Emily May's Reviews > Ash Princess

Is it better to have your life ended by someone who hates you or someone who loves you?

Ash Princess has a heroine desperately trying to reclaim her stolen throne, a mindlessly evil tyrant who stole said throne, and a love triangle... What's that, you say? You've heard this one before? Yeah, me too.

That being said, to give credit where it's due, it stands out for being compulsively readable and entertaining.

Plot and character-wise, it resembles many other YA fantasies. But I was just complaining in my review of Sky in the Deep about how I keep reading a lot of “shallow and emotionless” YA fantasy books, and this happens to be one that breaks the pattern. I can't deny it is very compelling, though it relies heavily on violence, abuse and misery to keep us turning the pages.

I'll spare you a plot summary - you can probably guess it anyway - and just say there's a rightful queen held captive by the conquerors of her kingdom who must assist the underground rebellion and reclaim her throne. Whilst fighting off the hot dudes along the way, of course.

Many are comparing this to Red Queen, which I did think was shallow and emotionless. Instead, I’d compare it to Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes - both books are heavy on the violence, feature slavery as a theme, have a love triangle (sort of) and an evil tyrant driving the drama and action. They are also similarly paced and engaging.

Aside from an awkward infodump in the first chapter, it goes down smoothly. The violence and unfairness make it easy to keep turning the pages. Shortly after the book opens Theo is forced to murder her father, and nothing gets me reading like a nice dose of fury at the injustice of it all. Theo's undercover manipulations are also fun to read.

Some of the major plot aspects seem illogical, such as why the new king (called the Kaiser 🙄) would leave the rightful heir alive. The book tries to explain it away but it doesn't really make much sense. Surely if you want to dampen any hope of reinstating the rightful monarch then you would just kill the rightful monarch.

I should warn that it is at times grim and gory. Slavery is a norm; beatings, torture and rape (non-graphic) are common. The divide between the dark-haired, olive-skinned Astrean people and the pale-skinned, blonde-haired Kalovaxians is clearly along racial lines.

BUT what can I say? It is also an entertaining pageturner. If you have room in your heart (and on your bookshelves) for another fantasy with princesses, evil rulers, rebellion and romance, then you could definitely do worse than this one.

TW: graphic abuse and torture; rape (non-graphic); racism.

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