User blog:General Khor/The Royal Review Part 2

Hello and welcome to Part 2 of my Royal Review blog. So, the reason I split the blog into two parts is that while I was writing about the last book, I found out that I ran out of space, and there's only so much space to write for a blogpost, so now, without further ado, let's begin.

Book 4 (The Royal Heir 1)
Every king needs an heir, right? So what happens if we didn't choose Liam? Well, he comes to us and Drake/Maxwell/Hana and asks us to let our child be the royal heir, essentially adopting him/her into the royal family. Well, if I were the MC, I would rather have Liam officially adopt the child, otherwise I'll ask if I can take the throne when his time is up (that is if he still has no heirs of his own by then). I mean, think about it, won't you feel awkward if you're heir to the kingdom, yet you aren't exactly a royal family member? You would definitely question your position, so if you were in this position, either being officially adopted into the royal family or having your parent get on the throne first will definitely help you adapt to and accept the position of royal heir, don't you agree?

Anyway, in Chapter 4, we meet some royal figures from other countries, including King Bradshaw and Queen Isabella of Auvernal, Amalas the Spy Queen of Monterisso, King Eirik of Hidar and a familiar figure in the form of Marguerite of Monaco (who had her crown jewels stolen by a group of Sly Coopers in The Heist). Then, we spend the next 8 chapters in Drake's family ranch in Texas to celebrate his sister Savannah's wedding to Duke Bertrand Beaumont, aka Maxwell's brother and our sponsor. Back in TRR2, Chapter 8, we discover that Savannah has Bertrand's child, and she and Bertrand have a difficult relationship because of House Beaumont's financial troubles, so over the course of Books 2 and 3, we help them mend their relationship, and near the end of Book 3, he finally proposed to her, and needless to say, she accepted, and that's why we're here. Oh, and in Chapter 11, we meet the Beaumont brothers' father Barthelemy Sr (Bertrand's son is named after him, as well as Drake and Savannah's father Jackson Walker}, who suddenly appears at the ranch after waking up from a long coma (or so we thought).

Then, in Chapter 12, we discover that we're pregnant, and upon returning to Cordonia in Chapter 14, we announce it to the press, and in Chapter 18, we hold a ball to celebrate the pregnancy, where we discover that Drake's aunt Leona gave the press info for them to hound us in exchange for money for the ranch, and if that's not enough, in the book finale, we discover that Madeleine's father Godfrey was the assassin of Liam's mother Eleanor, and guess what his title is? The Douchebag of Karlington! Remember Douchebag Richards from Desire & Decorum? Well, it seems to run in the family. But once we accuse him, he makes a run for it, putting the palace on lockdown in the process. Oh, and that's when we go into labour, which means there's gonna be trouble in the next book.

With all that said, my rating for this book is...

Meh

The main reason the rating dropped is because of the 8 chapters long excursion to the Walker ranch, which some fans have come to call "Yeehaw Hell", and to be honest, I'm not interested at all in that part. But don't worry, the next few books are sure to get you pumped.

Book 5 (The Royal Heir 2) (Warning: TRM Spoilers!)
Politics can be a messy business, especially when you have to deal with the likes of Bradshaw the Bully and Isabella the Insufferable. So what's the big deal about them? Well, after Douchebag Godfrey locked down the palace, everyone tried various ways to break through the barricades to get the doctor to our bedroom, and it took Auvernese artillery to bust down those blast doors, so now they forced Liam to sign a contract betrothing our child to one of their twins (damn you, Godfrey!). Anyway, our child turns out to be a girl, and needless to say, some fans are unhappy about this and attribute this to PB favouring their female fanbase. I mean, I'm not the only one who wish we can choose the baby's gender, am I? In fact, after the release of Mother of the Year (in which the MC also has a daughter), I guessed in Baby Bump, Book 2 that we're going to have a pair of twin daughters. In fact, I'm sure the pessimists think: "If the MC's having a child, it'll definitely be a girl, after all we've seen TRH2 and MOTY. Besides, what do you expect from a girl's game?", you know what I mean. The optimists will say we're having twin sons, sensing a change of pace, but in the end, our Babies turn out to be a boy and a girl, so that's ok, I guess. But then again, I guess having the babies/children be genderlocked makes writing easier.

Back to this book. After the Anointing of the Heir (aka the Royal Adoption Ceremony if you didn't choose Liam), Brad and Izzy approach us again and demand we submit our girl to them. Then in Chapter 7, we meet their Terror Twins, and I'm sure most players immediately see that something's not right about them, besides hating them for their disrespect for Codonia, that is. I mean, how old are they, 5? Back in Book 1, Izzy mentions that they just celebrated the twins' birth, so once those two appear, fans immediately know that Brad and Izzy want more than just an alliance. In Chapter 8, when a Monterissan spy drone crashes into the palace, some fans were quick to think it wasn't Amalas' doing, and that Brad and Izzy sent the drone to remove the threat that is Amalas.

