How Shaara Finds Power in a World Built to Control Her
What if the only way to survive your marriage was to adapt… without losing your soul?
In Shaara of Altar, the second book in K.S. Riggin’s gripping Shaarvan Series, we follow a young woman who has crossed galaxies only to find herself a stranger in a world governed by rules she never agreed to and expectations she never chose.
When readers first met Susan (now Shaara) in Scholar-Ship-Bound, she was a college student abducted under the guise of a scholarship interview. What began as an absurd twist in her earthly life became a terrifying initiation into the rigid, male-dominated culture of the Altarians. In Shaara of Altar, that tension deepens. No longer just a passenger, Shaara is a wife, a mother-to-be, and a woman constantly monitored for her obedience.
But she is also something more: a woman on the brink of discovering her strength.
A World Where Obedience Is Everything
On Altar, women are valued for their beauty, compliance, and ability to bear children. They are assigned new names, forbidden from speaking their native languages, and disciplined often publicly when they step out of line. Shaara, now deeply pregnant with Shaarvan’s child, enters a household where even a flinch is seen as disrespect.
“The suddenness frightened me. I jerked back. Shaarvan’s rage at my mistake blasted me… I didn’t dare look up.”
The psychological weight of constant control is crushing. Shaara lives under the ever-present threat of physical discipline, wrapped in rituals and rules designed to mold her into the perfect Shapechanger wife.
But even as she lowers her eyes, Shaara begins to observe, adapt, and quietly resist.
The Duality of Adaptation
One of the central tensions in Shaara of Altar is the theme of adaptation. Teea, Shaarvan’s mother, explains that all women must adapt to survive on Altar. It’s not about surrendering it’s about choosing which parts of yourself to preserve while learning to move within a hostile system.
“Adaptation was what women did on Altar… It was not an easy process, but the alternative was beatings or even death.”
At first, this sounds like indoctrination. But for Shaara, adaptation becomes a subtle act of subversion. She learns to decode the cultural expectations, follow the rules just closely enough to survive, and preserve the one thing she cannot afford to lose: her inner self.
This is not the journey of a woman who submits blindly. It’s the story of a woman who bides her time who waits for her moment.
The Burden of Power and the Men Who Wield It
Shaara’s primary relationships in this book particularly with Shaarvan and Thenos are a study in power and control.
Shaarvan, her husband, is a mass of contradictions. He is her captor and her protector, her punisher and her provider. He oscillates between moments of tenderness and terrifying rage. Yet beneath his dominance is a growing attachment he does not know how to handle.
“I had lost my temper with her needlessly, frightening her when I should have seen that she did not understand how she had erred.”
Shaarvan’s internal reflection
Shaarvan is beginning to crack realizing that Shaara is more than a possession. She is shaping him even as he tries to shape her. But he remains trapped by tradition, obsessed with her obedience, and jealous of any attention she receives, especially from his unstable brother, Thenos.
Thenos, on the other hand, is a clear predator, consumed by envy and entitlement. His interactions with Shaara are laced with threat and unspoken violence.
“You are too luscious to ignore, my little sister,” Thenos said… “I always get what I want.”
Yet Shaara does not break.
Even when surrounded by men who treat her body as property and her thoughts as dangerous, Shaara maintains a quiet, potent resistance. She doesn’t fight with swords or fireballs. Her weapon is endurance.
The Power of Inner Resistance
Throughout the novel, Shaara’s internal monologue is our lifeline. It’s what keeps her humanity alive even when the outside world attempts to erase it. She observes, questions, mourns, and loves on her own terms.
She finds unexpected allies, particularly in Teea, her mother-in-law, who walks the delicate line of complicity and quiet rebellion. Teea teaches her that women on Altar do survive and sometimes, they even thrive through the strength of spirit and the wisdom of choosing when to bend and when to stand still.
“Give it time,” Teea whispers. “He may be angry now, but he’s a good Shapechanger, Shaara.”
Teea’s reassurance isn’t naïve; it’s hard-won. It represents the hope that even in a society built to subjugate, women can hold on to their truth.
Shaara learns to do just that.
By the end of Book 2, she’s no longer the same girl we met on Earth. She’s not even the same woman we saw pregnant and shaking on the ramp at Altar. She is a mother, a survivor, and a slow-burning revolution in human skin.
From Captive to Catalyst
Shaara’s evolution is not explosive it’s patient. It’s the power of the person who has been pushed down and punished, but refuses to let that be the end of her story.
She’s not just surviving anymore. She’s learning. She’s remembering. And she’s waiting.
Waiting for the moment she can take her story back.
Are You Ready to Walk the Forests of Altar?
If you’re drawn to character-driven stories that delve deep into psychological nuance and cultural tension if you crave speculative fiction with emotional depth, messy relationships, and heroines who fight with more than weapons Shaara of Altar is a must-read.
Start your journey with Book 1, Scholar-Ship-Bound, and dive into Book 2 today.
K.S. Riggin’s Shaarvan Series is a bold exploration of identity, intimacy, and the cost of freedom set in a universe that challenges everything you think you know about love and power.
Click here to get your copy and witness Shaara’s transformation for yourself.
Follow the series. Join the rebellion. The future is hers.