This was an interesting read by an author that I was not familiar with having never read their work before. I always enjoy a new to me author and I wasn’t disappointed.
I found the characters interesting and really had a depth to them with lots of details described for me to portray them in my mind and really get inside them.
The story line took me to a place I wasn’t expecting and kept me intrigued right until the end.
I would recommend to anyone interested in this genre and will be reading more.

This just felt too similar to a lot of other YA High Fantasy novels, and unfortunately it didn't have much to it that separated it from everything else.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Ash Princess is the first in a YA fantasy trilogy that follows Theodosia, a young princess who lives at the mercy of the Kaiser who murdered her mother and stole her throne. For ten years she has suffered under his abuse and ridicule when she decides that enough is enough and will do everything in her power to reclaim her lost throne.

Ash Princess is a pretty standard YA story. It was a bit darker than I was expecting but it follows a similar plot to other YA fantasy stories. I have found myself reading less and less YA lately so I wasn’t really sure going in if this was going to be for me. In the end, I did actually enjoy this book immensely, I really liked Sebastian’s writing style and the fast paced, action driven storyline had me glued to the book for long periods of time.

As this is the first book in the series I’m really interested to see how the story develops. Theo does go through some character growth in the story but I felt like some of the other characters could have done with a bit more development. The story does end on a bit of a cliffhanger so I am intrigued to see where Sebastian will take things. This is a fun, fast read and if you’re looking for a YA fantasy tale to keep you hooked this one will be right up your street.

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

I gave this book a quick try, and ultimately decided to DNF -- my tastes have changed since I requested this. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book!

"We are not defined by the things we do in order to survive."

I'm not the biggest fan of the ending because I saw most of it coming. And I don't know, I wanted more from it. I wanted it to shock me and leave me completely stunned but it was just boring. Nothing big really happened and it was just too easy. It's not a completely bad ending but it could have been so much better. That's why I'm a bit disappointed. With a more exciting ending, I think this would have been a 4 stars read for me...

Unfortunately I no longer wish to review this book as the first few chapters did not reel me in. Thank you for the opportunity.

Ash Princess is the story of princess Theodosia, taken at six years old by the cruel usurper after her Queen mother was slain in front of her. Theo has lived for ten years as a captive plaything for the new king.
The king has tortured Theo in many ways, but when he forces her to murder a rebel that she knows all too well, it sparks an ember in her that slowly ignites into a blaze of fury until she is ready to take her revenge.
I loved Theo's character. She is introduced as a scared girl that is doing what she can to survive. But as the story unfolds she morphs into the queen she was meant to be. With rebel partners and a handsome prince that could destroy her, she must make unimaginable choices for her people and herself.
Ash Princess is full of all the components that make a great fantasy. With a twist at the end that will leave your head spinning. I highly suggest having Lady Smoke (book 2) handy because you'll be ready to dive in as soon as you finish Ash Princess.
Would recommend to anyone looking for a YA fantasy to remember.

So i did enjoy this book however it took me a while to understand what was happening in the book and who each character was. This took me about half the book to get myself comfy with what was happening but once i was past that halfway point i really enjoyed it. I liked our main character Theo and how she was different then everyone else in the kingdom. I liked how she has shadows and they were her companions, it was something i had not read before and i cant wait to read more about them. I also enjoyed the magic system and how the magic was connected to the elements by the different gems: Fire, water, wind and earth. im intrigued to learn more about it. 

There are some triggering aspects of the book to be aware of. There is abuse, violence (Whipping) which is not nice to read. 

I gave this book 4 stars and im intrigued to read Lady Smoke.

This book had been on my tbr for a long time and I was looking forward to it. But sadly it was a massive let down. The plot was full of typical YA tropes, took too long to get into the plot and threw in a twist at the end which should have been great but seemed too convenient. I personally just think it wasn't well written which was a shame.

This book was interesting. I believe the writing and plot could have been stronger but overall was an enjoyable read.

Theodosia watches her as her mother’s throat is cut, then her kingdom occupied by the invading Kalovaxians. Their leader, the Kaiser, is particularly cruel, delighting in keeping Theo – renamed Thora via repeated torture – as a trophy of his conquest and whipping girl for any rebellious acts by the enslaved local population.

Meek and dutiful Thora, however, is pushed too far when the Kaiser forces her to execute the leader of the rebels and her last best hope for rescue. Soon, she’s neck-deep in plotting to free her people and become the queen she was born to be. But it’s not so simple to pretend to seduce a ‘prinz’ – that is, the pretense bit. Oy.

If you can think of a trope in a YA fantasy, chances are you’ll find it here. Young woman, possibly with untapped magical potential, going from rags to rising up to claim her true destiny? Check check check. Love triangle? Of course. Cruel pantomime villains starting to leer at the burgeoning womanhood? Oh yes. And a large shout out to the ridiculous fantasy names: Theodosia, Crescentia, and changing ‘prince’ to ‘prinz’, among other painful tongue twisters.

