(This was more of a 2.75-star read, but I rounded up to 3 stars)

Before you start reading this book, definitely check out the glossary in the back. Unless you'd like to decipher the language Wexler uses yourself. Because I jumped right into the story, I found myself very lost at the beginning of the book. It wasn't until I made the connection that the terms being used were similar to those in Star Wars. The Centarchs could be compared to Jedi, and Maya (and the other Agathia) could be seen as Padawans.

Ashes of the Sun did not feel very story-driven. Really, this felt like a series of events that just kind of happened. Nothing tied the story together. The characters were going on mission after mission, and for what? There didn't seem to be an end goal, for Maya at least. Gyre's goal was to overturn the entire Order. Hopefully, in the future books in the series, more sense is made of the events that happened.

The one thing that was tying me to this book was the characters. Because we are following two separate paths throughout the book, we meet many side characters. I enjoyed how the characters were written and I was interested to see how they would tie into the main story. I wish I was able to feel a bit more of a connection to these characters, though. We did see many side characters die throughout the story, and I didn't even think about their deaths after they happened. Perhaps it was because the characters also had little care for the deaths of their friends. 

I also appreciated the LGBT representation within the story. It was great to see this in the main character and in other background characters. However, I do not believe I appreciated the relationship between Maya and Beq. I wish we got to see their relationship develop further, as Maya's attraction to Beq was simply on a physical level. Hopefully, that is something we will see further in the series.

Ashes of the Sun had great world-building and a fantastic magic system. If you're a reader who can appreciate lore, this may be the book for you. However, if you are looking for a fantasy with characters that tug on your heartstrings, you may want to skip out on this one.

One of the reasons Brandon Sanderson took off, I suspect, is that he manages to bring an urban fantasy feel to more high fantasy or epic fantasy settings. In Ashes of the Sun, Django Wexler accomplishes a similar feat. This is a book set in a world incredibly different from our own, a land reminiscent of the epic fantasy books that for a time dominated this genre, yet the pacing and style are much closer to urban fantasy. I find that very appealing, and even though it took me a few more days to read than normal, I was captivated by this book from beginning to end.

I received this book for free from NetGalley and Orbit in exchange for a review.

Maya and Gyre are brother and sister, torn asunder by the Twilight Order, a powerful group of magic-wielders who uphold the Dawn Republic. Taken from her family at age 5, Maya has is now 17 and on track to graduating from a magical apprenticeship to become a centarch, a magical guardian of the Order who can shape the force of creation to her own martial ends. Gyre, figuratively and literally scarred by the abduction of sister when he as only 8, now makes a living as a bit of a rebel in the city of Deepfire. His ardent passion: the destruction of the Order and the Republic, but to do that, he’s going to need some seriously powerful tools. Fate, of course, conspires to throw these siblings together at the most inopportune time while they are on opposite sides—and to be honest, if you think you know what’s going to happen, you’re probably wrong! But no spoilers.

I mentioned Sanderson at the top for a reason: fans of Sanderson will recognize a lot of his worldbuilding style here, although to be honest, I prefer Wexler’s looser formulation of magic, etc.—Sanderson’s quite strict approach always left me a little cold. Nevertheless, the whole worldbuilding of this book is impressively deep and creative in scope. Some of the names—Twilight Order, Dawn Republic—in Ashes of the Sun feel a little clichéd, but this book’s world and story are anything but. We’re in fallen civilization mode; the Republic and surrounding kingdoms cling to the technological and magical remnants of two, much older and much more powerful non-human civilizations that fought a massive war sometime in the past and basically wiped each other out. Maya believes the Order is a force for good, albeit sometimes maybe too forceful—Wexler sketches out internecine politics within the Order that make for an excellent subplot with just the right amount of intrigue. Gyre, on the other hand, his mind poisoned against the Order ever since that fateful day on his parents’ farm, sees it as a restraint on the rest of humanity, holding them back from achieving something … well, he’s not sure what, but something great! In this way, the two siblings embody a kind of order/chaos duality, which is reinforced by the alternating chapter structure of the narrative. This doesn’t always work great in a book, yet Wexler stays committed to this structure for pretty much the entire book, and it really works here. I found myself so obsessed with one character’s story, only to be yanked away from them to the other character at the worst time, so of course I had to keep reading!

The character development here is top shelf. Maya isn’t exactly a Chosen One, which I love, but she does have something special about her—something Wexler teases us with yet stubbornly leaves for a future book to explore further. Well done! In addition to the growth that Maya and Gyre experience, several of the supporting cast also grow. In particular, Tanax begins the story as a very stereotypical antagonist, and I was concerned that’s all he would remain. Yet his growth is some of the most impressive, most realistic of the entire book. The only character who truly remains static and somewhat melodramatic is Naumoriel, in my opinion, with his grating “boy” and “girl” every time he tries to sound condescending. Ok, boomer.

And then we have the romance. As you may know, I’m aromantic, and romance in books tends to do little for me. At best I just ignore it. Yet Maya and Beq??? SO ADORABLE. That’s all I‘m going to say about that, really, except for two addenda: this is an f/f relationship (to be clear); also, this book very explicitly mentions masturbation and we need more of that kind of honesty. Ashes of the Sun has a kind of relentlessly queer undercurrent to it, and unlike some books where that’s the case, none of the bad guys ever stoop to homophobia as a way of insulting or belittling the protagonists. At one point, we learn that Maya’s mentor taught her that people might be attracted to men, women, both, or neither—hello shoutout to asexuality (even if the phrasing does perpetuate a gender binary)! All in all, I love the way Wexler handles the romance and sexuality in this book.

If I haven’t given you enough reasons yet to read Ashes of the Sun, I don’t know what else to say. This is one of the most original fantasy books I’ve read in ages. I love how it ends; I want to read a sequel, which apparently isn’t far off; I even fell for the romance. How’s that for a trifecta?

The concept of this book was fantastic, and the first 10% held up to that.  But the story was slogged down by details and description and overall moved much too slowly...

This story follows two siblings separated, and made to fight on different sides of a war. I was first drawn into the book because the two main POVs had one male and one female and I thought that would be a nice change to many other classic fantasy books.  I really enjoyed the main characters, although i felt like too many side characters were introduced in the beginning leaving me confused.  

The world was a spectacular place too.  A great mix of sci-fi and fantasy with some cool twists.  

I also enjoyed that the author took us for a journey with the magic system and didn't stop to hold the reader's hand.  I feel that many people might not like that, but I enjoy having to try and figure things out as I'm going.  The magic was enjoyable to read about, and much like the world was complex and unique.

I currently am fighting off a cold and could not stand to focus long enough on the large bodies of what felt like pointless description, so I will be DNFing this book, but I think it is something I would be will to check out again in the future.  I think the author could have improved the story by getting to the plot quicker and shortening the book by about 100 pages.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for providing an ARC of this book.

My thanks to Orbit, Django Wexler and Netgalley.
It's funny, "in an odd way funny." Two or three years ago I would never have read a book like this. My idea of fantasy was very fantasized! I still believe that Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is the best thing ever. Sanderson also rock's, although he will never finish the books I want him to. Not in my lifetime. However, somewhere between waiting for Sanderson, and Martin, I discovered Jay Kristoff and his Nevernight trilogy. Mark Lawrence and his Red Sister trilogy.
If not for them and a few others, I never would have given this book a chance. 
I will admit that immediately I was drawn into this story. From there, I expected a whole bunch of lame. Until the last 30%. You know, strong start, boring middle and action packed ending. It is a trilogy after all!
I was wrong.
Gyre is almost the anti-hero. So set on a path that he's willing to sacrifice "friends." He has 2 books to make that up to me! Until then? I don't care how great he is. He's a loser.
 Maya? She's everything any woman or anyone really would aspire to be. I love her completely! 
Together? I look forward to both taking down the system. Maybe?
If you want an in depth review, look elsewhere. I don't do that. I review only on feelings. This book and it's characters gave me the feels! 
I have no problem recommending this book! Be warned though. Once you read it, then you'll be scrabbling for the next two!

First Impression: The prologue gave me the strong start to a story that I have not encountered in years. Then you find an alternating POV that slowing reveals an incredible world while developing that background of the two main characters. Many of the more recent stories that I have read relay heavily on “info dumps” to jump start the world building and context for the main plot; that is not something I appreciate much.  Of course, many other readers have exactly the opposite opinion, which I am sure is why such continues to be popular. If you are somebody who does not enjoy the ambiguity of a slowly revealed world, you can jump to the back and read through the glossary (where IMHO info dumps belong) and then come back to enjoy this remarkable world as it unfolds.

Final Impression: This is an exemplar of the writer’s craft. The author gives us a vivid dystopian world with just a touch of Lovecraftian horror with a built in conflict between the creative powers of elemental magic and life itself … highlighting the corruptive potential of both. Each character encounter revealed just a little bit more of this fascinating world, giving just enough detail to provide the context needed to support the character’s story.  Bottomline … I believe the world building here is second to none. Now add the people. Nobody is the villain in their own story. As the author develops the conflict between siblings who suffered a painful separation as children, I find myself empathizing with both of them, which makes the conflict here all the more tragic. By the end, I could see how each of them had developed and grown until the end of their redemptive arc could be seen on the horizon (sequels)? What sets this story apart from many though, is the detail and individuality put into the supporting cast … with whom I could identify as well. All of the characters were flawed.  All of the characters had some redeemable value. That all combines to make this story all the more real to me and I absolutely loved it.

The author notes in his acknowledgements that this book was subject to extensive writes and editing, with large portions of it eventually being tossed out … and all of the hard work paid off. This is one of the few books in recent memory that now sits on my favorites shelf while I anxiously await the sequel.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#AshesOfTheSun #NetGalley

Thankful for that glossary! Lots of names and terms to keep up with - but it didn’t bother me at all. I loved the sibling storyline - especially brother/sister. Lots of action and drama kept me entertained throughout!

Ashes of the Sun is the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy by author Django Wexler.  Wexler is a bit of a prolific writer this decade in the genre but I've only read before his YA fantasy series, The Wells of Sorcery (Ship of Smoke and Steel, City of Stone and Silence).  I've really really liked the Wells of Sorcery so far, with its dark YA fantasy taking some very surprising turns, featuring very solid romantic subplots, and dealing with some very strong themes.  So I was interested to check out Wexler's newest work when I saw it pop up on NetGalley.



The result is a very enjoyable, if long (when he says "epic", he means it) epic fantasy novel, which begins a new trilogy but also manages to tell a satisfying self contained story at the same time.  Like Wells of Sorcery, there are clearly Star Wars influences here: this world features an organization of energy wielding crusaders called "Centarchs" who are supposedly independent arbiters of justice in a world mainly governed by a "Republic", which will call to mind some clear Star Wars concepts.  But Wexler takes these directions in different directions, with one of our protagonists being on the opposite side of the Centarchs resulting in a plot that is very much its own.  Add in some really interesting characters and very solid dialogue, and it all adds up to a very enjoyable trilogy starter.





----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------

As a little girl, Maya was frequently sick, but she had a loving family and an older brother in Gyre who cared for her.  But when a Centarch of the Twilight Order comes to take her away from that family, Gyre refuses to let Maya go, and the Centarch uses his searing power of deiat to destroy one of his eyes and cause him massive pain.



Years later, Maya has attained the rank of Agathios in the Order, and is perhaps on the verge of becoming a full Centarch herself.  Two things separate her from the rest of the Order - her mentor is a bit of a maverick and belongs to a less stringent political faction - and the strange object, the "Thing", implanted in her chest as a child to control her illness, and which she has been told to keep secret.  Yet when politics forces Maya away from her mentor for the first time, she begins to see that the rest of the order doesn't have the same ideals of justice as she does...



Meanwhile, Gyre has left his family a long time ago, and found himself in the outsider city of Deepfire.  There he has become a prominent leader of the city's rebels against the Deepfire's cruel corrupt ruler, under the name "Halfmask".  But what Gyre really seeks is some power that can enable him not just to fight a small rebellion, but to possibly overturn the Twilight Order's control over power itself, and to ensure acts like the ones that took his sister and scarred him never happen again.  And when a reckless young woman promises to take him to a legendary place that might contain that such power, he leaps at the chance, no matter how reckless.



Gyre and Maya haven't seen each other since that fateful day years ago, but fate will conspire to bring them together once again....only this time, they will be on opposite sides, and the fate of the world may hang in the balance......

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I mentioned above, Ashes of the Sun very clearly has Star Wars influences, as made explicitly clear by the book's own acknowledgements.  We have a Republic which relies upon an independent group of energy wielding warriors to help promote order (the Twilight Order) - an Order that relies upon taking children with gifts from their families, willing or not.  Like the Jedi, the Order was once meant for fighting against an ancient enemy and forbids certain practices associated with them.  You can easily see some of the critiques about the Star Wars political system that results being shown here, with the Order being more explicitly controlling and dictatorial (and corrupt) than the Jedi, and the Republic only really being good for those in wealth, and not those who are downtrodden - especially those outside its borders who get all of the downsides and none of the benefits.



This is made even clearer by a major difference from Star Wars - the Order didn't come about on its own, but is the remnant of a seemingly extinct race known as the Chosen, who died off in their final fight against the Ghouls, another elder and seemingly extinct race, whose objects of power the Order tries to heavily control.  In other words, the Order isn't some independently formed powerful group for the purpose of justice - it's a group that was created by people who are long gone, still acting despite their original purpose being gone....and still impacting the lives of many.



This setup creates the world of Gyre and Maya, both really interesting characters, and the story bounces back and forth between the two of them every chapter (and occasionally within the same chapter).  Maya barely remembers her childhood, and doesn't remember what happened when she was taken, and was raised by the Order.  Fortunately for her, she was raised by a member of the order's "Pragmatic" faction, which believes in helping people first and foremost and otherwise trying to stay out of peoples' lives - as opposed to the "Dogmatic" faction which believes their foremost priority is wiping out all traces of Ghoul technology/artifacts and that anyone who stands in the way of same must be pushed aside.  So she's kind and compassionate, with a sense of justice that often makes her a bit reckless and gets here into trouble because she absolutely always wants to do the right thing.



But again that upbringing has essentially sheltered her from the realities of the world - of its poverty and cruelty and even in how other members of the Order act and how that affects how the world looks at them.  And even in ordinary things like romance and sexual want - a thing that becomes clear as Maya becomes attracted to another girl of the Order, an arcanist named Beq, who gets assigned to her mission.  Maya is extremely clever at times but her lack of experience and naivete in both the world and in personal matters makes her a very enjoyable heroine to read - especially with Wexler's excellent dialogue/thoughts-writing.



By contrast, Gyre is extremely experienced - in both the cruelties of the world and of matters near and personal (at one point in the book Gyre is having sex in a cave while at the same time far away Maya is awkwardly trying to figure out how to kiss, for instance).  Like his sister, Gyre is very quick witted and has a sense for justice.  Unlike his sister, he doesn't see that justice as coming from a central authority, as all of these he's seen in this world, be it the Republic, a Corrupt Aristocrat, or the Twilight Order, and he wants especially to take down the Order and give people freedom from what he sees as dictatorial rule.  Gyre has found himself a role in a group of rebels in the city, with people who care about him, and with a role there helping people.  And like his sister, Gyre genuinely cares about those people....except it's just not enough for him.  Gyre needs to destroy the entire world order, not just a city, no matter what it costs him.



In a nice twist, Gyre is no fool about this ambition - he knows it's insanely dangerous and likely to lead to bad outcomes if he can even find a way to put it into action, and it hurts him that it will.  He also knows that if he does wind up seeing Maya ever again, she will likely be fully "indoctrinated" in the Order's ethos, and not the little sister he remembers.  This doesn't stop him and his commitment - he knows it has to be done, and so he'll try to minimize the harm he causes, but he will absolutely not give up.  It is a nice twist on the classic two siblings on opposite sides dynamics - Gyre is aiming to find and work for the most likely bad guys in this trilogy, but he is fully aware of what he's doing and what he may find, and so the reunion isn't some traumatic experience like you'd expect for him.



These two characters and the minor characters are really well done, and help to build a plot that keeps you on edge, with the characters' quick thinking resulting in turns that made me smile on more than one occasion.  Wexler's dialogue and character moments are as spot on here as they are in his Wells of Sorcery trilogy, making the book read really quickly for one that is still pretty damn long.  And in a nice surprise, while the book does tease several plot threads that it doesn't resolve, the main arc of the story IS resolved by this novel, so one could actually be satisfied stopping here, and will be satisfied even if they don't.



So yeah, this is a really solid and enjoyable epic fantasy novel, and I look forward to its continuation for sure.  It never really reaches into true brilliance, so I wouldn't declare it a must read, but it's a very good read if you're looking for something new in Epic Fantasy.

I received an ARC of Ashes of the Sun from Orbit in exchange for an honest review. 

When I read Django Wexler’s Shadow Campaigns series, I knew he was an author to watch: his writing was crisp, his storytelling was kinetic, and he put female and queer characters front and center without fanfare. So I was eager to pick up the first entry in Burningblade & Silvereye, his next series for adults. Ashes of the Sun doesn’t quite come together in the end, but it still delivers a wildly enjoyable ride which crackles with the endearing characters and sharp, energetic writing I expect from Wexler. 

Wexler openly acknowledges the influence of Star Wars on Ashes of the Sun, and the inspiration is obvious—four hundred years after a war which left the world in ruins, centarchs (Jedi), who wield deiat (the Force) and weapons called haken (lightsabers), maintain peace throughout the Republic. A centarch shows up one day at the farm where eight-year-old Gyre and five-year-old Maya live with their parents, and Gyre’s younger sister is forcibly recruited into the Twilight Order; Gyre attacks the centarch who takes her, an action which costs him an eye. The story proper picks up twelve years later, with Maya training to be a centarch under her master, Jaedia, and Gyre determined to bring down the Order at any cost. 

The worldbuilding similarities to Star Wars can be somewhat distracting at times, but the story is different enough that it didn’t detract from my enjoyment (spoiler: there are no sibling kisses to be found in this book). I also found the influence of Star Wars to be helpful in establishing the type of story Wexler wants to tell—it’s fun and relatively lighthearted, a rollicking adventure largely uninterested in interrogating its deeper themes. I tend to crave a bit more substance in my fiction, something meaningful I can chew on after I am finished with the text, but I don’t think it’s fair to criticize Ashes of the Sun for not doing something it doesn’t set out to do. Wexler’s focus is on crafting an engaging, propulsive story first and foremost, and he succeeds admirably. 

There are some problems with tone, however. Ashes of the Sun is marketed as adult fiction, but it reads much more like YA; the pacing is brisk, almost relentless, and the dialogue loose and sprightly in such a way that it sometimes strays into cutesy territory and renders the fictional world flippant and weightless. These aren’t criticisms in and of themselves, but I frequently felt the literary equivalent of whiplash when the more “adult” aspects came to the fore: although nothing gratuitous by any means, there is a good deal of violence and profanity (Wexler is so committed to portraying healthy, consensual sex that it’s hardly worth bringing up here—this is what younger readers should be exposed to). I likely would have had a smoother reading experience if Ashes of the Sun had been marketed as YA, or if Wexler had given his characters more time to exist in quiet moments so I could appreciate the density and texture of their world. 

I also found the depth and complexity of the characters to be strangely unbalanced; this is the first book of a series, yes, so they will (hopefully) continue to develop, but I was still frustrated by how the secondary cast had more dimension than Gyre and Maya themselves. I’m not sure I could tell you anything meaningful about the main characters except “Gyre believes the Twilight Order is bad” and “Maya believes the Twilight Order is good.” It’s not enough. Chapters in Ashes of the Sun alternate between Gyre and Maya, and neither perspective left me bored: every time I made the switch, Wexler was able to immediately draw me back into the other story. But I was always drawn back in because I wanted to see more of the delightful supporting cast, not because I wanted to see more of Gyre and Maya. It’s a minor grievance here, but it will need to change if successive entries in the series are to be successful. 

Despite these complaints, I ultimately had a great deal of fun with Ashes of the Sun. Wexler’s prose hits a sweet spot for me—less dense and more readable than Martin or Erikson, but more syntactically complex than Sanderson—and I continue to adore how prominently he places female and queer characters (homosexuality, bisexuality, and asexuality are openly accepted in the fictional world; perhaps we’ll see a trans character at some point?). I flew through the book with a smile on my face, eager to see more of the mythology and (some of) the characters, and I will be snatching up the sequel when it becomes available. You won’t find much thematic richness here, but if you’re looking for a good time, look no further than Ashes of the Sun.

When I first read the synopsis for Ashes of the Sun I was incredibly excited to read it because I love books that follow multiple perspectives, especially ones that are on opposite sides of a war. This synopsis especially grabbed me because those two perspectives come from siblings who were separated at a young age.

I liked that the chapters alternated between Maya and Gyre, and they were (for the most part) short and fast chapters which made the book as a whole fly by. This was my first time reading a book by Django Wexler so I wasn't sure what I would be getting into, but I was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly the writing flowed and how FUNNY this ended up being because I wasn't really expecting that. Wexler also managed to avoid a lot of info dumping, instead weaving the background into the story seamlessly. He also kept his descriptions short and to the point, while still giving you enough that you could easily visualize everything.

Wexler's world building was incredible, I really got a feel for this dystopian, futuristic fantasy world especially Deepfire which I found to be one of the most interesting settings. As much as I loved the world building, I do feel like there were some things that weren't explained enough. I know this is a series and a lot of the things I have questions about will be explained later on, but there weren't really too many questions that had answers within this book. For example, I want to know more about the plaguespawn and where they come from/what their purpose is, what is the black spider thing, what is the Thing that Maya has, etc. The Chosen and the Ghouls are mentioned quite a bit as well and we definitely get more information about the Ghouls, so I'm hoping we learn more about the Chosen in the coming books as well.

That said, that's really the only "negative" that I had with this book if you can even consider it to be a negative. I loved the characters, especially Maya and Beq. We also get a F/F romance but if romance isn't something that you like in your books, I can tell you that the romance is very much just something that happens on the side and isn't a main focus of the story, and felt very natural. I liked how we got Gyre's perspective since he hates the Republic and the Order and how it contrasted with Maya's perspective being a centarch and a part of the Order, because it helps you to understand both sides and why Gyre would want to destroy this system built to oppress it's citizens, but at the same time you see Maya and those around her who truly care about people and do what they can to protect them and be there for them. It definitely creates conflict within you as the reader because you find that you love both these characters but rooting for them both at the same time is almost impossible.

Also, the plaguespawn were so terrifying and horrific, scenes with them could easily fit into a horror book. The plaguespawn hunt down humans and animals alike to take their body parts and incorporate them into themselves, so you could easily run into a plaguespawn that has multiple human arms or eyes, or have a head made out of two fused goat heads, and it's so gruesome and detailed that every time they showed up, I would shudder.

When the characters fight (both plaguespawn and other humans) it's fast paced and I really enjoyed the way that Wexler wrote his battle scenes which makes me really want to go back and read some of his older series like the Shadow Campaigns. The different fighting styles were so interesting, especially looking at Maya and Gyre because Maya can also use her magic and has to fight both mentally and physically, whereas Gyre doesn't have magic, but he is extremely cunning and uses alchemicals to help him (mainly with explosions).

There is so much packed into this book - betrayals, petty vendettas, magical duels, creatures that make your skin crawl, friendship, romance, tons of blood, and lots of scheming. There's also a glossary in the back of the book, but I never found myself using it because Wexler made it easy to figure out what they mean just while reading the book. I found that I couldn't put this book down and thought about it constantly. This is almost a 600 page book, and it felt like it was half that because of how quickly I read it. I highly recommend this book and when it comes out on July 21st, you should check it out!

Ashes of the Sun is the first book I’ve read by Django Wexler, though admittedly I own another of his novels and just haven’t gotten around to reading it yet--famous last words. I must say that I really enjoyed Ashes of the Sun. The characters were well developed, there was diversity, creepy villains, and plenty of world-building. I also loved the conflict between brother and sister and their ideals, something I wanted in Ranger of Marzanna, but didn’t get, and frankly, much of the novel was reminiscent of facets of Star Wars, from the basic struggle between good evil, to world-building, and the character relationships. 


The story begins on a farm in what seems almost like a post-apocalyptic world, after a war between The Elder races (ghouls and The Chosen) almost destroyed it with their astonishing powers. Before being wiped out after the Plague Wars, The Chosen, who had powers beyond any mere mortal human, established The Twilight Order, to allow humans to use deiat to protect humanity and civilization after their passing. Think of this Twilight Order as the Jedi Order, its  most powerful warriors (known as centrachs) as Master Jedis, their trainees (called agathia), as padawan. The centrachs and their agathia wield lightsaber-like weapons, known as Haken, that is powered by Chosen arcana. Only humans capable of drawing on deiat, or the force, can use this power. It’s also worth noting that the Twilight Order is part of, and defends, the Dawn Republic, which has its own forces. Hopefully, if you’re a fellow Star Wars fan, this explanation simplifies matters for you.


“Jaedia had once described plaguespawn as the product of a mad taxidermist, given the run of the contents of a butcher shop and a morgue. That was close, but Maya thought that no human mind, however mad, could have matched the awfulness of the real thing. And despite all its deformities, the thing functioned.”



Centrachs, though they have to report to the Council of Twelve (Jedi Order), roam the realm fighting plaguespawn, and hunting down dhak (illegal arcana) and dhakim (humans who use ghoul magic, can control plaguespawn, and are mostly insane--think the Sith). Regular people mostly live underground or in cities with extremely high walls, to keep out plaguespawn. Plaguespawn are disgusting creatures of unknown origin, that take apart other creatures, mash their bits together and use them as their own body parts. They’re disturbing, promising a painful death to anyone who falls victim to them,  and I wouldn’t want to encounter one either.

“‘I’m not stupid,’ Gyre muttered. ‘If the order saved her, then she’s been living with them since she was five years old. That’s plenty of time to get their hooks into her….Nothing’s going to fix my family. I just don’t want them to break anyone else’s.’”



Despite the fact that the centrachs fight off these creatures, many of them have become arrogant, and are a source of fear for normal citizens. This is evident for the very beginning of Ashes of the Sun, where a family of farmers is ripped apart forever by a visiting Centrach who is supposed to help cure a young girl. The daughter of the family, Maya has been plagued by bouts of sickness and the Centrach is to take her to the Order for a cure. Afraid, she cries out for help from her parents, who know they can’t resist. It is her brother, Grye, who stabs the Centrach to protect his sister, only to lose an eye as recompense. Not too long after, he lost both his parents too.


“But there will come a time when you have to hurt someone--even kill someone--to protect the rest, whether or not they deserve it. When that day comes, you’ll understand why we have to hide so often. The Order does what must be done, and it does not win us many friends.”


