Of Fire and Ash - Gillian Bronte-Adams

★★★☆☆

DNF at 76%

Narrative Voice: 3rd person (limited, multiple)

Cussing/profanity: 0/5

Drug/alcohol use: 1/5
Kissing: 0/5
Sex/nudity: 0/5
Violence/gore: 3/5

I do not read synopses. I picked this up because I saw magical horses and was like, “HECK yeah.” I’m a horse girl, as is the author allegedly, and I do not read sex or profanity, so I went in optimistic.

I was disappointed.

The horses aren’t really characters. They’re just…there. No personality or bonding like I find in other magic-animal-rider stories. It is not a horse-central fantasy like I was hoping. They’re mostly nameless and are just to be used by the humans for war…which this book was dense with.

I didn’t realize it was 90% fantasy politics and warfare. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good fantasy battle, but not when it’s the majority of the book. It was so dense, and I found it harder and harder to trudge through it, even on audio. I tried SO hard to finish it. Alas, I eventually gave up.

LET ME CLARIFY: The book is well-done, it just isn’t my taste. I found the audiobook narration professional, the writing style polished—albeit sometimes wordy—and the characters weren’t flat. I was just sad with the plot choice haha.

3/5 would recommend to the proper audience