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A review by starryeyedenigma
Heir of Ashes by Jina S. Bazzar
4.0
I have to start this by saying, how grateful I am to the author (Jina S.Bazzar) for letting me read an ARC (Advance Readership Copy) of her up coming book. The book comes out on 15th of April 2018, and I’m not being paid to write this review:) All opinions are mine alone and honest thoughts of what I thought about the book. I would recommend it to young adult readers, who like this genre of fantasy mixed with action and some mystery behind it. It is a fast paced read.
Alright, so lets get down to business! In one short sentence, I was thoroughly entertained by the first book of the series. I don’t usually read a lot of Young Adult novels- the last few that I read were some of John Green’s, the Divergent series, the Twilight series and The Hunger Games (which come to mind), and I had enjoyed all of these.
The first book has a fast paced and action packed story, and all the while I felt like I was watching a movie about the X-Men and Twilight actors combined! There is a mix of fantastical creatures such as werewolves, vampires, shape shifters, fire mages, evil sorcerers and present day villains such as evil scientists. Add to this a kick ass female lead, Roxanne Fosch, who is racing against time to survive, and escape her lab-type prison and tormentors. She can’t trust anyone and that actually helps her survive and plan ahead. But she isn’t a sorted individual either. She has her own battles that every young woman would have, her desires to be a normal girl and have a normal life and her desire to belong somewhere, belong to a tribe. I felt very strongly for the female lead and kept praying that she gets out of the next bad situation quickly.
In the background, there are some parallel story lines and a budding romance plot as well, which keep you yearning for more answers. Obviously, all your questions aren’t answered in this first book, but you get a glimpse of what is coming. It is similar to other fantasy books I’ve read in some aspects- such as having vampires and werewolves and a female lead, and yet it is different because the magical elements and the powers that each creature and Roxanne have, are new- at least something that I haven’t come across before- for example, all the information around ‘auras’- you’ll have to read the book to know more about that..hehe
I do have to mention that there is a lot of action in the book and some of it quite violent too. There are also some serious subjects such as dealing with sexual harassment and abandonment issues that are touched upon in the book. So if you are faint hearted about any of these subjects, you might want to be prepared while reading this. At times I did feel like I was getting slightly tired of Roxanne having to constantly escape from being captured- it felt slightly repetitive, but since I enjoyed the book overall, I can’t really complain much..lol!
What I loved about the leading character of the book was how normal she is. Although Roxanne is destined for great things (that we will probably find out about in the later books) and she has powers that even she isn’t aware of, all she wants is to be a normal girl. She has normal needs like every girl has- of dressing up well, having a good meal, hanging out with friends, having a family or parents who love her, having the need to pee…that was so awesome! Because I always wondered, don’t superheroes need to pee ever? lol Also, Frizz reminded me a little of Gollum..lol (Again, you’ll have to read the book to know who Frizz is) 😀
Alright, so lets get down to business! In one short sentence, I was thoroughly entertained by the first book of the series. I don’t usually read a lot of Young Adult novels- the last few that I read were some of John Green’s, the Divergent series, the Twilight series and The Hunger Games (which come to mind), and I had enjoyed all of these.
The first book has a fast paced and action packed story, and all the while I felt like I was watching a movie about the X-Men and Twilight actors combined! There is a mix of fantastical creatures such as werewolves, vampires, shape shifters, fire mages, evil sorcerers and present day villains such as evil scientists. Add to this a kick ass female lead, Roxanne Fosch, who is racing against time to survive, and escape her lab-type prison and tormentors. She can’t trust anyone and that actually helps her survive and plan ahead. But she isn’t a sorted individual either. She has her own battles that every young woman would have, her desires to be a normal girl and have a normal life and her desire to belong somewhere, belong to a tribe. I felt very strongly for the female lead and kept praying that she gets out of the next bad situation quickly.
In the background, there are some parallel story lines and a budding romance plot as well, which keep you yearning for more answers. Obviously, all your questions aren’t answered in this first book, but you get a glimpse of what is coming. It is similar to other fantasy books I’ve read in some aspects- such as having vampires and werewolves and a female lead, and yet it is different because the magical elements and the powers that each creature and Roxanne have, are new- at least something that I haven’t come across before- for example, all the information around ‘auras’- you’ll have to read the book to know more about that..hehe
I do have to mention that there is a lot of action in the book and some of it quite violent too. There are also some serious subjects such as dealing with sexual harassment and abandonment issues that are touched upon in the book. So if you are faint hearted about any of these subjects, you might want to be prepared while reading this. At times I did feel like I was getting slightly tired of Roxanne having to constantly escape from being captured- it felt slightly repetitive, but since I enjoyed the book overall, I can’t really complain much..lol!
What I loved about the leading character of the book was how normal she is. Although Roxanne is destined for great things (that we will probably find out about in the later books) and she has powers that even she isn’t aware of, all she wants is to be a normal girl. She has normal needs like every girl has- of dressing up well, having a good meal, hanging out with friends, having a family or parents who love her, having the need to pee…that was so awesome! Because I always wondered, don’t superheroes need to pee ever? lol Also, Frizz reminded me a little of Gollum..lol (Again, you’ll have to read the book to know who Frizz is) 😀