ARC Review: Ash Princess (Ash Princess Trilogy, #1)

About The Book:

  Title:  Ash Princess (Ash Princess Trilogy, #1) 

  Author: Laura Sebastian 
  Pub. Date: April 24th, 2018 
  Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers 
  Pages: 432

  Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy 

  Rate: 4/5 stars 

Synopsis :

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Queen of Flame and Fury, was murdered before her eyes. Ten years later, Theo has learned to survive under the relentless abuse of the Kaiser and his court as the ridiculed “Ash Princess.” Pretending to be empty-headed and naive when she's not enduring brutal whippings, she pushes down all other thoughts but one: Keep the Kaiser happy and he will keep you safe.

When the Kaiser forces her to execute her last hope of rescue, Theo can't keep her feelings and memories pushed down any longer. She vows revenge, throwing herself into a plot to seduce and murder the Kaiser's warrior son with the help of a group of magically gifted and volatile rebels. But Theo doesn't expect to develop feelings for the Prinz. Or for her rebel allies to challenge her friendship with the one person who's been kind to her throughout the last hopeless decade: her heart's sister, Cress.

Cornered into impossible choices and unable to trust even those who are on her side, Theo will have to decide how far she's willing to go to save her people and how much of herself she's willing to sacrifice to become queen.

Review:

Ash Princess is a new YA fantasy series debut starring an orphaned princess, a forbidden love interest, a rebellion, and some secondary characters that are used to drive the plot. As far as YA fantasys go, this one was pretty decent and I did like most of the characters. While I thought the plot was pretty typical, I still enjoyed it.

The main character, Theo, was orphaned as a little girl when the Kalovaxians came in and took over. Her mother and people were gifted with different kinds of magic that are better wielded when they are in the possession of these gems. Since then, the Kaiser (german for King), uses her as leverage to keep the Astrean rebels from inciting anything too violent. The Kaiser forces the Astreans to work in the mines and turn over these valuable gems to him. His leverage on Theo includes beatings, skimpy outfits, and an ash crown that she wears during most public functions. Her (kind of) friend Cress was one of my favorite characters. I loved her development and found her most interesting because she rode that line between good and bad. There is a love triangle and I think it was done ok. I like both Blaise (childhood crush and current rebel) and Soren (the cruel King's empathetic son), however I like Soren more. While he has a rough exterior, he tries to be a good Prinz (German for Prince) and he wants to change how his dad is ruling things. Plus I like the added tension that her friend, Cress, has a crush on him.

One thing I didn't like was the heavy impression that Germans are the bad guys. I am German, I know those words are all of german origin. The world building was decent. I loved the idea of the magic mines and all of the descriptions that went with it. I thought that was amazing. However, I wanted more of a description of the castle. OR A MAP! Yes, a map would actually contribute so much to the overall impact of the book and pack a better punch.

Ash Princess hit the mark as far as typical YA fantasy. It follows the basic YA fantasy formula, and that's fine. It was executed pretty well. So, all of my YA fantasy fans will definitely enjoy this one. I am going to be grabbing the follow up to Ash Princess when it's available basically because I really want to know what will happen to my favorite characters (Soren, Cress, and Theo). Overall, Ash Princess was a decent YA fantasy. However, I don't think it's necessarily something we haven't seen before.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers for providing this
book in exchange for my honest review 

- Jocelyn