Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent

76 reviews

bzliz's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a great sequel though it was doing A Lot and probably could’ve been two books. The headway made by our main characters and their respective squads felt earned rather than extremely convenient. There’s also great spicy scenes (be warned of blood play because it’s vampires) and they don’t feel gratuitous.

Some dialogue felt clunky and heavy handed with reveals that shocked no one (re: Mische in the wedding party scene). The refusal/inability of Oraya and Raihn to discuss feelings went on for too long in my opinion and it was no longer serving a purpose by the time confessions were made. The buildup to the final battle was well done but

the additional human army was pretty damn convenient and also apparently not a problem for vampires who have always had trouble holding themselves back from human blood.

Overall I’m glad I read this and I’m interested in reading more from this author in the future. Mind the content warnings!

Content warnings:
Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury, murder, violence, fire injury (on page):

Vampire battles that get pretty gruesome. If you cannot handle lots of serious injuries with characters on the brink of death, this isn’t the book for you. Blood is also shared in sexual encounters.

Grief (on page):

Oraya must grapple with her father’s death at Raihn’s hands and is also overtaken by his memory at points in time. She has complicated feelings about him because he was her father but he also shielded her from the truth about many topics for his own continued benefit.

Sexual content (on page):

Oraya and Raihn share a few intimate scenes ranging from sweet and loving to down and dirty. They are explicit but not vulgar.

Emotional abuse, domestic violence, physical abuse: (off & on page):

Raihn and probably everyone under former King Neculai’s rule suffered greatly. Much of the violence was implied through mentions of bruises and trauma. Raihn still suffers residual emotional trauma through exposure to Neculai’s cousin and the nobles looking down on him for the dehumanizing events they participated in at his expense.

Alcohol (on page):

Alcohol is specifically used as a tactic to get information out of Oraya’s cousin Evelaena about her father and his violent rise to power.

Child death (off page):

Evelaena relays the story of Vincent’s ascent to power by killing his family including the children which she survived by chance.

Death of parent (off page):

Vincent was killed in the previous book and Oraya spends most of the book dealing with the aftermath of that event.

Infidelity (off page):

Vampires don’t seem to adhere to bonds of fidelity but Raihn specifically had an affair with Queen Nessanyn as they were both victims of King Neculai’s violent tendencies. I mention this because of the emotional bond forged there and because it was significant in shaping Raihn’s life.

Rape, sexual assault (off page):

It is strongly implied Raihn was regularly sexually abused by Neculai and his court/nobles. Oraya’s first sexual encounter is mentioned again which began consensually and turned into rape (her explicit words say this). The experience is not rehashed in this book but is referenced a few times.

Content Warnings

spicycronereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ix’s tits! I loved this book. Oraya’s emotional journey dealing with the events of book 1 and the ongoing revelations in this book was complex and sad and beautiful. The reckoning with the contradictions of someone she thought she knew was hauntingly familiar. The action was well paced and the spicy scenes were…well, spicy. But also lovely in their evolution. Really enjoyed this book on many levels - plot, language, tone, character development. I will definitely be adding more from Carissa Broadbent to my TBR list.

Content Warnings

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional slow-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? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

jordanbennett29's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

wow. wow. wow.

I have whiplash from the emotional rollercoaster that is this book. I’ve said it before, and i’ll say it until I die. Carissa‘s writing is superb. Devastatingly beautiful. it’s horrible and wonderful in every way. On that note, there is HEAVY grief expression. I don’t normally include TWs in the narrative portions of my reviews, but it was so accurately portrayed it mentally effected me.

Vincent’s story is so heartbreaking. I still can’t decide if I love him, hate him, or just pity him.

I was so unbelievably mad at Raihn in the beginning, I truly thought about DNFing the whole book. I wasn’t sure how Carissa could reconcile their loved story, but thank god she did. And did it in a masterful way. Nothing felt forced or glazed over like the ending of the first book. (which I realize is because you HAVE to read this book, I know big surprise 😅). I love him. I love him.

ORAYA!!! I know she’s fictional but I worship her. We love a badass FMC who breaks generational curses. I have truly loved her character arc, loved watching her step into herself, her power, despite everything. ugh 😭

Carissa simply does not miss. By far my favorite series of her so far! I’m so sad the next books in the Nyaxia saga won’t be following them directly but hopeful we see them throughout.

Content Warnings

bem13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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mayana27's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense 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

5.0

Content Warnings

emr2220's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

kat1105's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

lovejasmine's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

skillyillian's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay okay okay. So. I devoured the first one, read 6SR, and hopped straight into this one. The first 30-40% of this book is distrust, trauma, and political disasters, without a ton of action right away. It picks up really nicely from the last one but it didn't seem like a ton of super super important stuff happened until after the first third-ish of the book. It felt like some stuff could've been cut out, but it's weird bc the ending felt a little rushed? Like everything needed to end with a nice bow bc we're done with oraya and raihn now. If some of the earlier stuff had been swapped to fill out the end more I would've liked that better. The stakes didn't feel quite as high this time I think, which is weird considering the circumstances of this book? But I think it's bc there weren't really any major character deaths and the action took a minute to get to.

raihn and oraya's takeover at the very end should've been more complicated than it was. Idk maybe it's just me but a time skip of a few weeks and summing it up to "we scared everyone out of rebelling and now they're probably loyal to us?" felt too easy. I don't mind a lot, I think I'd rather have that over the mildly-drawn-out politics of the beginning of the book again, but it did feel very glazed over. I think something like listing a few names of nobles who didn't bow down right away would've been good to slip in and keep in her back pocket for later would've been good, but idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Getting more story with Vincent and Septimus was great, but I feel like more on Jesmine would've been nice too though. I like Vale but he felt a little flat compared to who he was in 6SR, so I'm definitely glad I read the novella first otherwise he might've been easy to dislike. I'd have liked Lilith to be more than kind of a plot device for the main event that happens with her and Vale in this one? But I'm super attached to Lilith at this point tbh.

Watching oraya deal with her loss of trust in Vincent first and then raihn immediately after was very relatable and it was nice to see that there is no easy, one-size-fits-all answer for having conflicting feelings about loving someone who hurt you and broke your trust. Especially with Vincent, realizing someone close to you did a bunch of fucked up shit, even in the name of what they thought was love and protection, and then dealing with all of that baggage. Damn dude. Hit the nail on the head to see her reconcile with that and not find an easy solution, or one at all.

Overall the plot isn't quite as edge-of-your-seat as the last one until the last third of the book, give or take. Still an excellent book. I loved that the first one was enemies to lovers and the second one did it all over again but without it feeling repetitive. There were still "folds" and "slit" in the smut, which I boo wholeheartedly, but it didn't make me hate it. The romance and intimacy was very good, some of it had me actually grinning. There's a particular couple of chapters with dual POV bitey smut and when I tell you WHEW I mean WHEW. 🥵 So good. But ANYWAY very good book, despite being a little slow sometimes. Seeing oraya and raihn come apart and back together to save their home was fulfilling and I really enjoyed it. I'll be waiting eagerly for the next one. 🖤

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