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A review by bibi_reads_writes
The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah
4.0
Note: I received an advance review copy in exchange for honest feedback.
I gave this book the same rating as [b:The Stardust Thief|58950705|The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1)|Chelsea Abdullah|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636396304l/58950705._SY75_.jpg|91801906], but for very different reasons. The sense of wonder from book 1 wasn’t *quite* there, but I was happy that the characters were more fleshed-out, and their relationships more thoroughly explored. I loved that there were multiple villains, and that atonement was a major theme. I also loved some of the new characters, like Amina and Rijah, but disliked how “on the nose” the feminism aspect was (females are strong and fearless! males are cowards!). I was also annoyed by the scattered plot with too many side quests as well as the inconsistent and confusing expanded lore. Above all, I felt like most of the book was simply filler action: bad decisions leading to consequences. I kept zoning out while reading and was fed up with Loulie or Mazen going like “I have an idea” and everyone just going along without question. This type of behaviour could be expected from twenty-something humans… but century-old magical beings...? If the characters had communicated and planned, the book would have been 75% shorter… and that’s saying a lot.
Pros and cons of the series so far:
❤️ Rich worldbuilding and intriguing lore
❤️ Strong female characters
❤️ In-page stories
❤️ Action sequences
❌ Too many Arabic terms
❌ Meh MMC
❌ Repetitive use of cliché phrases
❌ Pacing issues
❌ Lots of telling vs. showing
Trigger warnings for the series: violence, death and murder (parent, child, etc.), grief, blood and gore, injury and injury detail, torture, fire and fire injury, genocide, physical and emotional abuse, kidnapping and confinement, toxic relationship, war, sexism and misogyny, animal death, panic attacks/disorders, hate crimes, slavery, sexual assault, etc.
Follow me on Instagram: @bibi.reads.writes
I gave this book the same rating as [b:The Stardust Thief|58950705|The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1)|Chelsea Abdullah|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636396304l/58950705._SY75_.jpg|91801906], but for very different reasons. The sense of wonder from book 1 wasn’t *quite* there, but I was happy that the characters were more fleshed-out, and their relationships more thoroughly explored. I loved that there were multiple villains, and that atonement was a major theme. I also loved some of the new characters, like Amina and Rijah, but disliked how “on the nose” the feminism aspect was (females are strong and fearless! males are cowards!). I was also annoyed by the scattered plot with too many side quests as well as the inconsistent and confusing expanded lore. Above all, I felt like most of the book was simply filler action: bad decisions leading to consequences. I kept zoning out while reading and was fed up with Loulie or Mazen going like “I have an idea” and everyone just going along without question. This type of behaviour could be expected from twenty-something humans… but century-old magical beings...? If the characters had communicated and planned, the book would have been 75% shorter… and that’s saying a lot.
Pros and cons of the series so far:
❤️ Rich worldbuilding and intriguing lore
❤️ Strong female characters
❤️ In-page stories
❤️ Action sequences
❌ Too many Arabic terms
❌ Meh MMC
❌ Repetitive use of cliché phrases
❌ Pacing issues
❌ Lots of telling vs. showing
Trigger warnings for the series: violence, death and murder (parent, child, etc.), grief, blood and gore, injury and injury detail, torture, fire and fire injury, genocide, physical and emotional abuse, kidnapping and confinement, toxic relationship, war, sexism and misogyny, animal death, panic attacks/disorders, hate crimes, slavery, sexual assault, etc.
Follow me on Instagram: @bibi.reads.writes