I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

2/5 stars

I was really intrigued by the premise of The Throne of Ash—a matriarchal society, court politics, and a sisterhood thrown into turmoil by love and duty. The Tudor-inspired world had so much potential, and I was excited to dive into something that flipped the traditional gender roles and put women at the center of power.

The worldbuilding is one of the stronger aspects of the book. The rituals, the face-painted Queen, the noble Houses with monopolies on goods like lemons and salt—it’s a vivid, imaginative setup. I appreciated the ambition and detail in how this society operates, even if sometimes it felt more like an aesthetic than a fully realized political system. I just wish some of the lore and history had been explored more deeply.

Unfortunately, the execution didn’t quite live up to the concept for me. The pacing is very slow, especially in the first half. There’s a lot of time spent on ceremony, clothing, and internal monologue, which made it hard to stay engaged. There were moments I felt genuinely bored and wondered when the story would actually start to move. The prose is heavy on description and repetition, and at times it felt like style was being prioritized over clarity or momentum.

I also struggled to connect with the characters. Princess Bess, the narrator, is difficult to root for—her emotions feel more told than shown, and her obsession with Harry (the love interest/Consort) didn’t feel believable. We’re told she loves him, but we’re never really shown why. He barely has a personality, and their relationship felt flat. Her dynamic with Queen Cecily also lacked the complexity I was hoping for; it was more bitterness than sisterhood, and it never felt fully explored.

That said, I did like the concept of the Queen’s mask and the emotional distance it symbolizes, and I thought the ending was surprisingly impactful. The last 10% of the book had real tension and emotional weight, and while I wish the rest of the story had that same energy, it at least left me somewhat curious about where the series might go next.

Overall, this was a mixed read for me. There’s a lot of promise here, and I can see it appealing to readers who enjoy slow-burn court intrigue with a strong focus on ritual and gender politics. But for me, the pacing, repetitive prose, and lack of character depth kept it from being a standout.

(Cross-posted to Fable and Goodreads and StoryGraph)

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

The premise sounded very cool! I loved the idea of a feminine Tudor-esque fantasy, and the political intrigue aspect was interesting.

However, the story starts off very slow, with very thorough and detailed descriptions of the different houses. It felt a little too much all at once for me, and I couldn’t keep them straight. I didn’t think they all needed to be included, and I wasn’t sure (apart from Bess and Cecily) who would be important characters.

Bess was an interesting character. a little morally grey, which I loved. But the writing style was a lot of internal dialogue which got repetitive after a while. In the first 3 chapters I think she had maybe 3-4 dialogue exchanges. all short and expository. So the pacing suffered because internal dialogue is hard to move the plot forward.

And while some of the political intrigue twists were done well, a lot of it was predictable from the beginning.

I’d also like to ask the publisher to think about including a content warning for a birthing scene that graphic. It was very off putting to me, and I think some people with traumatic birth stories might struggle with it.

I want to say thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I want to say thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Throne of Ash is a captivating fantasy novel that immerses readers in a world full of power struggles, complex characters, and political intrigue. The book centers around a heroine who must navigate the ruthless dynamics of court life and her duty in order to support “The Queen.”

Strengths:
1. World-building: Porter excels at creating a vivid and intricate world. The setting is lush that enriches the narrative and allows the reader to immerse themselves. The author’s attention to detail helps establish a sense of place, making the world feel lived-in and authentic.

2. Character Development: The protagonist is one of the novel’s strongest aspects. She’s layered, morally complex, and relatable. Her internal struggles, as well as her growth throughout the story, make for a compelling journey. She is central to the narrative, adding emotional depth to the to this Tudoresque drama.

3. Themes: The book delves into themes of power, sacrifice, loyalty, and identity. The protagonist's journey is one of self-discovery, where she grapples with her personal beliefs and the harsh demands of the throne. It’s a story about what one is willing to sacrifice in order to protect power and the ones she loves.

Weaknesses:

1. Pacing Issues: The beginning can feel slow as the author builds the world for the reader. The initial setup takes time to unfold, and the plot takes a while to gather momentum. For readers who prefer fast-moving stories, this could be a bit of a turn-off.

2. Overly Descriptive: At times, the writing can feel overly descriptive, which can bog down the pace, especially when the focus shifts from action to setting or background details. This might test the patience of some readers who prefer a more streamlined narrative. The author also repeats phrases multiple times which for me was pretty frustrating.

3. Predictability: While the book does feature some unexpected twists, the overall trajectory of the plot may feel familiar to fans of political fantasy. The struggle for the throne, with all its machinations, is a well-trodden path, and at times, the book doesn’t stray too far from genre conventions.

Overall:

Throne of Ash is an engaging and immersive read for fans of court intrigue and fantasy. It’s a book full of twists, betrayals, and complex characters. While it might not be groundbreaking in terms of plot, the depth of the world-building and the emotional depth of the protagonist make it an enjoyable read. If you enjoy stories about royal courts and struggles for power are central themes, this novel will likely resonate with you.

This was very difficult to get through due to the repetitiveness of some phases including "Throne of Ash". Some of the plot points from later in the book were too obvious from the start of the book and it reduced the enjoyment.

The Throne of Ash by Lissy Porter was a book I grabbed based on the summary and I have to say, while it's not noted as a series, I'm wondering if there will be a second book to this one as the way it ended, it could absolutely continue.

Our fmc is Bess, the princess and heir to the Throne of Ash. In the world the Porter has developed, women are in charge and valued and men are seen as nothing more than tools for breeding. Because of this, the book opens on the Queen (Bess's sister Cecily) going through the ceremony of choosing her consort. What is unexpected to Bess is that the man she has chosen for herself, and her future away from court, has been brought to court by his aunt as a possible consort for the Queen and the only person in her family who doesn't know about him is the Queen. Because of that, Cecily ends up choosing him and things start to twist and turn from here.

I initially felt bad for Bess. I couldn't tell if she and her sister had a good or bad relationship so wondered if she would have said something to Cecily would she have released Harry or would she truly have held it over her head as Bess thought? Her decision to never have him going forward and the fact that that changes very quickly is what makes my feelings for Bess change. I feel like she never actually tried to move on despite the fact that she said she was going to...and Harry was having sex with her sister...and often.

Outside of that bit of the story, there is a lot of court politics and intrigue in this one. That is what the purpose was behind bringing Harry to court as a consort in the first place as his aunt wanted to gain more power and when he was chosen as the consort, she used it as a way to gain influence. Unfortunately for her, it created more problems for her as she tried to do take too much. In the end, everything backfires on her and she pays a pretty big price which is the beginning of the end for the entire House they belong to.

Ultimately, the Queen finds herself with child and Bess sees this as her opportunity to plan her escape for the future with a new heir on the way. The question is what will happen with Harry. I won't say much more here as I don't want to give anything away but there are quite a few twists that happen that mean not everything goes as planned. And as I mentioned, the way Porter ended this book, it could easily jump into a book two to see what happens next for the characters and this kingdom.

If you're looking for a fantasy romance that has a bit of a historical feel to it, consider picking this one up. I found it to be well written and while the characters were somewhat questionable, I found myself turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next for everyone.


The Throne of Ash is a Tudor-esque fantasy in which women rule, and men are kept in the background, of little use, aside from when a Consort must be chosen. Then, court intrigues, and politics come to the fore in a deadly game of politics and etiquette that sets sister against sister.

The Throne of Ash has never been more on fire.

"the men aren't great thinkers or scholars. they're not great painters, or wits or anything at all. they think only of how to garb themselves and who has the most garnets in their ears, or bedecking their codpieces, when dressed, and when not dressed? well, the rumours make even me blush. the men are all fluff and nonsense."

tw: graphic description of childbirth gone wrong

firstly, thanks to NetGalley for the arc and the NetGalley app's text-to-speech feature because turning it into a quasi-audiobook was the only way i could slog through "The Throne of Ash". i hate that i keep coming across interesting-concept-terrible-execution books, but this one was truly barely readable and i only finished it because i picked up the arc.

