This seemed more like a novella than a novel but it was a good read. There’s a varied selection of interesting characters that connect, and Shaw captures the feel of a bleak medieval world well. The author has a strong writing style that creates an engaging story.

The characters drive the story, from the manipulated Mildrea to the vengeful Princess Alaria. It also has plenty of action, and draws on the themes of family, survival and hope.

There were some uncomfortable sexual scenes and violent moments which are shocking, but the author warns the reader at the start and explains their reasoning for doing so, and these moments add to the dark/grim feel of the book.

This was a good read with some strong writing and a variety of characters.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a dark and tension filled booked that takes you on a journey of survival, family and freedom. It is tension filled and is a pretty full on book. The characters are good and the story is intense and emotional. It is very graphic and may be hard for some people to read.

I like the story and the overall concept of the book but found it to be a bit to violent and graphic for me. luckily it was too long of a book to read so I liked that too. Three stars from me and I think with improvements it could be a great book.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rhys Shaw’s Someone's Daughter: Will To Survive, Book 1 of The Welexia Series, is the story of Princess Alaria who is desperate to protect her sisters when they are attacked. A story of violence, survival, family, freedom, and loyalty, this book is not for the faint of heart. I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this suspenseful book.

A dark story with castles with such harrowing descriptions. This book keeps you wanting to know more. It brings up so many emotions. Do not read if you are faint of heart.

Thank you NetGalley and Social DRM for this eCopy to review

Someone's Daughter is quite graphic most of the time, I struggled with the content. The writing is more for children but the content definitely is not so it is quite difficult to know who the book is aimed at.

The plot is quite simple, and the characters are not particularly well developed seemingly trusting each other and letting strangers live with them despite living in constant fear of the King's brutality and totalitarian reign

eceived with gratitude from NetGalley for free in exchange for feedback and an honest review. I read the entire book from start to finish and I posted this review on Goodreads under my own name.

This book is somewhere between historical fantasy and non-consent/reluctance erotica. The story is set in an idyllic fictional agrarian kingdom that is quickly poisoned with nasty right-wing rhetoric before a coup plunges the country into a dystopian police state. The new king reintroduces anti-humanist policies that explicitly benefit the rich and uses populist rhetoric and underhanded tactics to gain support from rural communities. He creates a world where women are pressed into sexual slavery for advancement or even to survive (thus the “will to survive” tagline!) but many die when they try to fight back or when they attempt to free themselves.

While I think I might have enjoyed the story of it were more erotica, or more fantasy and less explicit sexual descriptions, I felt that where it landed missed the mark on both. I would have wanted more sex for Erotica. I would have wanted more worldbuilding and character building for fantasy. However my biggest struggle by far was the quality of the writing.

The beginning of this book was not strong and I didn’t much of a hook. From the beginning, the writing is very tell-not-showy, to the point where most of the prose and even character dialogue is exposition. People are good (and usually victims) or bad (usually perpetrators) and things are overly simple and occasionally feel out of place. I also find that I struggled with the inconsistencies within the characters themselves which made it challenging to enjoy the story or even to want to continue.

Here is an example of a character I struggled to understand and therefore care about or believe in. The good king is naive and has only 1 advisor! That advisor was a childhood friend! That advisor protected him from being beaten up (what??) by the local bullies! That friend doesn’t try to rescue the king but rides out and spends 4 years “blending in” so that he can rescue the king (but gathers no allies, raises no money, practices no swordplay, doesn’t attempt to help the king escape, doesn’t gather intel, nor even find out if the king is still alive… I will be honest, with a friend like this, who needs enemies? And what king gets bullied as a kid? And which of those kings only has one friend and advisor? And what advisor feels that spending 4 years as a farmer is the best way to rescue the king? And why does the new king keep him around despite the intrinsic threat? For fun?

Here is what I liked:

- Intentional or not, it’s clearly an allegory for Trump. An idealistic king implements reforms but a right wing populist overthrows him and rolls back reforms on behalf of the rich elite, even though he has a strong (and violent) base in rural areas. After 4 years, the King’s (Obama) right hand man and advisor and close friend (Biden) organizes a rebellion to take the crown back.
- Honestly, the Mildrea-Brother scenes and interactions were strong and good and I felt the character development there was strong and consistent and the story was better. I’d read a more in depth story about Mildrea.
- There are some real flashes of poetic brilliance from the author, consistent enough that I know there is real talent in there. Between exposition, there occasional lovely phrases like this:
“Farnsley was walking the valley between boyhood and manhood, and truth be told, he found it all a bit frightening.” Or about the two younger sisters in jail, “…they whimpered and cowered like frightened puppies.”

I will also say that the scene that the title is taken from (who is it?/somebody’s daughter) was quite poignant, and sad, and beautiful in a tragic sort of way. It was one of the only times that I felt *I* as the reader felt something rather than being told outright but he author what to feel.

In summary, I see a ton of potential here but struggled to get invested in the book from page one. With an excellent editor, and more focus and consistency in character development and plotting, it could be a very solid debut effort. However as it stands, I can not recommend the novel in its current form.

The premise is good, but rather over used. How many princesses lose their kingdoms to greedy usurpers and have to fight to get them back? How many of them have sisters/siblings to protect? The writing needs work too, it felt choppy and rather childish.

Yes, there were trigger warnings. I still did not expect things to be written in such graphic description. However, the author proved they were not afraid to face such difficult issues and did so with courage and candor. This book was outside what I normally like to read, but I did enjoy reading it. I realized this book is the first in a series. I wouldn't put the other books high on my TBR list, but I wouldn't not read them when I have the time.

The title and the book jacket promised much as did the opening which was punchy and left readers wanting to know what would happen next. While I wanted the characters to escape the terrible situations in which they found themselves I did not empathise with any of them because of the lack of nuance - mainly, I think, because ultimately this wasn't my kind of book rather than anything to do with the writer who kept up the action throughout the book and whose gritty account of life at the sharp end didn't pull any punches. Survival of the most determined - weakness pays a terrible price. Lots of life lessons as well as a recognition, that for women, society can be particularly cruel.