Author: Laura Sebastian
Genre: High Fantasy; Young Adult; Romance
Rating: 6/10
Ash Princess is the first book in the Political Fantasy series of the Ash Princess Trilogy. It starts off with Theodosia, a girl who saw her queen mother killed right before her eyes. The rightful heir to the Astrean throne is ridiculed and mocked, until there comes a breaking point where she can no longer keep silent about the injustice being dealt to her people. She finally takes a stand against her enemies; making some friendships and breaking some too.
I am a huge fan of Political Fantasy genres, and so I had been eyeing this particular trilogy for a really long time. I did find it enjoyable to read, but it was pretty basic, for lack of a better phrase.
Some elements of the story were quite predictable, and many typical YA tropes were used in the storyline. Even as the plot progressed, I could see what was coming next, so the element of novelty was lost. I do have to commend the world building though, as the fantastical elements were introduced naturally as the story progressed. There were no major “information dumping” sections, so the setting was described cleverly in my opinion.
“Maybe they have broken you, but you are a sharper weapon because of it. And it is time to strike.”
I found the writing style to be quite simple. This wasn’t necessarily bad, because the book was easy to fly through. My favourite part about Ash Princess was the characters. We couldn’t see much of the different characters in this book, because the plot was centered around Theo, but I could tell that the cast was well-defined. I would have loved to see more of them in this book though, because some aspects of the story required us to feel emotionally connected to the side characters, but I couldn’t feel that connection before the more “heavy” scenes. I am, however, quite excited to see how the characters develop moving forward!
“We are not defined by the things we do in order to survive.”
I personally thought that the romantic subplot was not as well developed though. This book contains a love triangle, but I felt that it was quite underdeveloped. I could see no chemistry between the characters, and when they were suddenly professing their love for one another, it felt cliched and forced. I would have preferred a more slow-burn romance, or at least more prior character interaction before they fell in love.
I do like how the book ended though, and I can definitely see potential for the plot to grow in interesting ways for the rest of the series. Overall, this was a book with a predictable trope, a simple writing voice and distinct characters, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
Reviewed by: S.R.Scribbles (1st Reading)
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