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A review by robotnik
Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was really into this book when it first opened up.
A lot of young adult fantasies have a tendency to want to push into some sort of dark territory but they always pull back a little before it goes too far because we can't go scarring the teeny-boppers that much. This book didn't push into any grimdark territory, but it pushed over the line that I find a lot of its ilk won't cross, which I found really elevated it because the Kalovaxians felt a lot more threatening than the usual villainous country of their kind. I liked Theodosia and how she pretty much tried hiding in this persona she had developed to keep herself safe. I liked the general plot beats and it kept me on my toes and kept me interested. Honestly, it was reminding me a lot of The Winner's Curse, which was fantastic and a step above so many other YA fantasies.
And then about 40% in, it lost its way and it lost me.
It was around this point that Theo started getting tiring to listen to. Even as the plot carried on, she would inner monologue nearly every chapter about how she's meant to be the queen, how she has all these people to protect and how she needs to liberate them, and it was like... we fucking get it, girl. That's the plot. You don't actually have to recap us every chapter. And these are relatively short chapters, so you get to read this more often than necessary. Really, it started to feel like bloat.
This was only confounded by Theo's awkward not-romance with Soren. I get it, she was trying to seduce him for her plans, blah blah blah. But they go through these weird teen romance movie-esque scenes together and then she's all confused because she thinks she's actually developing feelings for him and I'm like GIRL WHAT. First off, he's the prince (sorry, prinz) of the people enslaving your people. Second off, you haven't seen him in like 10 years or something since he left for training when you were young so you don't know shit about him. Third off, you've barely spent any time together at that point (they've met up like... 4 times? Up until that point?) and he spends half the book away in a failed invasion. How are you potentially falling into confused love with him?
It felt like a pathetic attempt to start a love triangle because her and Blaise also have a weird thing going. This book was both a romance and a not-romance because I cannot tell if those attempts of romance were intentionally bad or not. It does not make me feel excited for any actual potential romancing going on later in the series. In fact, it does the opposite and I almost hope Theo has no actual love interest because neither are promising.
In the last maybe 10-20% it redeems itself a little. The last few chapters are fast paced and harrowing and leaves it off at a decent place even if it's a rather stereotypical ending to a book 1 or 2 in a YA fantasy (I can probably make a top ten list of books that end this way in almost this exact situation, to be perfectly honest). But it works and ends it off on a good note rather the bland note it was heading towards.
If it had kept up the energy from the first bit, it would have been a 4-star. The middle section turned into a 2-star. But that last bit bumped it up to a 3-star. Would I recommend this series so far? Sure, but it's leaning toward being an one read and done sort of series. We'll see where this goes.
A lot of young adult fantasies have a tendency to want to push into some sort of dark territory but they always pull back a little before it goes too far because we can't go scarring the teeny-boppers that much. This book didn't push into any grimdark territory, but it pushed over the line that I find a lot of its ilk won't cross, which I found really elevated it because the Kalovaxians felt a lot more threatening than the usual villainous country of their kind. I liked Theodosia and how she pretty much tried hiding in this persona she had developed to keep herself safe. I liked the general plot beats and it kept me on my toes and kept me interested. Honestly, it was reminding me a lot of The Winner's Curse, which was fantastic and a step above so many other YA fantasies.
And then about 40% in, it lost its way and it lost me.
It was around this point that Theo started getting tiring to listen to. Even as the plot carried on, she would inner monologue nearly every chapter about how she's meant to be the queen, how she has all these people to protect and how she needs to liberate them, and it was like... we fucking get it, girl. That's the plot. You don't actually have to recap us every chapter. And these are relatively short chapters, so you get to read this more often than necessary. Really, it started to feel like bloat.
This was only confounded by Theo's awkward not-romance with Soren. I get it, she was trying to seduce him for her plans, blah blah blah. But they go through these weird teen romance movie-esque scenes together and then she's all confused because she thinks she's actually developing feelings for him and I'm like GIRL WHAT. First off, he's the prince (sorry, prinz) of the people enslaving your people. Second off, you haven't seen him in like 10 years or something since he left for training when you were young so you don't know shit about him. Third off, you've barely spent any time together at that point (they've met up like... 4 times? Up until that point?) and he spends half the book away in a failed invasion. How are you potentially falling into confused love with him?
It felt like a pathetic attempt to start a love triangle because her and Blaise also have a weird thing going. This book was both a romance and a not-romance because I cannot tell if those attempts of romance were intentionally bad or not. It does not make me feel excited for any actual potential romancing going on later in the series. In fact, it does the opposite and I almost hope Theo has no actual love interest because neither are promising.
In the last maybe 10-20% it redeems itself a little. The last few chapters are fast paced and harrowing and leaves it off at a decent place even if it's a rather stereotypical ending to a book 1 or 2 in a YA fantasy (I can probably make a top ten list of books that end this way in almost this exact situation, to be perfectly honest). But it works and ends it off on a good note rather the bland note it was heading towards.
If it had kept up the energy from the first bit, it would have been a 4-star. The middle section turned into a 2-star. But that last bit bumped it up to a 3-star. Would I recommend this series so far? Sure, but it's leaning toward being an one read and done sort of series. We'll see where this goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Death