Ashes of Man by Christopher Ruocchio

4.41 AVERAGE

1ahaina's review

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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: Yes

ktchev's review against another edition

4.0
challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

knockout25's review

4.75
adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced
9.5/10

I knew what was coming. It still hurt. 

These books are incredible and don’t pull any punches, a small step down from Kingdoms of Death, but this series is firmly in my top 5 as of now.

mcaruso3's review

4.5
adventurous emotional reflective sad 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: Yes

thestayfawn's review against another edition

2.25
adventurous dark emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
A voice said “I need a break from this series,” and it took me a few moments to realize that that voice was mine.

This book continues the journey of Hadrian in what was pretty much a repeat of last time:


- Emperor sends Hadrian and crew to Planet A. Mission gets botched
- Hadrian proceeds to Planet B. Chaotic planet-scale battle ensues with massive casualties

Add to the mix a lot of PTSD, and this wasn’t a particularly fun installment. Hadrian continues to show bad judgment, continues to zone out during key moments, and continues to show a complete lack of diplomacy, strategic insight, and leadership. 


And yet… there’s something about the writing that’s compelling, and makes it a perfectly entertaining audiobook. So I’ll get back to the series in a bit. Just… not right now.

johncritelli's review

4.0
adventurous dark emotional sad 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: Yes

harveybracewell's review against another edition

4.25
8.25/10
scaleguard's profile picture

scaleguard's review against another edition

5.0
dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
 And thus, a turning point was reached, from where there is no return. For time only ever moves forward. Only forward. 

sarahfires's review against another edition

4.5
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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: Yes

emily613's review

3.0
adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes