After The Serpent & the Wings of Night, I knew I wanted to read The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King. And while I definitely enjoyed book one more, this was a solid sequel! I am so excited for the rest of the books within this world. Keep reading this book review of The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King for my full thoughts.
Summary
In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.
The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.
When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.
But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
In The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King, forgiveness is a huge theme. After the events in book one, how can Raihn and Oraya ever trust each other? The betrayals, the lies, can there be a chance they could ever speak again? Within The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King we explore rebellion. We explore the idea of making alliances with people we hate just to wrest back power. All these awful compromises we are forced to make. But after so many of these, have we become the very powerful, cruel, force we tried to depose? What can make true change within a kingdom?
No one is ever uncomplicated or easy to trust in The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King. It asks us what we would do for power and revenge. What would we do if our power was threatened or if we have to take what we think we deserve. Haunted by what happened, we see snapshots of the Raihn’s past which I really enjoyed. Impacted by his past, what kind of King will Raihn be? Between Raihn and Oraya, there are these wounds they’ve deal with, but also how they love deeply and completely. They’ve wounded each other so badly, but can they re-ignite?
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For Oraya, she finally has the option to figure out who she will be away from her father’s presence. But as she tries to establish who she wants to be, she finds out she knew less about her father than she thought. The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King is certainly a book less about the pulse pounding games from the beginning and about power transition and rebellion. If you like books about politics, scheming in ball gowns, and sneaking around this might appeal to you more than The Serpent & the Wings of Night. It’s like a deeply decadent deadly political dance with the icing of romance on top.
Find The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.