Ash Princess (Ash Princess, #1)

by Laura Sebastian

Even though this is yet another book about a princess who lost her family and wants to take over her kingdom again, it felt so different than other stories. For once, our main character was not this strong female character who could do everything alone. She was real. She struggled, she did not know what to do, she had the hardest time doing what should be done, instead of doing what she had done for the last ten years, ignoring her people and their suffering.

It was great to see a story about a young woman who had no clue how to save her kingdom, who was basically raised by the enemies, therefore her own judgment was clouded. At the beginning of the book, we see her waiting for ten years until someone comes and saves her. When she has to kill Ampelio, her father and only hope, she doesn't see that she has to fight to save her people. To be honest, I did not expect her to see it at that moment. People had to go to her, tell her that they believe in her, and even then, she often wanted to be selfish and just live out her life as it was. I get it. She did not ask to be queen, she has lived longer under the oppression of the enemies than in her own lovely, heartwarming home, she is not used to ruling a kingdom, and when she saw her mother rule, she was only a small child, not feeling any responsibilities yet. She has flaws, throughout the whole book, and that is one of the main reasons why I loved it so much. I could understand her, her doubts, her pain, and her reasoning because she was just this seventeen-year-old girl, who just wants to live and not have to spark a rebellion to take back her country. She is not ready for that kind of responsibility, and at the end of the book, I was still doubting if she was ready.

Let's talk about the love triangle. It is very well done, it did not bother me, it is only a small part of the story, and I even doubt if there is any love between Thora/Theo/Theodosia and Blaise. Their first kiss was very strange, and the second time they kissed it felt more as if they were reassuring themselves to be okay, not out of love. So if we are going towards that romance, I hope that the storyline will get more realistic.
The romance with Søren felt real. Søren really seemed to care for her and I think she cares a lot for him as well. I wonder how the story had gone if her Shadows hadn't pushed her to be against him so much. I believe that they could have had a great rebellion with the two of them against the king. However, probably one of them would die and if the author would not have gone that way, the book wouldn't have had five stars as I have given it now.

I loved her highly disturbing friendship with Cress. Obviously, she had no idea how to love someone and only wanted people she could command around and who would have done anything for her. Theodosia had no one, thus she was the perfect best friend. I love the contrast between the friendship and hate that these two characters endure during this story and how their friendship develops.

Overall, I love this book so much because it felt real. The magic system was nice, but not special. The story itself was nice, but not special. The characters, realness, and not shying away from the brutality of it all, made it special for me.

I read a review of someone saying that authors should not use the brutality of the enemies as a way to make their main character strong. I do not believe that our main character was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to be flawed, broken, and afraid. The only reason why she kept going, was the people who started to believe in her and depend on her. Not the brutality of her enemies.