🔥💫💀

I actually very much enjoyed this book. I love a good love triangle, fated mates, magic and darkness and this definitely hit the spot for me and kept me entertained. There were a few parts that didn't flow as nicely, but especially with the last sentence this series has me hooked and I'll be definitely checking out #2!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

A really good first-time fantasy novel with some amazing cover art! I highly enjoyed this Fantasy romance and will definitely be checking out the rest of the series. The love triangle was not cringe worthy like many others have been lately and the world building was done in a very organic way with no info-dumping or with being left confused for pages and pages. The main character felt relatable and had a good internal voice (something that can often be lacking in fantasy romance). My only compliant would be that some parts felt a bit formulaic but that comes more from me having read wayyyy to many fantasy novels than any fault of the author. Overall, I would recommend this book and be waiting for book 2!

I would not call this “good” per-sey. I WOULD tell you that I’d have mainlined this back in high school. Just like frozen pizza, even when it’s bad it’s good, y’know?

Honestly, yes. I still breezed through this and I enjoyed it. It’s a super fun romantasy with the kind of heroine it’s easy to imagine being.

Exactly what I look for in a quick guilty pleasure read.

I highly recommend this to YA fantasy romance lovers!

There’s a lot going on here, and a lot of it is good. Buckheit has created a richly layered world system. In the beginning of the book, Valeria is living in the mortal realm. She knows she’s the princess of Empyrean, a realm in between heaven and hell meant to guard mortals from the whims of the gods, and she’s been exiled until her 18th birthday. All she wants is to be a normal high school girl and attend prom and high school graduation.

But the day before her 18th birthday (which also happens to be prom night), Val wakes up with a mysterious golden brand on her wrist. She suddenly finds herself with the ability to hear another person’s thoughts. But who? And why?

She’ll find the answer when a horde of demons threatens to derail prom night but a knight-in-shining-armor type comes to her aid. One condition: he’s bringing her back to Empyrean. To her evil father. And to the legacy she’s been avoiding her whole life.

I loved the four-world system going on here, and the world building was great. The pacing of this book is fantastic. There’s constant action but it doesn’t feel too fast, and there’s still character development. In an era where every author tries to make their book as epic (read: long) as possible, this book comes in at a lean 314 pages — the perfect length for this series starter.

I have a couple of minor critiques and then a bigger critique. Minor critiques: 1) this book falls into the same trap of many other YA novels where the female MC cares more about giving people the finger than about actually understanding her situation. She instantly hates everyone she comes in contact with because she makes a looooooot of assumptions about how they must be intent on evil doing… even when it’s clear several people actually are trying to help her. Hey, I was as angsty as the next teen girl, but I still think that if I’d been kidnapped in a world I didn’t understand, and people were willing to give me answers, I would have stopped telling them to F off for maybe one minute to ask some basic questions, like, “Why are you doing this to me? What’s the plan?” It’s frustrating when people are willing to give her answers but things end up being “surprising plot twists” because Val cut people off when they tried to explain what was happening.

Another really minor criticism, but I didn’t like how so many of the minor female characters defaulted to being catty and rivalrous with other females. Can we get some female friendships, please?

I really wish I could write a separate review with spoilers because I want this book to have a public review, but I also have a lot of thoughts on the three male characters 👀👀. So I will keep this spoiler free and suffice it to say I really hope this is a Sarah J. Maas-Rhysand situation. Because I really didn’t like the dude she ended up choosing. The other one is soooo much better and more interesting. Oh, and the third guy thrown in there for good measure? (Maybe the author, like me, was sick of every YA romance having a love triangle and wanted to make it a love… rectangle?) The third guy is absolutely terrible and I really hope that the last page of the book foreshadows what’s to come for him, because he has no redeeming qualities in my opinion and our MC would be better off without him.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC! I thoroughly enjoyed this and will be reading book number two!

Thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC. I really enjoyed reading this book. I was hooked from the beginning.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I had hoped, I couldn’t get into the writing as it seemed almost middle grade, however in contradiction to that the characters frequently talk about their intense attraction to each other so it was difficult to put it in a specific box. If you are looking for a quick fantasy read you might like it

I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to Sword & Silk Books for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, I must clarify that all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Having read this book, I can confidently say that it was a disappointing experience. If it weren't for the book's constantly mentioning the main character's attraction to another character and the main character missing the feeling of being able to read spicy romance books, I would have thought this was a middle-grade book. A VERY badly written middle-grade book.

Let's unpack, shall we?

By the writing style, this book makes no effort to describe anything. Like nothing. You are left in the dark and it's on you.

Except of course when it's time to describe the lover interest's luscious blonde hair and blue eyes. Then you can have a whole page of descriptions.

