Gilded Ashes

Rosamund Hodge is a master storyteller. Even her short stories make an emotional impact.
It was nice to dive back into Cruel Beauty world again.

This was really good.
It wasn't as good as Cruel Beauty tho it was a quick read.
My only complaint is that Ingifex wasn't in it very much.

Well, that was...kinda depressing. I'm all for dark retellings - after all, I knew that's what I was getting with this. But there's a difference between ‘dark' and ‘depressing' and this feels too much like the latter for me to say I loved it.But, really, my biggest issue is that the climax scene reminds me of another book. One that it took me forever to recall - so that was time during the ending where I was supposed to be greedily reading that, instead, I was setting down my kindle and searching through Goodreads to remember the book. I'll have to check my copy when I get home, but I'm pretty sure it was [b:The Stepsister Scheme 3598195 The Stepsister Scheme (Princess, #1) Jim C. Hines https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1305016198s/3598195.jpg 3640889] by Jim C. Hines. Almost 100% sure. So, yeah, to me this seems a little...less original than it was probably supposed to feel. I will say, whatever flaws I have with the author's writing, I do love the leading men she creates and Anax is quite possibly my favorite of the bunch.