tysbooks 's review for:

Ashes of Gold by J. Elle

2.0

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This was actually a HUGE let down for me. I really loved the first book, calling it one of my favorite books of 2021 and I went into this one with such high expectations and I was seriously let down. We continue to follow Rue in this story as she is trying to help take down the chancellor and help the people of Ghizon reclaim their magic...My first big problem with this whole story is Rue's character. At the end of Wings of Ebony, she was ready for any and everything to come her way. She was literally ready to take the crown and become the queen of Ghizon. I don't know what the heck happened, but we did NOT get the same person in this book. In this we got someone that was not ready for anything. She wasn't ready to lead anyone, she didn't want to make any big decisions and the first time she made a mistake she was ready to give up. I would have been okay if this was the type of character we got left with at the end of book one and we continued to see her grow, but we literally saw a strong girl for some reason get weak, then wait til the end of the book to get it back together again.......Then in the first book we spent a lot of time with Rue going back and forth between Ghizon and East Row, but in this we saw her a majority of the time in Ghizon, which was fine. The thing I loved so much about the first book was her relationship with her sister and how that was talked about and explored and there was none here. I believe that was because she hardly went back home. I understand this is more of a personal gripe but I was hoping to continue to get more of that out of this book as well.......Another issue that bothered me was how conveniently they were able to get out of their situations. Rue's friend Bri had a bag of tricks for everything. I mean she literally had a bag of gadgets that seemed to come in handy for what ever situation they came across. There was some gadget or potion that seemed to help them escape or get them to where ever they needed to go to next. It also just took me about half way before the story even got interesting. I just thought the whole story was slow to start. Once the story did get going I was able to fly through it and there were a couple of revelations in there that were fine, but still nothing jaw dropping. Once Rue did start to believe in herself again I was here for it but let's be honest, that was also after EVERYONE else kept telling her to believe in herself. It's safe to say I was underwhelmed by this.