Blood and Ash Series: Book #1, From Blood and Ash
Firstly, I want to begin by expressing my grief at taking so long to review this series. I didn’t expect to be so drained of motivation after slogging through each book, but after nearly finishing book #3 I burnt out. I burn out hard. I don’t think I’ve ever taken psychic damage from a book before! Now that that is out of the way –Onward!
Plot summary: Penellaphe is known to the Kingdom of Solis as “The Maiden”. This means she has been chosen by the gods to welcome a new era. This also means that she is denied human interaction, the privilege to reveal her face, and the ability to travel freely. She is essentially a glorified prisoner awaiting her Ascension and remaining hidden from The Dark One; a man who would supposedly kill her if given the chance. Then one day, a new guard is tasked with keeping her safe after her last two guards die suddenly. This new guard is named Hawke and he’s hiding something dark...
Soft spoilers past this point!
From Blood and Ash is my favorite book in the series so far, largely due to the fact that the ending was surprisingly entertaining. But alas, I’m getting ahead of myself. From Blood and Ash begins by introducing Penellaphe as the maiden and the reader quickly realizes that she isn’t treated great. Something I appreciated about Penellaphe, or Poppy as she is more commonly referred to, is her independence despite her chains. She is constantly fighting and I always appreciate a strong female character. This book in particular has a great sense of pacing and a healthy amount of romance while still moving the plot forward and fleshing out world intrigue. Part of that intrigue is the fresh take on vampires and werewolves that is presented. They aren’t just sparkly Edward Cullens or Underworld punks. There are three different races of vampires and they all have different origins but the one thing they all have in common is: blood. While the Atlantians feel reminiscent of Greek Mythology the other races feel somewhat like spinoffs from traditional depictions of vampires. Overall though, I found their introduction to be super interesting.
What From Blood and Ash lacks, though, is descriptive writing. Sometimes it is unclear where the characters are oriented within a space or who is talking. This might seem a bit nit-picky, but it was something that took me out of the reading experience.
Big spoiler ahead:
The thing that made me really enjoy this book was the end. Not because it ended (har-har), but because of the twist! Hawke is revealed as The Dark One, or Casteel Da’Neer, the Prince of Atlantia (AKA Solis’s sworn enemy) and his entire character shifts in the span of a page, but it’s still somehow subtle enough to be believable.
I read online that some readers felt the end was too predictable and while I assumed there was more to Hawke than met the eye, I honestly didn’t think he was The Dark One. So I disagree with it being ‘too predictable’ but if you’ve read any of my other reviews you’ll know that I don’t have a problem with predictability in a book anyway. I think it can be enjoyable to feel that building tension as you know what's about to be revealed to the main protagonist. Sometimes the payoff is worth it, despite knowing.
Note: Book #2 Review will be live by the weekend.
My Review: 3.5/5