A great tale well told. Clever new alchemical magic. Good history and political motivations that motivate the story rather than stall it. Great characters and clever motivations that put brother and sister on opposite sides.

4.5*

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I hadn’t read any books by Django Wexler, when I saw this pop up on NetGalley. The cover pulled me in straight away and after reading the synopsis I was sold. Luckily, I was granted my request for an ARC. Based on reading Ashes of the Sun, Shadow Campaigns is now firmly on my TBR.

Ashes of the Sun follows two main characters, Gyre and Maya, who are brother and sister. They were very close when they were young, but Maya was taken away by The Twilight Order when she was only 5 years old, Gyre being 8 years old at the time. After this scene, we fast forward 12 years and follow the story of each.
Gyre left home at a young age, hellbent on finding a way to destroy the empire—who he blames for taking away his sister, destroying his family and the oppression of the poor. He stole, cheated and whored his way to Deepfire, in the hope of finding power, that could match The Twilight Order, in the Tomb. 

In Deepfire he finds himself running with a crew of people who are a bit like Robin Hood and his merry men. They take from the rich and give to the poor; scavenge tech; fight oppression and help those in need; and aim to bring down the corrupt local leader.

Maya, on the other hand, is firm in her believe and conviction of the good The Twilight Order do in protecting the empire. She is an Agathios, a Centarch in traing. Her master is Jaedia, a Centrach, who she has travelled with for many years. Avoiding politics back at the Forge (home The Twilight Order), preferring to travel, track down plaguespawn, help those in need, and remain undercover—never taking advantage of their power and status.

Fight scenes are really fun, gory well played out, and well-paced. Each Agathios and Centrach possess power, but it manifests in different ways. Maya’s power is fire, which is cool the way Wexler vividly describes scenes where she draws on her power. It’s fair to draw some comparison to Star Wars. Wexler himself said the idea “definitely originated, back at the beginning, in a series of conversations about Star War”. The relationship between an Agathios and Centrach is like a Padawan and Jedi. While members of The Twilight Order don’t fight with lightsabres, their Haken must sure look like them when they ‘light’ them.

There is also another race in this book, but I won’t go into them as it can spoil a little of their reveal. But they too are powerful.

Support characters I Ashes of the Sun are also awesome. Maya travels Jaedia and Marn (Marn is a younger Agathios), until she goes on her first mission without Jaedia. It is her where we are introduced to three other characters, including Beq, who I can’t help but like. She a little bit of a tech geek and history buff. I’ll leave you to discover the others who travel with her, as the more time you are reading this review, you are not reading Ashes of the Sun!

I’ve briefly mentioned Gyre runs with a crew and will leave you to discover those too, but I will touch on people at the Forge. The is the home of The Twilight Order, and where the Council is. This adds some political intrigue to the story. There are three groups with differing beliefs on how The Twilight Order should be run, their goals, and how they should behave out in the field. Two of these are the most dominant and equally divided. These beliefs then filter down from the Council members, to Centarchs and their Agathios.

Ashes of the Sun is a great read and highly recommended. While it’s a fantasy novel, there are aspects of Sci-fi in there… I didn’t even talk about constructs and only briefly mentioned tech. I also, didn’t discuss Plaguespawn and the horrors that control them… there’s plenty for you to discover! It’s thoroughly enjoyable, engaging, and great fun. I highly recommend it and can’t wait for book 2!

The premise of this book is interesting and I found the beginning gripping. I haven't read anything else by Django Wexler, but I felt like this was a really good introduction to his style and work. Gyre loses his little sister and is scarred (blinded in one eye). As someone who is interested in representations of disability in literature, this was of interest to me.

I found Gyre to be a standard, jaded character, but the way that Wexler wove together Gyre and Maya's perspectives nuanced and well balanced. I liked how the siblings were coming to terms with the current events/their history in the narrative, but Gyre felt a little bit less developed than Maya.

As someone who reads a lot of high fantasy, leaning away from the SF in SFF, I found the world building easy to understand and interesting enough to keep me reading. It is a hefty investment though and I didn't read it as quickly as most other books (most likely because of the above reason that I prefer fantasy that's not so SF-orientated), but it was enjoyable enough to keep on going.

I very much enjoyed this author′s Shadow Campaign books, which had a different approach to a fantastical story, weaving more mundane concepts into the plot. This book has the more usual fantasy elements, with a fading order of Knights, a former war before two inhuman empires, and a cunning thief. But he puts these elements together expertly, and with a slightly steampunk aesthetic. 

The story starts off with the older brother Gyre′s point of view, so a reader may side with him to start with especially when he loses his younger sister. But when the narrator switches to his sister Maya, who seems content in what seems to be a good position, sympathy can switch to her.  I was surprised that they actually had a meeting during the first two thirds of the book, and not at the climax but it enabled them to state their positions, and perhaps come to terms with them before they meet again at the climax. Because Gyre is so nihilistic, wanting to tear down everything with no thought of what will replace it, I tended to side with Maya, but the Twilight Order that she belongs to is called ′Twilight′ for a reason, it is becoming smaller, fragmenting and open to corruption. To add to everyone′s problem there are the first indications that the two empires which created so much chaos and destruction in their wars may not be so extinct as believed.

The different side plots and the characters. And can I just take a moment to say how much I enjoy the fact that even the smallest character like the guards or ruffians in any fight are given a little bit of description and humanity, not just left as faceless cannon fodder.

The different strands of the story come to a satisfying conclusion, and there are some intriguing changes for some characters going forward, but there is no cliff-hanger. I found this an engrossing read and will be looking out for more in the series.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.

ARC provided by the publisher—Head of Zeus—in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

A captivating start to a series; if you’re worried whether Ashes of the Sun will be as good as The Shadow Campaigns or not, feel free to incinerate those doubts away now.

Almost three years have passed since I finished reading The Shadow Campaigns military fantasy series—a very underrated series—by Django Wexler, and ever since I heard that Ashes of the Sun will mark Wexler’s return to the adult fantasy scene, I was excited, to say the least. My excitement was further increased when I saw the gorgeous cover art by Scott M. Fischer. Now that I’ve finished reading the book, I have to conclude by saying that my excitement was satisfyingly fulfilled.

“This is not a Star Wars novel, but it definitely originated, back at the beginning, in a series of conversations about Star Wars. My list of people to thank therefore needs to start with Star Wars and everyone involved with it…”—Django Wexler


Hundreds of years ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. Ashes of the Sun is the first book in the Burningblade & Silvereye trilogy, and the story follows two main characters, Maya and Gyre, a sibling who were separated from each other since they were young. Fast forward twelve years later to the present timeline, Maya is now in the Twilight Order, while Gyre lives for revenge: to destroy the Order. Truthfully, I was a bit scared with this premise because earlier this year, Orbit released a new novel with a similar premise—The Ranger of Marzanna by Jon Skovron—and that one didn’t work for me; I was scared this would end up the same. But no, what a fool I was that I even felt that way, Ashes of the Sun was one of the recently released SFF novels that manage to thoroughly steal my attention from the beginning until the end. This is a Star Wars inspired fantasy, its influences on the world-building—more on this later—can be found everywhere, and the themes of family, duty, order, freedom, and justice are prevalent throughout the narrative.

“Why, she thought, do I have a bad feeling about this?”


I’m pretty sure that line is a nod to Star Wars.

If you haven’t read The Shadow Campaigns, you probably don’t know about Wexler’s capability in writing superbly-written heroine and f/f relationship. I mean it, Winter from The Shadow Campaigns is still one of my favorite heroines in a fantasy novel. From this promising start alone, Wexler’s characterizations of Maya seems to be on its way to reaching the same quality Wexler exhibited for Winter. There’s a charm in Wexler’s portrayal of f/f relationship that feels well-developed and genuine; the relationship between Maya and Beq was gradually developed, and their development with each other was easy to care for. Maya, on her own, was already a well-written character, but it’s her relationship with Beq, Tanax (her rival), Jaedia (her mentor), and Gyre that made the variety of tones in her story more compelling. More or less, the same level of characterizations can also be said for Gyre. This, of course, doesn’t mean that Gyre has a similar personality to Maya; he’s on a completely different spectrum, the one on the dark side, or at least falling towards it. After what happened in the prologue and the twelve years gap, Gyre’s fury towards the Order is now unstoppable; he detests the notion of being protected by them just because they have deiat (the force in Star Wars) inside them since they were born.

