Ashes of the Sun - Django Wexler
Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler. This has been one of those names in fantasy where I never really was too interested in reading his books. I saw the praise and the hype. I have seen all the glaringly positive reviews, but for some reason it just never happened. Well luckily that changed because this book exceeded my expectations. I want to thank Angela Mann and Orbit books for the chance to read the first book of the Burningblade and Silvereye series. As I said above this was the first book of his that I have read and I will have to go back and read his earlier work as well. Luckily I already have book 2, Blood of the Chosen and will start that when I can fit it into my exceeding large currently reading people.
Anyways back to Ashes, here's a brief synopsis, although to be fair it doesn't do it justice.
Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world, in the start of Django Wexler’s new epic fantasy trilogy Gyre hasn't seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre's sole focus is revenge, and he's willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn't who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order's cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.
There's a few things that make a book go from mediocre to I will definitely follow this author and pick up the next book in the series.
Plot driven. It is obvious that plot driven books are the best books. Yes good prose is nice to read but it doesn't necessarily keep the boredom away if the characters are doing nothing. Ashes had a clear plot for both of its main characters and it wasn't ambiguous. This may be a little deceiving as the plot is definitely more fluid than many plot driven books but it worked well. I thought I would have liked Gyre POV more than Mayas, but Maya's definitely stood out. Both characters had pretty solid characterization that lent to this not feeling like a chore to read as many books of late have.
I can only hope that this series continues to trend upward. There were somethings that were a bit odd in regards to the world-building but it was never bigger than a blip. This was a solid book all around. Definitely will pick up Book 2, Blood of the Chosen. Also Djangos a nice guy from what I can tell jump over to twitter and check out his feed.
4/5