I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian Published by Delacorte Press ISBN: 9781509855216
on April 24th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Romance, Young Adult
Read it as: Paperback
Source: Publisher
My rating:
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Synopsis
Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Queen of Flame and Fury, was murdered before her eyes. Ten years later, Theo has learned to survive under the relentless abuse of the Kaiser and his court as the ridiculed Ash Princess.
When the Kaiser forces her to execute her last hope of rescue, Theo can't ignore her feelings and memories any longer. She vows revenge, throwing herself into a plot to seduce and murder the Kaiser's warrior son with the help of a group of magically gifted and volatile rebels. But Theo doesn't expect to develop feelings for the Prinz.
Forced to make impossible choices and unable to trust even those who are on her side, Theo will have to decide how far she's willing to go to save her people and how much of herself she's willing to sacrifice to become Queen.
From author Laura Sebastian comes Ash Princess, a nail-biting YA fantasy debut full of daring and vengeance.
I’m so grateful that I got to read this book because it’d have been a shame to not to follow Theo in her journey. I was very excited when I got sent an ARC, but when I got it and started reading, maybe at first I was a bit hesitant. But I really had nothing to worry about because I fell in love with this story.
High stakes that only increase
YA can be epic, but most of the time, it can also be pretty tame. Ash Princess broke the mold in that sense. The stakes are high from the get go, making you sympathize with Theo and her predicament. All the bad things that could happen, happen. And you’re just there, like her, unable to stop them. It makes you root for her, for the resistance and make you feel for the people of Astrea.
A question of morals
As the rightful queen of Astrea, Thea is presented with difficult choices. How much is freedom worth? How many lives is she willing to sacrifice to recover her life, her land? What is she willing to give up? Where is the limit? She wonders about this continously throughout the story, maybe up to the very end, and I was right there with her. I really didn’t have the answers. There was no Oh my god, but the answer is so obvious! The answers weren’t obvious. Any decision would have consequences and Theo will have to live with those decisions and consequences she made. And I loved that. It wasn’t easy, and it’ll only get worse before it gets better during the series, I think.
The love triangle
Yes, I distinguished the shape of a love triangle. It was well done, in my opinion, because it was part of the story, in the way that there’s the guy she should probably choose, and the one that’s beyond forbidden. But at the same time, it wasn’t overwhelming. It was just well placed, because it served a purpose. It made sense and it was entertaining and also intriguing because I’m still wondering how on earth that will play out.
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Lovely review, Pam! I’m really glad to hear you enjoyed this book – it sounds quite complex with Thea having to face all of these complicated decisions and struggling with it all. Also, I am not a fan of love triangles, usually, yet you make it sound quite interesting and like it doesn’t take over the plot or anything else, so I am all for that 🙂
I think the reason why I liked this love triangle was because it actually made sense in the plot. At least to me, it didn’t seem tacked on just to add drama. There was enough of that happening already after all!
Seems good! I appreciate some fighter but also heroines that act more like politician than warriors are something I’m always looking for. I mean, being a woman of swords can be great but being a woman of power is hard and badass too! If you get what I mean.
I tried to get a copy of this but it’s on whish on Netgalley, at least for me 😂
Yeah, thinking about all the fighting and training makes go like ‘and what am I doing here being a lazy potato?’ Seeing women beat the bad guys with only their brains gives me hope XD
And ugh, that sucks. I hate when that happens. Negalley sends an email saying ‘hey check out this book that is so amazing and wonderful REQUEST NOW’. and then it goes like ‘ha ha, nope, YOU WISH’.
A few more weeks! Hang in there!