Book Review: Reign the Earth by A.C. Gaughen

Author: A.C. Gaughen

Series: Yes - Book #1 in The Elementae series.

Cover: The cover is very beautifully made. One bad thing is that the cover looks like it has flames even though the book focuses on the earth. Maybe less red tones. I love the font of the title as well. Super elegant and regal in my opinion.

Rating: 3.5/5 This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. This is a book that is building up to the climax. It is just presenting the problems, world, and characters to the readers. I think book #2 will be a lot better than the first book.

Review: As usual, there will be two sections to the review. The first part of this review will be spoiler free and the second part will be full of spoilers. You have been warned! TRIGGER WARNINGS: This book covers a lot of dark topics that may be uncomfortable to some readers. The book is not suitable for people that do not wish to read topics of rape, physical & emotional abuse, torture, pregnancy complications, and large age gap between relationships. 

Reign the Earth is a book that focuses between two groups of people, those who can control earth, air, water, and fire, and those that cannot. In this book, we experience the story through the eyes of the main character, Shalia. Shalia is a very sweet and gentle character. She is someone that would be easy for any reader to appreciate because she is the embodiment of goodness. She does whatever she can for the good of the people and doesn't see any difference in race or class of a person.

The romance aspect of this book was alright. I personally did not understand the relationship between Shalia and Galen. Their love was a bit of an instalove in my opinion. There wasn't a depth in their relationship besides the generic "I love you". They're not my favorite couple ever but they're not like most love-sick puppy couples either. They're just alright.

I enjoyed the world that Gaughen created. At first, we get to see the world of only the desert people and then we meet people from the Trifectate. Later, we get introduced to the world of elementae. The timeline and settings of this book were put together smoothly. She was also able to create a twist that I did not see coming as well.

The characters in this book were really generic. Shalia was the pretty girl that's sweet and kind. She is also a person of color and that's AWESOME. The love interest, Galen, is strong, kind, charming, and loves Shalia beyond the moon and back. The bad guy is Calix and he is just everything you can associate the word "bad" with. 

Overall, I gave this book a 3.5 stars out of 5. This book is just the stepping stone in my opinion to the bigger plot that might come in book #2. All the characters were okay in this book. I enjoyed the supporting characters much more than I enjoyed Shalia, Calix, and Galen. One thing I didn't enjoy was that the chapters were not numbered, but that is just a pet peeve of mine. I'm not excited nor dreading the idea of reading book #2. It'll be on my list and until it is released, I'll read other books. 

!!!!!!!!!!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!

From this point on, it is all spoilers. You can read it if you want. I'm not stopping you xD

I really enjoyed how evil Calix was in this book. At first you meet him and think, "oh she just doesn't like him because he's old" but then you see how evil he can be. Every time I read something about him, it felt gross. I wanted to shower after seeing how he treats his people and enemies. Even though he has zero powers, he is powerful enough to make people bow down to him.

This was a difficult book for me to read just because of the topics. I've read books that contain torture and abuse before so that wasn't what bothered me. It was reading the rape scenes that made my skin crawl. Although Shalia agreed to the sex, she didn't want it at all. The amount of psychological abuse that Calix did to Shalia made me pause a bit as I read. 

I loved the desert people in this book. My heart broke when Shalia's family died due to Calix. I didn't like Calix from the start, but that really made me have him. The part when Shalia was screaming Gavan's name broke me completely. I can't imagine losing my younger siblings like that by my own husband's hand either. It's too much...

What surprised me the most was Galen being the leader of the resistance. What I thought would happen is that Galen JOINS the resistance. He was already 10 steps ahead of me. Danae made me sad as well. I really wanted her to join the resistance along with her brother, but sadly she was broken and tortured as well. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book if anyone is interested in a world of elementals. It is not a book for the soft of heart. It is also one of the few books that made my skin crawl from the antagonist. There is also a lot of moments where Shalia fights for freedom and equal rights for not just her but other women around her. I believe book #2 will be even better than the first book.

Favorite Line: 

"And then I understood that I had only a sheltered young girl's idea of love, and more likely, love is something that grows between two people. And there are moments when he's kind to me, or thoughtful, and I feel something like hope-but I hate those moments more than any other, because they mean that I am beginning to mistake the absence of cruelty for love."

Top 3 Favorite Characters

Kairos - This character is the big brother to Shalia. I love him for everything he is. He is literally so protective and caring for Shalia that it makes me wish I had an older brother. Best brother of the year award goes to him.

Zeph - He is a very minor character, but I enjoyed him greatly. He promised to serve Shalia and in the end he did with zero hesitation. He deserves a promotion.

Danae - I'm torn with Danae. She barely appears in the book but every time she appears, there is something new that we learn about Calix. She also seemed like she truly cared for Shalia and wished the absolute best for her. Poor baby.

Well everyone, that is the end! If you've read this book, what did you rate it? What did you love or hate about this book? Who's your favorite character? The next book I'll be reading is Roar by Cora Carmack. Side note: Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there :)