . . . everything, really. Because every aspect of REIGN THE EARTH, from the character development to the plot line is predictable and lackluster. I realize my opinion appears to be the decided minority, and that is fine. I'm happy it's working for so many other readers. Unfortunately, I felt disengaged on every level.

I was so disappointed with this book. From the start, I knew I wasn’t going to like it. It had little to no world building at all. We’re dropped into a scene where our MC is being married off to stop tension between a rival king. We’re thrown around from different and places and cultures, to different people. It was jarring and confusing. I never got a grasp on any of it and I don’t think there was ever a good explanation on any of it. I was confused on the places they lived and how they worked. Even that wasn’t explained at all.

Her husband is so abusive that I could hardly stomach reading it. Not to mention the kingdom she now lives in is basically a high fantasy the Handmaid’s Tale. I could tell from the beginning that she was going to fall in love with the brother and the big secret about who the king loved and was spited by couldn’t have been anymore obvious.

Predictable plot, lazy world building, and forgettable characters (besides her hunky brother). Big pass from me

This is definitely a YA that feels more adult. It could easily be shelved in the adult section of a library.

A great feminist fantasy! Really enjoyed reading this one and cant wait for book two in this series. Fast paced and great plot! Also loved the main character so much, she was so strong!

Reign the Earth follows Shaila, who was born and raised in the desert, as she is preparing for her arranged marriage with the ruler of a neighboring kingdom in the hopes that it will stop the war and protect her people. As she begins her new life as Queen of the Bonelands, she sees firsthand how far her husband will go to wipe out everyone with the ability to control the elements, who are known as Elementae.

So here’s the plain truth: I wanted to like it, it was well written so I felt like I should like it, but when it all boils down I just didn’t have much fun with it. The writing and the world itself were compelling, but I found that it wasn’t a wholly enjoyable read for multiple reasons:

1. At some points the pacing lagged, so I frequently skimmed and skipped to find places that caught my attention

2. I was in no way prepared for the darker, grittier themes of this book. I believe this is considered to be YA, so I approached this like a typical fantasy novel. I wasn’t prepared for the heaviness of the themes present in the book (physical/ emotional abuse, maritial rape, <spoiler> miscarriage</spoiler>) so it was a little jarring to veer so far from expectations.

3. The romance was a bit of an insta-love, and because there was a quick build-up I didn’t get very invested in it. Though I feel it very important to state that the romance is NOT with the abuser.

Side point: My heart broke for Shaila and the things she experienced. There were some points that were hard to read, but I don’t know whether to label that a negative or chalk it up to good writing? In any case I did quite like Shaila, and I thought she was a strong character.

So while it had a great magic structure, a detailed setting, and beautiful writing, the darker themes and rushed romance kept Reign the Earth from being my cup of tea.

LOVE LOVE THIS! This is a great new series by A.C. and I'm ready for the next book!


Shalia is making a great sacrifice. To marry a King she does not know, so that her people can have peace and she will become the new Queen. Her family gives her gifts and they party the night away. The next day she and her husband will head over to the Bonelands to begin their new life. Shalia won't be going alone, her brother will be going with them to the Bonelands and that will mean a lot to her.


They have been under attacked and met some some loyal folks all on the way to their home. Once they finally arrive Shalia is going to realize just what she signed up for wasn't exactly as she thought. Shalia will see a side of Calix that makes her blood boil. He is not so kind, doesn't think before ordering a kill, and once he even hit Shalia and that was way out of line. Right off the bat I could not stand Calix.


As the ending came near, the intensity grew to on the edge of your seat kind of reading. Shalia has done nothing but try and be the best Queen and wife she could be despite her secret of being an Elementae. She gave her people hope, more work to help feed and care for their families. Strong and elegant she is determined to make the kingdom even better. But now, Calix turns on his wife and is determined to kill her. He took away her family. Shalia will not back down without a fight, she and the resistance will stand against Calix until he is stopped and change and peace can begin. But until then there a long way to go before this war is over.

While I very much thank the publisher for the approval on this title, it was unfortunately not a good fit for me. I did, however, add it to Goodreads, so that others may see it and find it more in line with their tastes.