Ashes of the Sun does a great job on focusing on the ideological differences between brother and sister. As Maya was taken when she was merely five years old, most of her life has been spent as agathios in the Twilight Order, with her Centrach instructor, Jaedia being the closest thing to a mother she can remember. Her brother, Gyre, plagued by guilt and hatred for the Order that stole his sister away, becomes a rebel, who will seek to destroy the Order at any cost. Author Wexler does a great job of making you see why each character believes the things that they do, and makes you sympathetic to each of their causes--even though they’re in direct conflict with one another. As such, each of their meetings between brother and sister are fairly tragic and charged with emotion. Although this sibling rivalrdy didn’t rip me up like any of the tragedies in Star Wars, such as Luke and Darth Vader or Anakin and Obi-Wan, it still was pretty well done. I thought Ashes of the Sun would drag out their meeting much longer, but the two siblings reunite pretty early on after the time skip--way before I thought they should have for the purposes of tension--but it was still quite interesting to see their reactions and the reactions of their companions. 


All of these companions and side characters are fairly fleshed out, many with tragic backstories of their own or great senses of humor. There was also a well-developed LGBTQ+ relationship in the novel. Despite the fact that the author is a man, it never once felt like his portrayal of his female characters was awkward in the way that male authors often are in their exploration of the feminine perspective. Likewise, his portrayal of a romantic relationship between two women was also well-written. It did not feel like it was added in simply for the sake of diversity, but had a foundation, believable progress from friends to lovers, and did justice to both of the character’s personalities. I still preferred the LGBT+ relationship in The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I thought was more emotionally charged and stronger on the whole, but it’s still really nice to see this kind of representation--especially in fantasy novels, which tend to stick to the straight and narrow. 


Gyre’s heterosexual relationship is similarly authentic in its development but I liked it a lot less, personally, since it wasn’t as serious. In fact, in my opinion, the best relationships in the novel are not romantic. The bonds between Maya and her mentor Jaedia are very strong, and reminded me of some of the best Master-Padawan relationships in Star Wars. Similarly, Jaedia’s conflicted friendship with Tanax, a member of an opposing sect in the Order, is also very interesting on many different levels, as was Gyre’s friendship with the other members of the rebel cell. 


Despite thinking the world-building was very interesting, and especially enjoying the characters of Maya and her Centrach mentor, Jaedia, I felt that as a whole, Ashes of the Sun was missing a little something extra that would have made me love it. I didn’t squeal with delight at the romances or heave a sigh of relief when a battle scene was over. Though I really enjoyed reading the book, it never provoked an emotional response to me, even when characters died. As someone who is a big crier, this is probably a bad sign. I definitely did not have a strong connection to most of the characters--whether good or bad. And I think the author could have spent a little more time on developing his side characters even more to make the tragedies that befell a lot of them more emotional. Or perhaps it’s simply because many of the characters don’t seem to care much when other characters die and simply go about their business. 


“He turned back to his task, shaking his head. It’s not like I haven’t killed….But there was something about the utter casualness of Kit’s violence that gave him pause. Don’t get soft, he chided himself. You’ve done far worse things….And, if he did find the power he wanted, no doubt there would be worse yet to come.”



The only other thing I really didn’t care for in Ashes of the Sun was that some of the fantasy terminology wasn’t very well explained. In a fantasy book of this size, that can be quite problematic. Ashes of the Sun does provide a glossary of these terms, but in the Kindle edition, it was all the way in the back. And we all know how hard it is to maneuver to the back of the novel and then forward to where you were reading in the Kindle. What’s more is author Wexler definitely adheres to the school of thought which assumes his reader isn’t stupid and can put everything together through context--there’s not very much explaining as compared to authors like Brandon Sanderson, who meticulously spell out all of their lore, mythology, magic systems, etc.. I was able to figure out what Ashes of the Sun was talking about, but the glossary would have really illuminated a lot for me if I had perused it first, especially since there’s many terms in Ashes of the Sun, which start with the letter “d”--”deiat,” “dhaka,” “dhakim”--and it was a lot for me to keep straight. I even had to refer to the glossary to write this review.


Ultimately, Ashes of the Sun is a solid fantasy read with interesting world-building (though a lot of its foundations will look very familiar to Star Wars fans, this isn’t a bad thing), and lore. However, if you’re looking for a fantasy book that’s very high stakes, charged, and going to send you on an emotional roller coaster, like A Song of Ice and Fire, this may not be the book for you. I plan to read and am excited for future installments in this series and more of author Django Wexler’s other novels.

Twelve years ago, 8-year-old Gyre tried to keep his little sister Maya from being taken away by a centarch, a member of the zealous Twilight Order which polices arcana they label dark magic. Desperate, Gyre stabs the centarch. The centarch responds by casually slashing Gyre's face to teach him a lesson, destroying one of his eyes. Naturally, Gyre grows up to hate the Order and wants to see them destroyed. However, Maya had been taken from her family because her worsening, chronic illness was an indicator that she could use the magic of the centarchs, and she has spent her life training to become one of them and protect the world from monstrous plaguespawn and evil cultists who use dark magic to prey upon others. When brother and sister meet again as adults, they're on opposite sides of a brewing conflict.

I like world building that feels like it has the weight of history behind it. Even though this epic fantasy is light on the politics and governance that drive the conflicts in which the protagonists are immersed, the world itself is a fantastic place of ruins, wondrous artifacts, and legend. Readers may also enjoy that queer relationships, including queer marriages, are entirely normal in this world; Maya's worry about getting into a relationship has nothing to do with her sexuality and everything to do with whether it's appropriate for her to date as a centarch.

With that said, I think the book has a pretty strong male gaze and a problematic character that dampened my enthusiasm for the relationships in it. We get plenty of the protagonists ogling/fantasizing about women (Maya, in particular, spends a lot of time thinking about her crush/new friend/coworker Beq naked), and it got to be a bit much. Worse, I did not like Kit at all. I get that she's got a burn-the-candle-from-both-ends outlook on life, but she behaves in a sexually aggressive way toward Gyre that is not really any less predatory coming from a woman. Like, they have a business relationship, but she frequently propositions Gyre, grinds on him and shows up naked in his tent, and tries to touch and undress him. Sure, Gyre is attracted to Kit, but a lot of their encounters don't seem all that consensual.

Setting aside those irritating and problematic aspects, though, I did enjoy the book. While Gyre is extreme in his worldview, neither he nor Maya are entirely wrong or right about the world. Maya has been raised seeing the good the Order can do by using its centarchs' powers to protect ordinary people from the monsters and sorcerers that prey upon them. In contrast, Gyre has seen how the Order is designed to protect the powerful and keep themselves in power, by classifying any magic they don't control as "dark magic" (including benign arcana such as healing magic and pest control) and then heavily policing it, particularly among the poor. As Maya begins to realize how corrupt the Order is, her response is to try to work within the system and clean house from the inside. Gyre would prefer to burn it all to the ground and start over, and is willing to accept a lot of collateral damage to do so. I'll be very interested to see how Wexler handles this central conflict over the course of the series, especially given the current protests over police brutality. After all, the Order is basically a magic police force and many of its problems are the ones we're currently reckoning with in our own world. With that said, the "corrupt magic police" plot is merely part of a larger brewing conflict rooted in a massive, devastating war fought centuries earlier. I suspect the rest of the series will focus more on that than the corrupt cops aspect, so I don't want to overemphasize the police corruption theme here.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and I recommend it for fans of epic fantasy. I wasn't too impressed with some of how it handled women characters, as mentioned above, but that's par for the course on a lot of male-authored fantasy. I found everything else about the book to be engaging, from the world building to the pacing to the plot. I look forward to seeing where this series goes next.

