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[katara]

Queen of Ashes by May Freighter

Series:
Empire of Shattered Crowns

Genre:
Isakei'd, Japanese Fiction, Fantasy, BookSirens, Book Series, Paranormal, Historical Fiction, Medieval, Third Person Point of View, Asian Comics, Manga, Manhwa, Manhua, Comedy

Publication Date:
September 30, 2023

Pages Numbers:
232

Read Date:
August 22nd, 2023

Date Finished:
August 22nd, 2023

Rating:
5/5

Blurb:

Prince Thessian needs to strengthen the bonds with his allies in the Dante Kingdom, especially if he plans to protect his strong-willed regent. Life would be much simpler if his subordinates could stay out of trouble, and the criminal he's after didn’t make him doubt his family.

Meanwhile, Emilia is plagued with nightmares and feels she can't go on if she loses any of her dear friends. In a game of chess, pawns need to be sacrificed, but Emilia isn't used to others giving their lives for her.

With powerful mages crawling out of the woodwork and well-kept secrets that could shake the foundation of the continent, Emilia is certain she has deviated the main plot.

What will she and Thessian sacrifice for the greater good?

Review:

I love it when the second book of a novel expands on its world-building. Oftentimes, the author unseemingly dumps a ton of information within the first book that causes character growth and plotline expansion to come to a slow start. This often leads to the reader deciding that a second book is not necessarily going to be their next read.

The first book did not do that. We had a build-up world but we also had a chance for the characters to have a backstory and we were introduced to a world that came from a novel. We had our female lead use the novel's contents to her advantage in order to change the direction of her fate. She showed she was no weak character and that she needed to depend on any of her male leads. No, she took matters into her own and established herself within the pages of this novel.

This is always a nice change. We always see females depend heavily on their development from their male leads and Emilia does not. To some, she might be some damsel in distress, but she continues to prove herself capable from time to time.

Even the secondary characters are not in the background of this novel. They shine. They make mistakes. And they still prove their worth even to the main leads.

Okay, except Laurence. I have to say that he is exceptionally hilarious. Every word coming from his mouth always seems to bring the comedy to a much-needed reprieve from the novel's necessary storyline, but he does prove to be a human with flaws. He still carries the weight from past troubles and I believe he uses his zingers and comedic performance in order to hide behind that.

As this novel progresses, I see a lot of build-up with the next novel. We have a secret that came out toward the end and on top of all this, Emilia even seems to be questioning herself. As the novel changes, she is not sure about herself. She had gone in recklessly and caused harm to one of her own. She is trying to be strong and allow herself to continue to hold the weight of the crown on herself, but she does need to learn to lean on others.

I do understand her wariness to do so. She was used in her previous life and thus she does have trust issues, but the characters that surrounded her and shown no reason not to trust them, especially Ambrose.

And now that we have some new characters that have come in, I am hoping that we see more of these, especially the beastmen. I would love to know their lore and how they have survived all this time.

That's it! I am done with handsome men for the day!

Oh hunny, I don't think are. LOL There are several men you can choose from. Please don't keep us waiting for long, my dear. Hell, if there is a love triangle to come, sign me up for that! I will definitely be bringing the popcorn for it.

Final Thought:

While the romance is not in the second book, the comedy makes up for it. You will definitely like Laurence a lot.

Similar Books:

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
Rule of the Aurora King by Nisha J. Tuli
Wicked Coven: An Enemies to Lovers, High-Stakes Witchy Romance by A.S. Green

*Disclaimer: Thank you to the author, her publishers, and BookSirens for allowing me to read and review this book. The opinions of this review are mine and mine alone.