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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rue is back in an intense conclusion to the Wings of Ebony duology. This time, she's in the center of a war to earn back the magic for her people that was stolen by the Chancellor. War is here, and lives will be lost. Will Rue be able to earn her people's magic back and unite her people, or will she die trying?
I will definitely say that as much as I wasn't a huge fan of the first book, I liked this book a lot more. One of the sequel's strongest points is the storytelling element. The author does a great job emphasizing how important this fight is and Rue puts herself into it completely. There are some great characters that are introduced that I think added more of the personal element for Rue to be fighting for the Ghizoni people, and it helped to develop the world as a whole. I do think that we got a better idea of what Ghizon was prior to the war, with a bunch of street names added and what not, but I still wasn't completely invested, mostly because street names don't have much of an impact on me, especially when it's done in a war setting like this.
I will admit that my commitment to this book was a bit wishy-washy. I was completely invested in the first 10% of the book because of how quickly things took a turn for the worst. Then the rest of the first half of the book just... dragged. It felt like all they did was sneak around, almost get killed, then try to make their way back to base. A lot of it for me could have been shortened because it got so repetitive and boring. But then as soon as the major "someone will betray you" line got dropped, I was sold for the rest of the book. I was screaming, I was cheering, I was cursing out characters. It was an emotional rollercoaster. I did guess the first of many plot twists, but even then I was emotional. I even teared up at one point for a character I didn't really like. This was what mainly made me give this book a higher rating than Wings of Ebony.
Now for what I didn't like. As I mentioned prior, a lot of scenes in the beginning felt repetitive and slowed my interest in the book. I would also say the same for Rue's development with confidence in herself. It waned for a good portion of the book, believing she could not be Queen of her people. As a result, for a majority of the book I wasn't completely sold that she could be a leader at all, especially for what happened at the beginning of the book that was almost completely forgotten about by the end of the book. There was also a lot of back and forth between her two main love interests, who I absolutely rooted for one over the other because I did NOT like the other one. And while I was happy with the ending that Rue got with the one love interest, it felt like a bit of whiplash getting there.
While I love that this story is about forgiveness and self-reflection, I will say that the ending with some specific characters did feel a bit rushed in terms of their redemption. It was shoved into one whole chapter and it didn't really seem like there were any ramifications, which I was disappointed by. It's a road to recovery, not a highway to recovery.
I cannot fully speak on the POC representation in this story as I am not a person of color, and highly recommend searching for reviews by reviewers of color to get a better idea of how it is executed.
Ashes of Gold is a solid end to a debut duology, full of Black girl magic and empowerment, powerful plot twists, and a story that will leave your heart warm.
I received a copy of this story as an e-ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I will definitely say that as much as I wasn't a huge fan of the first book, I liked this book a lot more. One of the sequel's strongest points is the storytelling element. The author does a great job emphasizing how important this fight is and Rue puts herself into it completely. There are some great characters that are introduced that I think added more of the personal element for Rue to be fighting for the Ghizoni people, and it helped to develop the world as a whole. I do think that we got a better idea of what Ghizon was prior to the war, with a bunch of street names added and what not, but I still wasn't completely invested, mostly because street names don't have much of an impact on me, especially when it's done in a war setting like this.
I will admit that my commitment to this book was a bit wishy-washy. I was completely invested in the first 10% of the book because of how quickly things took a turn for the worst. Then the rest of the first half of the book just... dragged. It felt like all they did was sneak around, almost get killed, then try to make their way back to base. A lot of it for me could have been shortened because it got so repetitive and boring. But then as soon as the major "someone will betray you" line got dropped, I was sold for the rest of the book. I was screaming, I was cheering, I was cursing out characters. It was an emotional rollercoaster. I did guess the first of many plot twists, but even then I was emotional. I even teared up at one point for a character I didn't really like. This was what mainly made me give this book a higher rating than Wings of Ebony.
Now for what I didn't like. As I mentioned prior, a lot of scenes in the beginning felt repetitive and slowed my interest in the book. I would also say the same for Rue's development with confidence in herself. It waned for a good portion of the book, believing she could not be Queen of her people. As a result, for a majority of the book I wasn't completely sold that she could be a leader at all, especially for what happened at the beginning of the book that was almost completely forgotten about by the end of the book. There was also a lot of back and forth between her two main love interests, who I absolutely rooted for one over the other because I did NOT like the other one. And while I was happy with the ending that Rue got with the one love interest, it felt like a bit of whiplash getting there.
While I love that this story is about forgiveness and self-reflection, I will say that the ending with some specific characters did feel a bit rushed in terms of their redemption. It was shoved into one whole chapter and it didn't really seem like there were any ramifications, which I was disappointed by. It's a road to recovery, not a highway to recovery.
I cannot fully speak on the POC representation in this story as I am not a person of color, and highly recommend searching for reviews by reviewers of color to get a better idea of how it is executed.
Ashes of Gold is a solid end to a debut duology, full of Black girl magic and empowerment, powerful plot twists, and a story that will leave your heart warm.
I received a copy of this story as an e-ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In Wings of Ebony, Rue had such swagger and personality. Whilst reading Ashes of Gold, I kept looking for this hardened and memorable Rue. Her character felt watered down in the first third of the book, and then she magically reappears after a certain point. Rue’s dialect/way of speaking is also inconsistent, with it peeking through at random moments when, in book one, it was infused throughout. The beginning first third felt like the author was warming back up to Bri; her distinct voice just was not present in the same manner I had expected.
Overall, this is a solid conclusion to the duology. There’s great plot and character development, and I enjoyed the overall pacing. It kept me interested, and this is definitely a duology I’ll be recommending to students and putting in my classroom library. Plus, there’s on-page representation for a Black girl with anxiety and panic attacks.
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Actual rating 3.5
After the battle against the Chancellor's men, Rue has to pick up the pieces and get all of her people to work together against their common enemy and restore magic to the Ghizoni.
Rue has an amazing character arc in Ashes of Gold as she learns not to self-doubt, trust herself and step in her true role as a leader. As she learns more about the culture and history of the Ghizoni she also learns to blend that with her history at East Row and that being tied to two places only makes her stronger.
My only downside is Rue's love life throughout the book. It doesn't bother me that she has two potential love interests, but when she hops back and forth between the two so quickly it gave me whiplash and made both of the relationships feel not as genuine. It did add more conflict with Rue's ability to trust others and her paranoia of betrayal, but I think it would have fit her arc of self-confidence better to not worry about a relationship with either. Rue is a badass and I thought it took away from that.
After the battle against the Chancellor's men, Rue has to pick up the pieces and get all of her people to work together against their common enemy and restore magic to the Ghizoni.
Rue has an amazing character arc in Ashes of Gold as she learns not to self-doubt, trust herself and step in her true role as a leader. As she learns more about the culture and history of the Ghizoni she also learns to blend that with her history at East Row and that being tied to two places only makes her stronger.
My only downside is Rue's love life throughout the book. It doesn't bother me that she has two potential love interests, but when she hops back and forth between the two so quickly it gave me whiplash and made both of the relationships feel not as genuine. It did add more conflict with Rue's ability to trust others and her paranoia of betrayal, but I think it would have fit her arc of self-confidence better to not worry about a relationship with either. Rue is a badass and I thought it took away from that.
This was such a fantastic read, loved spending time with Rue again, though I was a bit confused as to how they went from the ending of the first book to the beginning of this one!