“The Twilight Order defends the Dawn Republic. That’s how it’s always been. But they defend us like a suit of iron armor. It might stop a knife, but it weighs you down until you can barely move.”


As the POV continuously (and alternately) shifts between Maya and Gyre, I found Wexler’s writing and the pacing he brought with his narrative to be greatly-paced. Seriously, due to the current world situation, it’s not easy for me to finish a 600 pages novel within three days; it could’ve been done in two days for this book, if I may be honest, I just wanted my time with the novel to last slightly longer. Regarding the Star Wars influences, there’s quite a lot to mention. Some of the most obvious ones are Haken, equivalent to a lightsaber, is a sword hilt and a crossguard with no blade that can be used by manipulating deiat. Then there’s also Centarch—pretty much a Jedi—and Agathios—a padawan training to be a centarch—from the Twilight Order (similar to Order of the Jedi). It’s all very cool and fun, but most importantly, Wexler was skillful enough to incorporate all the Star Wars elements into the world-building and story without making the book feels like it’s a Star Wars rip-off. The post-apocalyptic world, the plaguespawns, constructs, and the combination of sci-fi, technology, and fantasy all contribute to making this an immersive and imaginative world to dive into. With all of these in mind, Wexler’s well-spread action sequences in the book were all exciting; the clash of elemental deiat scenes was vivid and kickass, and one ability reminiscent of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson or Sharingan from Naruto seriously made me went: “whoa, this is so cool!”

“The Chosen are gone, but as long as their heirs hold their weapons over the rest of us, who can stand up to them? They say they have the right to rule, out of a duty to keep the rest of us safe. As though we were children, inferior, just because we weren’t born with whatever special trick that lets the centarch touch deiat.”


Ashes of the Sun is an insanely fun and engaging Star Wars inspired SFF novel. If the intention of this novel is to entertain, it had succeeded exceedingly; I absolutely enjoyed it. Imbued with well-written characters and relationships, exciting action scenes, and an immersive world-building, Ashes of the Sun is a complete triumph. I have only one regret upon finishing this book, and that’s the next book isn’t available for me to devour yet. I need the sequel last week, Wexler.

You can order the book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping)

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Four hundred years ago, a magical war between chosen and ghouls decimated an empire, only for a new one to be formed in its place. Now, Gyre and Maya find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the empire. Maya ends up working for the Twilight Order. While Gyre works towards his goal of finding a rare artifact that will destroy the Twilight Order for tearing his family apart.

Ashes of the Sun is a strong first installment of a trilogy. The world-building is extremely rich and intriguing. The plaguespawn are described in disgustingly thorough detail, the horrors of their appearance vivid in your mind. I really loved the moral greyness of some of the characters and the complex corrupt workings of the political system. I found it to be a little reminiscent of Star Wars and Avatar, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just expect a lot from the next installment. I was very thankful for the split narrative too. At times when it was a little slow in Gyre's chapter, it would pick up in Maya's and vice versa.

While I enjoyed reading the book, I didn't entirely love it. Where the book falters for me is in its characters. I wasn't highly invested in any of them and found a few of them a little two dimensional, especially Gyre. Kit being my least favourite, I found her extremely unbearable. My interests mainly lay in the side characters, particularly Tanax. 

I think the next installment will be better than this one. Jury is still out on whether I will pick it up as it's a heavy time investment for something I didn't love entirely.

