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Ashes of the Sun

(Burningblade & Silvereye #1)

Django Wexler (Goodreads Author)

4.08 · Rating details · 1,170 ratings · 229 reviews

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 disappea ...more

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Paperback, 592 pages

Published July 21st 2020 by Orbit

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Start your review of Ashes of the Sun (Burningblade & Silvereye, #1)

Jul 27, 2020 Petrik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Star Wars inspired fantasy

Shelves: arcs-and-review-copies

ARC provided by the publisher—Head of Zeus—in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

A captivating start to a series; if you’re worried whether Ashes of the Sun will be as good as The Shadow Campaigns or not, feel free to incinerate those doubts away now.

Almost three years have passed since I finished reading The Shadow Campaigns military fantasy series—a very underrated series—by Django Wexler, and ever since I heard that Ashes of the Sun will mark Wexler’s return to the adult fantasy scene, ...more

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Apr 04, 2020 James Tivendale rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, freecopy

I received an uncorrected advance copy of Ashes of the Sun in exchange for an honest review. I'd like to thank Django Wexler and Orbit Books for the opportunity.

The first entry in the Burningblade and Silvereye series begins when Va'aht Thousandcuts - a centarch of the Twilight Order - turns up at a farm dwelling to take away a child from the family that resides there. The youth in question, five-year-old Maya, does not wish to leave the household. Unfortunately, as she suffers frequently from p I received an uncorrected advance copy of Ashes of the Sun in exchange for an honest review. I'd like to thank Django Wexler and Orbit Books for the opportunity.

The first entry in the Burningblade and Silvereye series begins when Va'aht Thousandcuts - a centarch of the Twilight Order - turns up at a farm dwelling to take away a child from the family that resides there. The youth in question, five-year-old Maya, does not wish to leave the household. Unfortunately, as she suffers frequently from peculiar illnesses, she has no choice and will have to be raised as a member of the Twilight Order. Gyre, her eight-year-old brother, upon seeing his little sister resisting and screaming acts on impulsive and makes a foolhardy mistake in stabbing the centrach. This was a life-altering error to make as Va'aht Thousandcuts retaliates and leaves Gyre scarred for life.

"He was falling backwards, hitting the floor shoulder-first, feeling nothing but the searing agony in his face. He mashed his hand against it, and blood squished, torn skin shifting nauseatingly under his fingers. He only realised he was screaming when he had to stop to take a breath."

Ashes of the Sun follows the point of view perspectives of Maya and Gyre, alternating every chapter. After the prologue, the action recommences twelve years later. The siblings are living very different lives.

Maya is training to be a centrach under the guidance of Jaedia Suddenstorm. The Twilight Order follow the teachings of the Chosen and are the protectors of humanity. Members of the order can use a form of magic known as deiat and weild legendary blades called haken. Haken are akin to element-fused lightsabers. The magic that Maya can display is that of fire. We join her on her travels with her tutor and a fellow student trying to eradicate monstrous oddities called plaguespawn. Plaguespawn are described as "the product of a mad taxidermist, given the run of the contents of a butcher shop and human morgue."

Gyre hasn't seen Maya since the day she was taken away. He is now known as halfmask and operates in a gang of rebels who are extremely anti-state and authority. The mask her wears is to hide the hideous scar from when he lost his eye. Gyre has a seething hatred to authority but the Twilight Order in particular and will do all he can to oppose them and bring them down.

Ashes of the Sun was my first time reading a novel by Django Wexler and I was very impressed by the top-notch writing, quality storytelling, and the fine worldbuilding. In fact, I completely lost myself in Wexler's world. The concept intrigued me from the very start. Two siblings on opposite sides of a looming civil war in a dystopian, futuristic fantasy world. Will their paths cross? What will the consequences be if they do? What will they say when finally reunited?

There is a huge glossary of Burningblade and Silvereye unique words such as cognomen, unmetal, dhakim, panoply field, ghouls, the Chosen etc which may seem confusing initially but soon fit perfectly and make complete sense. If confused at any point though the glossary can be found at the rear of the novel and is extremely detailed and useful.

The members of the supporting cast were a joy to follow too. Most of whom have extremely colourful hair. Personal favourites were rival/soon to be centarch Tanax, love interest and arcanist Beq, rebel influencer Yarrow, and the amusing scout Varo. The latter frequently discusses how his friends have died in humorously horrific fashion on former missions. The mysterious, frivolous and kooky Kit Doomseeker is a belter of a character too.