The copy of Ashes of the Sun I recieved was provided generously by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

By first impressions, Ashes of the Sun was a book I was incredibly excited to read: the cover is beautiful, the description presented a new and interesting fantasy world with a unique spin, and the author is an already well-known fantasy aficionado. And, largely, my first impressions of the book carried through with surprising longevity, and the novel was a great experience to read. 

This review will contain some spoilers, so please read with caution!

First, I must praise Wexler's writing style, because it is something that captured my attention at page one. With a lot of epic fantasy and high fantasy stories, the writing can become very long, explanatory, and blocked with a lot of info dumping (this can be done well, of course, it's just a genre stereotype). I found that Wexler managed to (mostly) stave off the things that many readers are not fond of, which made the 600-page story quite an easy read. Wexler's writing was continually interesting, his descriptions were to the point, not overly indulgent, and even his characterizations of the plethora of female characters were positive and non-sexualized. I include this bit because, as any fantasy fan will know, writers tend to overly describe female characters (because we really need to know the size of her breasts in proportion to how small her waist is...) and I was very happy to see that Wexler avoided this trope, and gave all his characters respect.

The worldbuilding of this novel came only slightly second to me after the writing style. The world of Ashes of the Sun is complex, and there are a lot of layered elements and ideas that are unveiled, bit by bit, as the novel progresses. Although this makes the first few chapters hinged on mystery, as we come to try to understand dhak, centarchs, who the Chosen were, who the Republic is etc, this element keeps the reader interested. This novel upped the formulaic "chapters should ask questions that are answered in the next" idea of novel writing, as we are not only grasping the questions of plot, but also the questions of how the world works, and I found this to be quite compelling.

Although there were many elements of this book that I loved, there were a few issues I had with the story. Ashes of the Sun is told between two alternating point-of-view, a brother and sister separated at childhood. Maya, the sister, becomes a centarch-in-training for the Twilight Order, while Gyre becomes a glorified thief, working with a band of rebels that challenge both city and governmental authority. I found their different fates interesting, and their different views of the world was a great way to tell this story, however it created an issue where there was no cemented plot. There were some ideas of a plot, and there were events and story arcs that the two main characters separately went through, but up until the midway point of the novel I felt like there was no real connection. Even when the siblings reunite, twelve years after their separation, their stories continue in different directions (I should say different paths, as both paths end up leading to the same place). If someone asked me what the overall plot to this story was, I'm not sure I could say without breaking it up between Maya and Gyre. 

The culmination of the novel is where the story really gets confusing for me, personally. It seemed like the book took a really drastic turn from the events in the first half of the story to the second half, and the ramp up of the drama was turned up to eleven, so to speak. In the first part of the story, we're with Gyre and a band of rebels, seemingly interested in some type of governmental overthrow, or at the very least revolution for the tunnelborn folk of Deepfire. In the later chapters, Gyre and Kit are working with one of the last remaining ghouls, a species that was previously thought wiped out, attempting to awake a collosal construct to destroy humanity. The divide between those two things, and the events between them, did not fully resonate with me. 

This brings up the issue of their own personal plots. Maya's story seems well enough fleshed out on its own - we understand what she wants, what she's working towards, the obstacles she must overcome, and so on - but Gyre did not receive the same luxury in my opinion. Gyre's story confused me, because at first glance it really seemed like he had interest in Yora's cause (gaining rights for the tunnelborn to provide them with a better life). Although we get the idea that he has a bigger goal in mind, I was still a little surprised to find out exactly what his goal was, and most especially, why he had it. The explanation regarding why Gyre wants to destroy the Order and the Republic seemed a bit lackluster. Although he thinks about Maya from time to time, he flat out says that his goals are not because of her, despite her being taken by the Order as a child being the inciting incident for the novel. He mentions that his family was torn apart, but I didn't get the impression that he cared much about it, especially due to the back-and-forth we hear about Maya from his internal monologue. I don't understand why it's enough of a reason for Gyre to be so obsessed with the destruction of the human governmental constructs (so obsessed, in fact, that it's almost his entire reason for existence as a character; he becomes increasingly unsympathetic, loses what small empathy he had for anyone else, all because he wants to find the Tomb so desperately). For story purposes, we needed Gyre, but I wish he had more compelling reasons for his actions, because I found myself almost doubly interested in Maya's chapters than his.

On this point, I'd like to touch on the characters. Maya and Gyre, due to their stories being mostly separate, encounter different secondary characters, with some small overlap later on in the story. I feel like most of the secondary characters were well-written and had their own identities, and we get to learn about their motives, hopes, desires and such that makes them relatable and sympathetic. The only (important) character I felt that I had no interest in was Kit, for a few reasons. At first, Kit seemed like she was going to be a really interesting character with a lot of depth, as the reader was given near no answers with regard to her past, who she was working with, her personal gain, and such. Although frustrating to know next to nothing about her character, her meet cute is interesting, and she had a lot of potential with her secretive nature. Once the reader is made to know more about her, however, those mysteries do not seem as enticing as they did once before. Kit is completely unsympathetic to other people, even to Gyre for almost all of the story, despite the feeling that we the reader are supposed to somehow root for them as a pair. Though it makes sense that she doesn't care much for the lives of others, her continued examples of brutality, enjoyment of bloodlust and fighting, and half her dialogue talking about sex, did not resonate with me as anything deep or interesting. Even her backstory did not make me feel any sort of empathy for her. I was also confused about what Gyre took interest in her for, until I further understood that he truly only did care about finding the Tomb and power enough to overthrow the Order, then it made a little more sense. 

Another point I'd like to give both in favor and against this book, with regard to the characters, is the LGBT+ representation. Being a member of the LGBT community myself, I am always excited to experience stories with LGBT+ characters, especially in high fantasy, where it feels like there is a lot less representation than in other categories. There were several LGBT+ characters in the novel, some more explicit than others, and I personally don't mind when some of the representation is in the background. This would, of course, be an issue if one of the main characters themselves didn't experience an LGBT+ romance, which Maya did. However, this was not represented, to me, as well as I would have liked.