I'm an only child who loves stories about other people's complicated sibling relationships, which is what originally drew me to this book. Ashes of the Sun alternates between Gyre and Maya's POVs, and while we don't see a lot of them interacting with each other in this book, the set up for the broader conflict was fantastic and kept me engaged all the way through. The author notes Star Wars as an inspiration, which is clear in the world-building (in which the Twilight Order, made up of heirs of the former magic-wielding Chosen, is responsible for protecting the Republic) and also the use of lightsaber like weapons, but this book takes the premise to a really interesting moral place - at what point does protection become a form of subjugation in its own right? And how ethical is it for a single group to regulate the use of magic, even if they use it for the greater good? With one sibling on each side of this divide, I look forward to seeing them wrestle with these questions in future books.

In addition, this book features a really sweet f/f romance (and a less sweet, but highly entertaining m/f one) and a begrudging ally (my favourite kind). There are also the plagueborn - mutant, ever-evolving creatures that the Twilight Order defends against, but which I literally pictured as giant, plague-ridden rats. While there are no plagues in this book, it's probably an unfortunate time for your main monsters to have such connotations.

If I have one complaint, it's that this book could have been 50-100 pages shorter - the fight scenes are a little more detailed than they need to be, and some events feel rather drawn out - but overall, I highly recommend this one and am looking forward to the sequel.

It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as it's brilliant.
I loved the amazing world building, the character development and the storytelling.
The plot is gripping and entertaining, it kept me hooked till the end.
I can't wait to read the next installment.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Synopsis: When they were young children, Maya was separated from her family and from her brother Gyre: one of those single-man-army centarchs of the Twilight Order took her away. Gyre stood ground, but lost an eye, and ever since was called Half-Mask. 

In alternating chapters, the story follows the faith of the siblings twelve years after Maya's kidnapping: 20 years old Gyre in a Robin Hood like behavior steels from the Order and passes some wealth to the forgotten folk of the undercity. 17 years old Maya travels with her mistress solving mysteries of smugglers of forbidden arcanes, showing her cunning sword art, wielding her legendary blade called "haken" and weaving magics spells. They never met since their rough separation and fight on opposing sides: Gyre ultimately seeks revenge, risking anything to wield enough power to destroy the Order, while Maya tries to rise to an accepted member of the Order.  

Review: This is the first entry in the Burningblade and Silvereye fantasy series, but could very well be read as a standalone. It concludes with a few dangling threads but brings the plot to a satisfying ending.

There is a lot of SFional influence drippling down into the fantasy setting: gigantic flying fortresses crashed into the earth generations ago, and many of the magical artifacts are driven by a force I often read as electricity. The "haken" felt like a Star Wars lightsabre. 

But Wexler not only integrated SF into this fantasy novel, but also horror elements: necronomists creating monsters called the "plaguespawn" which range from rat sized up to bear large entities driven by their yearn to destroy anything living and incorporating remains into their own bodies. Both siblings fight against numerous of those beasts, mostly in cellars or labyrinthic tunnel systems fitting to a wonderful Dungeons&Dragons session. 

In fact, a huge part of the novel describes fights very detailed, bordering LitRPG, and very bloody. The first 50 pages was nearly continuous fighting with only small breaks in between. While I liked the diversity of the fights - Gyre mostly with alchemical bombs and weapons, and Maya as sword wielding magician - I could have lived with half the amount of action. In between, I yearned for a chapter just settling down a bit - well, there was one, but it was short. Action oriented fantasy fans will find their needs filled to the fullest, no mercy given. 

Both main characters were relatable and believable in their youthful recklessness and naivety. Some teenage angst drove me nuts when Maya unfolded her virgin lesbian drive to fellow character Beq, taking them nearly half the novel to come to fruition. That was clearly too much romance suspense for my taste. The complete opposite was frivolous and mysterious Kit Doomseeker, acting as a quest giver for Gyre. 

Also, this novel wins the "Most grins" Award. My Kindle counted 100 occurences, and given that its used mostly in the chapters featuring Kit Doomseeker, that's awfully often.

The novel is a really high-octane, mostly underground, thriller fantasy, tending towards YA in some aspects. It shines with character, plot, and setting, and sometimes just has too much in it. I found it very entertaining and recommend it.

