A review by awesomeeallyson
The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I fear I might be alone in my review of this book, but I didn't love it as much as I loved The Stardust Thief, which to be fair, I read almost a year ago at this point. I think I did myself a disservice by not re-reading the first before diving into the sequel. I had high hopes for the The Ashfire King, but I could not get invested in the story. The characters felt like strangers to each other which made it hard for me to pick someone to root for. 

The pacing of the story also felt really odd to me. There were some scenes I found myself glued to but then other sections I found myself zoning out during and losing focus. This plot is incredibly well thought out, but there's a lot of deceit and moving parts. If you miss one thing you quickly start to lose the entire plot. I love Chelsea Abdullah's writing, but this sequel just didn't do for me what I had hoped. That ending though - if there's one thing Abdullah is good at it's ending on a cliff hanger!

I will be reading the third but I will also be doing a full re-read of the entire series before I get there.