Maya and Beq experience a slow-burn style attraction to one another after their first meeting, that eventually culminates in a relationship at the end of the novel. Maya's descriptions of Beq are what threw me the most - almost every single interaction with Beq, Maya's internal monologue would mention how attractive Beq is, ow how Maya needed to focus on the task at hand and NOT think about how attractive Beq is, or how she wanted to kiss her, etc. This didn't sit well with me for a few reasons, namely that it constantly enforces the over-sexualization that many real life LGBT+ people face. It also deflated their culmination of the relationship for me, because when they were finally able to express their feelings, I realized that there was no evidence that they had real interest in each other. Maya's interests in Beq, at least in her head, were mostly physical, they only talk about how they saved each other's lives at one point or another, and it seems like when they do find time to talk about their interests (my example here being Beq's interest in arcana), the other party isn't particularly interested. This does not a fulfilling relationship make. 

Despite my personal criticisms, Ashes of the Sun was a great read that left a lot of possibilities open for the incoming sequel, though I wish I had known beforehand that it was a planned series! I find myself wondering what's next for Maya and Gyre, and although the end of the story left me with a lot of unanswered questions, I fully believe that Wexler will deliver a great sequel and continue their story in beautiful hand. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys new worlds, and especially new, well implemented magic systems. Compelling characters, interesting twists and amazing writing will be sure to satisfy any fantasy fan!

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Django Wexler makes cool worlds in his books that are very easy to see while reading.  This is a cool one that has both high tech (leftover from a previous war between the Chosen and the ghouls) and magic in the the forms of deiat and dhaka. Only the centarchs (specially chosen by the Chosen before they fell) can use deiat, but anyone can use dhaka (which is why the Twilight Order, made up of centarchs, has banned it). 

This story varies between the viewpoints of Maya (a centarch in training) and Gyre Halfmask who is trying to bring down the Order and the Republic because it is stifling and killing the people living there with its bans and rules against using dhak items. What is cool is that the dhak items are the high tech, like flight motivators, and core analytica. Plus the Chosen had skyships that crashed. Of course the dhakim use the tech to make plaguespawn and those aren't fun at all.  They go around looking for more body parts to add to their own.

Between the darks parts of the dhakim and the corruption in the Twilight Order, I wasn't sure who to root for, so I rooted for both Maya and Gyre, who are trying in their separate ways to create a better society. 

This is a good book to read and I cannot wait for the next one to come out as this one definitely ends on a cliffhanger!

Ashes of the Sun is a fast-paced, exciting epic fantasy that pits siblings against each other in an epic battle of good and evil.  Four hundred years earlier the great civilization of the Chosen defeated the ghouls and their army of constructs, vanquishing them forever.  On the ancient ruins of empire, a select few are trained from a young age to be the guardians of the Republic and carry on the traditions of the Chosen, the Twilight Order.  They are trained to wield the light of the sun and graduate to become feared Centarchs, hardened to battle and exercising magical powers.  Beneath the cities though in hidden tunnels and secret hollows are plague-spawn, Frankenstein like creations that combinations of all kinds of body parts.  And, there are more fearsome things (like Tolkien-style Balrogs) that should not be awakened.  

Two siblings are separated at a young age.  The sister, Maya,  is raised to become a Centarch.  The brother was struck down trying to protect his five year old sister from being taken away.  The brother, Gyere, is now a bandit and a rebel, willing to do anything to take revenge on the Centarchs.  Having not heard from each other in twelve years, every reader knows they are on a collision course, a dangerous collision course.  

Great world-building background with a lengthy glossary to help those not following everything.  Lots of action.  Very imaginative creations of plague-spawn and other constructs.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Great start to a series

I had previously read “The Shadow Campaigns” by Django Wexler and enjoyed the series, so I was optimistic about “Ashes of the Sun”. I wasn’t disappointed. The world-building is excellent, and the story is interesting and well-paced. There is good character development and some great action. I also enjoyed some of the lighter moments in the book and some of the banter between characters. I did find parts of the book confusing, but the glossary at the end of the book was helpful. Indeed, it is more backstory than glossary, with some extensive entries. I think that the glossary should be read first to learn the relevant history of the world created by Wexler. 
Overall this is a very good read and I recommend it for fans of the genre. I look forward to reading other books in the series.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

This will be the third Django Wexler book I've read this year, so I'm definitely on a roll! I had read a book by him before, but I think because it was the first in a long-ish series, I became intimidated and kind of let it slide. But I loved his new YA series and am looking forward to the final one in that coming out soon. Which made me all the more surprised when this, a beginning to a new adult series, suddenly popped up! I'm not sure how long of a series is planned, but based on this first book, I'm all in!

When his little sister, Maya, is taken away at age 5 by the powerful Twilight Order, Gyre's idealic family life is broken. Years of simmering anger build until he comes of age to make is own way. And that way includes spending every resource he has delving into the underworld of the Republic in search of a power strong enough to destroy the organization that stole his sister and, in many ways, controls his world. Maya, raised by the Order and on the bring of becoming independent, is committed to the ideals of her organization. Raised to believe that the Order protects and serves, Maya sees the good that she and her people can do for the common folk who are plagued by dangerous monsters. But as she comes closer and closer to striking out on her own, she begins to see cracks among her people and a corruption that may go deeper than she thought.

The world-building in this story is excellent. It almost seems to be set in a post-apocaptic version of the "Star Wars" universe. Kind of an odd comparison, but once you read the book, you'll totally see it. The author has a great afterward where he even states "Star Wars" as an influence, but it's so subtly done, that at no point does this in any way feel like a "Star Wars" book. So it feels both familiar as well as incredibly unique all at once. I really liked the glimpses we have into the history of this world, and there were a lot of great reveals that game out over the course of the story. Of course, most of these just raised more questions than they answered, but what else can you expect from the first book in a series?

I also really liked both Maya and Gyre. This is one of those rare, great examples of a book where the duel narrators are equally strong and compelling. Especially since they are essentially representing opposing forces. It's quite difficult to write two such characters and maneuver your reader into rooting for them both, a losing battle from the start. Gyre was perhaps a bit less sympathetic to start, but he definitely grew on me. And Maya is just the sort of bad-ass warrior women I gravitate towards. They also each had unique romance arcs that were at times quite unexpected.

The story is also action-packed from start to finish. It did take quite a while to get into the main conflict, with what felt like a bunch of side/mini quests taking up the majority of the first half. But as the main conflict begins to unfold, we see the importance of these early action scenes in setting the stage for the character choices are two leads make and how they end up where they are. Each also came with their own set of side characters, sidekicks, and enemies, so there was a lot of groundwork that needed to be laid out to really set the stage for the grand finale.

And while the grand finale itself was pretty intriguing, it was also clear that this was only the beginning. Sure, the current big bad was dealt with, but Maya and Gyre, while both questioning their own goals, are still clearly on opposing sides of a brewing conflict. I can't wait to find out where their adventures lead them next and how or if they will ever be able to find a middle ground between them.

Also, don't forget to enter to win an ARC copy of this book! I also had an e-book copy, so this is a completely fresh ARC ready and waiting for its first reader! Enter to win!

Rating 8: A rollicking adventure story with two fantastic leads at its heart.

