Ashes of Gold (Sequel to Wings of Ebony) by J. Elle
Published by: Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, January 11, 2022
Source: Simon & Schuster Giveaway
Genres: Diversity, Fantasy, Own Voices, Young Adult
Rue has no memory of how she ended up locked in a basement prison without her magic or her allies. But she’s a girl from the East Row. And girls from the East Row don’t give up. Girls from the East Row pick themselves back up when they fall. Girls from the East Row break themselves out.
But reuniting with her friends is only half the battle. When she finds them again, Rue makes a vow: she will find a way to return the magic that the Chancellor has stolen from her father’s people. Yet even on Yiyo Peak, Rue is a misfit—with half a foot back in Houston and half a heart that is human as well as god, she’s not sure she’s the right person to lead the fight to reclaim a glorious past.
When a betrayal sends her into a tailspin, Rue must decide who to trust and how to be the leader that her people deserve…because if she doesn’t, it isn’t just Yiyo that will be destroyed—it will be Rue herself.A brief synopsis and My Expectations
Rue is a teenage girl that very recently found out that she is half human and half magical. Her father, whom she grew up without returns after the death of her mother to bring her back ot his magical home land, Ghizon. She's snatched away from everything and everyone she loves including her baby sister. Rue travels back to her hometown, Houston Texas, with the help of her new magical friend. Some things go down while Rue is in Houston and sets the story of the first book into motion.
By the end of the first book, both Houston and Ghizon undergo some major changes. At the beginning of book two we find Rue in Ghizon preparing to fight for her people and their magic. She makes some pretty disastrous mistakes that cost her and her people dearly. She's captured by the Chancellor, the villain, and must figure out how to correct her mistakes and turn the tables for the good. Since I'd read book one and kind of have a feel of J. Elle's writing style, I knew what I was in for in that regard. I was eager to read this sequel to see where the story goes from where it left off in Wings of Ebony, see how the characters developed, and learn more about Ghizon and its people. I liked Wings of Ebony well enough (I wasn't enamored, but I did like it) and hoped that the sequel would be an out of the park hit as a chaser to book one. I love the character Rue and the fact that she is this rough and tumble "diamond" from Houston (I'm from Houston and spent some of my formative years in Third Ward, the inspiration for East Row). With the first book being mostly about a secondary opponent, I was really interested in seeing where the story went with the rivalry with the Chancellor.
So for me... This was a sequel that I both wanted and needed to answer some lingering questions left by book one.
Things I liked about this Novel (Liked not loved)
The love triangle. A good love triangle is one of my favorite tropes. So I really enjoyed some of the plot building of the teeter-totter between Julius and Jhamal.
Rue's vulnerability. We saw so much more of an insecure teenage girl and less of the rough and tough, my mama raised the hardest girls attitude and got to see Rue crack (as humans do).
The Friend to lover to enemy storyline was one of my favorite parts of the book. Though not executed as well as I would have liked, it was sentimental and engaging.
The plot line of one of the secondary opponents. At first I thought it random and unnecessary, but it ended up being integral to the move the story forward.
Zora. I loved Zora's character. I wish she didn't come off quite so flat, but I loved her as an addition. Also, Zora's plot line was very well done in my opinion, one of the best in the story.
The new characters. One of my favorite things was the way Elle introduces some new players. I also love how you don't really know what to make of these players right away.
Things that I wasn't a fan of in this novel:
Being told the story. This entire novel comes off as if Rue is sitting down with me recounting her story instead of me experiencing it with her. We are told all her thoughts, but we don't feel them. Told the epiphanies, fed the suspicions instead of being led to personal discovery. I feel like I was not allowed to be an active reader.
The half done betrayal. While reading the story it was really easy to see that the author was trying to MAKE the audience feel a certain way about certain characters, but it wasn't believable. It was rather easy for me to guess exactly who the author was setting up as a decoy, who was being scapegoated as an adversary and who was the actual secondary opponent. It was just kind of poorly done. This goes back to being told the story instead of experiencing it.
The love triangle. As much as I love a love triangle. This one fell short. The idea that it existed at all was cool, but Rue's connections with both parties were just not developed well enough.
The magic system is barely outlined. We don't know what Rue and the Ghizoni are supposed to be able to do with their magic. So when things happen you're left to wonder, well why didn't she just do this or that... For instance, we know that at the height of their power the Ghizoni could moved mountains and move clouds, but could they heal? Save lives? If not, why? If you can move a mountain with the flick of your rest, why wouldn't you be able to heal the sick or hurt.
The Wrap Up
As I stated Ashes of Gold was a sequel that I both wanted and needed, but unfortunately there were just as many cons as there were pros. I found it hard to stay in the story as I was often irritated with being told how Rue felt instead of feeling the experience. This book felt very middle grade to me. Not in a bad way, just not quite complexed enough for a older YA audience. Was it worth the time it took to read it (About four days)? I'd say yes. I'd like to maybe hear it as an audiobook, maybe that would build the love connections better, hearing the conversations. I don't know, I didn't hate it, but I was blown away either. It was an enjoyable story regardless of complaints. A few times it occurred to me that perhaps the story was rushed or maybe there hadn't been enough eyes on it during editing. Either way, this story landed smack in the middle of my scale.