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1.8k reviews for:

Ruthless Empire

Rina Kent

3.99 AVERAGE


#stepsilblings #vouyerism #bondage #academia #obsessed #possesive #jealous
Location: London
Spice: 4 stars (Kink)
dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3/5🌶️   HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS BOOOOK!!!! It’s crazy to see all the pieces of Cole and Silver’s story click together after reading six other books with them in it. One of my favourite plot points is when Cole and Silver bond over them not being pregnant. I get that it would be a relief since they were both only 18… but it was still sad seeing the both of them instantly falling in love with something and then have it ripped about from them. And because of that pain they connected on a deeper level (and now they have two beautiful girls… even though Ava is a little fucked up but it’s okay!) BUT THE PLOT TWIST AT THE END HAD ME GAGGED!!!! I was not expecting there to be two different stalkers, I thought the doll master was Adam… BUT IT WAS HELEN, COLES MOM!!! I also thought that Adam was the one sending the texts but nope… also Helen. And she was going out on runs to find people that looked like silver and assaulted them. Helen’s life is fucked, not just because of what she did but also because of what she went through as a kid. Anyways I think plot wise this was the best book… I do wish it was longer since we see their story happening within all the timelines of everyone else’s book (so basically the whole school year). I just think it was a lot happening and it could have been dragged out a little longer while also adding scenes from other books in their POVs like when Kim comes home from the hospital. But over all I really liked it and am happy we got to also see their kids stories. 
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Cole and Silver’s story was not exactly what I hoped it would be but was definitely worth every word. Cole was my dark horse in the race to be my favorite but ultimately he came in third, perhaps because Silver was my least favorite overall for the girls. I don’t think we felt her struggle as much as Elsa, Kim or Teal but ultimately it helped shape the Legacy series more clearly in my head. I love Rina so much I am really just nitpicking. 

lb605's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 0%

i was listening on audio and it was just not interesting me.  I was 30% in and quit.  I think the voices were too old for the characters, and that is always a turn off for me.  A 15 year old boy sounded like a 45 year old man.  
dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Cole and Silver. Unputdownable. That twist?! CRIMINAL! A masterclass in unhinged emotional terrorism. I gasped so loud I startled my cat off the bed. Sleep is for the weak. Responsibilities are for mortals. Bravo Rina. 

CRYING for the wasted potential. three very generous stars. actually more like 2.5 stars.

i’m so sorry but what was that?? Cole is such an interesting guy. his “mysterious” personality in all the books before promised so much. and i’m not the one to hate on a fmc for no reason but he carried the book. everything about Silver led to be about her freaking parents. she basically lived her life by pleasing them until the very last page of the book. also the parents’ relationship and dynamics were so strange and since it took that much space in the book i’ve to comment it. I don’t see them as a couple that stays together after all of that.

Cole and Silver had their sweet moments, i’ll give them that. I can’t recollect much now but I know they did, lol (it’s what kept me reading)- but most of the time I was either sick of hearing Silver “hate cole” or talk about her parents’ political career, the repetitive monologues.. and when it all got too boring and monotonous…this happened:

*spoiler* (skip this paragraph if you mind spoilers )
what in the world would make an author write a fake pregnancy trope?? the word count? and why would Silver feel that sad over a child that never existed?? sure you can be sad about not having children. she’d have all my sympathy
if she had fertility issues or smth, but NO she just wasn’t pregnant, that’s it. a false test. first I was mad she apparently was pregnant, because the plot wasn’t going anywhere and *boom* she’s pregnant - but then she actually wasn’t and the whole “I’m so sad over my non existent child” was even more annoying.

*end of spoiler*

I wish they both stood up a little more for their relationship but Silver’s people pleasing tendencies and Cole’s I-will-show-her-how-much-I-don’t-care-either got in the way. “but actually we both don’t want nothing more”.. yeah surprise, surprise they can’t communicate well. thank God for Cole’s otherworldly abilities to read people’s behaviour (thanks to all these psychological books) or else they’d not have come together at all I guess. and to think that they would not have been “forbidden” to each other at all if they simply had talked to their parents, crazy..

anyway, their cutest moments were in that park. It was an adorable start of their “on and off relationship”. if you can call it that. and we should’ve had more of those. I wish the author gave their feelings a little more depth. the snickers chocolate bar was really sweet *no pun intended*. I liked that Cole was a bookworm and a little bit of a nerd. (you have to love it after it gets mentioned a billion times btw lol). loved the scene where they were reading in his car.

If silver was a real person she’d probably sue the author for making her whole personality be around her parents’ career and that plastic, picture perfect life she painfully tries to portray for their sake. if Cole was to sue said author it’d be for the shitty scene where he stood by when she got punched (because “she deserved it” - what?? say that again) Cole said he likes to break Silver’s walls and see the real her and I agree, that’s when she becomes a good character even, but we got to see that very rarely.

I liked them more for what I imagined them to be and/or what they could’ve been than for what I got to read if i’m being honest.

the ending was sweet with all the couples gathering around but i’ll say as the “unofficially last book” of the series I expected so much more..
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No