Here’s my review of Ashes of the Sun, thank you to @netgalley and @headofzeus for my #gifted copy in return for an honest review.
This is a fast paced high action fantasy. Sibling rivalry, relationships (including lgbtq 🙌🏼), magic, fighting....basically all the good stuff!!! I really enjoyed this although it felt a little rushed for detail and slow on story at the beginning. But once it got going it was fast paced and fun! I’ve not read any by DW before but it’s old school high fantasy with lots of modernism which made it much more enjoyable for me.

I was really excited for this book since I really enjoyed another book by the author but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. There are 2 POVs and I only enjoyed one of them consistently throughout. For some reason I found it hard to get invested in Gyre's story, I just didn't find him particularly interesting and the characters around him seemed, with the exception of Kit, disposable and unimportant. Kit took awhile to grow on me, she ended up being the most interesting thing about his POV and I enjoyed the banter between them.
I enjoyed Maya's POV more, mostly because of the politics of the Order, I just love backstabbing plots :) I also liked her character, strong and determined. Her relationship with Beq was sweet if a little dull, I would have liked a bit more banter, they were just so nice to each other all the time. I loved Varo, all his stories about his friends who have met terrible ends made me chuckle (you'll understand once you read it), I wish he had been involved in the plot more. Tanax also grows on you, he starts out a real git but his character growth was great to see.
I was surprised at how long this was, however the plot flows smoothly and there weren't many slow points. The amount of heists was quite high which normally I like but since I didn't care about Gyre and his gang all that much, I didn't get as invested as I could have.
The magic system was well thought out and interesting, though there were times that it got a bit information dumpy most of the time the world building was shown naturally.
Overall this was a solid book but even though I liked the banter and there were a couple of characters I got quite attached to, I didn't love it.

Ashes of the Sun revolves around two main characters, in alternating chapters.  Maya, a young girl who suffers mysterious bouts of sickness and Gyre her overprotective older brother. One fateful day a Centarch of the Twilight Order arrives at their home offering a cure for Maya and proceeds, despite her screams, to try and take her away. Her older and protective brother Gyre intervenes and loses half his face as a punishment resulting in a serious story of revenge, obsession and an overwhelming desire to see the entire system destroy

The story is told over alternating chapters, which keeps your interest, makes you want to read more.  The story is paced excellently as we begin to see each character grow and change from young naive characters to more mature ones, as they begin to experience real life.   Both Maya and Gyre are easily relatable characters.  It was good to see them develop and start affecting the world around them.  The fight scenes are really good, the edge of your seat type fights.  

There is some predictability as we know Maya and Gyre will meet again. However, don't let this get in the way of what is an exciting read.  However, there were moments I didn't see coming, which again, kept me wanting to read more. 

The mains strengths of this book are the believability of the characters and their relationships.  A magic system which is fun and exciting,  A story which is nicely paced in terms of action.   

Thanks to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for a free ebook arc, all opinions expressed are my own.

Ashes of the Sun is one of those books that hooked me at the very start. The introduction to the book, and to our two POV characters packed quite a punch. I will say that the time transition that followed threw me briefly, but the story quickly drew me back in.

    The alternating POV format following Maya and Gyre, a brother and sister that were separated at a young age, was skillfully done, and each provided a different viewpoint both on what had happened when they were children, the world around them and the conflict that they found themselves on opposite sides of. Of the two, Maya was my favourite, there was just something about her personality that I liked that little bit more. However, Gyre was still a fascinating character, and his motivations were if anything even more understandable than his sister’s at times. What I really liked was how, as their paths come closer and closer, the opposing approaches to what is happening create an even more vivid picture of what is happening. Showing that there are misconceptions, and a disconnect between certain factions, that are only feeding into the conflict. It made for a very engaging read and left you rooting for characters on both sides.

    The supporting cast is wonderful too, each bringing something different and unique to the story and to our main characters. My favourites were Beq, who Maya has a crush on – and I am always happy to see more f/f rep in books, and Kit who was an instant favourite from the moment she was first introduced. The main cast is rather small, but that means there is more of a chance to get to know them, and I look forward to seeing where the characters go in future books.