(Link will go live July 10)

I loved this one! I especially liked the dynamic of the two sides being brother and sister and you see their development throughout the story, to the point where you don’t know if there’s a right side or wrong side. They both have good intentions but their views are so different that the struggle is discovering if they can meet in the middle for the sake of family. 

I thought all the characters were great and multidimensional and the world building was really good. I can’t wait for the next book!

My experience reading this was one of pure frustration. I have a teething six-month-old and I couldn't figure out between the baby and the book which I wanted to be around less. I adore that little girl so imagine my feelings towards this book! I'm screaming on the inside. 

The author notes that this book was inspired or influenced by Star Wars novels by the likes of Timothy Zahn and Chuck Wendig. I can get behind that. I truly felt Star Wars vibes while reading this. There's also an ability a character gains later on which is basically foresight from Mistborn. 

This book is enjoyable. It is. You may think I'm crazy then after what I've said already but I am truly deeply torn over this. 

I have a feeling that I was reading an uncorrected proof of the book. Aside from the fact that there are general placeholders, the first few chapters have obvious mistakes and there are also word choices that I found odd. One paragraph had a sentence with the world trudged followed by a sentence with the word nudged. Another chapter nearby had a similar rhyme going on. Little things like that pulled me out of the story. Roughly two-thirds of the way through the book I felt it needed an editor. The irony of course is that the author thanks his editor in the acknowledgments. Ouch. The final villain of the book also has an "I can't wait to cut you to shreds" line right before the battle which made me groan. It's not as bad as when James Bond villains reveal their plans but there's no care put into it. I know it's not going to happen by the villain saying it will. The battle, with all the build-up the book gives you in trying to discover what is going on, only last around a page and a half. It's an afterthought in a book with tons of battles. 

The characters were great. One of the most important things is to have a great cast and no one disappointed. Every side character was equally fleshed out. I realized while I was reading that this is a world in which I wish I existed so that I could interact with these characters. I haven't felt this way since I read Harry Potter as a kid. I'm in my thirties so this is an extremely weird statement to be typing out but there it is. Kit was the one who did it for me. She was an absolute blast through and through. 

One piece of uniqueness that this book presented to me was that there was no clear good side or bad side. I know you're saying that a lot of media covers that. Not like this. See, at its core, it is a book about a brother and sister separated as children. One becomes a thief and underground legend who wants to tear down the Twilight Order because he believes they don't care for the general public. The other ended up working for the Twilight Order, an ancient group that has magic swords and special abilities they channel from within. Similar to the Force. Their purpose is to defend humanity. There are politics and internal struggles within the Order which we learn more about as the story continues. Each chapter flips between the two of them until the end where the stories merge and each takes half a section. Admittedly, Maya's story carried my interest more than Gyre's. If Kit wasn't in it I would probably suffer a lot more. Gyre and his crew don't have the personal connection that Maya's team had with me. They were all good characters but If I had to read a single book about one or the other, I would choose Maya in a heartbeat. Kit is my equivalent to Ahsoka, Gyre to Anakin. I can watch Ahsoka do anything but there's only so much Anakin I can take. 

Also, holy LGBT representation Batman!

I don't think there has been any other work I have ever read where there were so many openly gay or bi characters. When you do first find that out it happens very quickly. There are a few chapters where you learn one person is a lesbian, and suddenly this other person is gay as well, and then even a minor character is into women, and then this person goes both ways. It's rapid-fire information but it doesn't feel forced. 

The fight scenes are plentiful. The author does a good job of making them descriptive but it was a detriment when the smallest battles of the story go on and on. There is also a lot of repetition. This is where I felt an editor should have stepped in. How often does a battle or event happen and then a character blacks out and wakes up somewhere? How often does Maya alone hit the floor after using up her powers? Does Drowning Pool need to make a song about her? 

Like the actual Star Wars movies, this isn't perfect. Will I follow the rest of the story when it comes out? Absolutely. There's that fence that I'm sitting on. I'm throwing all the negative out there so that you look past it when you read this. The mystery, the characters, the dueling stories, the genre-mixing..it makes a compelling read. This is an LGBT friendly Fantasy version of Star Wars without Space. There also are no Ewoks. There are some furry ghouls though.

Thanks to the author, Orbit, and NetGalley for providing an advance copy for review.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started reading this book. I mean, yeah, I read the cover blurb and bits and pieces beforehand where the author mentioned working on this project, and I have read his <i>Shadow Campaigns</i> novels, so I had some idea of the kinds of themes and character driven storytelling that I'd probably find.

I didn't expect this to be Django Wexler's take on a <i>Star Wars</i> novel.

But around halfway through the book it clicked for me that that's what this was  (Django outright confirmed this later as an inspiration in the Acknowledgments section at the end of the novel; in retrospect it should have been obvious the first time a firearm was referred to as a "blaster").

That aside, <i>Ashes of the Sun</i> is written from the points of view of two siblings, Gyre and Maya, who find themselves on opposite sides of global conflict that has been going in one form or another since the epoch of this world that Django has created. In brief, Maya is a representative of the Twilight Order, an organization that claims the responsibility of defending civilization against the threats of plaguespawn (monsters) and dhakim (arcana, magic) wheras Gyre is on the other end of the spectrum, believing that the Order deliberately suppresses knowledge of power that could be used against them, and is an authoritarian oppressor against the people they claim to protect.

Django weaves the narrative through both points of view in alternating chapters throughout the novel, taking you deep into the mind and motivation of both characters, and in this manner you find yourself rooting for both characters (and thus both sides of the spectrum in the conflict overall) equally. I've said in reviews of other works that I don't tend to like stories with multiple PoVs because I invariably found myself rooting for one story more than another. This isn't an issue here because both sides are always drawing your attention, so you never find yourself craving to get back to one side of the story over another. (I shouldn't be surprised, as Django has already proven his ability to do this with <i>The Shadow Campaigns</i> which had more than two PoVs overall)

Since we're on the subject, don't expect any large scale battles here. This very much is not a military fantasy novel, so we never see any massive engagements here, but don't think the action in this novel is any lesser for it. Django proves here that he is just as adept at sustaining single engagements here as he was massive battles in his previous series. (Although, I confess, there is a noticeable lack of Joe Abercrombie-like curses and invectives in this novel compared to the former, but I am very much nit-picking here and in any case Django has in my opinion accomplished exactly what he set out to do with this novel, that is, introduce us to this world and begin setting the stage for the conflict that will take us through the rest of this series).

So, yes, in a nutshell I think that's the most succinct recommendation I can give right off the bat. If a science-fantasy-esque take on good vs. evil (where both sides are "right" in different ways) then you should pick this one up. If you're a fan of his other works, you should pick this up as well. And, if you've never read a Django Wexler book before, this is a good one to start with as well.

This book was so much fun! Ashes of the Sun is up there with Dune mixed in LoTr goodness. You won’t regret picking this one up!
ARC publisher gave me and advanced copy for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher!