Ashlords

"Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Children's Publishing for letting me read and review this fantastic book.<br/>I've read The Nyxia Triad by Scott Reintgen and knew from reading that series that he was a great writer with wonderful stories. I am so excited I got to read this book and can't wait for the next book after this one because I have questions that need answers. <br/>I'm super curious about some things after reading Ashlords with the characters and their stories, what's going to happen to them and with everything, but I'm also super curious to know about some side stories and characters like Quinn for example.<br/>This is pitched as Red Rising meets The Scorpio Races and while I don't know about Red Rising because I haven't read that yet, I can see the similarities with The Scorpio Races. What I kept thinking and being reminded of when I was reading this are The Scorpio Races as mentioned and The Hunger Games. I kept having lots of memories and flashbacks to things/ideas from The Hunger Games.<br/>It's about three phoenix horse riders - yes phoenix horses! and the riders are skilled in alchemy, which you have to be to know how to create the best horse for riding in The Races. In The Races, you have to defend the ashes of your horse at night, but you aren't allowed to kill only maim, injure or poison the ashes of the horse. There are 11 riders in The Races, but only a few that have something to gain or lose.<br/>The Ashlords follows these few characters and what happens with them during The Races. There's Pippa who is a favorite, one they expect to win and her parents were winners in previous years of The Races, The guy she wants to be with, Bravos, who's all about winning. Then there are the others who I was more interested in, Adrian, the Longhand, from one of the other groups/races of people there that are ruled over by the Ashlords and Imelda Beru, the Alchemist, who's the one who gets in on scholarship and is part of one of the other races that's ruled over by the Ashlords as well so these two characters have more to lose.<br/>It's an emotional and intense ride through the book with the characters and you get to understand a lot by the end of this book that sets it up well and leaves you hanging with wanting to know what will happen next. This is one you need to have on your radar and make sure to read!"

"I very much liked this book. I was not interested in how the story plays out in the aftermath though. I wish they could have gone deeper into the Phoenix horses. The book makes it feel like we should just know everything about them already and doesn't explain much about them."

"I'm not gonna lie to you guys, the flaming pony is the only reason I'm here.<br/><br/><img src="https://i.gifer.com/D7pL.gif" width="" height="" alt="A PONY?!">"

"Tries to have a cool horse race, doesn’t pull it off as well as the Scorpio Races. Sure the phoenixes are pretty cool, definitely the best part of the book, but we don’t learn nearly enough about them. <br/>Tries to have a cool high stakes televised reality competition like the Hunger Games, but it’s seriously underwhelming. <br/>Tries to have a rebellion to break away from said competition, but it’s too abrupt and weak. Again trying to imitate Hunger Games but doing a much worse job. <br/>I can handle present tense narrative. It’s annoying, but I get used to it. I can also handle multiple POVs. But when two of the POVs are in first person and the last is in second person? Really disconcerting and jarring. <br/>So interesting premise, poor execution. Not interesting enough for me to want to read the sequel."

"Very cool concept reminds me of the Scorpio Races"

"Amazing book, really underrated. It gives hunger games vibes but with phoenixes. Throughout the book you follow 3 of the 11 candidates for the Races. "