Moving on, this book honestly feels like almost blatant plagiarism of popular books like ACOTAR or KotC like the plot points are the same there is no difference. Even some of the character tropes are the same but with ACOTAR AND KotC i can at least confidently say there is SOME kind of development and movement towards an actual plot but this book doesn't have that. This book is a pale imitation of popular tropes and stories and it does not deliver.

The biggest problem I had with this book was by far the main character, Valeria.
In my opinion, she is the most frustrating female protagonist I have come across in a while. She is incompetent, spoiled, and ridiculously stupid, and her every thought gives me a headache. Valeria's lack of manners, skills, and understanding of politics despite her years of training is astounding. She spends the whole book whining, trying to be a badass, but failing miserably, thirsting over a guy who kidnapped her, and talking about how she will save the world, which is unrealistic given her lack of experience and intelligence.

She IS not like other girls/princesses embodied and I have to ask why this trope is still a think in 2023 like come on. I thought we were past this.

As for the other characters, they are no better, and I hate them all. None of the characters undergo any growth, development, or have a backstory beyond "my mom is dead." Reading about these bland characters and their boring storylines was excruciatingly painful. If this book wasn't on my phone I might have thrown something.

Moving on to the convoluted mess of a plot. The storyline made no sense, lacked consistency, and the main characters' actions to fix it felt unearned. The entire thing was like if you have an old ball of yarn and you're trying to entangle it and make it make sense but you make it worse.

Next to the romance which was called enemies to lovers and as usual, it wasn't. It's just the main character having minor "ugh I hate you" moments and regardless of that the main character and their soulmate are just immediately attracted to each other and they spend a good majority of the book just talking about how badly Valeria wants him.

The only redeeming quality of this book was the world-building, which WAS interesting but unfortunately, the excessive amount of info dumping at the beginning of the book ruined it and that makes me very sad.

This whole thing feels like it's written by a child. A child's understanding of how love and lust work, a child's understanding of what a fantasy world would be like. A child's understanding of high school, royalty, and magic. It's sad. And speaking of that personal gripe with the book but as someone who studies economics and politics I genuinely find the worldbuilding insulting.

One of the realms in this book is supposed to be a utopia without the need for money but also the book mentions said realm has a barter system and I'm sitting here like how does that even work that would be such a big mess?
I gave it the benefit of the doubt but then this whole thing is never explained and I'm just taking one example here multiple times throughout the book the worldbuilding just makes absolutely zero sense and is the kind of thing I would have thought of if I was like eight.

Honest to god, if it wasn't for the fact that this was an ARC, I would have stopped reading after the first ten chapters. This might be my worst read of the year.

Thought this was a great story. The characters were well thought out. The story captured my attention from the beginning. Would recommend to anyone.

I absolutely DEVOURED this book! I love Valeria so much. My heart aches for everything she’s been through. The ending has me wanting to read the second book like yesterday. Gideon is a saint and I love him.
It has taken a long time to find a book I adored as much as ACOTAR but I think I found it. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series!

So to be honest if I wasn’t too stubborn to DNF books, I would have DNF’d this book. I don’t like giving bad reviews and I really appreciate the work that has gone into every story. The plot itself for this book has some really good and interesting aspects! But let’s get into the pros and cons.

Pros:
- interesting ideas with the gods and the worlds
- Fated mates trope
- A hint if political intrigue if you squint.

Cons
- I didn’t find that anything was particularly well explained, I came away not really understanding the world, the magic, the gods etc…
- Our main character Valeria is one of the worst characters I have had had to read about. She’s the obnoxiously epitome of the 2012 I’m not like other girls pick me vibe. She’s bratty and petulant, mildly better towards the end.
- Most of the characters fell very flat to me. Our initial villain (her Dad) felt incredibly 2D and his motives are never explained he was just an asshole apparently who wrecked everything. Then we have our god villain later on who we get to know more but I still know nothing about his motives.
- I feel like little/no time was spent building scenes or the atmosphere.

All in all it wasn’t unpleasant to read all the time but the characters don’t draw me in and the writing of the story is uninspired.

A girl raised in the moral realm, a birthright stolen and a power waiting to be unlocked.

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. It was a fast-paced and interesting story with a good sprinkling of spice.

I am honestly looking forward to the next book. The only criticism I would give is that I felt the ending was a bit rushed, though it did come to a natural end with a good setup for the next book

This one was cute and fun! I really enjoyed it! I read it so quick and, though it wasn't the best thing I've ever read, I couldn't put it down. 4 stars.

A really enjoyable debut from Lara. Great for fans for Sarah J Maas. This was a very entertaining read, and one I got through very fast. Very nice build up for a first book, great world building and characters. Would definitely read more from this world and other books this author has out in the future!

