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robotnik's review against another edition
While I ultimately ended up liking Ash Princess and really loved the ending (though the middle portion was a bore), Lady Smoke this couldn't live up to whatever promise Ash Princess was trying to put down. The last 10-20% was the best part of that book and really set it up to what should have been a very good story, but Lady Smoke squanders it into nothing.
I've made it almost halfway through and barely anything has happened. A lot of what is happening is just a lot of telling rather than showing. Entire chapters are made up of almost entirely this sort of storytelling and it makes every such scene boring and ineffective. While you want this to be a book that has Theo coming into her own, it still consists mostly of things happening to her rather than because of her that it doesn't feel like she can lead any sort of rebellion let alone lead a country. The few choices that are because of her (ie freeing Soren ) that feel like they have to occur for stereotypical reasons (if Soren was not one of the love interests, he would stay locked up but we need him and Theo interacting so she needs to show a backbone for once ).
Theo is also a lot more annoying to read about. She's constantly whining about things in her head or feeling guilty for doing anything that isn't the most innocent or morally correct option and comparing herself to the Kaiser. I just want to shake her and tell her to shut the fuck up. This does not feel like the girl who justified wanting to murder the girl she considered her best friend in the previous book. Some of the side characters are all right, but feel like they're only half realized. There's still a very pathetic love triangle brewing that is consistently dragging down the narrative because neither romance feels like one you'd wanna read about though it fortunately hasn't gotten as much attention as before so far.
I just don't know. This series started out like it might be able to stand out but this book flung itself fully into the ever growing pile of generic, boring and overdone YA fantasy that I can't waste more time on it. This book is over 500 pages and so is the next. Like bruh. This story was not worth that much page time. Read something else.
I've made it almost halfway through and barely anything has happened. A lot of what is happening is just a lot of telling rather than showing. Entire chapters are made up of almost entirely this sort of storytelling and it makes every such scene boring and ineffective. While you want this to be a book that has Theo coming into her own, it still consists mostly of things happening to her rather than because of her that it doesn't feel like she can lead any sort of rebellion let alone lead a country. The few choices that are because of her (
Theo is also a lot more annoying to read about. She's constantly whining about things in her head or feeling guilty for doing anything that isn't the most innocent or morally correct option and comparing herself to the Kaiser. I just want to shake her and tell her to shut the fuck up. This does not feel like the girl who justified wanting to murder the girl she considered her best friend in the previous book. Some of the side characters are all right, but feel like they're only half realized. There's still a very pathetic love triangle brewing that is consistently dragging down the narrative because neither romance feels like one you'd wanna read about though it fortunately hasn't gotten as much attention as before so far.
I just don't know. This series started out like it might be able to stand out but this book flung itself fully into the ever growing pile of generic, boring and overdone YA fantasy that I can't waste more time on it. This book is over 500 pages and so is the next. Like bruh. This story was not worth that much page time. Read something else.
liroa15's review against another edition
3.0
Probably 3.5. I felt it dragged until the last hundred or so pages, which make me really excited to see the conclusion.
kpmanatee12's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
infinite_kay's review against another edition
4.0
When I read Ash Princess last year, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. In many ways, this book did nothing different from other YA fantasy books published over the past few years, but something about it just clicked for me. Still, I was a bit nervous going into the second book, especially because middle books often are the weak points of trilogies.
But I was more than pleasantly surprised! While Lady Smoke had its weaknesses, it managed to expand the world in a way that was very much needed. The map at the beginning of the book felt a bit irrelevant in the first book (the places were mentioned, but we didn’t know much about them), but here the world and the cultures were much more developed. Was this the most expansive worldbuilding I’ve even seen? No, but it was enough to bring this world to life and give it some much needed depth.
And the love triangle worked for me. I liked that Theo isn’t all consumed by thoughts about boys; she obviously has feelings about them, but her people truly are her main concern.
I think what made Lady Smoke so enjoyable, though, was the plot. It’s fast but not too fast, and the twists, while mostly predictable for me, were still a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing the ones I predicted come true, even when Theo acted like a blind idiot (which, fortunately, wasn’t too often!) The forced wedding plot had me hesitant at first, but in the end I really enjoyed how the author used it here.
Most importantly, I thought the ending was strong. There were some good scenes there that made me want to immediately grab the next book, and it brought back some aspects of the first book (trying to keep it spoiler free here!) that I did not expect.
I’ll be reading the final book really soon, and I’m really looking forward to it!
But I was more than pleasantly surprised! While Lady Smoke had its weaknesses, it managed to expand the world in a way that was very much needed. The map at the beginning of the book felt a bit irrelevant in the first book (the places were mentioned, but we didn’t know much about them), but here the world and the cultures were much more developed. Was this the most expansive worldbuilding I’ve even seen? No, but it was enough to bring this world to life and give it some much needed depth.
And the love triangle worked for me. I liked that Theo isn’t all consumed by thoughts about boys; she obviously has feelings about them, but her people truly are her main concern.
I think what made Lady Smoke so enjoyable, though, was the plot. It’s fast but not too fast, and the twists, while mostly predictable for me, were still a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing the ones I predicted come true, even when Theo acted like a blind idiot (which, fortunately, wasn’t too often!) The forced wedding plot had me hesitant at first, but in the end I really enjoyed how the author used it here.
Most importantly, I thought the ending was strong. There were some good scenes there that made me want to immediately grab the next book, and it brought back some aspects of the first book (trying to keep it spoiler free here!) that I did not expect.
I’ll be reading the final book really soon, and I’m really looking forward to it!
amyapple's review against another edition
1.0
Middle book syndrome maybe but nothing happens here except the last 10% so this easily could have just been a novella to join the first book to the third.
Would have love to read Cress’s POV but no we didn’t get that and a book of nothingness came along instead.
Soren doesnt seem like a believable character .. or maybe he just doesn’t have a backbone.
Would have love to read Cress’s POV but no we didn’t get that and a book of nothingness came along instead.
Soren doesnt seem like a believable character .. or maybe he just doesn’t have a backbone.
sophiaread's review against another edition
3.0
3,5 ⭐️
It was a good book, same as the first one. It has more action than romance here, i think this is one of the differences.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
It was a good book, same as the first one. It has more action than romance here, i think this is one of the differences.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
graciegrace1178's review against another edition
4.0
I cannae bELIEVE this story is already written. I was ACTIVELY writing something remarkably similar when I picked this up, and now I don’t know what to do with the knowledge that Laura Sebastian and I are clearly a part of some hive mind thing. Way to go, Sebastian tho. You beat me to the punch, and you did so with a rather compelling narrative. Kudos to you lass, raising my glass tae ye.
signe_vejbjerg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5