A review by betwixt_the_pages
Kingdom of Ashes by Elena May

4.0

Myra never witnessed the Nightfall. She has only heard stories from the eldest among them; tales of the Old World and of the scientists who invented the WeatherWizard—a technological innovation that controls the weather. Unfortunately, the device also gave an ambitious vampire prince the means to cover the world in impenetrable clouds, allowing his armies to crawl out of their caves and conquer all.

Vampires rule over the New World, breeding humans for food. After fifty years of guerrilla warfare, the Resistance is fading, its supplies dwindling. They must rally and succeed—and soon—or all hope of restoring human civilization will be lost.

When Myra goes on a desperate mission to help the Resistance, she ends up a captive in the vampires’ palace. With time running out, she must find a way to stop Prince Vladimir, and every wrong step leads to the death of innocents. Her battle abilities prove useless, but Myra discovers she has another skill that can give her an edge over her captors. Now, Myra must defeat the vampire leader at a power game he has been playing for almost two millennia.

Rating: 4/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: vampires! I rather love vampire stories; this is also dystopian, which works for me; Myra is a bit naive and a lot annoying at times, but I loved her mostly; the characters are complex and well-written; the relationships are believable and realistic; the world-building is great; overall, an entertaining read

Huge thanks to Elena May for sending me a copy of this title free in exchange for an honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this book.

"So these are our enemies," she whispered as Alerie returned and crouched next to her.

"Yeah, a motley band of peacocks," Alerie said. "Unfortunately, they fight better than they dress."

This book is LONG, penguins--but such a quick and entertaining read! I found myself, through many parts of the journey, wondering if perhaps there were many more fairy tales Elena May drew inspiration from then she lets on. The biggest one, I believe, is Beauty and the Beast--I am almost positive that several of the plot points woven throughout this story support this theory. I won't bore you with the details, though--I'll let you find them on your own. Just trust me: there are TONS of references and inspiration laced throughout this journey. I doubt even I found them all, honestly--mostly because I wasn't actively seeking them out until much later in the read.

Elena May crafted a believable, action-packed dystopian world. While there were moments I found myself struggling to suspend my disbelief, these were all in regards to one character specifically and not due to the plot or world-building. In fact, I adore the world-building of this book--I feel we've only just begun to skim the surface of this future, but already know SO MUCH about it. I really like that we are taken in a much different direction than I expected when setting out on this read. I LOVE that technology, in the end, is what caused the downfall of humanity...though not in the way I'd have ever thought. It was so seamlessly done, and brilliant--I am bowing down at Elena May's feet.

The Prince smirked. "My dear girl. All humans are the same--they can rarely create a compelling story without something bad happening, and so they always pick disasters to build their tales on."

I was a bit disappointed in Myra, honestly, though I rather adore her character arc. While she starts this book out very naive and rather silly...she comes a long, long way. I definitely empathized with her throughout, and found myself wanting to shake her many times. I think a large part of this has to do with my...uhm...soft spot for anti-villains, though, and not to do with her as a character per se.

I was intrigued that there was very little romance in this book when it came to Myra. In fact, not once does it say--anywhere!--anything about her being even remotely interested in another human or vampire, aside from in an inspirational way. She observes, she watches and judges and changes...but never once does she seem interested in romance. There IS a couple in this read, but even then, the focus is not really upon the relationship. I am not sure if this was done on purpose, but I'm not complaining either--I love that Myra does, in the end, find a way to stand on her own two feet...and do it alone. The addition of a romance, in this story, would have detracted from the plot and character growth, I feel--I am glad there wasn't one.

"Besides," he added, "you are the only person to call me Vlad. As I have told you before, this is not even the proper way to shorten my name."

"Fair enough," she said. "What is the proper short form, then?"

"'Your Highness' works."

In the end, this was an entertaining and surprising read! I cannot wait to see where book two leads us--I imagine there's still so much left to tell, so many adventures to leap into. Also, obviously, I cannot wait to see how Myra's current plan works out. I recommend this to lovers of dystopian fantasies, vampire lore with a twist, and unique world-building. Elena May took me on a wild ride with this book; I can't wait to see what she does next!