A | A marvelous end to this outstanding trilogy that stayed consistently strong throughout the whole trilogy, Ember Queen is a great example of how to write the last book in a series. The book’s strength lies in Sebastian’s writing and her ability to make me care about all the characters — even those that I found annoying and even those who I should feel no sympathy for — as well as the relationships between them.

There will be spoilers below.

Title: Ember Queen (Ash Princess Trilogy #3)

Author: by Laura Sebastian

Synopsis: The thrilling conclusion to the series that began with the instant New York Times bestseller “made for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sabaa Tahir” (Bustle), Ember Queen is an epic fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people.

Princess Theodosia was a prisoner in her own country for a decade. Renamed the Ash Princess, she endured relentless abuse and ridicule from the Kaiser and his court. But though she wore a crown of ashes, there is fire in Theo’s blood. As the rightful heir to the Astrean crown, it runs in her veins. And if she learned nothing else from her mother, she learned that a Queen never cowers.

Now free, with a misfit army of rebels to back her, Theo must liberate her enslaved people and face a terrifying new enemy: the new Kaiserin. Imbued with a magic no one understands, the Kaiserin is determined to burn down anyone and everything in her way.

The Kaiserin’s strange power is growing stronger, and with Prinz Søren as her hostage, there is more at stake than ever. Theo must learn to embrace her own power if she has any hope of standing against the girl she once called her heart’s sister.

Publication Date: 4th February 2020

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— REVIEW:

Although this book is about the oppressed fighting against their oppressors, at its core is the people and their stories. Yes, there’s action, fighting, and all the things that come with war. However, at the heart of this book are the bonds our characters have with each other, the sacrifices they make for their country, and trust.

It is so easy to care about these characters — even those I know I shouldn’t care for at all. Why?

All of the characters are fleshed out.

Throughout this series, these characters have come to life. They remain alive and fleshed out in this final book. And I don’t just mean Theo — I mean the side characters as well. They each have some sort of backstory, something that makes them human rather than simply a means to an end.

Their development from Ash Princess to Ember Queen makes my jaw drop. Their growth throughout this whole series, but especially in this particular book, make me care about them as individuals rather than just as Theo’s trusted companions or her enemy.

If I was to talk about them all, I think I’d be here all day, so I’m going to focus on Theo and Cress. There’s a lot I can say about Theo (& about Cress, but she’ll come up later), so I’m going to try to keep it as short as I can. I admire Theo a lot.

She went from Thora, the Ash Princess, to Queen Theodosia.

In Lady Smoke, we see her basically learn to accept that her upbringing shaped her and her mindset. Rather than turn from it, she embraces it. All the while, she maintains her soft, loving heart.

Look, I love my soft characters. I love characters who aren’t ruthless. Tsukino Usagi is my absolute favorite character. She is so soft, trusting, silly, and cares so so so deeply for all of her loved ones. Yes, she kicks butt, however, she has always done her best to protect innocents. Usagi’s appeal lies in the fact that she is still so kind-hearted, so clumsy, and allowed to be a teenage girl even with the fate of the world on her shoulders.

But I also love characters that are willing to be schemers and are willing to manipulate those around them to get things done. I love characters that understand that sometimes, sacrifices have to be made.

Theo understands her responsibilities as a queen and a leader of a revolution. But it took her a while to come to terms with it but once she did? I clapped.

Not to mention Lady Smoke again, but when I was reading the book, I just found Theo to be is a hypocritical, frustrating, and prideful character who was too naive to lead a revolution and a country. She couldn’t make those hard choices.

But in this book? She finally got her head out of her a$$ and thought like a budding queen rather than a little princess playing pretend. A part of this is due (in part I think) to the fact that she comes to accept that the Kaiser’s upbringing seeped into her soul. Again, she remains a soft-hearted person, but her accepting that it’s okay to be a little schemer and manipulator allowed her to grow and think like a Queen. She grew to accept that her hands will get bloody.

She would have never won against Cress otherwise.

Speaking of Cress, can I just take this moment to hug my copy of this book? Ok confession. I REALLY didn’t like Cress in the first book. I thought she was incredibly selfish. When she told Theo to sit down, shut up, and be a good girl? I was ready to FIGHT. But in this book?

