Ember Queen Review

    After her country being enslaved for the past decade, Theo is determined to use the fire in her veins to fight the new Kaiserin and liberate her people. The Kaiserin will not be easily beat by a group of ragtag rebels, though. She will use her new power to keep control. After all, what better weapon is there than one your enemy doesn't understand? The Kaiserin's power is only increasing, and with Soren her hostage, there is even more at stake. Theo only has one option: embrace her birthright and power.

    Keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. This review is only my opinion, and you may have your own, different one. I would take into consideration what I say, but do not make a decision about the book solely based off of this review. Let's begin:

    I am sad to see Theo's story come to an end. I really enjoyed her story and watching her grow from the Ash Princess to the Ember Queen. However, if it had to end, I could not have asked for a better conclusion. 

    One of the things I praised most about the first book in the series was how clever the political mind games were. I absolutely adored that. This book kept up with those excellently. We were given an introduction to how well the author writes action scenes in the second book; however, she proves that she is great at this a lot this time around. I was captivated by the action scenes, especially once we got towards the last hundred pages.

    My love for all of the characters grew exponentially, something I did not think possible. Her character development is so strong and is one of the things that makes this series so amazing. If I do not like the characters or cannot grow attached to them, there is almost zero chance of me liking the book. That is not something that Laura Sebastian ever will have to worry about though, it seems. If she keeps writing such fantastic characters, I will love all her future work I'm sure. I also give her props for writing villains that I love to hate. At this point, that happened so much that I am debating making Cress my favorite character. Blaise, out of all of the major characters, was always the one I had the weakest affection for, but I feel like that changed with this book. I officially like him a ton, just like the others.

    I always appreciate authors who are not afraid to kill off main characters. Too often, there is no risk factor keeping you on your toes with major characters because you know the author would never kill them. So I will say it plain out, I appreciate you Laura Sebastian. I will not say any specifics to avoid spoilers; however, I felt it necessary to give credit where credit is due. 

    I can safely say that I really want a spirit gem now. I probably would not be able to handle what you need to in order to get one, but they are just so cool. I love all of the powers, how they were explained, and how they were portrayed. While Cress did not get her powers from the mines, her abilities are amazing. I knew it was going to be interesting any time powers were involved, but it was especially fun with Crescentia. 

    Sebstian does a wonderful job of making you feel like one thing is going to happen, but then changing the game completely. There were quite a few times where I felt for sure something would happen and then it didn't. It was pretty difficult for me to predict what would happen too much, so I never got bored.

    I loved the ending of the book (again, no spoilers). I felt that it was the perfect way to conclude the trilogy. It left me feeling satisfied, but also with a slight book hangover. The author did justice for all of her characters.

    Once more, Sebastian kills it with the title. I mean, I seriously cannot express just how perfect I find her titles. I love them as both nicknames for Theo and titles for the books. The cover design is also yet again gorgeous and meaningful. I absolutely hate when titles and covers either do not make sense or are not even the slightest bit significant, so I am elated that she kept up the fantastic titles and covers. I remain appreciative of the beautiful map.

    Overall, this was an epic, heart-breaking, and satisfying conclusion to a great trilogy. I would highly recommend giving it a read. I will be on the lookout for more work from this author in the future.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Author: Laura Sebastian

Publisher: Delacorte Press

# of Pages: 462 (465 with acknowledgments)

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Series: Ash Princess (book 3)