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amiascah 's review for:
Ash Princess
by Laura Sebastian
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is one of those cases where I don't like any of the characters and I don't care for them to live and survive but I'm also curious as to where this is going to go.
'Ash Princess' by Laura Sebastian is the first book in a trilogy of the same name. Ten years ago Lady Thora wasn't the Ash Princess held captive by the Kaiser, the leader who took over her kingdom, who had her mother slaughtered, who sent her people to live and die in the mines, and who keeps her like a pet to parade in front of his subjects when he wants to remind them of his power. Ten years ago she was Theodosia daughter and heir to the Fire Queen. Beloved by her people. Theo has barely been existing, living day by day, until one night the Kaiser brings in a leader of the rebels and forces Theo to put blood on her hands, the Kaiser thinks he's breaking her but in truth in taking everything from her his has sharpened her into a weapon and given her nothing to Lise in defying him.
spoilers
This felt very predictable and very pick me from Theo. Which I guess would make sense of a personality of a princess but I found her off putting. This was one of those books that when I was reading it, it was enjoyable but when I was away from it I didnt yearn to get back to the book. One of the things that drove me mad was stuff that didnt make sense, though to be honest I didnt enjoy stuff that made sense too. Why wasn't she killed, I don't believe the story Cress gives her, oh it could have happened, but a man as demented and crazy of the Kaiser wouldn't have let a 6 year old heir to the throne live, unless he always planned to use her as a broodmare, or foster her off on his son. Which doesn't jive either because the racial differences seem important and he wouldn't want to dilute his line. So some one convincing him to let her live I just don't see. Another thing that made little sense, is the main plan, lets kills the main general, giving away that its us by using a method from our culture, and then lets kill the son that we are kinda using. Wouldn't it have made more sense to kill to the Kaiser? to stroke the flames between them enough so Soren attacks his father for her and then they can continue to use Soren as they see fit? Also what good is the attack on the Thyen? What did that accomplish other than killing one man (not the head of the snake) and outing them? I get that they are children who have been used and abused the majority of their lives, but get a better plan please.
What irked me but made sense was her indecision. Either you're going for vengeance or you're not. Either you've grown to love your oppressors or you don't. But again she was taken at 6, one is the only playmate she's known since 6. I get why she struggled to make that move. And I like how their relationship played out of slowly feeling each other out until lines were drawn. I get being confused by Soren being nice. it must be a stark change from what she's used to. If anything she should have been more mistrustful. Also if he's been away all this time how is it that he fell so fast for her, cause he's quickly deep in this, breaking rules, sneaking her out. If the regular shadows hadn't been replaced he would have been found out before he barely spent any time with her. It felt too insta-lovey on his end.
And again why was there no plan to strike directly at Kaiser, why didnt anyone think hey this prince boy is weak let's use him and take out the real problem. Theres a big thing about using a child, Elpis, to poison Cress and Thyen but if they didnt use her how were they expecting those targets to get poisoned? And if that's so doable with all the slaves around shouldn't they have been able to take a shot at the Kaiser?
I've added book two and three to my tbr but I'm not sure if I'll actually read them or remove them, theres so much out there to read and only so much time.
'Ash Princess' by Laura Sebastian is the first book in a trilogy of the same name. Ten years ago Lady Thora wasn't the Ash Princess held captive by the Kaiser, the leader who took over her kingdom, who had her mother slaughtered, who sent her people to live and die in the mines, and who keeps her like a pet to parade in front of his subjects when he wants to remind them of his power. Ten years ago she was Theodosia daughter and heir to the Fire Queen. Beloved by her people. Theo has barely been existing, living day by day, until one night the Kaiser brings in a leader of the rebels and forces Theo to put blood on her hands, the Kaiser thinks he's breaking her but in truth in taking everything from her his has sharpened her into a weapon and given her nothing to Lise in defying him.
spoilers
This felt very predictable and very pick me from Theo. Which I guess would make sense of a personality of a princess but I found her off putting. This was one of those books that when I was reading it, it was enjoyable but when I was away from it I didnt yearn to get back to the book. One of the things that drove me mad was stuff that didnt make sense, though to be honest I didnt enjoy stuff that made sense too. Why wasn't she killed, I don't believe the story Cress gives her, oh it could have happened, but a man as demented and crazy of the Kaiser wouldn't have let a 6 year old heir to the throne live, unless he always planned to use her as a broodmare, or foster her off on his son. Which doesn't jive either because the racial differences seem important and he wouldn't want to dilute his line. So some one convincing him to let her live I just don't see. Another thing that made little sense, is the main plan, lets kills the main general, giving away that its us by using a method from our culture, and then lets kill the son that we are kinda using. Wouldn't it have made more sense to kill to the Kaiser? to stroke the flames between them enough so Soren attacks his father for her and then they can continue to use Soren as they see fit? Also what good is the attack on the Thyen? What did that accomplish other than killing one man (not the head of the snake) and outing them? I get that they are children who have been used and abused the majority of their lives, but get a better plan please.
What irked me but made sense was her indecision. Either you're going for vengeance or you're not. Either you've grown to love your oppressors or you don't. But again she was taken at 6, one is the only playmate she's known since 6. I get why she struggled to make that move. And I like how their relationship played out of slowly feeling each other out until lines were drawn. I get being confused by Soren being nice. it must be a stark change from what she's used to. If anything she should have been more mistrustful. Also if he's been away all this time how is it that he fell so fast for her, cause he's quickly deep in this, breaking rules, sneaking her out. If the regular shadows hadn't been replaced he would have been found out before he barely spent any time with her. It felt too insta-lovey on his end.
And again why was there no plan to strike directly at Kaiser, why didnt anyone think hey this prince boy is weak let's use him and take out the real problem. Theres a big thing about using a child, Elpis, to poison Cress and Thyen but if they didnt use her how were they expecting those targets to get poisoned? And if that's so doable with all the slaves around shouldn't they have been able to take a shot at the Kaiser?
I've added book two and three to my tbr but I'm not sure if I'll actually read them or remove them, theres so much out there to read and only so much time.