This book! I’ve read a lot of YA Fantasy this year, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Six of Crows, The Grishaverse, Gilded Cage, etc. Of those I’ve read, there have been very few I truly loved. I. Am. Slain. Vanquished. Defeated. Here lies Alyssa, perished by the hand of S.J. Kincaid due to a particular emotion-evoking book written by said vanquisher. I don't even know how to process what I've just read. I was going along, reading the book very gamely, getting a little more anxious as it went, and then BAM! The ending. I am shooketh. (Is that what the young people say these days? I'm 22. I should know these things. I don't.)

Astra moved between the converts to aid them in shedding their clothing. Then she led each of the converts by the hands to the window to position them in the glare of the sacred hypergiant. The naked men and women pressed up against the window, spreading their arms, their fingers, soaking light into every square centimeter of their skin. I made up my mind. I walked over to my intended’s sole living relative. As my shadow slid over her, her foggy gaze rose to mine. The thrilling sequel to S.J. Kincaid’s New York Times bestselling novel, The Diabolic, which TeenVogue.com called “the perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.”Though she reigned in the 19th century, Sisi feels refreshingly modern as a character. How much of that is your own interpretation of her? Did you learn anything about her that surprised you? Tyrus: well, he's not your typical ya love interest either. He's not as "cruel" as Nemesis but he's not an angel. He's always ten steps ahead. What happens to him in The empress is unbelievable and I really hope it will be fixed.

I genuinely do not understand how this series has flown so under the radar. This is such phenomenal sci-fi! The worldbuilding is fabulous, the political intrigue fierce, and it keeps you on your toes almost from start to finish. Even knowing what came this time, I was still heartbroken on no less than three occasions. I re-read this with the audiobook, and the narrator was phenomenal! A tale of people traveling across oceans to build a new life in the UK, only to be met with hostility and exploitation, has surely grown more relevant – The Guardian Yet I realized in moments that too many eyes were fixed on me to guess which pair might belong to my poisoner. I should have realized it at once. After all, everywhere I went now, I was watched, I was scrutinized, I invited discussion and opinion. I get Elisabeth being a bit more adventurous and refusing to listen to court rules with her sister marrying the Emperor but her being empress and still having the personality of a Victorian shoe-less hippy was slightly annoying to say the least. I’d love the opportunity to read another of this author’s books - one that she has written entirely herself. I feel I could write a more accurate review.The galaxy received just that glimpse of me, enough to set the Excess on their planets across the empire wondering who I could be, wondering what story lay behind my appearance in public life. Tyrus believed the best way to strip a secret of its power was to glare a shining light on it from the angle of choice, to exhibit it fearlessly rather than seek to hide it. He followed up on that first glimpse by introducing me as his future Empress—and a Diabolic—at his first Convocation. The Empress is the second book in the Diabolic series however you could probably read The Empress on its own and still be in for a really good read. But if you truly want to understand and care about the characters reading “The Diabolic” first is my recommendation. This book made my heart race, made me happy and made me angry...... a lot. Life doesn’t always go smoothly; we don’t always get what we want. Sometimes evil prevails.

Griffis: I think of it as a slow-build sexiness. There’s a lot of longing here. We’re in a situation where propriety says that they can’t really be together. There’s a lot of moments when they’re just alone, thinking about being together. And then we get to a point where we get to act on that longing. All credit to Caolinn on that one. She was like, “We’re going steamy!” The year is 1853, and sixteen-year-old Elisabeth "Sisi" of Bavaria has been very clear: she will wait for the sweeping, head-over-heels kind of love the poets speak of, or she will have no love at all. It is not her fault Mother refuses to listen. After all, just because her older sister Helene has chosen the line of duty, and is preparing to marry Emperor Franz of Austria, does not mean Sisi also needs to subject herself to such a passionless, regimented existence. Sisi knows there is more to life than corsets, luncheons, and woefully unfashionable dukes . . . if only someone would give her the chance to experience it firsthand. Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it? I am not that up to date on the events of history of that part of the world. I could tell you all about the French Revolution, but this part of Europe never held an interest for me, historically. That’s why I can not say how historically correct it is, but I doubt it is. There’s probably a drop of truth in there, but how shall we know. I expected more of an historical drama than a romance. But I found myself surprised, I actually liked the story.In an era where marriages were rarely about love and largely about country, The Empressbrings us the irresistible beginning to an unexpected romance, that begs the question: what would you do for love? Fans of Daisy Goodwin’s Victoria, The Crown, and Reign will delight in the coupling of Sisi and Franz.” — Jenni L. Walsh, author of Becoming Bonnie and The Call of the Wrens I am not making up the Theory of Relativity!” The Interdict roared. “I am not Albert Einstein. Are you telling me that you, Tyrus–the Emperor–do not know the basic laws of physics? You were totally unaware of the basic laws of physics?”

Sissi is een begrip en als kind was ik helemaal gek van haar. Meermaals keek ik de films met Romy Schneider in de hoofdrol en genoot ik telkens weer. Toen Keizerin uitkwam, voelde ik het kriebelen om dit boek te gaan lezen en gelukkig was ik bijna jarig en kreeg ik het cadeau! Keizerin focust op drie hoofdpersonen – Sissi, Franz en in mindere mate ook op Helene en het is dus vooral op die eerste 2 personen gericht. We lezen hoe Sissi en Franz elkaar ontmoeten en als een blok voor elkaar vallen. Hun liefde is echter onmogelijk want Franz wordt geacht om te trouwen met Helene, de zus van Sissi. Maar toch is dat niet wat hij wil… De focus ligt dus op de heimelijke ontmoetingen, het verzet tegen hun familie en de uiteindelijke uitkomst van dit alles. Het boek gaf me enkele zeer vermakelijke uurtjes aan leesgenot en ik heb er echt van genoten. Het was één van de betere boeken die ik vorige maand las en een aangename afwisseling tussen al de lugubere thrillerverhalen die ik soms lees. Keizerin krijgt dus met verve 4.5 sterren! The book is easy to read and flows a bit choppy. There isn't a lot of depth and everything seems to be paint by numbers. I will say that it reads like a YA version of Alison Pataki's book up until when Elisabeth and Franz marry. Speaking with Tatler, celebrated photographer Cyrus Mahboubian - who’s of Iranian heritage and has been presented to the Empress- remarks: ‘Regardless of whether Donna Stein’s role in building the collection was pivotal or only peripheral, let’s not forget that Iran is a country with thousands of years of civilisation and artistic output.’ A lot of this book is based on their characters and mostly on the relationship between Sisi and her sister, Helene, as well as Franz, the emperor.It could be that I am not quite a fan of 'creating drama' or 'inventing scenes' that either didn't exist or didn't happen how they did, but I think that based on this book I'm going to have some issues with the show. Curiosa com todo o burburinho que a série da Netflix estava a gerar, quis ler o livro primeiro. Desde pequena que sempre adorei a princesa Sissi, e era viciada nos desenhos animados dela. Of course he did. Tyrus had been careful with every move of his reign so far, since he was the sort to think ten steps ahead before making a single one. I’d been eased slowly into public life over the last weeks. I’ve never done a review for a book based on a collaborative effort between the publisher, Netflix, and the IP owner before. Keeping in mind that this is Gigi Griffis’s first adult historical fiction debut and that the freedom for content wasn’t as flexible as if she’d come up with the plot, researched it and written it all herself, this was a good read. As I understand it, Griffis had little say over what content went into the book. It’s based on a Netflix show.