Empress of the World (Battle Hall Davies #1)

This review can also be found at http://fortheloveofbooksreviews.blogspot.ca/2016/09/empress-of-world-by-sara-ryan.html


Nicola is taking a summer course in archaeology at the Siegel Institute, because she wants to make sure that archaeology is really a field she wants to go into. She expects that confirming her dream of becoming an archaeologist will be the focus of this summer, until she meets Battle.

Battle is beautiful, a minister's daughter, and soon captures Nicola's heart. While helping her new friends deal with their own issues, Nicola has to come to terms with her sexuality, and face her attraction to another girl.

I thought that this was a nice twist on the YA summer romance trend. It has a lot of the same elements as others in this branch of YA, including spending time at another location, in this case an academic camp or institute, it includes making new friends and helping them deal with their struggles, and of course experiencing attraction to a beautiful peer. The twist is that two girls are the love interests, which is a welcome change.

Nicola is a great main character, I find her very relatable and believable because I feel like a lot of her struggles mirror those that teenagers face in real life, and therefore making a connection with her was very easy. Understanding a character's feelings and where they're coming from with their thoughts is important to me because it makes for a more emotional or a deeper read.

Nicola is the kind of character you'd like to be friends with, the kind of person you'd be able to have a chat with and enjoy being around. Battle seems a bit more intimidating or untouchable, with Nicola's descriptions of her beauty and family issues, but she's still a generally likeable character as well. The rest of Nicola's group of friends, Isaac, Kevin and Katrina, make the whole situation seem more plausible as well with their own issues, for example dealing with divorce. They were a great group of characters to read about and I like that over time they changed or evolved, even if only a little bit.

The author's approach to sexuality was well done, with Nicola's struggles and internal dialogue being extremely believable and realistic, and avoiding some of the stereotypical LGBTQ tropes I've come across in other books. The word bisexual was even used, and in a fairly positive way as well, which really impressed me because I feel like multisexual identities are so rarely discussed in an outright manner. The addition of homophobic characters was necessary, in my opinion, to mirror real-life issues that LGBTQ people face and the author delivered on this platform as well. Overall, I am very impressed with this book.

I do take issue with the length of the novel! The author did such a great job, but the book was so short. I wish it had been longer, and that maybe certain issues could have been expanded upon, such as Battle's family life. I'm going to be looking for the sequel and I really hope that it lives up to Empress of the World.

I recommend this book to people looking for realistic portrayals of LGBTQ struggles in YA novels. If you want a short contemporary romance, this book is for you.

Reader reviewed by Lauren

Nicola goes to a Summer program for the gifted youth. She immediately meets a group of friends. Katrina, Kevin, Isaac, Battle. Although Nicola has never had a crush on a girl, something attracts her to Battle. Maybe its the way her hair smells, or the way she smiles, but Nicola has got it bad.
Finally Nicola and Battle are going out, until this one big fihgt. As revenge, Battle goes out with Kevin, and Nicola feels all the more jealous.
As the summer comes to a close, Battle and Nicola make up. Not going back to being girlfriend and girlfriend, but just friends.

Reader reviewed by Sophie

Nicola Lancaster is attending a summer camp for the gifted and talented. At this camp she will live like a college student for eight weeks, learn about archeology, as well as whether she wants to do it for a career.

These things, Nicola counted on. What she didn't was falling in right away with Katrina-the-Maniac-Computer-Chick (if I may quote the book's inside cover), Issac (who can only be discribed as Issac), and Kevin-Who-is-Either-Dumb-or-Brilliant. And Battle.

Battle and Nicola are friends right away, after Battle sees the drawing Nicola has done of her. And then, more than friends. Can Nicola, who as always thought of herself as straight, come to terms with being bisexual?

This is a great book, and I would recommed it for its sparks and emotions. It had kind of a slow beginning, but I couldn't put it down at the end! If you haven't already, check out Sara Ryan's website, www.sararyan.com. The sequal to this book is Rules For Hearts, and it is coming out in October 2006.

Reader reviewed by Leah



I really liked this book although i could probably never relate to the story, i thought it was really inspiring.Battle and Nicola become friends at a program for the gifted. But soon they realize that their feelings for each other are more than "just friends". Battle comes from a strict family with a minister for a father and realizing she is gay causes certain complications. Their summer at the programm is a place where they found themselves and who they were, along with their friends Isaac and Katrina who were blind from the start about how much they liked each other.

Reader reviewed by Jamie

While attending a summer school program for gifted students, a 15-year-old girl named Nic falls in love with another student named Battle. Although Nic has strong feelings for Battle, she struggles with her sexual identity, trying to determine if she is a lesbian or bisexual

This is a great book and I really liked it I'm sure aeveryone will also!!!! It is a slow start but after the first few chapters you will be hooked!