Ashlords (Ashlords, #1)

Red Rising meets The Scorpio Races in this epic fantasy following three phoenix horse riders--skilled at alchemy--who must compete at The Races--the modern spectacle that has replaced warfare within their empire.

Every year since the Ashlords were gifted phoenix horses by their gods, they've raced them. First into battle, then on great hunts, and finally for the pure sport of seeing who rode the fastest. Centuries of blood and fire carved their competition into a more modern spectacle: The Races.

Over the course of a multi-day event, elite riders from clashing cultures vie to be crowned champion. But the modern version of the sport requires more than good riding. Competitors must be skilled at creating and controlling phoenix horses made of ash and alchemy, which are summoned back to life each sunrise with uniquely crafted powers to cover impossible distances and challenges before bursting into flames at sunset. But good alchemy only matters if a rider knows how to defend their phoenix horse at night. Murder is outlawed, but breaking bones and poisoning ashes? That's all legal and encouraged.

In this year's Races, eleven riders will compete, but three of them have more to lose than the rest--a champion's daughter, a scholarship entrant, and a revolutionary's son. Who will attain their own dream of glory? Or will they all flame out in defeat?

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Perfect for readers who want:

• A high fantasy world filled with strife and conflict.
• Fantasy races featuring fire horses that are reborn every morning.
• Super unique horses that you will obviously wish you had.
• Classism and racism mixed into one high-stakes struggle.
• A plot that is actually more than it seems.
• Intelligent characters that all have ulterior motives.

This book was actually one of my most anticipated releases when it came out last year, but I just was never quite able to get my hands on it. So many thanks to Susan @ Novel Lives, who gifted this one to me for my birthday! I suspected it would quickly become a favorite of mine, and boy was I right! This book blew me away.

Ashlords on its surface is about a race featuring fire horses and the promise of riches, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a fight against racism and classism and the start of a rising storm.

There are a few issues of world-building that I really wanted more of, but this is book one of a duology, and it really seems to be setting things up for the second book. As an introduction to the world, this works absolutely perfectly. It tricks the reader, along with all the characters, to focus on the races when the races are really nothing more than a catalyst to the greater story that lays beyond!

I want to talk about the fire horses right off the bat, because this concept is so freaking cool and I can’t tell you how much I love this.

Besides, it’s featured right there on the cover, so it’s obviously super important, right? In this world, the fire horses are actually called phoenixes, which is a little confusing at first, but as there aren’t any mythical birds to mix them up with, it works just fine. Plus, the name makes sense. Each night, the phoenixes die and every morning they rise again from the ashes.

The best thing about these phoenixes is that an alchemist can mix the horses’ ashes with different chemicals or spread them in different patterns and create different effects in the horses that rise in the morning.

This leads to some super cool combinations in the book! I absolutely loved seeing what new combinations would pop up, which is why I won’t actually talk about any of them here. Not knowing what alchemists can do and being able to see what they come up with is half the fun!

The story is told from three different perspectives, and while it took a little while for me to warm up to two of them, I eventually ended up falling for all of them, for different reasons.

Imelda is the easiest one to fall for. She’s stubborn and defiant, recognizing the way her people, the Dividians, are mistreated and determined not to be ground under the Ashlords’ boots. It was easy to root for her, not because she was the underdog or the longshot but because she was so determined to change things in whatever way she could.

Adrian is a Longhand, which is the middle race: above the Dividians, but disgraced from the Ashlords. His personality took time to really come through for me, but I could easily relate to his being in a tough situation. For him, the races mean danger, and even though there’s a good chance he could lose his life, he’s dedicated to the cause and intends to win and bring honor to his people. I appreciated how smart and cunning he was.

Pippa is the Ashlord point of view, but the author made an interesting choice and wrote her character as second person point of view. I have to admit, I didn’t love it. I grew used to it after a while and it wasn’t as jarring, but I never particularly enjoyed it, either. Pippa is the daughter of champions, is the absolute definition of privilege, and has been trained to win the races since she was born. Her character took the longest for me to appreciate, but I came around eventually!

All three characters go through significant growth during the course of this book, and I absolutely loved seeing it. They surprised me over and over again, and I was really surprised when the races ramped up and I realized how much I cared about their outcome! I was definitely invested in these characters.

There’s a really deep narrative of classism and racism in this story that I so appreciated.

It’s starts subtle, almost as a slice-of-life thing. Imelda, as a Dividian, brushes against obvious tension with the noble Ashlord that attempts to shame her in the very beginning, and that’s kind of just a facet of her life. That really jumps off the page, though. Most readers will see that and go, what a jerk. I think we can all agree on that one.

Where Reintgen’s narrative really shines is in the more subtle ways classism and racism have affected the characters, ways they themselves haven’t always considered.

This becomes most obvious as the races are beginning and during the races. There are scenes that will definitely make your blood boil! There are also realizations that characters are forced to come to about themselves and what they really hope to get out of life, which I particularly enjoyed.

There’s a really clever ongoing metaphor in this book of a storm in all its different parts, and prepare yourself, because the storm is coming!

On the surface, this book is really about the races … but don’t be fooled! That’s just subterfuge. All three characters have ulterior motives, and I absolutely loved how this came about! If you’re going in just expecting this to be like Hidalgo in a fantasy setting, it’s not at all that. This book is setting up the sequel, and there’s so much more at stake here than a bit of prize money and fame.

The extended metaphor of the storm worked so well and came up at such meaningful times that I started looking for it and appreciated each use. The beauty of the metaphor is really in the different ways the characters view storms and how they view the storm clouds on the horizon.

This metaphor does an amazing job of symbolizing the different races and their perspectives just in general. More than that, the storm breaks at the end of this book … in theory. It’s certainly not the last you’ll see of the storm, but the way it comes full circle in this book and the subtle shift in the way the metaphor is used as the characters grow was just *chef’s kiss*.

Other Reviews:

• The Shaggy Shepherd
• Westveil Publishing
• Where the Words Take Me

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