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A review by mackenzierm
A Crown of Ash and Silver by B.C. FaJohn
3.0
Aurelie Cane's life is forever changed after striking a deal with a slimy merchant. She finds herself traded to the fae to maintain peace between the two realms and her captor intends to sell her hand in marriage in exchange for his own personal gain. Aurelie confides in her bodyguard, Eero, and soon uncovers the truth of her bloodlines and magic, as well as the fact that her guard has quite a few secrets of his own. Together, Aurelie and Eero dig up forgotten evil leaving Aurelie with a choice that could tear apart kingdoms.
A CROWN OF ASH & SILVER gives off strong ACOTAR vibes at the beginning, which took me some time to mentally parse through and separate the overt similarities between the two stories. As with most fantasy books I've read, there's a strong need for some world-building, context to the magic, as well as context to the current occurrences in the book. I found this part of the book to be somewhat adequate, although I would have liked more context on the history of the magic/bloodlines/kingdoms, as I felt that there's a lot going on currently that began a couple centuries ago and I wasn't entirely clear on the how, why, and what. The author has a note in the beginning of the book that explains her other trilogy (The Runed) explains the magic system in greater detail but I feel like this should have also been addressed here as this is an entirely different series and a reader may not have picked up the other series before starting here.
I enjoyed the dual POV alternating between Aurelie and Eero's perspectives. Both characters have the potential to be interesting and I liked the dynamic they shared. As a slow burn romance, their relationship is well written and their chemistry becomes palpable as the book progresses. There is a small amount of open-door spice within the novel. I thought the concept of mates was pretty cool and am interested in having this expanded upon further as I don't really feel it got addressed here. While I liked both characters, I did find Aurelie to be a bit too meek and naive. I am hopeful for her continued character growth in the next book. I also feel like Eero is hiding a lot of secrets and information from Aurelie and am worried this may lead to unnecessary miscommunications.
The plot is intriguing and feels as though this book is building up towards the plot of book 2. The first 3/4 of this book felt a bit long and uneventful, but the last 15-20% of it really made up for it. There's a lot of big reveals, action, and plot development that occurs and truly convinced me that I should pick up my ARC of book 2 next!
Many thanks to the author for providing a gifted digital copy of this novel.
A CROWN OF ASH & SILVER gives off strong ACOTAR vibes at the beginning, which took me some time to mentally parse through and separate the overt similarities between the two stories. As with most fantasy books I've read, there's a strong need for some world-building, context to the magic, as well as context to the current occurrences in the book. I found this part of the book to be somewhat adequate, although I would have liked more context on the history of the magic/bloodlines/kingdoms, as I felt that there's a lot going on currently that began a couple centuries ago and I wasn't entirely clear on the how, why, and what. The author has a note in the beginning of the book that explains her other trilogy (The Runed) explains the magic system in greater detail but I feel like this should have also been addressed here as this is an entirely different series and a reader may not have picked up the other series before starting here.
I enjoyed the dual POV alternating between Aurelie and Eero's perspectives. Both characters have the potential to be interesting and I liked the dynamic they shared. As a slow burn romance, their relationship is well written and their chemistry becomes palpable as the book progresses. There is a small amount of open-door spice within the novel. I thought the concept of mates was pretty cool and am interested in having this expanded upon further as I don't really feel it got addressed here. While I liked both characters, I did find Aurelie to be a bit too meek and naive. I am hopeful for her continued character growth in the next book. I also feel like Eero is hiding a lot of secrets and information from Aurelie and am worried this may lead to unnecessary miscommunications.
The plot is intriguing and feels as though this book is building up towards the plot of book 2. The first 3/4 of this book felt a bit long and uneventful, but the last 15-20% of it really made up for it. There's a lot of big reveals, action, and plot development that occurs and truly convinced me that I should pick up my ARC of book 2 next!
Many thanks to the author for providing a gifted digital copy of this novel.