Wow, what a 180. I feel in love with Cress. She is such a compelling (& a little bit of a sympathetic) villain. Now, okay, she is the daughter of oppressors. She IS an oppressor. She is not someone any of us should feel bad for because she was a willing participant in the oppression of a group of people. She turns a blind eye to her “heart sister’s” suffering. When she becomes Kaiserin, she had her army slaughter people. She offers women magic, fire, and this strange sisterhood where they kill their husbands and other people in their lives who tried to control them. She is power-hungry and utterly ambitious.

Yet, I couldn’t help but feel bad for her at times. I pitied her. I can’t help but wonder what sort of hell she went through after Theo tried to kill her and after she married the Kaiser.

And that is what makes her so compelling. The Kaiser was a horrible, utterly cruel man. But I thought he was a sh!tty villain. He felt more like a joke — a parody.

But Cress? Oh man, oh man. She had an ax to grind. I love that. It’s personal for her. She uses her intellect and manipulates people into giving her what she wants — more power and more people to control. I love seeing villains with a grudge against the main character(s). It adds spice to the story, especially when you couple it with the fact that Theo herself continued to think of Cress by her nickname rather than “the Kaiserin”.

It speaks volumes about both Theo and Cress.

For Cress, she is driven by betrayal and loneliness as much as she’s driven by her lust for power and her ambitions. She can’t get over Theo’s betrayal, yet she still longs for her because she is all alone.

Meanwhile, we have Theo who is surrounded by people who love her and people she trusts. Yet, there’s that part of her that misses Cress.

Co-dependency? Yeah.

I wasn’t kidding when I said that I don’t think Theo would have won if she didn’t learn to accept the responsibilities of being Queen come with having bloody hands. As I said, Theo kept calling Cress by this nickname instead of distancing herself and saying, “the Kaiserin.” And Cress? Well, that’s too many spoilers.

What really drives it home for me is the fact that this relationship between two former friends — heart sisters as they called themselves — along with all the other relationships was really well written.

But the writing overall was splendid.

The pacing was just right. I never felt like it went too quickly or went too slowly. I will say it’s far more action-packed than the second book in the series. However, it still allows for the characters and their relationships to develop while the plot continues to unfold.

Overall?

I highly recommend this series. I know there are those out there that say this is similar to another book series or two out there. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to those similarities. I can tell you that I really enjoyed this book.

I can tell you that Ember Queen is a fantastic, character-driven novel that focuses on family, trust, love, friendship, and betrayal. While there are certainly those moments throughout the book (and the series, actually), that I just found annoying, these did not reduce my enjoyment of the books.

The Fantastic Flying Book Club Book Tours — Join the Conversation.

I want to thank FFBC as well as Delacorte Press & Penguin Random House for not only allowing me to take part in this blog tour, but for also sending me all three books in the series. Make sure to check out the other reviews by other bloggers & to go to my Instagram to check out the post I made there.

About the Author

Laura Sebastian was born and raised in South Florida (the Redlands and Key Largo) and has always loved telling stories–many apologies to her little brother who often got in trouble because of them. No copies of her first book, a Cinderella retelling about angels circa 2nd grade, remain. Thankfully.

After getting her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City thinking that she would stay for a couple of years before going somewhere better suited for a small-town, sun-loving girl. Five years later, she’s still here and madly in love with it.

When Laura isn’t writing, she’s probably reading, baking cookies or cupcakes, buying more clothes than her overstuffed closet can fit, or forcing her lazy dog Neville to take a walk.

Her debut ASH PRINCESS, the start of a YA fantasy trilogy, will be out April 24th, 2018 from Delacorte (Random House).

Check her out @ the following social media pages:

Goodreads | Website | Twitter | | Instagram

Giveaway Time !!

Enter for a chance to win 1 copy of EMBER QUEEN by Laura Sebastian (US Only). The giveaway will start on MARCH 16th 2020 and will ‪finish on MARCH 30th 2020.‬ Enter here!

There is also an Instagram exclusive giveaway. If you haven’t visited my Instagram yet, head on over to @mooncoffeebooks to get more information.