"Ash Princess", an In-Depth Review

Now, compared to the previous book I had read, All the Stars and Teeth, this shot the competition out of the water. 

Should I start with what I enjoyed, or what I did not enjoy?

I suppose what I did not enjoy would be more entertaining.

This book had a lot of fun writing and really cool concepts. The pace was a lot slower, written in the form of a few sentence statements and little dialogue which I usually enjoy. Yet some of the writing fell flat. I feel like it's a very delicate style of writing, where you have to play it out just right. The dialogue has to flow in the same manner the general writing does, the language usually has to feel older or more sophisticated, and the structure of the plot can't be too rushed. There is romance involved, because all the books I read tend to have some semblance of romance, but it wasn't rushed (which is a common complaint of mine). So then what was there not to like?

The Shadows. 

If you've read this book, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, be warry of spoilers. 

Thora has three "Shadows" that follow her every waking move, and even her slumbering ones. Three men whose sole purpose in life is to follow her around and report back to the Kaiser. They have no families, no lovers, nothing to tie them to anything other than Thora. I loved. This concept. It added so much to the story and the general mood of the environment. You're telling me, Thora has three grown men that hide in her walls when she sleeps, and watches her through peep holes? They watch her dress, sleep, cry, talk with the general's daughter, eat, bathe, etc. Thora is so familiar with their presence, she can recognize who is who by their footprints and their snores, and even breathing patterns. Yet she's never seen their faces. Yet we're talking about what I didn't like. 

They were replaced so soon.

And far too easily, I will add. This was such a cool concept and really could have added more tension to the story, the fear of being discovered and caught was quickly thrown out the window when they are conveniently killed and replaced by Thora's old childhood friend Blaise and his new rebellion buddies. Why is it that these past two authors have gotten rid of and thrown out the very things that make their works so fun to read?

The fact that the Shadows' whole existence was to report to the Kaiser and monitor Thora would have me believe that there would be more intensive security measures in place regarding the actual Shadows themselves. So, the Kaiser is paranoid and cautious enough to have three men, who specialize in stealth and assassination, follow Thora around in fear of a rebellion or uprising. Not only that, but he was thorough enough to ensure they had no other attachments to anything outside their duty, but had no precautions in place if they were to become a target? We can easily say that the Kaiser is just a lazy arrogant fool, but then why assign the Shadows to Thora in the first place if you were too arrogant to believe there were no threats? It just felt like lazy writing, and it really brought me out of the story, as her original Shadows' deaths were not believable. It felt too easy, and too quick. If the death of the Shadows was to compliment the others' strengths and capabilities and their brutality/desperation that would come from prolonged suffering, I feel as if there weren't many other points to support that image of these three characters. I would have loved more of the tension the Shadows brought in the story; it was such a fun concept. 

Another small complaint of mine is more so of a personal struggle than it is a complaint of the author, but the use of names/titles that myself and probably many others have had little exposure to really makes some of the reading difficult. Frequently I found myself pausing to remember what Kaiser meant or implied or who he was to Thora, as well as several other titles like Soren's. It made reading the beginning of the book very messy for me and I found myself wishing there was some sort of vocabulary page with names and titles, and their pronunciation. It's not too big of a deal and I found myself catching on after continued reading, but it just made reading, and more importantly understanding the first few chapters somewhat difficult.

Next is the hate towards Soren near the end of the book.

???

Thora, (or at this point Theo), have you forgotten all of your previous sympathies for Soren? 

Up until the very end, Theo has a rather understanding and sympathetic outlook towards Soren despite the lives of her people he has taken, which further complicates her feelings for him and what she wants their relationship to look like. She sees Soren as someone similar to herself, stuck in a position of submission due to his father, the Kaiser. She sees them both as victims to the Kaiser, regretting previous decisions they had made, but also understanding that they were both powerless to make any other decision. Once Theo finds out about the Berserkers, she seems to forget all of the previous sympathy and understanding she had for Soren. I myself feel a bit complicated as well in how Theo viewed Soren after this.

On one hand, I understand. So many of Theo's people had suffered under the Kaiser's rule, enduring horrible treatment and ultimately succumbing under such harsh treatment to death. She has every right to feel angry with Soren for using her people as weapons of war, especially as Soren had kept it secret from her. He argues that he had no choice, that his father told him to do it, but I feel as if there could have been a way to let the people go without killing them, and the Kaiser knowing none the lesser. Or at least trying to free them. Yet one can argue that they were already driven mad with magic long before Soren was deployed with them, and they were already too far gone to be saved.

I can't imagine how much guilt must eat away at Theo, and my heart does go out to her. 

