OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Carissa Broadbent has been concerning teachers and parents with mercilessly grim tales since she was roughly nine years old. Since then, her stories have gotten (slightly) less depressing and (hopefully a lot?) more readable. Today, she writes novels that blend epic fantasy plots with a heaping dose of romance. She lives with her husband, her son, and one perpetually skeptical cat in Rhode Island.

FORMAT/INFO: The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King was traditionally published on June 4th, 2024; it was originally self-published April 14th, 2023. It is 591 pages long and told from Oraya and Raihn's POV. It is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS:  The Kejari is over and the outcome isn’t what anyone expected. The entire kingdom has been thrown into turmoil due to the shocking upheaval that saw a new ruler rise to power. As the various Houses shift their alliances to take advantage of the chaos, Oraya finds herself with no friends or allies, a prisoner in her own home. Only one path may lead her to freedom: a mysterious relic hidden somewhere in the kingdom by her father. But to reach it, she’ll have to trust the man who utterly betrayed her.

The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King is an overly-long conclusion to this fantasy romance duology. While it is roughly the same length as the first book, I found myself dragging myself through this sequel, rather than tearing through the pages. That may have a bit to do with the simple difference in plot. The Serpent and the Wings of Night centered around a competition, which is a trope I love and was ready to devour. I really enjoyed watching the contestants figuring out the tricks to the games and the alliances that were made and broken, all while Oraya and Raihn fell in love.

Here, the plot just felt extremely slow. I can’t pinpoint why exactly that is, because it's full of things I should love: court politics, betrayals, mysteries in a castle. There are some definite highlights: the middle of the book in particular interjected some much needed action that temporarily had me hooked into the book once more. And I was genuinely empathetic about Oraya’s struggle to balance processing her grief with the pressing need to defend her kingdom.

But at the end of the day, I think the slowness may come down to the great sin for a romance novel: I wasn’t particularly interested in the romance this time around. The spark that had been there in the first book seemed to be missing. Even allowing for the fact that, as a romance novel, I know where the romance plot is going, I wasn't grabbed by the journey the characters took to get there.

For me, the reason why I wasn't grabbed can be traced to the lack of difference between the two POVs in this book. Unlike book one, which was all Oraya's POV, this second book alternates between Oraya and Raihn. Even though the chapters are clearly labeled, I would find myself assuming the chapter belonged to one person, then get confused when they made a plot statement that didn't make sense for their character, then realize I was actually in the other POV. They didn't have unique voices, which made it a bit bland and muddled and therefore difficult to get into the emotions that drive the romance plot forward.

CONCLUSION: At the end of the day, The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King is perfectly fine, if lackluster duology conclusion. The story does have some genuinely good, heart-pounding moments, but in a 600 page book, they were small bursts of momentum in a story that tended to drag. Your mileage may vary depending on how invested you are in the romance in this second outing, but for me, this wasn't the smashing conclusion I was hoping for.