Ashes of the Sun is a real high-octane, dystopian fantasy thrill-ride. The action throughout is scintillating. There are some extremely exciting showdowns, skirmishes, and fights against grotesque monstrosities. Some scenes are unpredictable and shocking too. There is a large amount of violence and gore but the way I envisaged it was extremely heightened and colourful. Almost like a mix between an ultraviolent anime and a futuristic JRPG like Star Ocean. This might just be the way my mind pictured it and there aren't any other reviews on Goodreads yet to see if anyone else visioned the action in this way too. The finale of Ashes of the Sun is fantastic and was completely thrilling. This novel acts as a complete standalone yet there is still so much to see and explore in Wexler's world and I'll 100% be continuing the adventure of Burningblade and Silvereye when the subsequent books are released. Highly recommended.

*Quotations used in this review are subject to change for the final release. ...more

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Jul 11, 2020 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: net-galley

My thanks to Orbit, Django Wexler and Netgalley.
It's funny, "in an odd way funny." Two or three years ago I would never have read a book like this. My idea of fantasy was very fantasized! I still believe that Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is the best thing ever. Sanderson also rock's, although he will never finish the books I want him to. Not in my lifetime. However, somewhere between waiting for Sanderson, and Martin, I discovered Jay Kristoff and his Nevernight trilogy. Mark Lawrence an ...more

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Jul 21, 2020 Django Wexler rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

ASHES OF THE SUN is finally out! I hope you all have as much fun with it as I did.

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Jul 29, 2020 Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller rated it liked it

[3.5 stars] Although there were a lot of things I really enjoyed about Ashes of the Sun, I didn’t like it as much as I think I should have… and I can’t quite pinpoint why. From an evaluation standpoint, it had all the elements I expect from a high fantasy: intriguing world-building, great characters, an interesting plot, good pacing, and a more than adept writing style. It had a good mix of exciting action scenes and slower character development moments. So what’s my malfunction?

I think part of ...more

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Jul 19, 2020 Cece (ProblemsOfaBookNerd) marked it as to-read

Shelves: anticipated-of-2020, lgbtqia

Putting it out there that this has f/f! One of the POV characters is a lesbian. Ok, continue scrolling.

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Jun 21, 2020 Dave rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-all, fantasy-epic-fantasy-high, netgalley-books, x-netgalley-2020-read, read-have

Ashes of the Sun is a fast-paced, exciting epic fantasy that pits siblings against each other in an epic battle of good and evil. Four hundred years earlier the great civilization of the Chosen defeated the ghouls and their army of constructs, vanquishing them forever. On the ancient ruins of empire, a select few are trained from a young age to be the guardians of the Republic and carry on the traditions of the Chosen, the Twilight Order. They are trained to wield the light of the sun and gradua ...more

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Jul 06, 2020 Charlie - A Reading Machine rated it really liked it

This is the first book I’ve read by Django Wexler and I really enjoyed myself. It’s main strengths are it’s characters and their believable and stakes raising relationships, a mysterious magic system that offers great fun especially in terms combat, an exciting style and pace and of course a story that puts all of these things to excellent use.

Ashes of the Sun revolves around two main characters, Maya, a young farm girl who suffers mysterious bouts of sickness and Gyre her loving and protective This is the first book I’ve read by Django Wexler and I really enjoyed myself. It’s main strengths are it’s characters and their believable and stakes raising relationships, a mysterious magic system that offers great fun especially in terms combat, an exciting style and pace and of course a story that puts all of these things to excellent use.

Ashes of the Sun revolves around two main characters, Maya, a young farm girl who suffers mysterious bouts of sickness and Gyre her loving and protective older brother. One fateful day a Centarch of the Twilight Order, sort a ‘Jedi knight’, arrives at their home offering a cure for Maya and proceeds, despite her screams, to try and take her away. Her older and protective brother Gyre intervenes and loses half his face as punishment resulting in a serious revenge obsession and an overwhelming desire to see the entire system destroyed.

Years later life has gone on. Maya is still alive, a powerful junior Agathios on her way to becoming a full Centarch, and fully indoctrinated into the system she now serves. She believes that everything they do is for the greater good and this is in large part down to her mentor Jaedia, who has taught her that she must be decent and wise to the people she protects not laud over them with her power. Her heart is still in tact and with much of her time spent chasing plunderers of illegal old world magic she genuinely wants to do what she thinks is right. Gyre has grown into the leader of a group of bandits who disrupt and harass the authorities always seeking access to some sort of raw power or ancient technology that will eventually give them the edge of the magically infused Centarchs. He is driven by a need to overturn and destroy the system, to claim his own autonomy and to see the heavy-handed tactics of those that hold all the power and its possibilities usurped by those that live and work in the dirt.