On the other hand, I don't understand how quickly she went from one side of the line to the other. Theo has known for the entire wishy-washy relationship they've had that Soren has killed her people. He even told her the names and expressed his grief for doing so. I understand that the way the Berserkers died was pretty inhumane, but so were the deaths of the rest of her people. Mine slaves, beaten castle servants, victims of SA and so forth. And Soren hated the fact that he did it, he explained to Theo that his father told him he had to do it, and he had no choice. Coming from someone who killed her own father because she had no choice, I feel as if it would be appropriate for Theo to have felt more conflict over the matter. There is no mental debate or "war" going on in her mind about what happened in that siege. Before Theo found out about the Berserkers, she felt bad for Soren once he returned. She knew that he was grieving, and that something had scarred him. She felt conflicted for him then, and even long before when he told her the names of her people he was forced to kill as a child. Before the Berserkers, she seemed to understand that both of them had killed her own people because they had no other option. If there was more disbelief, or just struggling to accept this fact and her overall opinion on Soren's character, I don't think I would have many gripes over this. But it was such a big jump from relating to Soren, to basically calling him a monster when she tells him later in the book that she only sees his father when she looks at him. 

Ouch. 

Poor Soren.

Another thing... the "plot twist" ending? I didn't really find myself enjoying it or reacting to it. Oh. wow. The pirate lady is your dead mother's twin. You have an aunt out there.

...

Okay? How does that affect the story at all? If it was something that was tied to the actual story a bit better, then maybe I would've enjoyed it, but this "cliff hanger" didn't really come off as a cliff hanger, and not a plot twist either, as there was no twist in the plot. There's just no relevance to the plot in this supposed "big reveal". It felt like a boring end to a book I was expecting more from.

And my final complaint... (Drum roll please)

Its repetitive.

Good Lord, can I just read a Romantasy book that is relatively original?? Maybe it's because the genre exploded with "BookTok" with the rise of TikTok from 2018 to the 2020 pandemic, but this genre is a big basket of apples. They do say that the bigger your basket of apples, the more bad apples you are bound to find, but ohmygosh I think I'll die if I pick up one more "bad apple". Female Heroine, lost princess. Two love interests, one who is supposed to be the MC's enemy, and another who is the MC's childhood friend. Unexplained magic systems and poor world building. FMC is supposed to become this bad-ss character but the bad-ssery seems to be given rather than developed. Far too often is the fantasy aspect in this genre straight up mutilated to make more room for a romantic setting. How about just, I don't know... writing more? Developing the scene more? It's okay to have a book that's more than 448 pages. I promise no one will complain about how long a book is if its written well and enjoyable to read. 

Onto the things I loved about this book.

I loved so many of the characters, and the way interactions between Thora/Theo were believable and relatable. 

The main character is put in a position where her old identity as Theodosia has been beaten out of her. Literally. She is in total survival mode; every step is over broken glass and she is trying desperately not to make a sound. Her mother was killed in front of her at the age of 8 years old, and ever since she has been fighting to live in a den of snakes. Her trust had been broken and betrayed multiple times, with the cost of physical beatings and watching executions and the deaths of her own people. Theo has so much trauma in her life, and the author did an amazing job showing how this could affect someone's mind and their very own identity. Repressed memories, PTSD symptoms, etc etc. Theo has formed a singular friendship with Cress out of a means of survival. Cress was the only person who had ever shown some kind of humanity for her when she was young, and she clung to that relationship like a life raft in the ocean. Theo knowns that Cress is not a true friend, but she smiles through it and entertains Cress's need for trivial gossip as a means of survival. I loved the way this relationship developed in the story, showing more light on Cress's view of Thora as the story progressed. It felt like such a punch to the gut after Theo tried reaching out to Cress, to involve her in her rebellion plot, and Cress denied. Urging her to remain the caged little bird she knew and loved Thora to be. The line where Theo realizes that Cress only loves her the way one would love a treasured pet also felt like a blow. I felt Theo's pain in that realization, but it also acted as a catalyst to harden her heart towards Cress, and to plot her murder. The shift from "My heart's sister" to murder plot was always one I enjoyed. Theo had shifted to a new form of survival after she killed her father. From hiding to fighting. It was so fun to watch that change through her interactions with the characters in the story. 

I really enjoyed Soren's character as well, or at least the concept of it. A prince (or Prinz, I don't understand the need for... unique titles in this book) who sees the evil in his father, and is also a victim of his cruelty. Obviously, he has not received a sliver of torment that Theo or her people have experienced at the hands of his father, but Soren seems to have a soft heart and just knowing what his father has done seems to have wounded him deeply. He is very gentle, kind, and well mannered, and I loved watching his character go from an unknown and untrustworthy one to a potential love interest. And a tool for Theo's escape. 

Blaise was fun for me as well, although his character did annoy me at times. He seemed very impatient, which is understandable considering all that he and the others have endured, but he never seemed to understand or grasp that he was in a different battlefield now. One where war is played differently. Yet I think that was the point of his character. He wants his people, and Theodosia, to be free and it was hard for him to sit back and play the necessary long game. The romance between Blaise and Theo was a gentle one, and I really enjoyed it. I loved every moment where he seemed to understand and connect with her over her pain, set aside his impatience and his lack of understanding and realize that Theo was suffering in a different way. 

