Ember Lady Smoke

People need to stop sleeping on this series. It’s so good! Political intrigue, interesting magic system, flawed characters you want to root for. I think I may prefer this second installment to the first, which isn’t a common thing with second books. Theo is a great protagonist. She is strong-willed and intelligent, using her wits to navigate the murky political landscape. She is surrounded by a bunch of people (mostly men) who are trying to use her for their own gain and she is not having any of it. There is a scene I particularly like where a ruler is explaining to her that she is going to have to prove her purity (virginity) before she can be married off to anyone. She states that in her culture there is no importance placed on chastity and that if she is to adhere to such an affront to her privacy then she expects the man she might consent to marry also undergo an exam to test his purity. There is one WTF moment with Theo that I wish had been handled differently, because her actions felt out of character for her and like they were done simply to move the plot along, but I felt like it could’ve been done in a more believable way. I love the found family aspect of this book as well, and how people who wouldn’t normally have anything in common are compelled to work together toward a common purpose. This second book expands on the world introduced in Ash Princess in a big way. I like that we see cultures that are completely different from both the Kalavaxian and Astrean cultures. Some are led by women, some men. Some are inherited while others are elected. There is even a kingdom that is ruled by religious oligarchy. Each of these countries were culturally unique and I really appreciated that. I also appreciated the fact that this book had several characters who identified as something other than straight, and that it wasn’t treated as a shocking thing. I would tell anyone who thinks this will just be a copycat of numerous other ‘kingdom fantasy’ series to give the first book a try. I found myself flying through this book and cannot wait for the conclusion.

I was a bit nervous getting a used but made sure to look at all conditions and this seller was correct on it being very good but it looked so new after expecting and recommend. I’m happy to finally continue the serious.

The second book in the series and sadly it has the typical second book problem, for most of the book it feels like nothing really happens and it's quite boring. Just a lot of talking and scenes that just felt unnecessary. At the end we got a lot of action but even there I missed some more '' passion '' from the MC. While everything happened I didn't feel that much of it. I just missed something. The book was okay just not a 100% obsessed with it.

Llegó en perfectas condiciones y me encanta el libro

Le dernier tome de la saga est bien ! Je reste sur ma faim car j’aurais aimé un chapitre sur « l’après-guerre »