I picked up this book for a fun fantasy and opened up a much darker story that I didn’t fully appreciate until I really thought about it as it ended. Reign the Earth is an incredible novel beautifully told that tells the story of a strength of a different kind.

What I Liked:

The friendship. Shalia and her best friend had such a special bond. I loved that as a part of the deception in the story Shalia never once mentioned to her husband anything about the friend she loves. Keeping the secret while necessary was also a true show of their friendship.

Shalia’s strength. Shalia is not your conventional heroine. She is not truly physically strong, but she has a loyalty and an emotional strength that I almost never see in ya. She is a woman who endured. She endured pain and suffering to save the people she so loved. She never made excuses. She never complained and that is a whole new kind of strength. At first it made me angry. She never really fought back, but in the end I realized that she was much wiser, fighting for peace by being the sacrifice and that was the hardest for me to understand. For a while, I basically thought she was a pushover, but I was so very wrong. She did more then I ever could by enduring everything and trying to make the best out of a horrid situation and I have come to love Shalia for that.

The magic. The magic in this novel is really cool. I love the idea behind having whole cities being built by earth magic. I also like that it was removed and is now back in the world again and people gaining abilities in a seemingly random fashion. It is really interesting.

The world building. The world itself is much bigger then it is just on page and the fact that I felt like this was taking place in a much larger world was really cool. It made me want to explore in the universe the author created and that’s a lot of fun!

What I Didn’t Like:

The man I hated. From the moment Shalia married her husband I hated him. I hated him as he slowly warped into being the a-hole that he is. I hated him as he said he was one of the faces incarnate of their God. He was arrogant, cruel, nasty, and he caused so many people a whole lot of pain. I wanted to strangle him the whole book. He almost made me mistake Shalia for being week (totally not my own fault) so I hate him for that too.

Gaughen's new series starts in a thrilling way, with plenty of intrigue and action. The world building is phenomenal, the characters are well-developed, and the plot woven through with conspiracies and secrets.

I really enjoyed the adventure and worldbuilding in this novel! Strong females are the way to my heart and crazy plots are just as good! Buy it, read it, LOVE IT!

It seems this book was just not for me. I tried to read an ARC, a hardcover, and listen to the audio and nothing clicked. I do feel that this book just wasn't for me.

I've enjoyed A.C. Gaughen at times, but I had my doubts about her ability to sustain a long narrative. This book happily proved me wrong.

Let’s just get this part out of the way first: I despise Calix. He is an awful human being, completely and utterly cruel and hateful. That’s a little obvious from the summary, but reading the book I felt this desire to reach through the pages and punch him–repeatedly. So, I guess I can give all sorts of compliments to author A.C. Gaughen for writing a character that makes me feel that way.

Speaking of, this is the first book by Gaughen that I have read, and it was fantastic. Now I find myself wanting to give Scarlet a try. I mean, I was intrigued by it anyway because it is a twist on Robin Hood, but now I really want to read it.

*Ahem* Anyway, back to this book. I enjoyed the worldbuilding. I didn’t think that this was a fantasy novel that overdid the descriptions of the land or the culture or the religion. It was just enough to highlight the differences between Calix’s people and Shalia’s people, and some of that came from the characters actually having discussions about how their cultures are different, which I rather liked.

The characters felt nicely developed too, like living and breathing people instead of words on a page. I liked Shalia and Galen and Danae and Kai and Kata. And I already talked about my feelings towards Calix.

I admit that there were a few things that I didn’t see coming and they surprised me, some in a good way and some in a not so good way. But I liked that I wasn’t trying to figure out what was going to happen. I just let myself soak in the experience of reading the book. Sometimes it is nice to just exist in the story as it unfolds instead of predicting what could occur later.

With everything that has happened in this book, and with how it ended, let me just say that I hope we get more information about the second book soon, because waiting for the next release will not be easy. Then again, I guess I do have a rather large TBR list so…maybe it won’t be that difficult after all. Still, my point is that I really want to know what happens next.

