mrs_mander_reads
Written on Jan 25, 2021
Great fantasy plot with a sprinkling of well-known fairy tales.
Welcome to Nissera, land of three kingdoms and home to spectacular magic.
Bristal, a sixteen-year-old kitchen maid, finds herself in a gritty fairy tale gone wrong when she discovers she has magic in her blood. She's descended from an ancient line of immortal sorcerers called elicromancers—a race that has all but died out in her world, but only two remain in Nissera after a bloody civil war. Bristal joins their ranks without knowing that one of them has a dark secret . . .
Tamarice is plotting a quest to overthrow the realm's nobility and take charge herself. Together, Bristal and Brack must guard the three kingdoms of Nissera against Tamarice's black elicromancy. There are princesses to protect, royal alliances to forge, and fierce monsters to battle—all with the hope of preserving peace.
With clever homages to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, Hannah West makes a fast-paced, exciting, and wholly original debut. The Nissera Chronicles begin here and continue with Fields of Fire, a short story set against the events of Kingdom of Ash and Briars, and Realm of Ruins, a gripping companion novel.
"One of the best books I've ever read."—C.J. Redwine, New York Times best-selling author of The Shadow Queen
"A world both terrifying and wonderful."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
- ISBN10 0823436519
- ISBN13 9780823436514
- Publish Date 30 August 2016
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Holiday House Inc
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 368
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780823436514
Reviews
Great fantasy plot with a sprinkling of well-known fairy tales.
tweetybugshouse
Written on Mar 22, 2020
Building on homages to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jane Austen’s Emma and the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, Hannah West makes a spectacular debut.
Briana @ Pages Unbound
Written on Dec 1, 2016
West tries to cram a lot of action into a small space, and the result is extremely bad pacing. Conflicts are all resolved within pages of being introduced. There is no development, no suspense. It's all quite episodic and choppy. This applies to some of the fairy tales, as well. The Cinderella aspect is a side note of about two chapters. And, of course, that means characters are not developed either. There is a of telling and very little showing because there simply is no time for it. Instalove is a common issue.
[Minor Spoilers Next Paragraph]
Because of this, I was simply never really invested in Bristal or her issues. Of course, Bristal often seems barely invested in her own problems. For instance, she is whisked away from her home to study magic once she becomes an elicromancer--and home never comes up again. Apparently she wasn't really attached to anyone she used to know. I know she's an orphan, but she was adopted and ought to have felt some responsibility towards her adoptive mother and any friends she had. Even weirder, roughly 16 years pass between the start of the novel when Bristal gains her powers and the story proper. This means Bristal must be roughly 30 years old, yet the book never drops the YA tone or the teenage voice for Bristal herself. There was a huge disconnect for me here.
Finally, a lot of the story was simply cliche. This was not because of the references to fairy tales, which could make any retelling "predictable" in some way. It was simply that everything fit into a neat little pattern of perfection, in ways that are overused in fantasy in particular. There are times cliches are satisfying, but I found this book just exhausting.
I was really looking forward to Kingdom of Ash and Briars. I wish I had more good things to say. Unfortunately, I wanted to DNF about 10 pages in and only finished because I was required to, having agreed to review the book for another site. I have to recommend passing on this one.
cornerfolds
Written on Sep 10, 2016
Initial reaction:
DNF @ 55%
Fun fact: I LOVE fairytale retellings! I participate in a retelling challenge every year and actively seek them out because they're usually amazing. When I first saw Kingdom of Ash and Briars earlier this year I knew I had to have it and, when I had the opportunity to read an ARC, of course I said yes! With such an amazing lineup of tales, I expected nothing short of greatness!
Kingdom of Ash and Briars is about Bristal, a kitchen maid who is literally dragged to her magical fate as an elicromancer. The first page of this book throws the reader directly into the action along with Bristal so we really don't learn anything about her or what's going on. We also learn about the magical aspects and lore of her world as she navigates her story. Although I wasn't able to connect with Bristal very much, I did enjoy her for the most part. The way she was written did make her seem really interesting, but also distant. There were other characters in the story who were important, but equally as difficult to connect with.
Unfortunately I put this book down at 55% so I didn't get very far into the Bristal's romance, so I can't really say much about that. Instead I'd like to comment on the romance between Rosamund and her prince. Look, I understand that this is supposed to be the Sleeping Beauty part of the story but I honestly wanted to throw up when I read that he loved her and would do anything for her after knowing her for maybe a couple hours. Yes, the Disney version was very instalovey, but come on. This is a retelling. Why can't it be, you know, retold? I have no idea if the Cinderella part of the book was as bad in the romance department because I only saw the very beginning of it.
Which brings me to the story. This is marketed as a fairytale retelling and it is certainly a fairytale mashup but I'm not sure if "retelling" is the appropriate word. Usually (and maybe I've just happened upon this type of book thus far) a retelling uses aspects of a well-known story and makes into something almost entirely new. This is the first time I've seen so many fairytales basically smashed together with a couple details tweaked and they are literally just one after another.
Kingdom of Ash and Briars had the potential to be amazing! Bristal's story apart from all of the other fairytales could have been fantastic on its own. I was really interested in everything she had to do to basically try to save the world from a crazy person, but it got really bogged down for me on the way there and I just couldn't keep going. And this is coming from someone who loves fairytale retellings! The magic had the potential to be an amazing aspect of the story but was never quite expanded upon enough to really make sense.
I wanted to love this so much and I really hate not enjoying a book, especially when it was given to me for review, but I just couldn't finish this. I tried off and on for nearly a month before just calling it quits and passing it on to another blogger. Luckily for all of you, I seem to be in the minority on this one! Retellings remain my favorite thing to read. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the one for me.