it was bad from page 1, i just didn't grasp that early on how bad it would end up being. it was the repetitions, at first. every line had to repeat the phrase "the Throne of Ash". if it wasn't the throne of ash, it was the Kingdom of Ash, or the tower of ash, of the Queen of Ash. descriptions were so repetitive that i kept losing track of where i was on the page, hence, swapping to TTS.

i mean the grammar was appalling. i know what i have is an unfinished version—far from an edited product, as it would seem from the author's bluesky—but this requires such extensive editing that 1. i doubt it'd be ready for the may release day 2. it'd be cut short by a good 100-150 pages, and i'm not being generous. i couldn't pick every example, so here's a select handful of egregious errors, contrivances, and inconsistencies:

CHAPTER 1
"One of Lady Alice's daughter's sits in the Privy Council, advising the queen on matters of state" -> a small typo, and yet an omen of what's to come.

CHAPTER 4
"I'm deemed an adult at sixteen years old, if the queen's heir." -> unfinished sentences like this litter the book, and again, perhaps they'll be found and fixed before the official release but there's too many of them.

CHAPTER 11
"I assure you, he'll be keen to bore you with all the details. I warn you, he can be very boring." / "Will you arrange another Consort arrangement for him?" -> likewise, sentences like this, where it feels like the author had two options to choose from and forgot to delete one, or where repetitive words were used seemingly with intention to find a synonym later.

CHAPTER 13
"Almost immediately, I feel my focus narrow to Harry, the charcoal in my hand and the actions of my hand." -> again, unnatural repetition of a word in the same sentence.
"I've never seen my mother embroider in all my years of knowing her." -> so... your whole life? i get the intention is that she has not seen her mother to her memory but it's such an strange phrasing to choose.

CHAPTER 14
"I'm sure my father will inform me if I thinks I should." -> self-explanatory.

CHAPTER 16
"Then that's will be done." -> again, self-explanatory.

CHAPTER 17
"Outside, the servants have taken advantage of the cooler morning air to arrange the picnic so it's all prepared when I stroll outside <...>" -> again, the repetition. it goes overlooked in so many instances it has me wondering whether the author may have used generative AI for editing and tweaking.

CHAPTER 19
"The house of Salt have been untruthful when presenting your chosen Consort to you. Your Consort, it's believed, isn't even a birth member of the House of Salt, but rather a changeling brought into the House for this very purpose. Lady Alice's sister did not give birth to a child who lived. Instead, your Consort was brought into the cradle and passed off as one of her own." -> I've flagged this one as a spoiler as it pertains to a key plotline. With all the silly names of different noble houses, one thing is made clear—Harry is the Consort sent forward by the House of Fish, not Salt, making it an egregious plot error. I have no idea how something like this went overlooked.

CHAPTER 20
"She was tasked with teaching the queen and I about the birds and the bees." -> well this one puts the author's claim about "putting her historian hat on" to a proper test. this story is supposed to be a soft of fantasy-esque version of the Tudor world. we can reference Henry VIII as the sort of most recognizable king of the Tudor era, so he would've reigned in the first half of the 16th century. we can take Elizabeth I, who reigned the latter half. in either case, considering the phrase "the birds and the bees" was, to our knowledge, likely mentioned around the mid 17-th century at the earliest, and even removing it from its historical context completely, it feels like such an anachronism.

CHAPTER 25
"I hold it tightly, surmising this has somehow come from Harry. How it's made its way into Lady Mary's hands, I don't know. I grip it tightly, considering simply tipping it into the waves around the barge, but I don't. Instead, I hold it tightly, and only open my hand when I'm once more in my apartments, and my women, no longer sombre. have returned to gossiping." -> nope, i did not take excerpts from three different parts of the chapter, she really grips this tiny piece of paper THREE TIMES at once. oh my god i know an arc is not a finalized book but these things can be caught early on.

CHAPTER 28
"This child is huge,' she complains, rubbing her back. 'It's all very inconvenient,' she complains, before bidding me goodnight." -> surely there's a better verb than 'complains', twice.