Now obviously the two will meet up again but that’s pretty much the end in terms of predictability and I loved this part of the book. Even when prophecies appear and you’re thinking oh here we go, they’re never ponderously explained or vital enough in the moment to encumber the story. I truly never knew what was coming round the corner, I didn’t know who I was going to like from chapter to chapter and I didn’t want to know in case it brought the story to an end. There is a real skill in keeping someone that reads 50 fantasy books a year guessing and if you look very closely at the picture above you might be able to spot some very slight damage to the cover when something particularly surprising happened that caused me to throw the book across the room. I savored the moments of discovery but never felt distracted by a lack of information if you know what I mean.

The world is a crazy one. Ancient ghouls wielding powerful magic, the Centarchs and their desire to protect/control (again I come back to a comparison with the Jedi and their order), horrific beast’s joined with each other creating hybrid voluminous heaving sacks of guts and teeth and deep underground pits full of as many untold horrors as untold riches, I could go on and on.

Ashes of the Sun is great unpredictable fantasy that packs a serious punch and I'll definitely be picking up some of Django's earlier series to fill the gap before the release of the next book. It's an exciting and positive start to what could be one of the epic series of the Covid19 age.

8.5/10

Ashes of the Sun is published by Orbit Books and releasing on the 21st of July 2020. Thank you to Orbit for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Aug 31, 2020 Holly (The Grimdragon) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi, the-infinite-library, i-will-go-down-with-this-ship, i-am-a-bookcover-ho

"Blood was painted across the cobblestones, vivid crimson in the lamplight."

Ashes of the Sun is the first book in Django Wexler's new series, Burningblade and Silvereye.

Epic fantasy is such a comforting, nostalgic genre for me. It gives me the warm and fuzzies! It was so goddamn nice getting lost in this chonky fantasy. It was exactly what I needed! I've been struggling to focus and somehow, this big floppy beast of a book had me devouring 600 pages in five days, which.. these days? That is pret ...more

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Jul 17, 2020 Sahitya rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-read, fantasy-and-scifi, lgbtqiap, romance-and-or-relationships

Though I had never read anything by this author before, I dont know why had a bit of high expectations from this one and I guess that’s the main reason it didn’t seem to wow me.

Maya was definitely a standout character with both her badass as well as vulnerable moments whereas Gyre felt a little one dimensional with just wanting to burn everything down. I really didn’t connect much to any other characters and I never got the emotional payoff I always expect from a good fantasy novel. I was also n ...more

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Oct 06, 2020 Brenda Waworga rated it liked it · review of another edition

“Ashes Of The Sun” was my 1st Django Wexler’s book, I heard amazing things about this author and so happy I gave this book a shot because I love it

This epic fantasy story is a mixed between traditional fantasy world and modern fantasy world like there were elemental magic and also modern things like cabs and bombs.. the worldbuilding is one of my favorite aspect in this book

Once upon a time there was a war between the Chosen and the Ghouls that destroyed an empire, people believe there are still ...more

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Jul 24, 2020 Esme rated it really liked it

The theme to my life recently, it seems, is being late. This released last week, gah!

I actually picked up the audio already for this, I had 20% left to go on release day and I needed to get through it quickly and I didn’t have time to physically read. The audio is pretty good, although, the first rating on audible was a 1 star. I do think this narrator could be marmite-like. She is a very expressive narrator that uses a lot of accents and tonal changes to create the characters voices. She also h ...more

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Jul 21, 2020 charlotte, (½ of readsrainbow) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: disabilities-disorders-illnesses, adult-lit, sibling-angst, m-lgbt-side, 4-point-5, favourite-characters, f-lgbt, lgbt, review-copies, favourites

On my blog.

Rep: lesbian mc, bi character with heart problems, wlw & mlm side characters

CWs: violence, gore

Galley provided by publisher

When I first opened this book, I have to admit I was a little intimidated by its length. I mean, not solely length, because I’ve read longer, but its length and the fact I had no idea what I was getting into style-wise, since I’d never read the author before. I needn’t have worried though, because this book pretty much ticked every box for what I want from a f On my blog.

Rep: lesbian mc, bi character with heart problems, wlw & mlm side characters

CWs: violence, gore

Galley provided by publisher

When I first opened this book, I have to admit I was a little intimidated by its length. I mean, not solely length, because I’ve read longer, but its length and the fact I had no idea what I was getting into style-wise, since I’d never read the author before. I needn’t have worried though, because this book pretty much ticked every box for what I want from a fantasy.

Central to the book, and the series overall I would imagine, is a brother-sister relationship. Gyre has hated the Twilight Order since they took his sister and an eye from him when he was a child. Meanwhile, Maya is working her way through the ranks of said Order. With Gyre’s desires to bring down the order, they are on a collision course.

