Review: The Originals - The Rise by Julie Plec

Publication Date: 5th February 2015
Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
Length: 352 pages

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review

Family is power. The Original vampire family swore it to each other a thousand years ago. They pledged to remain together always and forever. But even when you're immortal, promises are hard to keep. 
Arriving in New Orleans in 1722, Original vampire siblings Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah Mikaelson believe they've escaped their dangerous past. But the city is lawless, a haven for witches and werewolves unwilling to share territory. The siblings are at their mercy…especially after Klaus meets the beautiful and mysterious Vivianne. Her impending marriage is key to ending the war between the supernatural factions—and Klaus's attraction to her could destroy the uneasy alliance. As Elijah works toward securing a piece of the city for his family, and Rebekah fights her unexpected feelings for a French captain, will Klaus's volatile desires bring their world crashing down—and tear them apart for good?

I want to say upfront that I love the TV show ‘The Originals’, I think it’s fantastic, so I was curious to see how this book expanded on the most messed up family we know. However there is always a danger with books based off movies and TV shows that things are going to go horribly wrong, and sadly this book continued that trend. Luckily it wasn’t quite as dire as ‘Stefan’s Diaries’ who were obviously written by someone who had never seen The Vampire Diaries or read the original books and felt like making up some bad backstory that didn’t correlate to anything in the slightest. There was a lot going for this first instalment in ‘The Originals’ backstory, but sadly there were enough cons to deny it a higher rating.

For fans of the tv show no real introduction or character building is necessary, we’re coming into this with a working knowledge of these characters and everything about them. However this book relies far too heavily on that early knowledge and as a result does no work at all to build the characters or make the story remotely readable for someone who has never seen the show. Without the show we would have very little character development or even any idea about who these people are and what they’re doing. It’s sloppy and something that could have been easily remedied.

Then there are the irritations. The instalove, which occurs with both Klaus and Rebekah. The characters are all so flat and the narrative glosses over so much of the story that there is no depth, no real development and no emotion. We are told they are in love, so much so that they will overturn their lives, and after what? A dance? A conversation? It is so laughable and so terrible and yet that is what the majority of the plot hinges upon.

There are small frustrations like the inability to give characters the correct eye colour. If you’re going to base it off a well known TV show, you may as well actually watch the show so you can get details right, otherwise you’re just going to irritate your readers.

And then there is the complete disregard for an accurate portrayal of the time period and the speech that comes with that. It is so glaringly modern with the speech, slang and informalities, that it sounds like a modern setting when it’s meant to be 1722.

However despite all of this it’s quite a quick and fast paced read. I liked seeing a new piece of the Originals backstory open up, and some of the writing was relatively well done. It was engaging enough that I will go back to the series when the second instalment is released as I’m interested to see where they take it next.

Reign: Liege Lord

Oh Reign – let’s get one thing straight, you are no longer just a guilty pleasure to me, you are officially one of the best shows on television. (Apart from Game of Thrones, but that’s for another post entirely.) You lured me in with your drop dead gorgeous costumes and back stabbingly brilliant French court, and now you’ve introduced murder and mayhem and dark twistedness I wouldn’t have thought you capable of, and I am hooked. Hooked, I tell you.

The series just keeps getting better, and this week’s episode was no exception.
It was great to see the fallout from the end of episode 16, with Bash and Kenna sniping at each other over their enforced marriage and all that it entails. I loved that everyone kept on bringing up Bash’s new title and revelling in its sheer ridiculousness, but whilst he seemed to understand how insane it was Bash did seem to be enjoying his new title and waving it at people’s, if only to see the look on their faces. Whilst they butted heads repeatedly throughout, that little moment at the end of the episode when Bash finally showed his chivalrous side and rescued Kenna from the King made my heart melt a little. I can’t wait to see where they take these two, because whilst I loved Bash and Mary previously that chapter is (for now at least) very closed whilst she tries to build her marriage with Francis. And also, the idea of two so very different people being forced into a situation where they have to learn to trust, and rely on each other or make life even more hellish than usual, is going to be fascinating to watch.

Speaking of Ladies In Waiting who seem to do very little in the way of

actually helping their Queen (apart from that moment of For Queen and Country that Kenna experienced), yay for Lola! I love Lola, and she’s had a bit of a raw deal recently so it was great to see her find someone that she seems to genuinely like, and a way of resolving her current predicament. But whilst part of me is thrilled for her, the other really isn’t convinced by Julien. I just don’t trust him, and I wish I could and I really hope I’m going to be proven wrong, but I have a horrible feeling that this reprieve for Lola is just a temporary one before everything kicks off.

But whilst it was quite quiet for her Ladies, Mary was having quite the week. I loved seeing her outrage and finally start to stand up for both herself and her country, and I loved that we got to see Queen Mary start to make an appearance. That moment with her countrymen bowing and offering their

fealty was fantastic, and we finally got to see the weight of her life and her choices start to sink in for her. Before she has been playing at power, but this

was her first really powerful scene in quite some time, and it was amazing to watch her start to come into her own and to grow up from the love plots that have been rife for the last six or so episodes.
One person who was decidedly not growing up this week was Francis, who is lovely and has both a pretty face and very pretty hair, but other than that is decidedly useless. I want good storylines for him, and since he finally got the girl and settled down to wedded bliss, he’s been used for nothing but procreating. He seemed to be so much on Mary’s side and loved the espionage and intrigue to overthrow the contract, but whilst there were things at stake for Mary that forced her to act, for Francis this was just a game. Which was never more apparent than that last scene where he thought Mary’s threat to the Queen was a bluff, that she would never dare to go through with such an act. This episode has highlighted the differences between Mary and Francis. Where she has been forced to grow up and start to wear the mantle of royalty and learn to lead and rule and protect, Francis is still very much a boy with no real position of power and as a result very little consequences for his actions. He likes playing at being a grown up, but he hasn’t yet reached the same place that Mary has, where loyalty and care for his country come above everything else, as they have to for people in their positions.
I can see that we’re going to start to have real power struggles between these two, as Mary tries to grow and develop and Francis can’t seem to understand or bear the fact that Mary is, at this point, more important and influential than him. Her attention is divided from being solely fixed on him, and Francis is not amused.

Elsewhere King Henry continues to go slightly crazed (which I love by the

way.) I never expected that Reign would go this route with him, and I cannot wait to see where his storyline ends up. And what happens to Penelope as a result. She’s scheming and fantastic and utterly awful, and she isn’t going to give up her new power without a fight. Which I’m sure Catherine will be more than happy to give her.
I was a little baffled by this sidetracking with Catherine ending up in bed with a Scotsman. I mean it was great to see her let hair down a bit, but it seemed like a forced and ridiculously improbable (more so than usual) way of getting to the point where she found out that Mary knew about the contract. As ever she was fantastic though and I loved the showdowns with Mary. Catherine has a rare gift that makes her do truly terrible things and yet she manages to still keep the audience on her side, and as a result is one of the best characters this show has to offer.

So next week? More plots, more intrigue, and probably more death…

Odds of King Henry making it through to the next season? 50/1