CHAPTER 31
"Yesterday, the echoes would have been unending, reaching to the farthest reaches <...>" -> at this point just no comment.
"I'm more terrified than they can ever now." -> and another one of those sweet types we got used to around the way to end this journey.

this book also suffers greatly from issues of pacing. the first half, the plot barely moves and doesn't pick up its pace until maybe around chapter 20ish, when we're suddenly speedrunning Cecily's pregnancy. the ending basically catches you off-guard, as you go from barely covering a single day to skipping several months ahead.

next, let's move on to misandry and patriarchy.

see, i do like the idea of a world ruled by women. put it in a monarchist setting and there's a lot of sand to play with, and Porter certainly tries to play but there are too many inconsistencies. the rules of primogeniture seem to not be set in stone or codified definitively, given that <spoilers>a third child is selected as an heir based on a prophecy. the world-building issues were described really well by a different review digging into the strange system of houses based on their trade and how the different merchant paths overlap in a manner that would eliminate other houses. there's not much on other states or kingdoms, bar one, which is apparently ruled by men, so the matriarchal system of the kingdom of ash (try to imagine reading every other sentence with that mouthful interjecting) does not appear to be widely spread.

the thing is, this book wants to present a spin on the Tudor world, and the author does reference henry viii in her note, but i expected this book to a world ruled in misandry. as it turns out, that's not the case. despite trying to position this world as ruled by women, the men are still at the forefront of the story in ways that seemed to break what little worldbuilding we got. the exception is made to the dead queen's only living son. sure, that line can be drawn. but then also a boy who happened to be born the same day has privileges too? Elizabeth talks about how men are no more than breeding bulls brought out only for consorting, but even then, the way some men got privileges over others did not seem to follow any pattern or particular favours offered by a monarch. neither Henry nor Charles having court privileges made sense. Harry's temporary rise into favour was better explained for obvious reasons. even then, with Elizabeth's point of view and reverie with which she speaks of the men, it centres them in her story. it ceases being a tale of two sisters whole relationship deteriorates due to Cecily's imminent rise to power, it becomes a story of "which male lover should i take?" for Elizabeth.

another tie-in with the roles of women vs. men is the background roles. are the royal guards women or men? i could not say. the servants are apparently women, but i don't recall any servant being named as a man. what about the broader kingdom? sure, Elizabeth is second in line for the throne, she is probably disconnected from the common folk, but do they adhere to the same matriarchal structure? are men just as out of favour there? how do people live in contrast to the lavish feasts and fancy fabrics of the monarchy? is it a time of peace, a crisis? is the kingdom prosperous or suffering from famine? we head barely that, for instance, the house of fish (ugh) provides salted fish for everyone in winter and the house of seacoal (uuuuugh) keeps the people warm, but how many people? how big is this kingdom exactly? what is the social divide, do the peasants threaten to revolt? maybe something of this nature will come up in the sequels, i won't care enough to read them.

the core issue of "the throne of ash" is it doesn't know if it wants to be young adult or adult fiction. it's too tame for the latter—despite what you might expect from the courting setting at the very beginning, it shies from being overtly sexual, while the protagonist and her sister are around 16-18 years old. but it's also too brutal at times to be the former.

with that in mind, let's talk about chapter 30.

i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the novel—and indeed the trilogy—was envisioned precisely around this scene, given its detailedness, gratuity and length. for all intents and purposes, for a book that's so heavily about consorts and heirs and lovers, it's pretty sexless throughout, with a few vague mentions of Cecily's or Elizabeth's relations with harry during their respective relationships. so, reaching chapter 30, it felt a lot like this George R. R. Martin quote:

"I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a penis entering a vagina, and I get letters about it and people swearing off."

dancing around Cecily's procreation and enjoyment of sex behind closed doors is a stark contrast to the bloody, gruesome birthing bed. porter goes into very explicit detail of the bleeding, the cutting, the dying, it was all a little bit "House of the Dragon" s1e1 to me. i won't get into the physics of two babies being overlooked in the womb, that felt too bonkers even with the overall quality of the book, but the way in which Cecily's birth and death are described felt... too gratuitous far what is, at the end of the day, a very ya-sounding book with quite young main characters.

there's so much to pick apart, so much to say, so many ways that this has gone wrong yet wouldn't have, if Porter had a very patient editor. She's mentioned this was a project she's been working on for years and I comment that, but frankly, she's not a very attentive writer. If anything she just gives an impression of a pretty lazy one. The handful of detailed descriptions of food or clothing do have some thought put into them. If only the rest of the plot had been cared for as much.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read this ARC. I think the author has a lot of potential—there are some interesting ideas here, and with more refinement to her writing style, I believe she’ll go on to publish some truly compelling stories.