    However, as well done as the characters were, it was the world-building that truly made me fall in love with this book. It’s the one thing I really look for in fantasy, and Ashes from the Sun had such a wonderfully rich world that it pulled me in completely. It’s a world that we’re thrown into from the start and learn about through the story, the world-building is carefully interwoven with the plot, so that there are no real info dumps. What it does is create a world that feels very real and lived in, while still leaving areas to be explored and questions unanswered, especially about things such as the plaguespawn and the Chosen. It would have been nice to learn a little more about them in this book, but certainly didn’t detract from the story, and I am confident that there will be answers to come in the future, and I am more than happy to return to this world to find them as I have spent some happy hours there while reading this book.
 
   This rich world-building, creating a vibrant, interesting dystopian world, was paired with a fantastic writing style. It was fast-paced, and there was a lot packed into this book, particularly towards the end. I really enjoyed the prose and the humour, but what really stood out for me was the fight scenes – which can be so hard to get right, but these ones were that right balance of information and action, which combined with the various fighting styles made for dynamic, engaging fight scenes. 

  This was my first venture into Django Wexler’s work, but I will certainly be continuing with this series, and once my TBR is at a slightly more manageable level (or more likely when I give in to temptation), I will be checking out his earlier works. It was a wonderfully immersive read, particularly with the world-building and was a much needed and very enjoyable escape from the recent chaos. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting a fast-paced adventure with engaging characters and fantastic world-building.

Though I had never read anything by this author before, I dont know why had a bit of high expectations from this one and I guess that’s the main reason it didn’t seem to wow me.

Maya was definitely a standout character with both her badass as well as vulnerable moments whereas Gyre felt a little one dimensional with just wanting to burn everything down. I really didn’t connect much to any other characters and I never got the emotional payoff I always expect from a good fantasy novel. I was also not a particular fan of the writing style, which kinda made it hard for me to read quickly. The world building was okay but nothing really stood out as very different from other fantasy worlds.

I still think this is a fun novel, especially if you like the writing style and the extremely fast pacing of the plot which doesn’t leave a lot of time to explore the nuances of the characters. And I definitely appreciate the queer rep and it’s always exciting to see more f/f main couples in fantasy. I still haven’t decided if am gonna continue the series but I’m keeping an open mind.

"Ashes of the Sun" started out brilliantly. It grabbed me instantly, but then there was a downhill slide. I think it's me, rather than the book itself as I felt like it was aimed more at late teen/early 20s readers rather than a broader age-range. That said, the writing is very good and the story is interesting. I lost all connection with the characters after the first chapter, but I think that's down to me being too old!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

It appears that my opinion is going to be an unpopular one.

I was anticipating "Ashes of Sun", but was quite disappointed. My eARC didn't come with a cover, map or glossary, but I've found that other reviewers copies did come with a glossary. I had a hard time imagining the creatures and world and I found some names extremely cringy - "Suddenstorm" and "Thousandcuts" and "unmetal" to name a few made me roll my eyes.

The writing felt more YA to me than the epic adult fantasy I expected.

The plot is loose and we get mission after mission with no real goal in mind (except Gyre wanting to take down everyone). It doesn't feel tied together enough.
Maya was the most interesting character and all the side characters never felt fleshed out enough for me to care if they lived or died (and die they did).

I believe that many people will enjoy this book as the ideas altogether are very good, but I'd urge the publishers to add maps and maybe some illustrations to make sure readers aren't as confused as I was and this ultimately didn't make for a good reading experience.

Thank you Head of Zeus and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another great contribution to the fantasy genre from Wrexler, always guaranteed to entertain and wow me. I love the amazing world building the author brings to every book and such brilliant characters, fully developed and three dimensional, it’s a completely immersive experience reading a book by Django Wrexler, beautiful imagery and wonderfully written. Just amazing fantasy 

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

3.5/5

Ashes of the sun was simply a book that didn’t completely wow me. There’s nothing really wrong with it, the story is fine for the most part, the world is interesting and the characters weren’t bad but the it was just missing something to get me excited to read it.

