Quick little review for you all – because LET. ME. TELL. YOU. I’ve been busy. School, turning 30 (omg), work, wedding stuff, boat stuff – life has gotten to me. But anyway, in the middle of all of the madness, I finished Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian.
Book two of the Ash Princess series starts us off on the Smoke – notorious pirate Dragonbane’s legendary ship. Princess Theodosia and her rag tag group have successfully escaped Astrea, but not quite as smoothly or as to plan as they’d hope. This sequel takes them on their next steps in the long journey towards reclaiming her throne, and getting their country back.
I won’t lie – this book did not live up to the standard I became accustomed to in the first book. Ash Princess was very different for me. It was a wild tale of a captured princess put on display to continually show her subjects her defeat. Ok, so it’s not a crazy original concept, but I really enjoyed it. Lady Smoke was slooooow going. There were good moments for sure, but it didn’t really pick up until the very end. I also found myself rooting against Theo. I just found her to be too naive, too rash, and just too typical teenager. And maybe that’s my fault – it’s a young adult novel, she’s a young character, nothing out of the ordinary – but in this case it bothered me.
All that being said, I will continue the series. The ending was absolutely phenomenal, really went in a direction I wasn’t expecting, and killed my very soul with it’s cliffhanger. Three stars – I’ll try to keep hopes up for Ember Queen.
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