Unfortunately, I ended up DNF-ing this one around the halfway mark. I struggled with the writing—it lacked flow and felt a little flat at times, with repetitive rhythms that made it hard to stay engaged. The worldbuilding also wasn’t described vividly enough for me to form a clear picture of the setting, which made it difficult to immerse myself in the story.

That said, I’ll definitely keep an eye out for future work from this author!

This Tudor inspired novel is sort of an alternate history where the matriarchy reigns supreme. The world in which this book takes place is artfully woven and vivid, filled with new traditions, rituals, and religion. The protagonist, Princes Elizabeth, lives the boring life as the Royal spare. Her beloved is taken as consort to the queen. From where the story doesn’t really go anywhere, there is zero character development and each day in the book is about as boring as the next. I kept reading hoping that something amazing would happen, but it doesn’t. In fact, I absolutely hated the entire ending.

Princess Bess has a lover but when he is chosen by Queen Cecily to be her Consort, Bess’ life is turned upside down. Cecily, Queen of Ash wears while face make up so her people only see the Queen not the woman behind the throne. Bess is heartbroken but as the Queen’s sister and heir she cannot alter her situation.

Very well written fantasy novel set in a land where women are superior and men just needed for procreation. Only a healthy baby girl will be acceptable but complications will arise that will affect many lives. The future will only be resolved when the Queen gives birth, hopefully to a daughter.

I loved this book. I can't wait until I can read the next book by Lissy Porter. Four out of five stars from me as some things could have been better, but really good overall.

I really wanted to love The Throne of Ash—the concept sounded right up my alley. A matriarchal society, political intrigue, hidden identities—it had all the elements I usually enjoy. But unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.

The pacing was really slow, especially at the start. I found myself struggling to stay focused and was tempted to put it down more than once. The overly detailed descriptions made scenes drag, and I felt like we were told a lot but not shown enough—especially when it came to relationships and character dynamics.

I also didn’t feel much connection to the characters. The main character’s emotions and motivations didn’t feel convincing to me, and the romance felt underdeveloped. I wanted to care more about what was happening, but it just didn’t pull me in.

The worldbuilding had potential, and I liked the idea of the Queen’s face being hidden and how power was handled differently in this society—but those unique elements didn’t feel fully explored or satisfying in the end.

I can see how this might appeal to readers who enjoy slow burns with lots of court rituals and inner monologue, but it just wasn’t a fit for me.

Unfortunately I found this book to be a bit too slow for what I usually like in terms of the plot development. I loved the concept and ideas behind the book but felt these could have been developed more strongly and we could have had better world building which is something that is appealing to me in books. I also struggled with connecting with the characters unfortunately.
Thank you NetGalley for proving me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This author either hates commas, throwing them around haphazardly, or loves them so much so they have to share them with every sentence. Some of the phrasings come across clumsy and forced as the author put style over story, especially in the early chapters. There are small errors, such as the wrong their/they’re, the wrong your/you’re, aunt’s/aunts, and I was so annoyed by the awkward style and repetitive writing — so many next, so many contentments, so many blues and yellows, the word recalled used four times on one page (and I haven’t even made it to chapter three!) — that I began paying less attention to the story and more to the mechanics of the world. And that’s not a good thing. Before chapter two began I was so disconnected from this story.

The houses are … silly. The noble House of Fish, or Pottery, the noble house of Cloth? The matriarchy bit is fine; using men as breeding stock, fine. But it feels more like vibes and less like world building and every sentence I struggle to read makes me less interested in reading the next one. The houses, such as the House of Lemon, for example, are noble families that hold monopolies. And that’s … fine. This one noble house has a monopoly on each and every lemon coming in and being sold in the kingdom, but why call it the House of Lemon? That’s the part that bothers me.