Content Warning: Arranged Marriage, Abuse (physical and emotional), Graphic Violence (including torture), Cheating, Pregnancy almost leading to a forced Miscarriage

”A wedding is not about lust. It’s about partnership. Alliance. Faith and faithfulness.”

It’s so ironic that this book started out with such a strong sense of pure intentions and girlish hopes then turned out the way it did. I’m not sure what it is with tough books like this, but they completely draw me in. I’ll start out by saying that this book will not be for everyone, and will either be loved or hated for the topics it discusses. It is a hard read, and not the typical happy-go-lucky fantasy novel. Sometimes, a book is worthy of praise simply for the realness that it captures in its characters, and the trials they go through, comfortable or not. The characters here are real, raw, and rememberable.

World Building

The world in Reign the Earth is vast and diverse. No matter where the reader is taken, however, there is an aridness about the atmosphere, even if by the sea or in lusher regions. I believe the world itself aided in setting the tone of the entire book--the aridness it portrayed not only mirrored the relationship between Shalia and Calix, but also emphasized the harsh realities that were taking place on all fronts.

The religious system was an interesting one. The "god" position was shared by Calix, Galen, and Danae of the Bone Lands. Each sibling had their own role to play.

”My father said the Three-Faced God had told him that his three children were the God Made Human. That we would be the most powerful rulers the Bone Lands had ever seen.” She held out her hands in a triangle, pointing one of the ends at me. “With three faces, you can only ever see two, at the very most,” she told me. “The third will always be hidden. Calix, he is the face of truth and justice. Galen is the face of honor and strength. And I am the hidden face, the piece that separates honor and truth, and also binds them together always.”

While I’m not sure if it was supposed to reflect either positively or negatively (or if at all) on the Holy Trinity in the Bible, I personally feel that it stood apart from it. The fact that a man declared his children the god-made-flesh was a ploy for power. None of the three had actual powers, they were simply powerful in specific characteristics.

Pacing & Readability

The pacing of this book is consistently moderate and increases the closer it gets to the end. Due to the nature of its content, I could see how it could affect its overall readability, as the tone is dark and heavy at times. Personally, that aspect did not bring me pause and actually made me more eager to know what would happen next. The beautiful writing and description also made this read very enjoyable.

Point-Of-View & Characters

Shalia serves as the main character and protagonist, and the story is told from her perspective. Shalia's character is rather complex--so complex in fact, that it was aggravating at some periods. While she starts out with the mentality of a young girl, her maturity rapidly shows, as she learns through difficult situations how to handle herself, and to make the right decisions. In order to do so, Shalia's character goes through immense stages of change.

"You're a daughter of the desert, Shalia. You have always had the ability to pierce and sting."

The biggest struggle Shalia faces is standing up for herself. For the majority of the story, she seems rather passive, especially in regards to her husband's character. She does try to influence Calix by her meekness, but in the end, it simply isn't enough to turn his focus inward on the parts in himself that he needed to address.

"My hands rested over my stomach. I couldn't feel her in there yet, but I knew in that moment she would never be raised by Calix."

The biggest event which took place that changed Shalia's perspective and tactics was when she discovered that she was pregnant. During this time, Calix became more erratic and abusive towards her.

"I went from being a sister and a daughter to a wife, a guarded queen. I have little idea what my life will be like if I'm free from Calix, but I don't want to be something you protect. I won't teach my daughter that her only choice is to be sheltered by the men around her. I want to stand beside you...I want to learn to fight with you."

I think Shalia's character is an unusual one in YA today. Instead of being the "all guns blazing" superwoman trope, her meekness is what made her stand out to me. Her words and actions spoke louder than her physical capabilities. While she did have bouts of passiveness, she took action when necessary, and when she was able.

Calix is a piece of work. He is the manipulative and power-hungry antagonist, who thinks he is superior to all. I'm not sure if I can blame him entirely for his character, seeing how he was conditioned his entire life to believe himself to be above others. But it doesn't excuse his actions and reactions towards Shalia and the other people he torments.

"Your heart is soft, and that is good and right, wife. But mine cannot be. More important than love, than grief, more important than anything is power."