I’m a little amazed that I got past the opening chapters with all of that ringing large alarm bells, and I have mixed feelings that I bothered. On the one hand, this is a decent enough book – well enough written, good pace and holding of attention. On the other, it is so very very familiar. I hated the first-person narrative at the beginning, and only grew to be so-so about it. And I cannot, cannot stand the love ‘triangle’.

Oh – and then there’s the violence. Teenage girl gets regularly whipped, for a *decade*, with quite frankly too much detail at certain points – YA should not stray into torture porn, even briefly o.O

Urgh. It wasn’t awful. You might enjoy it a lot more. But I didn’t need another rehash of this kind of story, I’m afraid.

I'm honestly not sure what I really feel about this book. There were things that I loved about it. The world, the characters, even the romance all had parts about them that I found absolutely captivating. But, there were also elements that made me feel like I had read this story before.

Theodosia witnessed the murder of her mother, the Astrean Fire Queen, when she was 6 years old. A murder ordered by the Kalovaxian Kaiser. The Kaiser kept Theo alive, only to keep her prisoner in the castle, so he could use her as an example to the rebels who tried to take back their land. Punishing and humiliating her everytime any attempt was made.

Theo has spent ten years enduring the Kaiser’s abuse when she meets Prinz Søren, the Kaiser’s son, who seems frown on his father’s treatment of her. While most of her people are enslaved, working in mines, there are a small group of rebels willing to attempt to take Theo away from the castle. Theo needs to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice and who she can trust – the rebels, the Prinz or her only friend at the castle – Cress (the daughter of the man who murdered her mother).

The awful abuse and sheer hopelessness of Theo’s situation made for confronting reading. I struggle to read about physical and emotional torture, especially when directed at children. It’s hard not to think of your own child reading scenes like those. But the writing was powerful and I liked Theo’s determination to fight back (even when that meant pretending to be powerless) and her drive to help her people, no matter the cost, felt empowering.

Although I usually hate love triangles, and halfway through the book was thinking “whyyyyy”, by the end I didn’t mind it. I thought Theo’s relationship with her childhood friend was pointless at first, but in the last few pages I could see why the author wrote it in. I think it will contribute to a major plot point in the next book.

I wanted to stay up all night reading this book. I found it fast paced and I really loved the writing. My only complaint would be some things that seemed important to the story weren’t really explained well, such as the spiritgems. The gems are constantly referred to, we’re told they are what the slaves are mining in the mines and that there are fire, earth, air and water gems but how they work and exactly what they do is glossed over a bit. Theo says on a few occasions that she can’t use the gems because she hasn’t been trained and it’s sacrilege. It seemed a bit silly. I mean, sure, apparently you don’t get into the ‘After’ (meaning the afterlife) if you use them when you shouldn’t, but if you’re going around killing and plotting to kill people, there has to come a point where you just use the gems to save your life, right? Considering the fact that Theo doesn’t actually seem too devoted to the Gods anyway, and mentions on more than one occasion that she’s not even sure they exist…it just made me yell “Oh just use the gems for goodness sake!” a few times.

But overall I really loved this book. The ending was fantastic and I’m devastated the next book isn’t going to be released until next year!

Very dark fantasy that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The twists and turns in Theo's character development made me wish I had a longer commute. Complex characters and full of plot twists.

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Have I found a new favourite YA fantasy series? Ummm very possibly! I really enjoyed this one! It was sold to me as ‘Three Dark Crowns’ meets ‘A Game of Thrones’ and honestly I am feeling that comparison so much. I can’t wait to dive in an tell you all what I loved about this debut, I’m already pumped to pick up the sequel which was kindly sent to me by the publisher.

The Characters
➺ Theodosia: Theo is our royal protaganist. She’s been abused and mistreated by her captors since her mother was killed and kingdom conquered at the age of 6. We meet Theo in a state of submission – she’s been forced down by years of fear and abuse and all her fight is gone. She’s just trying to get by and make what little she can of her miserable life, but when a captured rebel stirs up all those surpressed feelings of rebellion and fight we see her bloom into a Queen. Her character development from meek prisoner to powerful queen was one of my favourite parts of this book.

➺ Soren: Soren is the Prince of the conquering people. His father is the evil tyrant and Theo’s tormentor. Soren, unbeknownst to him, becomes part of Theo’s escape plan but the more they get to know each other, the more it becomes clear that Soren’s views differ wildly from his father’s. His character was a real exploration into how family do not dictate who you are, which is very much theme of the book.

➺ Blaise: Blaise is the rebellious ringleader and second love interest. Yes, that does mean this book has a bit of a love triangle. But honestly, I didn’t mind it because it was quite mild, slow developing and gave the story a lot of depth. Blaise is the familiar childhood sweetheart and saviour, whilst Soren is the alluring mystery guy she shouldn’t fall for. The love elements developed very slowly over the book, which made it so much more realistic and served more as an internal conflict for Theo – especially as it made her think about whether all Kalovaxians (conquering race) are the enemy.