In Chapter 11, we go to Los Angeles to see Maxwell's book turned into a movie and have a fun time with our silver screen counterparts (I admit it, I chose Face 3 for Liam not because I'm racist, but because I wanted him to be played by a professional rather than amateurs like Han or Zeke), but the main reason we're there is to get intel from a contact who happens to be a queen from a kingdom Auvernal took over, and guess what, she revealed that Brad and Izzy made the same deal with her, and they took over her country because she discovered something off about their twins.

Armed with the knowledge that you-know-who and you-know-who-else want to take over Cordonia (and possibly the world, that is), we return to confront them, but they still press the betrothal on us and force us to agree to it in a week, and they've even sent a cruiser into Cordonia's harbour, so we decide to sneak into their palace to find incriminating evidence on them, and we discover that Amalas was indeed framed for the drone incident, so we go to Monterisso to make amends with her, and she agrees to help us decrypt the medical files we found. In the end, we discover that the Terror Twins are Brad's children but not Izzy's. So what's the big deal about that? Well, Brad only married into the royal family, while Izzy's the monarch, so that means the Terror Twins are not royals at all and Izzy passed them off as hers. Needless to say, I was so angry I chose to blast their reputation to pieces. Then in the book finale, Barthelemy Beaumont suddenly announces to the Royal Council (or rather, the Convention of Nobles, I wonder what's the difference) his plan to kidnap the princess and seize the throne. You won't get away with this, Bart, mark my words!

And so, my rating for this book is...

ELECTRIFYING!!!

Before I move on, I have to say this: remember how I threw a fit over the ending of TRM in my 2020 mid year review blog? As far as I know, that book ended before TRH2, Chapter 17 came out, and many players were angry that we only got two bittersweet endings: hand over the throne to a total stranger or leave our LI and marry said stranger, all because he's the late queen's nephew. Needless to say, many players felt like losers after finishing that story. And then TRH2, Chapter 17 came out, and we finally know why PB wanted us to "lose" in TRM, and that is because they wanted the Rys line to rule Cordonia into the modern era. Like I said in my 2020 end of year review blog, I guess having an unbroken dynasty rule the country for over a millennium makes writing easier. And so, on behalf of the fandom, I would like to apologise again for that outburst back then, and if any PB staff happen to read this, I hope you accept my apology.

Book 6 (The Royal Heir 3)
For those romancing Maxwell, this book kinda hurts a lot, because we won't just be dealing with any baby-stealing, throne-usurping traitor, we'll be dealing with Grandpa Bartie. So what would you do if your father in law is trying to kidnap your daughter and hold the country hostage? Well, if I were the MC, I would rather escape back to the States with my girl and give up all our titles, so that she'll be safe from any scheming nobles (after all, she's a Brooks). However, you won't be completely safe with Maxwell, because Grandpa Bartie can still use the familial connections to hunt you down. And if your spouse happens to be Liam, running away is out of the question, because your girl will still be recognised as the princess no matter what. It would be safest if your spouse is Drake or Hana, as you'll have no connection to the Crown or the Beaumonts, so you and Little Lady Brooks can live with Drake/Hana's family until everything blows over.

Anyway, Bartie Sr tried all sorts of ways to see his plans succeed, includng threating to expose Penelope's dark secret to get Landon's vote, but we still managed to sway them all over (well, almost all). Then, in Chapter 7, we discover that Bartie Sr faked his coma, and fans immediately realise he must have been plotting against the Rys family all this time. Over the social season, we continue to impress the remaining Great Houses, but in Chapter 12, Grandpa Bartie still manages to cheat his way to victory, including having an accomplice capture Olivia and replacing her with her evil aunt. After all, he knew he was losing, and he's not the type to go down without a fight. Besides, he had some help from a reluctant Bertrand. Since the latter turned against us in Chapter 9, everyone has been questioning his motives. Was he really with his father all along, or was he trying to take down his father in secret?

Anyway, in Chapter 14, we decide to go on a mission to rescue Olivia, so we leave our daughter at Penelope's, and that's when we discover that Bartie Sr had indeed masterminded the assassination of Queen Eleanor, Liam's mother. Upon returning to Cordonia, Grandpa Bartie appears at our estate and captures the princess/Little Lady Brooks. I wonder how he found out where she was. So, we have to go back to Auvernal to get Godfrey to help us find the evidence we need. After securing the evidence, we wait for the right moment to show it to everyone and finally get Bartie Sr arrested. And so, we did it, we won, right? Oh, and it turns out that Bertrand was on our side all this while.

In short, my rating for this book is...

ELECTRIFYING!!!

Yes, it seems Barthelemy Beaumont is the root cause of all the conflicts throughout the series, after all he funded the anti-Rys revolt of Olivia's parents and helped the Sons of Earth plan the attacks on the royal family. Because of this, everyone thought this franchise will be like the High School Story franchise, ending with two trilogies, but no, this franchise turned out to be more popular than previously thought by the fandom, so PB thought, why not make another book, and this time, how about we make the threat global?

