From the Ashes

Stacey Lloyd-Briden is a new author for me, but I greatly enjoyed From the Ashes. Briden sets up an engaging frame narrative and interesting characters that keep the story aloft. Perfect for fantasy readers. I really enjoyed the world this author created.

Reminiscent of Princess Bride, the story starts out as happening to a character and then a story within the story is told, which is the treasure. Many facets or webs are spun in this book and it will be fun to see how they align in the next.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

From the Ashes is a well-written story within a story set in Britain at the time of King Arthur. It is narrated by David (as an old man) looking back at his youth as he first becomes a Phoenix Knight and then through his travails with fellow knight Andrew and sorceress Arread. The story tells of the struggle against the forces of darkness with a ongoing undercurrent of secrets of what the three friends are and might become.

This is good fantasy. It's mostly engaging, and incorporates interesting characters and old-ish language. This is a talented author that shows promise.

I really appreciate the NetGalley copy for review!!

Loved this book! I love all things Arthurian and this book is an excellent take on the "Arthurverse." It's a brilliant idea to tell a tale about other, unknown characters operating in the same world. Well written, engaging story with interesting characters. Can't wait for the next in the series!

A creative spin on Arthurian legend focusing on lesser known characters, great fantasy story with lots of action, drama and humour too, a touch I loved. Brilliant writing. Highly recommended fantasy.

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

This book is set in Arthurian Britain about two members of the elite Order Of The Phoenix who are assigned to protect the woman prophesied to be The Power Of The Light, the being that will overcome The Dark Lord.

It's the first in a series and I will definitely be going back for seconds when the next book is released. The story was interesting and I felt invested in the characters. I never felt confused about who was who. The author laid them all out very well.

If I have one criticism it is the inconsistencies in the dialogues. The author swung between a quite formal, old fashioned style of speech to suddenly hitting us with very contemporary phrases which were a little jarring. And misuse of words which made for sentences which weren't quite right: 'I dallied a nod' being one example.

But this is a cracking good story at the end of the day and I hope the rest of the series continues the momentum.

I am conflicted. On the positive side is a love story complicated by vows and magic, an interesting plot and intrigue upon intrigue. On the negative is the language used. It's a first person story and the dialect used is clearly meant to represent that of an old age but at times it just grates and you find yourself asking "what did that mean?". When the author is in her stride the words flow and the story has pace but during the set up to a scene the language used gets too complicated and you need to force yourself through it to get where the story needs to go. I hope that there is some simplification for future volumes (with everything said I still want to see where the story goes - the links to Arthur that the tale is sold upon don't really have any bearing on the plot and the story that actually unfolds don't really need it!) and maybe some better editing to get rid of the typos, the grammatical nuances that had me adding words like "the" in my head and the clashing metaphors. A good story that just needs a bit of finessing!

A good example of the sword and sorcery genre. It is well written and the story flows well, I would recommend this book.

A very nice book in an Arthurian setting. I somehow always love books like this. The plot is worked out very well, and it was written in a nice and flowing way.

this was a great start to a series, i loved the magical elements in it. The characters were great and I look forward to more in the series.