Scan barcode
A review by pagesofjess
The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent
5.0
The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Initial thoughts
I loved this series so so much! I cannot wait for book three in this universe next year!
Spoiler free review
This series was so good. I was hooked from the first couple of chapters of the first book all the way until the end of the second. Raihn and Oraya are both some of my favourite characters for different reasons and I couldn’t have been more invested. Whilst I loved both books, the first will always be my fave. The second was amazing and I loved the build up, angst and longing that it took me through. Oraya’s journey of discovery and battling her own demons was so well done and the sacrifice from Raihn over and over again was perfection.
The spice levels were the perfect amount, I can find some romantasy books lean too much into smut that there isn’t much point in the main ‘plot’ that's happening aside from the romance but the balance was very well done with this book.
Blurb
Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.
In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.
The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.
When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.
But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.
Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Initial thoughts
I loved this series so so much! I cannot wait for book three in this universe next year!
Spoiler free review
This series was so good. I was hooked from the first couple of chapters of the first book all the way until the end of the second. Raihn and Oraya are both some of my favourite characters for different reasons and I couldn’t have been more invested. Whilst I loved both books, the first will always be my fave. The second was amazing and I loved the build up, angst and longing that it took me through. Oraya’s journey of discovery and battling her own demons was so well done and the sacrifice from Raihn over and over again was perfection.
The spice levels were the perfect amount, I can find some romantasy books lean too much into smut that there isn’t much point in the main ‘plot’ that's happening aside from the romance but the balance was very well done with this book.
Blurb
Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.
In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.
The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.
When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.
But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.