Discussing his relationship with Shalia in particular, he is one of the worst types of villains. He uses emotional manipulation to get what he wants and damages Shalia tremendously in doing so.

Galen, Calix's brother remains quite a mystery. While small chunks of his personality are revealed, I never got a good sense of him or is true nature. I wasn't a fan of the way his and Shalia's relationship played out in the end. (view spoiler) Despite that fact, I'd like to know more about him in the sequel(s) to come.

Danae, Calix's sister, also serves as a partial antagonist. While her character is the least-developed of the three siblings, she becomes an encourager to Shalia during though periods in her marriage to Calix. Without the sisterly love of Danae, I think Shalia really would have struggled.

There are many other characters throughout this book, but I thought these were the main ones to discuss in more detail.

Major Themes

⇒ Face-value vs. Reality

In the opening of this story, when Shalia is on her way to meet her husband for the first time, she inwardly hopes that he is attractive. Despite the vanity of the thought, she gets what she hopes for, only to realize that beauty on the outside doesn’t mean beauty exists within. It's a valuable theme to focus on as beauty is monotonized on in today's culture. It teaches everyone that beauty is better, and the internal parts of ourselves can be covered up and ignored if beauty is present externally.

⇒ Steadfastness

Represented specifically by Shalia, steadfastness is a key quality in her character. While she was seemingly passive at times when she could have stepped forward, I think she actually made the more difficult choice with not stopping what was going on (specifically with Calix). She tried so very hard and sacrificed everything to keep the peace between the clansmen and her husband’s people. However, it costs her. This is the ugly truth about sacrifice sometimes--it’s painful, and it doesn’t always end in the way we hope or envision. But it’s necessary in order to try and make a situation better for others. This was what made me appreciate Shalia’s character so much. Too often are characters met with “challenges” that aren’t really challenges. They have simple solutions and take little effort to overcome. Shalia's situation reflects what many people go through in real life, and I think she could be an encouraging figure to have in this genre.

⇒ Power

Power was a massive theme. It existed on multiple fronts; men over women (no matter the connection), leader over civilian, a people group over another. It is this desire for power on Calix's part that transforms him into a being capable of doing anything to another person in order to get what he wants.

”Ruling cannot be about emotion, my sweet. It has to be about power and control. Always.”
“True power does not force others to make themselves smaller,”I told him. Anger simmered in his eyes.
“No, wife. You’re wrong.”

This theme is represented well, as it shows how dangerous and degenerative seeking power can be.

⇒ Abuse

While it's not a nice topic to discuss, abuse is very real. Several forms of abuse are represented throughout Reign the Earth and show how terrible of a thing it is.

Overall Feelings

Things that I liked:

⇒ Shalia’s depth of character, especially her steadfastness.
⇒ The world building, and how well it reflected everything else developing throughout the story.
⇒ The use of elementals.

Things that I didn’t like:

⇒ Calix. Pure and simple. He was a "perfect" antagonist.
⇒ The pacing towards the middle slowed down a bit, but I didn’t notice it too much. The beginning and end made up for this deviation in my opinion.
⇒ I felt that the Trifectate needed a lot more explanation surrounding it. While the general idea was explained, I wanted to dig deeper into their role in society.
⇒ The fantasy element of this book takes a backseat to the main story. I would have liked to see more representation of the elementals throughout.

Due to the nature of this book, I would definitely caution young adult readers before picking it up. I personally believe this to be better suited for the New Adult genre, as the topics discussed don't really reflect that of the life of an average teen. Overall, I believe this book has a lot to offer the reader. It's real, it's emotionally charged, it's challenging, and it's beautifully written. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the next installment in this series.

Vulgarity: 26 words total (based on the eARC I read - this may differ from the published book.)
Sexual content: Moderate to a lot. While nothing is graphically explained, there are a lot of “bedroom scenes.” This also was an area where a lot of content could trigger some uncomfortable feelings for the reader.
Violence: Moderate to quite a bit. There are scenes of torture and some graphic material here and there.

My Rating: ★★★★★