I did enjoy the story, however it was very fast paced and chaotic. Left me with whiplash, the big moments didn’t get enough discussion. For example I don’t feel there was time between severing the bond and Valeria’s understanding of implications of this.

A Realm of Ash and Shadow was a good start to this debut series by Lara Buckheit.

The FMC, Valeria, kind of got on my nerves throughout the story though. There were times I felt she was unnecessarily mean, and even selfish and uncaring/empathetic. She has some good character development as the story progresses and near the end, but I will need more in the next book before I can even fully like her character.

Gideon is one character in this book that I loved. Although, I do wish he wasn't as quick to forgive in regard to Valeria considering how she treated him at times. I want him to stand up more for himself and be more assertive in the next book. Because right now, Valeria really doesn't deserve him.

Vemdour is a villian that will have your heart thawing towards him in one moment and then have it turn to ice when you realize the depth of his deceit and manipulations. He is a character that you will like, love, and hate all in one because of the many layers he has. I am even a bit sympathetic towards him, but he definitely needs to be taken care of after all he has done.

As for other characters within the story, I love Sabel, Mistress Marjorie, and Malachi. Mason was okay and so was Lirabeth. Ward got exactly what he deserved at the end.

First of all thank you so much Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange of a honest opinion.
I had really high hopes for this books because I truly think that the firsts few chapters were extremely well written and the introductions to this different realms were well done and most importantly make sense. BUT as the pages when on I received a slap on my face because I felt that this book needed a little more development and probably one more round of work. The action scenes were to quickly and I felt that the protagonist, Val, was stupid and selfish and didn’t take anything serious (but i would admit that I enjoy her quick responses).
It was sad to see such a brilliant world idea to be underworked. I actually think that this book had all the potencial to equal some of our favorite authors but it fail in presenting a group of characters that we could actually like and cared about. Everyone was blank and lacked a life of it’s own. I didn’t feel much for anyone in particular.
The sex scenes were well writing I guess but it comes to a point where the author needed to stop because there is a difference between empowering woman, make them own there own sexuality and make her want to sleep with every single male character that appears on the book.
The writing was okay and the plot twist were predictable but i think this could be a enjoyable read to someone that is experiencing fantasy books for the first time or want to try it out but doesn’t know where to started but for long time fantasy reader (like me!) this book didn’t filled the expectations for it and I honestly though it would be better.

I was initially drawn to this book due to having similar vibes to acotar series and saw if you’re a fan of SJM you may like this. I did enjoy it but nothing that would have me obsessed like these other books. The pacing was off some parts but I did like how the romance developed! Not sure if I pick up more in the series though.

A Realm of Shadow and Ash delivers so much epic fantasy that I want to dance on the rooftop! If you're a fan of Maas, Armentrout or K.A. Tucker, this book needs to go on your list.

The author delivers understandable world building as our heroine, Val, must go through the realms to really find out who and what she is. Is she a queen? Is she mortal? Is she a goddess? Is she just a young lady turning into a woman and learning to accept the grief and permance of adulthood?

Either way, you're in for a hell of a ride with Valeria and her group of characters!

I have not flown through a book so quick in a really long time. This book was a breath of fresh air for me. Something completely different, but something that felt familiar and like home to me. I only stopped reading for some much needed sleep and as soon as my peepers opened this morning, I was back at it again.

In this story, we follow the lovely Valeria who is just trying to belong. She has the knowledge that she is much more than what she portrays, but isn’t fully sure what is in store for her life. Living in the mortal realm since she was a baby, she is excited to venture into her true home Empyrean. However, she does not fully expect what the transition has in store for her. Through this book, she battles the waging war inside her, trying to find not only herself but also information on what has caused the changes in the realm of Empyrean she had only heard stories of.

I won’t go into much detail because this book is SO good. The plot, the characters, the twists and turns, the writing, the pacing… all just so good. I would say this is the best book I’ve read all year. I cannot wait to see what else Lara Buckheit has is store for us with this story.

Big thanks to Netgalley, and Lara Buckheit for giving me an ARC for this book. I enjoyed the story so much!

3.5 Stars Rounded to 4 Stars

This was such a fun and fast paced read. I felt that the plot had a good and steady pace at points but there was a couple of points where I felt it lost it a little. The world building was great and enjoy how descriptive the author was when describing.
The story follows Valeria who was exiled to the Mortal realm until she has to return to her world to reclaim her throne. Valeria has to battle demons and enemies who will try to stop and harm her at any cost. I felt the characters were well developed and had a good amount of depth to them.
I’m really Looking forward to the next book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.