The story focuses on two siblings: Gyre and Maya who are separated as children. Maya is raised to be a Centarch, a magical warrior, and Gyre hates the Centarch because he believes they stole his sister and he wants to destroy them. It was interesting to read a story about siblings being on different sides and it drives the story along well enough.

The world and its society are very well created and described. It’s dark and there’s a lot of danger to be had as well as a lot of action scenes. I find this is where the story is its strongest.

As for the characters, I did like them for the most part. Gyre was fine and I liked his burning hatred. I liked Maya on the whole but at one point Wexler pulled the whole “you’re going to be the strongest of us all” trope with her and as soon as those words came out of the character’s mouth I actually groaned. Nothing kills my enjoyment quite like that particular trope.

On the whole there’s nothing really wrong with Ashes of the Sun. It does spend a little too long introducing everything and the end feels a little bit rushed but there aren’t a lot of things in particular, apart from a few niggles, that are really wrong. I just didn’t love it. Maybe it’s because I haven’t engaged in many books before I read it but it just didn’t quite hit the spot for me. Maybe it’ll be the perfect thing for someone else.

5 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2020/07/20/ashes-of-the-sun-by-django-wexler-review/

Long ago, the Chosen ruled the world,  but following a war with the Ghouls, they vanished from the earth. Humanity eventually won the war, scouring the Ghouls from the planet, but still their gods did not return. Hundreds of years later, a new Empire has risen in the ashes of the old. The Twilight Order serves the land, protecting its people from the threat of dhak—plaguespawn, unnatural creatures, that would overrun the land if left unchecked. But not all dhak are plaguespawn. As Gyre well knows.

When he was eight, Gyre watched as his little sister Maya was abducted by the Order. He tried to intervene but was rebuffed, the attempt costing him both an eye in the process. As Maya began a new life as an Order trainee, Gyre’s life changed as well. His parents never recovered the loss of their daughter, and soon, Gyre was alone with only thoughts of vengeance to guide him.

Seventeen year-old Maya wants nothing more than to be a centarch of the Order—roving the Empire, protecting the people from dhak, and the dhakim that would exploit it. But when she is recalled to the Order to begin the final leg of her training, it won’t be plaguespawn that she’ll have to worry about—it will be the Order itself. When Maya and a group of other initiates are sent to wile out corruption in a city filled to the brim with it, she assumes that nothing could be worse than the mayor of the place itself. But having been forewarned that her superior will stop at nothing to ruin their mission, she expects trouble on all fronts. But does not expect it in the form of her long lost brother, Gyre.

Gyre has had over a dozen years to stoke his hatred of the Twilight Order. In the depths of Deepfire, he’s found a cause that focuses it. Going by the moniker ‘Halfmask’ for the mask covering his ruined eye, Gyre is loathed, respected and feared in equal measure. Under the command of the rebel, Yora, he fights on behalf of the Tunnelborn, those downtrodden beneath the Empire’s boot. But he’s always looking for something more; something to destroy the Order, and the Empire behind it. And when he meets the mysterious Doomseeker—a man of more myth than even he—it appears that what he needs is within his grasp. Enter his sister, Maya, seeking to preserve the very Order he seeks to destroy.

With their paths about to cross will Maya and Gyre be able to put aside their differences and focus on their past, or will they tear the very world each is trying to protect into pieces?

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My second ‘ siblings on either side of a war ‘ of the year (following the Ranger of Marzanna), and it turns out that second time’s the charm. Where I found Skovron’s book slow and dry, there’s nothing slow about Ashes of the Sun. With a plot that took off from the very start and action that started off slow and constantly gained speed as it went along—Ashes proved the epic retreat and adventure in a year otherwise plagued with chaos and… plague.

The setting of Ashes begins as one might expect; as a world newly discovered, the reader is introduced around to its various sights and sounds, never dwelling in one place too long as to spoil the effect, but long enough to build up their appreciation of the world-building on the whole. It’s a classic strategy—with a few notable differences. 