And how goes the House of Pottery or Sugar or Wine manage these monopolies when there is a House of Trade? Or can the House of Trade only trade things that aren’t sugar, salt, fish and lemons? How does this work?

The writing is overly explanatory and stiff and the author tries too hard with the style and it comes across inorganic and fake. The constant use of commas is distracting, the world building is clumsy, I got to chapter three — when the House of Trade showed up — and realized how angry this book was making me. Honestly, this is poorly put together, poorly thought out, and not well written. A solid and utter pass from me.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

The book was dragging a bit, it felt mostly like a set up for books 2 and 3. It picked up in the second half, but most of the politics happened in the first half, which made them feel juvenile and clumsy. It was pointed out in the book that one of the characters trying to manipulate things was a bit politically inept, but they were the main example of political maneuvering, so it left a lot to be desired.

The matriarchal society was interesting. Harry is barely in the book and yet it revolves around him. The main character is obsessed with him, her every action, her every thought leads back to him and her desire for his body. She constantly thinks of him and claims to love him, but society is so sexist that she doesn’t even see him as anything other than an object of desire. I don’t think we ever really learn anything about Harry as a person, his true desires, likes, or dislikes, even when he claims to love her and wants to be with her, it is uncertain if it is true since Elizabeth is a bit unreliable.

Elizabeth is an unlikeable protagonist and I'm mostly sure this was her villain origin story. Aside from claiming to love Harry but not moving a finger to help, understand, or support him, it is also clear she despises her sister despite claiming to adore her or have mixed feelings.

Since we first see them the morning the queen unknowingly picks her lover as a consort, we don’t see their relationship as sisters before that or any of the love that she claims. She becomes bitter and angry at her sister for taking her man away, despite it not being her fault, and continues to blame her and hate her for it to the very end. Not once did it feel as if she loved her sister or anyone at all. And even at the end, she only becomes more hateful. She only seems to care about the horrible things that happened as far as how they affect her and her plans for the future.

The ending did get me interested in the rest of the series if there is a timeskip. It left a good setup for a succession war.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lissy Porter, and BooksGoSocial for providing a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

The Queen of the Throne of Ash is choosing a Consort whose responsibility it is to father a healthy daughter as next Queen in line.
Princess Bess hopes to be free of her responsibilities once there is a new hire for the throne and is looking forward to spend time with the man she loves and on which she has a contract.
When the female leader of his house is presenting him in the Consort ceremony for the Queen, she is fearing the worst will happen and is not allowed to inform her sister neither about her feeling or the contract which is drawn up. All comes as it must and her sister is choosing the man Bess loves as being the one who shall farther the next Queen.


I liked the idea of the book so war looking forward reading this story. Unfortunately the story could not sweep me away.

That men have no rights at all, their only use are to be used for providing the needed female heir to the houses. I thought this is a different view than usual so was interesting to see how the author is working this out. Unfortunately this was not done for me. We have the rivalry between the different houses which want to be close the crown and the games they play. For me this is only a hint and I was expecting more political twists. Also why men still have no right at all and most of all why they accept it was not clear to me.

The book is written in first person and the cloths are explained in long sentences in terms of the colours used and all the symbols on them. As this happens quite often at one point it was too much for my liking.
Also there was not really any pace in the story, not much happens, the story has no depth to me.
The female leader of the Consort house of Fish was for my point of view not well written. That she tries to go against all the high ranking houses in the kingdom because the Consort is coming from her home makes no sense to me. Men have on rights, are used for one thing only and this shall explain why she now wants to be from one of the lowest houses now the biggest one even so all her requests are more than dubious? Her approach had no finesse, no well thought out intrigues, ...

Also the character had for my liking no depths, seem shallow. OK due to the time talking about feelings, getting to know each other very well is not given but for me the conversations are too superficial.
It started that I really did not understand how the Queen acted when she was choosing her Consort. I mean so far she is not showing any emotions is hidden behind her mask and as she wants one candidate, because he is so attractive or maybe because she wants him (not sure about this) she is totally falling out of role? This did not make sense to me. Also her parents were discussing the political background who to choose to strengthen the crown and what is she doing? She chooses one from a very low house. Also that nobody is telling her that her sister has a contract on him did not really make sense to me.
Princess Bess makes not really sense to me. She is not telling her sister that the man she loves is offered as her Consort. When her sister is choosing him she states that she won´t take him after her sister had him. She is suffering as it seems like that the man she loves is enjoying fulfilling his duty to produce the next heir but still she wants him. As long as it fits she is following the Queen´s orders but when she is not interested in doing so she does what she wants. Either you follow your duty or you don´t but the mix described here did not convince me.

The fantasy aspect I am not seeing her at all (OK dragons are mentioned) as also the Tudor aspect was for my liking not really worked out.
I won´t spoiler here but the end of the book did absolutely not convince me and I asked myself why I was reading this book, why I was hoping that something will happen, give the story a good twist.
Unfortunately for me this did not happen.

For a great deal of this book I was remarkably bored. The beginning was tedious and made the story so hard to get into. I didn't understand why we were giving this opening scene such intense detail and play by play. The choreography of the entire story felt overdone. I don't need to know every twitch of someone's brow or when they sat down or stepped back during dinner. This scene felt like it should have been much shorter. Now having gotten to the end, I understand as setting the scene of the story in much needed depth. but it really almost had me setting this book aside at the 15% mark.
There were many times I wondered where exactly this was going. It didn't feel as though Elizabeth had very high stakes at all. This made the tension fall very flat. She was so invested in her lover but we had no reason to care about him. We had never seen them together or known what their love was like. While I did enjoy the overall voice and cantor of the narration it did feel overly descriptive. By this I mean that the narrator had little faith in the reader to read between the lines and so many things were said plainly and left little, if anything up to interpretation. I do wonder if that is purposeful - it lulls the reader into a false sense of security. The ending is a visceral surprise, one only barely hinted at throughout the story.
Ultimately this ending swayed my overall opinion on the book and despite my earlier complaints about tension and pacing, grammatical errors that usually put me off of an author, I will be continuing to read this series and look forward to more works from Lissy Porter

This was such a good book. I was totally surprised with how the book turned out. I loved reading about the kingdom and how they rule their kingdom. To see a different way to rule kingdoms and how the woman were the power source in this world was very interesting. I did feel for Bess and to see how she was betrayed then how she had to handle that betrayal was very interesting. The ending made me cry so hard. I don't think I could have been as strong as Bess was in the final bits of the book. I cannot wait to see what comes next as this book leads into what could possibly be another book.

A Queen. A Princess. And a Consort who must be chosen to ensure the future of the Throne of Ash.
The Queen's Face masks all—even the woman who wears it. None may see her without it, not even her Consort responsible for ensuring she brings forth a healthy daughter to succeed her. If he fails, being cast aside is the most favourable of outcomes.

When Queen Cecily unknowingly determines on her sister's lover as her Consort, ambition, jealousy, and the demands of courtly etiquette threaten the stability of the Throne of Ash.

Princess Bess knows only too well her responsibilities towards her sister, the queen, but when one of the powerful noble families attempts to ensnare both sisters with one lover, there can only ever be one winner.

This really kept me interested. The Characters were interesting. The plot kept me interested

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The synopsis of this book was intriguing to me. When I first read it, I was immediately drawn in to the world and the story, I wanted to know more. Overall, I enjoyed this book but it was not my favorite. I enjoyed the switching of the gender roles throughout the story, where normally women are cast aside in favor of men, it was the exact opposite here. The idea of a “forbidden” love triangle between a queen, her sister, and a consort was exciting and intriguing to me, but it didn’t pan out the way I imagined.

Again, I enjoyed the book, however I think it could have been further developed in multiple aspects. I wish there was also more history explanation. I am glad for the thorough explanation of the court hierarchy and the descriptions of the clothes and castle, however, I wish we had more lore explanation and depth given to the characters. There were scenes that seemed a bit repetitive over the course of the book due to the same conversations/arguments being had.

If you are interested in Tudor inspired stories, this would be right up your alley. I will most likely not continue in the series, but enjoyed the time I spent with the Throne of Ash.