The Good
➺ Aside from those introducted, we get quite a few heartwarming side characters that get some great development throughout. Blaise’s team of rebels consist of Heron and Artemisia. Heron is a sweet young man (and queer!) who is desperate to do what’s best but also has lost so much. Artemisia is a wonderful character and I’m sure lots of you Nesta fans would like her. She’s steely and hard and believes she’s right 100% of the time, but as we get to know her we see a lot of depth to her character that I really enjoyed. These characters have heartbreaking backstories from their enslavement previous to the events of the book, and they were really well developed and three dimensional.

➺ I love a really political fantasy and oh man, did this hit the spot. The premise is that when Theo was six, the race of people called Kalovaxians came and conquered her land, Astrea and killed her mother, the Queen. Since then, they have enslaved and imprisoned all Astrean people they can and slaughtered the Astrean people with magic. The whole book deals with the fallout of this and the relations between the two peoples. There’s a lot of question of morality, opression and war.

➺ The magic system was pretty cool, though honestly we didn’t see much of it in this first book. The basic run down is that people who train under the gods are receptive to magic, which seems to just naturally occur in the world. There are elemental gems that can be found in Astrea and are mined for power. When harnessed by a trained Guardian (as magicians are called in this world) these gems can bring enormous power. They bring minor effects to those untrained who wear them, such as warmth and beautifying effects, that have led these sacred gemstones to be sold and worn as jewellery under Kalovaxian control. Whilst there certainly are questions about how magic works (can anyone learn magic, where do the gems come from, are the gods real?) our characters do ask these questions and theorise. They don’t take these rules for granted, and have varying levels of faith. I imagine we will see much more development of this in books to come, but I just enjoy that these characters are self-aware enough to question the rules of their faith and magic.

The Bad

➺ Honestly, the only thing I can think to say is that it was quite slow to get going and there were some things I could have seen more attention payed to. But, this is the first in a new trilogy (and a debut) so for me, that’s completely forgiveable. When a new series is started I feel like an author has a choice between major info-dumping and slow development and this just fits into the second category, which felt right for this YA fantasy.

➺ I’ve seen other people mention this and mark it down for the fact that it’s not particularly unique and doesn’t bring anything new to the YA genre, and I do agree with that but honestly I don’t feel like every book needs to. This is an extremely well written classic YA fantasy and I know a lot of people (me included) will love. It fits right in with other favourites and I honestly don’t care if it’s not something totally new. It’s a fantastic book and I really enjoyed it.

Overall
Overall, this was just a fantastiically written YA fantasy debut. Sebastian has achieved something here in her first book that some authors haven’t achieved multiple series and sequels. I would definitely say it gave me vibes similar to Three Dark Crowns, Girls of Paper and Fire, and Shadow and Bone. If you really like any of those books then I’m confident that you’ll really enjoy this one and I really feel like it deserves more attention! The sequel, Lady Smoke, is already recieving fantastic views and I just cannot wait to pick it up!

I do feel like this book should come with some pretty heavy trigger warnings and you should proceed with caution if you might find any of these topics difficult: racism, assault, abuse, discussion of rape, slavery, war and death.

Not my normal read but I really did find the characters compelling enough to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did.

I really didn't mean to leave this book as late as I did, especially as it sounded so much like my cup of tea. I love fairy tales, and I especially love to hear them retold. Laura Sebastian's new series is a dark, twisted tale loosely based upon Cinderella. But Thora, our POV heroine, is so much more than a damsel in distress and looking for her Prince Charming.

So let me first of all say all of the things that I loved - which is a lengthy list! The characters were so complex and a lot of fun to read. I liked Thora/Theodosia, she was strong and refreshing to read, and I liked the delicate balance that Sebastian created between emotional and vulnerable, and bitter and cruel. The years of the Kaiser's influence has taken its toll, as have the memories of her mother before Astrea was conquered and the conflict she feels is written very well. I liked the other characters too - Soren and Cress were equally as complex and provided some great twists in the story. The plot was well executed, I felt hooked from beginning to end, and I'm already super excited to read the next book in the series!

I didn't quite make this a full five stars for a couple of reasons. While I liked the MC a lot, I do feel that the love triangle dynamic here was a little forced. Blaise and Theodosia had little to no chemistry and I didn't connect with them at all. Soren and Thora felt more natural, but were also a little bit quick - I'm not a huge fan of insta-love and I would say that this was on the cusp. I also felt that a couple of characters fell too heavily into an archetypal role - the Kaiser was just evil for the sake of being evil. But there was too much potential here for me to ignore, and when a book gives you that YES PLEASE MORE feeling, you can't ignore it.

Loved this book, very compelling and a fascinating twist on fairytale style dystopia. Looking forward to the next installlment.