Book 7 (The Royal Finale)
I prefer to call this book The Royal Conspiracy, since this book mainly revolves around The Five of Cordonia (the MC and the 4 LIs) investigating a conspiracy against the country by an ancient, international evil force, and I think my suggestion would have been a better title, but I get why PB decided to go with this rather underwhelming title instead of my suggestion (or even TRH4, since it pretty much continued where TRH3 left off), to tell everyone that this is the last book of The Royal Franchise.

So, at the end of TRH3, we are introduced to this international syndicate called Via Imperii (For those who don't understand Latin, let's call it the Order of the Imperial Way, shall we?). Their ideology can be summarised as: "Kings should live like kings, while commoners should live in poverty and starvation". Wow, I guess these guys really miss the medieval period, when life is pretty much how they want it to be. In other words, these guys are a society of economic Darwinists who believe in "survival of the richest". Their members act as nation controllers who make sure rulers everywhere live by these ideals, so they're pretty much like the Sith, after all they follow the dark side of politics and corrupt the elite into being greedy and selfish, and they have academies to corrupt the children too, so if I were the MC, once my daughter gets older, I would introduce these guys as the Greedy and Selfish Rulers Club.

So, we are introduced to the IWO (you know, Imperial Way Order) by Eirik of Hidar, one of our frequent royal guests who crashed our party, then we later find out that Bastien the bodyguard is one of them. Ouch. In Chapter 2, we travel to Vallenheim, one of the Order's holdings, and learn what the Order is like. Needless to say, The Five of Cordonia become determined to fight and destroy the Order, but these guys are really powerful, and they have agents and troopers everywhere, so if you're up against a syndicate like that, what do you do? Well, if you can't beat them, join them so that you can destroy them from the inside, of course!

In Chapter 3, we are introduced to the IWO's trump card for Cordonia, the trooper who was our chaperone in Vallenheim, and guess what her name is? Princess Leia! Well, Lena, actually, but you know what I mean. Had PB pulled that Star Wars reference, I would have renamed my king Luke (we are talking about the king's sister, after all). In Chapter 4, we learn that the Order is run by a Council, consisting of the Empress (sounds ominous, doesn't it?), the "Face" (the chief diplomat), the "Eye" (the spymaster), the "Voice" (the chief propagandist) and the "Fist" (the chief enforcer). Then in Chapter 5, we find out that Leia - I mean Lena (snap out of it, General! *smacks forehead*)- is pretty much the Order's Darth Vader/Captain Phasma, commander of the Order's troopers. Still, we become determined to sway her over to our side.

Then in chapter 6, we get our first real opportunity to strike back by allowing our old contact Reena to take over Auvernal, even though the Order wants Queen Isabella's cousin to succeed her, and that makes me wonder, are Brad and Izzy Order members themselves? Talking about Brad and Izzy, we also get to see their fall from power. Yes, these two were bullies in TRH2, and now they're laughingstocks. In Chapter 7, we get to take a tour of one of their academies to learn about their ideology, as well as track down the "Voice". One of the suspects is Penelope's mother Emmeline, the other one is a famous Auvernese TV talk show host. So how did we expose her? By tricking her into blowing her cover (that was clever, really). Luckily we won't have to arrest Emmy, otherwise Peppie would be so upset when she finds out her mom is the IWO's chief propagandist.

After we've identified nearly all the members of the Council, Lena gets suspicious and wants to out us as a traitor, but we manage to sway her opinion of us. But we still haven't learned the Empress' name yet, and for that we need to get on the Council, so in Chapter 10, we get Eirik arrested so that we replace him as the "Face". And that's when the Empress reveals herself: she's the ruler of a frigid country, and her personality is even colder than the climate there, and she's publicly known as Queen Runarsdottir of Vallenheim. So if you thought Lythikos and Olivia Nevrakis are cold, Vallenheim and the Empress are Frigid. That's right, she's Darth Frigid, Dark Lady of the Imperial Way, and Empress of the World.

So, to destroy the IWO, we need to get our hands on the Black Book of Secrets, which contains the names of every member of the Order, and we have to do it before the Order gains a foothold in Cordonia, so we pull some strings to sow discord within the Council, and that got the Empress to whip out the Black Book, to strike their names from the list. That's when we seize the book to take it to Interpol, and for a moment, the Empress and Lena were ready to kill us, but after some pleading, we finally get Lena to abandon the dark side of politics and discard Captain Phasma's armor for good. Then, after a brief fight, we finally subdue Darth Frigid and hand her and the Black Book of Secrets to Interpol, and that led to the total collapse of the Order of the Imperial Way. I really wish we could see the councilors get hauled to the International Criminal Court and sentenced to life in prison (I bet they will!).

And so, my rating for this book is...

ELECTRIFYING!!!

That's right, the entire franchise really went out with a bang!

Now, I want to talk about the characters next, but I'm worried there won't be enough space for that, so you can check out Part 3 of this blog here. That's all for now, thank you for reading.