I cannot say this loudly enough, I HATE rushed romances in the Romantasy genre. I'm tired of reading about a man's "velvet steel" or a woman's "melting core" or r-pey themes that are just outright disgusting (I'm looking at you, Sarah J. Maas). I want REAL. ROMANCE. Not lustful flings and insta-attractions that turn into some sort of relationship later in the series. 

The relationship between Theo and Blaise felt more like a real romance. Theo is in no place for intimacy. She is scared and broken and healing and planning her escape, several murder plots, and the revolution of her people. The last thing she needs is some hot and steamy from her childhood best friend. I respect Ms. Sebastian for that immensely. It was so refreshing to read the scene where Blaise and Theo cradle each other in their arms, nursing each other's emotional wounds and whispering promises to each other. In a setting with so much trauma and pain and suffering, this is the appropriate level of romance these characters should be experiencing. 

I also enjoyed how it wasn't really a love triangle. Not fully, at least. 

There was always the implication that it could become one, but Theo had always seemed to know that Soren was just supposed to be a tool. She seems to feel empathetic for him, and wish they both had better lives, and unsure if she actually has any romantic interest in him outside of her pity for their situations. Which I also found refreshing. It didn't feel forced. The possibility of Soren as a love interest instead of the forced position of one felt as if it gave the reader more time to learn the character, develop an opinion on the character, and even let Theo do the same. 

I absolutely adored the moment they kissed in the tunnels under the castle, and she goes to kill him but can't, and Soren tells her to aim a little higher. 

I just love a man who understands and accepts the consequences of his actions. He understands that Theo has every right to be angry with him, has every right to use him as a means of escape, and in his mind, every right to kill him. It also shows just how broken he was after the siege, the love he had for his men that died, his understanding that all the bloodshed was pointless, and just how much heart he has for Theo's people. There's a definitive dose of self-loathing here, and it felt like a window into his character.  

Last talking point before my conclusion, the Kaiser and Kaiserin.

The Kaiser is old, fat (I loved reading the scene where he tumbles from his chair and flails like a turtle) and has become lazy in his successes. He holds power through fear and manipulation. He has done an excellent job as reminding Theo that she is now Thora, and constantly makes it clear to her that he sees her as something he owns. I felt disgusted every time Theo had a dress delivered, and the Kaiser's growing lust was clearly shown in how revealing her dresses slowly became. I'm happy Ms. Sebastian didn't try to make Theo the type of FMC who overly leans into this "manipulate men with my body" theme and is suddenly okay with this type of treatment and sexual harassment. Theo acknowledges later in the book that it would be beneficial in manipulating Soren to let his father take some lewd actions towards her, but she is still highly uncomfortable and very disgusted by it. She never once agrees that it's okay, or even plays into enjoying it very much. She just lets it happen, and it ends there. Theo doesn't disrespect herself enough to throw herself at the Kaiser to try and win some battles in the political war she is facing. 

The Kaiser controls through manipulation. Any time Theo disobeys, her people perish. Every time her people disobey, she perishes. Relationships she treasured as a child were used against her, merely as an act to break her trust in anyone in the palace and keep her in constant fear. Some might say in their own reviews that they didn't really see the Kaier as some big bad evil guy because he didn't do much. Coming from someone who has experienced manipulation and has similar symptoms of their environment as the main character, I can tell you that it just simply not true. You do not need to be a big bad scary murder-y guy to be a bad person. Sure, the Kaiser himself hasn't directly murdered many people in the book, but he has killed Theo's spirit. Her will to live, her will to fight. He has taken her identity and forced her to become nothing more than a relic for him to parade around and openly lust after. Once his crude desires were made openly known to the reader, and a connection was made between Theo and the Kaiserin, he brutally murders his wife to give himself a fair excuse amongst his people to take Theo as a wife and use her for his desires. 

Ew.

That's pretty evil to me.

I really enjoyed the Kaiserin as well, she was another sign of the Kaiser's cruelty. She had become mad with hate and (implied) sexual abuse, and she respected Theo enough to try to warn her not to misbehave. She had seen herself in Theo, and in her own way tried to rescue her. She was also the hold the Kaiser had over Soren, as she was the only one Soren loved and cared for in the palace until Theo. Soren had to behave, or his mother would die.

It didn't matter anyways though, as the Kaiser had found a new shiny toy and tossed out the old one, by pushing her out the window. 

The visual description of his crown glinting in the window, Cress's horror at seeing death in her perfect fantasy world of gossip and boys, and Theo's survival skills coming into play by telling Cress to calm down and keep it secret, really helped make this moment impactful. I also wasn't expecting it. 

All in all, although there were some bits of the book I didn't enjoy, there were others that I did. 

I might continue this series down the road, as I am very curious to see what happens with Blaise and Soren, but I have a feeling the plot itself will probably falter and be filled with many holes. 

I gave this book a 6.5/10, and I do have hopes for the series. I just also know, there are a lot of bad apples out there.