There are just some terms that we have to work out for ourselves. When Maya and Gyre are introduced to something new or unique, or something they must familiarize themselves with, the reader usually receives a description. But for some other terms, like “unmetal, dhak, Chosen, haken” etc, we’re just left to fend for ourselves while the story continues on, not waiting for us to catch up. While there are some that may be turned off by this, I found it to be the perfect blend of detail and lack-thereof to both give my imagination cues to construct the world, while leaving me to my own devices to interpret some others as I saw fit. Thus the world I ended up imagining may be very different from yours, or the author’s, or anyone else’s. 

While the world is great when seen from either Gyre or Maya’s perspective, when you bring them together it is a masterpiece. Characters often see the world in different ways. But this isn’t always clear in the writing. While one person might see the world as a dark, foreboding abyss, another may seen a land full of color and light. Maya sees the world as a lovely, vibrant place, where evil lurks in the shadows—and it’s her job to keep it that way. Gyre, meanwhile, views it as more of a lurid dystopia, where evil comes in many colors and good exists as but a fanciful dream. For the first several chapters, I kept switching back from one POV’s description to the other, but eventually the two began to blend with one another to create something new. Have you seen those paintings that combine the styles of multiple different artists to depict one object (like a building or landscape or whatever)? And the resulting work blends all of what each one sees together to create something recognizable, if completely unexpected? It’s like that. I don’t know if you’ll have the same experience with this, but I sure hope you do!

No one is above suspicion. Without any spoilers or long, rambling thoughts, let me just say this: Maya and Gyre are keepers. Otherwise, all bets are off. This isn’t one of those stories where the heroes vanquish evil and live happily ever after. In Ashes, there are no heroes. And life proceeds accordingly.

While the POV characters are the strongest, don’t count the secondary ones out. Unsurprisingly, Maya and Gyre are the strongest two characters in this story. Somewhat surprisingly, several others came close, with one on each side threatening to steal my heart away from the other sibling. Kit and Beq each flesh out quite nicely. But then most of Halfmask’s and Maya’s crews do as well. Yora, Tanax, Sarah, even Jaedia all try to steal the show at some point. I guess I just wasn’t expecting the level to which they would rise. In a book where no one is above suspicion, and you need to expect the unexpected, it’s never ideal to get too attached to a non-POV character. Or sometimes even a POV one (looking at you Ned and Boromir—yeah, so, pretty much just Sean Bean) (it’s never a great idea to get too attached to Sean Bean).

While it’s a serious quest to save the world, there’s still more than enough time to have fun. Drinking, sex, adventure, mystery, swearing, and sarcasm—if you don’t like any of those you might not enjoy this one. The book knows how to have fun. If I’ve learnt one thing about Wexler by now, it’s that he knows that too. When the cards are down, it’s time to get your game face on. Before that, however, well… there’s no reason to take yourself too seriously. 

‘ “That,” she called out to him, “might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen anyone try. And believe me when I say you’re up against some strong competition in that category.” ‘

Ashes does humor well. I loved, I laughed, and I did some of each at the same time.

I had only slight problems with Ashes of the Sun; nothing worth harping on. A minor issue with one or two characters in the second half. A few minor issues with the level of technology changing. A slight issue with the plot leading up to the end. Nothing major; nothing really even minor; nothing worth worrying about.

TL;DR

Ashes of the Sun tells a dynamic story of two equally impressive siblings, each trying to shape the world in their own way. And since each sees and interprets the world differently, Ashes creates a unique perspective when the two points of view blend together. It’s not a seamless thing—more the product of multiple artists attempting to paint bits of the same location in their own style. The result would still be recognizable, but also unexpectedly unique and thought-provoking. I found Ashes of the Sun like that: the fusion of two different perspectives to paint a single picture. And I loved it. But you might not. Either way, the book contains strong characters, a rollicking story, action, adventure, romance, drama and a great plot all rolled into one. Even should you not totally love it—there’s more than enough to enjoy, and no reason not to try it.

This was my first time reading a novel by this author and it was a really good read. I think the book had very good representation among the characters as well as them being very engaging and it was good to see opposing sides of conflict which added to the enjoyment of the book. The pacing was a bit of a problem for me in the beginning of the book but I did get over that as I became more invested in the story.