For such a long book, this was a very quick read. It was a combination of an easy writing style and the fact that the plot kept moving at all times. I’ve had a lot of trouble this year finding fantasy novels that I’ve actually enjoyed, particularly first books in series, but I never had a problem like that here. I was sucked in from the first page and never really wanted to put it down after that.

The worldbuilding was also excellent, not least because it was a fantasy world that not only had zero homophobia, but mentioned very casually a number of wlw and mlm relationships. It’s like, having no homophobia in your fantasy world has multiple stages. The first is, obviously, just having no overt homophobia. But it’s all very well doing that and then all your relationships are cishet. The next stage is making it so your society isn’t heteronormative, and that’s what I felt this book did very well. There were numerous instances of non-cishet relationships and no one batted an eyelid. I think it could have done more with regard to gender in general, but it was a nice start.

I think, really, the only thing that I was not so enamoured by was the f/f relationship. It’s just that it felt like a man writing it (because, duh, it was). Like I know people have differing opinions on that, and I’m not saying that it wasn’t written thoughtfully, because it was. But it still gave off that “written by a man” vibe. (I feel like I’m tying myself in knots writing this paragraph, so sorry if it’s not clear.) But that’s a personal complaint, etc etc and in the end didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

So, if you’re looking for a fast-paced adult fantasy that centres on an angsty sibling relationship (and, honestly, aren’t we all?), then this should be on your TBR. ...more

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Oct 28, 2020 GrilledCheeseSamurai (Scott) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, favorites, series

Without a doubt, Ashes of the Sun is one of my favorite reads of 2020.⁣
⁣
Originally, I listened to this as an audiobook (Imogen Church is the narrator and holy fuck was she ever amazing) but immediately after finishing it I ordered a physical copy as well cuz I NEEDED to have this on my shelf.⁣
⁣
This is the first book in Django Wexler's brand new series, Brightblade & Silvereye, and having never read any of his previous work I have to say...I'm really friggen impressed.⁣
⁣
The world is a really cool ...more

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Jul 20, 2020 Travis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, characters, magic-system, lgbt, post-apocalyptic, 2020

Well it's not often that I read a 600 page book in a few sittings, but this sucked me completely in. I should have a longer review to come, but damn that was a fun book. ...more

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Jan 19, 2021 Hiu Gregg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Wish there was a bit more complexity in certain areas. Found myself annoyed at the simplicity of some aspects, and at how some plot-lines ended. It was fun, for sure, and I thought it was very well paced throughout (3 nights worth of reading, more than a few hours of lost sleep). But I'm left with that nagging irritation of "I liked this, but I could have loved it."

Might write a full review later, might not. We'll see how my feelings on it settle.

Can some up my current feelings with "I wish it w ...more

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Jun 05, 2020 Chris rated it really liked it

Devoured this.
Love the world, great fight scenes and some nifty character moments.
More soon!

*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Ashes of the Sun is the start of a new fantasy series from Django Wexler, whose Shadow Campaigns series I’ve gushed about repeatedly in the past.This is a new series, in a new world, and, just to get it out of the way, it’s really rather good.

One of the reasons that’s the case is the world, and the hisstory that weaves its way through the background of the mor Devoured this.
Love the world, great fight scenes and some nifty character moments.
More soon!

*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

Ashes of the Sun is the start of a new fantasy series from Django Wexler, whose Shadow Campaigns series I’ve gushed about repeatedly in the past.This is a new series, in a new world, and, just to get it out of the way, it’s really rather good.

One of the reasons that’s the case is the world, and the hisstory that weaves its way through the background of the more immediate narrative. Because our eyes are focused on a society built on the ruins of magic. Humanity lives in walled cities and agrarian communes, but those population centres are built on the broken bones of someone else’s shattered empire. That empire was filled with magic and high technology, with craft that flew through the sky, and hand weapons that can fire quickly and melt stone. Humanity scavenges over the remains, often unable to differentiate trash and treasure. Sometimes both of those things explode messily. Sometimes they end up being exactly what you need to get rich and retire. Magic is, mostly, a half-understood remnant of power pulled from someone else's corpse. That doesn’t apply to everyone, though. There are the elites. Those who were handed power directly from the survivors of the conflict that shattered high civilisation, before those mysterious beings disappeared. Their heirs took power as a right, and as necessity, keeping back the swarms of biological monstrosities that remained in the post-conflict gloom. Centuries later, those with the ability to use this legacy are found, empowered, and trained to serve and protect the people around them, and to hunt down any possibly dangerous piece of techno-wizardry. Given that service comes with both supernatural power and essentially unlimited legal authority, and that the only challenge to that authority is dangerous pieces of techno-wizardry, that’s going about as well as you’d expect. There are simmerings of rebellion in out of the way places. Rumours of guardians misusing their power for their own aggrandisement, of corruption and abuse of power. The world is, basically, not in a great state, and as we can see, it didn’t start in the best place either. But in terms of depth, of detail,of scope of imagination, this world is marvellous.

