The Rule of Many by Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders
Published 2019
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Goodreads Synopsis
Born to a death sentence in a near-future America, rebellious sisters herald a revolution—if they can survive.
Twins Ava and Mira Goodwin defy the Rule of One simply by existing. The single-child law, ruthlessly enforced by Texas’s Governor Roth, has made the sisters famous fugitives and inspirations for the resurgent rebellion known as the Common.
But the relentless governor and his implacable Texas State Guard threaten that fragile hope, as Roth consolidates his power in a bid for ultimate authority.
As Ava and Mira relinquish the relative safety of their Canadian haven to stand against Roth, new allies arise: Owen, a gifted young programmer, impulsively abandons his comfortable life in a moment of compassion, while Zee, an abused labor camp escapee, finds new purpose in resistance.
The four will converge on Dallas for a reckoning with Roth, with nothing less than their destinies—and the promise of a future free from oppression—on the line.
Disobedience means death. But a life worth living demands rebellion.
I gave The Rule of Many 3/5 stars on Goodreads.
I received a free eARC of The Rule of Many from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. However, this review is an honest portrayal of my opinions and has not been impacted by the publisher.
When I read a sequel, one of my biggest concerns is how the authors expand the narrative; I want a sequel with higher stakes and wilder adventures than its predecessor. With The Rule of Many, that is absolutely the case. The world of Ava and Mira Goodwin expanded far beyond the first installment in this series. I got to see their overarching role in the revolution, and the glimpses into different aspects of their society gave me a more well-rounded view of the world they live in.
One of my major critiques in my non-spoiler review of The Rule of One was the similarity between the voices of different characters. However, the voices among the four narrators were very distinct; if you’d have taken away the names at the beginning of each chapter, I probably would’ve been able to decipher who was speaking.
The last half of the book had a nice pace; we spent a decent amount of time with each character, developing their plot, before we switched and got to glimpse into the current position of another character. The beginning was a tad slow, but once things got moving, I followed right along and had no complaints about the pacing. Some of the romantic and chosen-family relationships between characters developed a little too fast to be believable, but it was better than having things move too slow.
While the progression of events was paced nicely, some of the cause-and-effect felt a bit stretched; the characters sometimes reacted in unconventional ways that sometimes took me out of the story and made me question if that character would actually do that thing. If you’re looking for a strong narrative with sound cause-and-effect, this might not be the book for you, but it’s got a lot of fun, fast, exciting action and is a good escapist story.
This has nothing to do with the story itself but that cover, oh my goodness it’s quite honestly one of my favorite covers at the moment. Drop a few books with gorgeous covers in the comments so we can geek choose books by their covers together.
Have you read The Rule of Many? Is it on your TBR? What did you think of it?
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This cover is so gorgeous! And this sounds so interesting, I’ll have to look into it (and the first one!). Great review, Annie!!
Thanks, Ally!