Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian - Book Review

''Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia's family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess--a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.

For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She's endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.

Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn't always won on the battlefield.

For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here."

This book wasn't the best, but it wasn't too bad either. It did feel like all the other YAs I've read, but I suppose I should expect books of the same genre to be similar. After all, there's not much that authors can do with a girl main character and a prince. Plotwise, the book was predictable and not very unique, but some interesting parts made it nicer.

It began slowly, taking its time for the plot to thicken. I was very bored for a while and the characters did nothing to make it better. I hated Theodosia from start to end. Prinz Søren really had no personality and I can't say he was much better than her. Balise had been added just for Theo to have a childhood friend in the picture, and for someone with whom she could reminisce about her dear lost homeland Astrea. Looking back, I didn't like any of the characters, so I must have kept going only in the hopes of the story getting better. And I do not like comparing books, but this was starting to feel too much like Red Queen. 

The author had glorified Astrea way too much. If the dresses were nice, they were Astrean, if anyone knew how to make swords, they were Astreans, if there was any single nice thing at all, it belonged to Astrea. Theo's hate of the enemy Kalovaxians had been taken to a great extent, and she was in love with Astrean culture without even knowing much about it. Her dislike of the Kalovaxia battle commander, Theyn, was justified, yet she forgave all the same actions when they were done by the Prinz.

The plot. It was predictable and I could have told you before I started the book that she wasn't going to murder Søren. And that in the end she would run away from the palace and start a rebel group. With the Prinz. I've read too many similar books, to not know anymore. The writing style was good enough, but along with Astrea, Theodosia had been glorified a lot as well. None of her rebel actions got her into any trouble until she wanted to get caught. Everything she did conveniently happened well, and she was able to fool all her enemies with her acting skills and big brains. It wouldn't have hurt if she had failed once or twice. I refuse to believe that a pampered princess who goes on to be a captive is as good scheming as she was. She had hardly been educated enough. 

I also didn't understand why she whined so much. Sure, her kingdom had been taken away and she would no longer be queen, but her life as a captive was as good as it gets. She was allowed to roam the land with her best friend, attend parties and somehow even dance classes, and the only catch was that she would be watched. And even that she managed to make an asset for herself by replacing her Shadows with her fellow rebel friends. And worse was how Blaise and Søren and the others kept encouraging her and eating up the lies she told them. Annoying Prinz Søren with hiz uselezz brainz and uselezz skillz. I tell you, that man could do nothing.

Honestly, after writing all that, I forget what I had liked. But the book did get better towards the end. Once the story picked up, I could focus on that instead of on the characters, making it bearable. Drangonsbane being her mother's twin was unnecessary, but perhaps the author will make good enough use of it later to justify it. I'm going to read the next book someday, so I could not have hated it too much. 2 and a half stars due to the dull beginning and frustrating characters and predictable plot. Wait, what was it that I liked again? Oh, nothing. Maybe just two stars then.