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A review by kay_weda1228
Queen of Ashes by May Freighter
4.0
I enjoyed "Queen of Ashes" as much as I did "Queen of Deception," the first book in May Freighter's Empire of Shattered Crowns series.
Once again, I enjoyed the interactions between the three main characters (through whose perspective the story is told) and the notable secondary characters. Reading the novel in consecutive order with the first book was nice because book one was still fresh in my memory.
I can't quite recall if Clayton's sister, Isobelle, was in book one, but I like her character and interactions with Clayton and cannot wait for more scenes with her (or both siblings) in the future.
There were, however, a few things I believe could have been done better, but as an independently published author (and you wouldn't know it most of the time) Mrs. Freighter does exceptionally well in her story telling 95% of the time.
One major thing was the handful of plot holes leftover from book one. There was a character, who was rather an unhinged and clingy young woman from the Empire. The noblewoman arrived, was detained, caused a brief ruckus that merited only a few paragraphs and was never heard from again. Although she was a minor character, I still had questions because of her abrupt entrance and exit from the story.
Another plot hole that I noticed was the absence of Emilia's potential ladies-in-waiting. There are two scenes mentioning the subject in "Queen of Deception," however, we never find out how that plays out, granted the events of the first two books take place over the course of a few weeks (one to two months being a generous estimate), which leads to a second minor complaint.
The timing and pacing of the story. While I understand that the author is trying to make a series based off of the conflict (a human from earth reincarnates as a neglected, "cursed" princess in the backdrop of her fantasy novel and must navigate becoming queen), I feel that if she truly wanted to, she could have made a novel slightly longer and had a two book series rather than the four books she has planned.
I do appreciate her story idea because I have often wondered how it would feel to wake up in the world of a beloved story (either your own or someone else's) and the Empire of Shattered Crowns series does that fairly well.
One thing I liked about this novel was that in each instance of a more mature encounter between characters of the opposite sex, the author left the encounter to our imaginations, though some more innuendo-like comments were made in the narration. I thank the author for doing this because otherwise, I would have taken a DNF.
The world building was alright, but I did meet (however briefly) one of my favorite mythological creatures towards the end, though I can't name it for fear of spoiling. I did enjoy seeing the beastmen, whom I assume the author invented, and learning a little bit of their lore.
Overall, many of the positives from book one carried over to book two, and I hope the same will be said for the next books in the series.
I received a free, advance review copy from BookSirens and am leaving this review of my own accord.
Once again, I enjoyed the interactions between the three main characters (through whose perspective the story is told) and the notable secondary characters. Reading the novel in consecutive order with the first book was nice because book one was still fresh in my memory.
I can't quite recall if Clayton's sister, Isobelle, was in book one, but I like her character and interactions with Clayton and cannot wait for more scenes with her (or both siblings) in the future.
There were, however, a few things I believe could have been done better, but as an independently published author (and you wouldn't know it most of the time) Mrs. Freighter does exceptionally well in her story telling 95% of the time.
One major thing was the handful of plot holes leftover from book one. There was a character, who was rather an unhinged and clingy young woman from the Empire. The noblewoman arrived, was detained, caused a brief ruckus that merited only a few paragraphs and was never heard from again. Although she was a minor character, I still had questions because of her abrupt entrance and exit from the story.
Another plot hole that I noticed was the absence of Emilia's potential ladies-in-waiting. There are two scenes mentioning the subject in "Queen of Deception," however, we never find out how that plays out, granted the events of the first two books take place over the course of a few weeks (one to two months being a generous estimate), which leads to a second minor complaint.
The timing and pacing of the story. While I understand that the author is trying to make a series based off of the conflict (a human from earth reincarnates as a neglected, "cursed" princess in the backdrop of her fantasy novel and must navigate becoming queen), I feel that if she truly wanted to, she could have made a novel slightly longer and had a two book series rather than the four books she has planned.
I do appreciate her story idea because I have often wondered how it would feel to wake up in the world of a beloved story (either your own or someone else's) and the Empire of Shattered Crowns series does that fairly well.
One thing I liked about this novel was that in each instance of a more mature encounter between characters of the opposite sex, the author left the encounter to our imaginations, though some more innuendo-like comments were made in the narration. I thank the author for doing this because otherwise, I would have taken a DNF.
The world building was alright, but I did meet (however briefly) one of my favorite mythological creatures towards the end, though I can't name it for fear of spoiling. I did enjoy seeing the beastmen, whom I assume the author invented, and learning a little bit of their lore.
Overall, many of the positives from book one carried over to book two, and I hope the same will be said for the next books in the series.
I received a free, advance review copy from BookSirens and am leaving this review of my own accord.