Maya and Gyre are our protagonists, siblings on different sides of a simmering war. Maya was taken by the magical elites as a child, her potential honed, her skills sharpened, her sense of purpose shaped to the mission of keeping humanity safe. Maya is, basically, a heroine. She believes in her mission, she believes in the basic worth of people, and she’s committed to fighting off the various ghouls, biological horrors and more human monsters that plague the world. It’s refreshing to see someone with this level of virtue front and centre in the story. That isn’t to say that Maya is uncomplicated - she struggles with her own sense of inadequacy, and trying to twin her values with the pragmatism of someone required in the field. And her greatest failing is, perhaps, her inability to map her own personal virtues against the systemic oppression, corruption and broadly problematic stances of the organization in which she as raised. The exploration of same, incidentally, is a wonderful arc in her growth, and also something it was a pleasure to explore as a reader. But still, she shines, a champion for a different age, unfortunately cast into this one. Watching her find her feet and start figuring out who she is was an interesting and emotionally affecting journey.

In contrast to Maya, her brother is...well, I’ll call it morally flexible. Gyre has one goal - the overthrow of the system which took his sister from him. In service to that goal he’ll do pretty much anything, pair up with pretty much anyone. He has friends, and colleagues, and they have ideals and want to serve up revolution and compromise. But Gyre, Gyre is ready to tear down the system, whatever the cost, and doesn’t really care what happens next. He’s ambitious, fights like a demon, and has a core of charisma which comes off the page and grabs you. Gyre is perhaps less individually “good” than Maya, but may serve a more sympathetic cause - though, like her, he could stand to examine the ideals he’s in service of a little more closely. Still, as a contrasting (and conflicting) duo, they’re a joy to follow on the page. They live, laugh and love as people do, and feel their woes and tragedies just as strongly. In short, we can empathise and sympathise with them both, even as they struggle with their internal problems and, well, each other.

In this they’re helped by an absolutely top notch supporting cast, from archivists to revolutionaries, smart-arsed scouts to mildly-insane scavengers, and, indeed, monsters of all varieties. Though not centre stage, they provide colour and texture, romance and heartbreak in equal measure, and always manage to make the reader, well, feel.

The story I shan’t spoil for you, but it’s a firecracker. There are magical duels, with more than a little stabbing. Horrifying villains who’ll make your skin crawl, and antagonists whose very plausibility makes them rather disturbing. There’s petty vendetta’s and world-scouring vengeance. There’s the quiet warmth of friendship, and the searing joys of romance. There’s love and death and blood and grief. There’s techno-mage archaeology, and chases which, somehow, managed not to feature giant boulders rolling after you, but felt like they could. This is a complicated, human world, with characters you’ll care about, and a story which I, for one, couldn’t put down. Go pick it up! ...more

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Aug 24, 2020 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2020, arc-or-review-copy, orbit

http://www.bookwormblues.net/2020/08/...

I feel bad that it took me so long to get around to reading this book. Honestly, it wasn’t really my choice. I’ve been busy and life just keeps happening. That being said, I finally put some time aside to really tackle this beast and I’m glad I did. This book was a joy to read, and a joy to look at (that cover art is amazing).

I will be honest, dear reader, that I was a bit reluctant going into this one. For some reason, I had it in my head that this would ...more

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Sep 23, 2020 Mark rated it really liked it

Good solid character driven sci fi/fantasy. Best world building as expected from this author, looking to reading the books in this new series.

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Jul 16, 2020 Andreas rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020, fantasy

Synopsis: When they were young children, Maya was separated from her family and from her brother Gyre: one of those single-man-army centarchs of the Twilight Order took her away. Gyre stood ground, but lost an eye, and ever since was called Half-Mask.

In alternating chapters, the story follows the faith of the siblings twelve years after Maya's kidnapping: 20 years old Gyre in a Robin Hood like behavior steels from the Order and passes some wealth to the forgotten folk of the undercity. 17 years Synopsis: When they were young children, Maya was separated from her family and from her brother Gyre: one of those single-man-army centarchs of the Twilight Order took her away. Gyre stood ground, but lost an eye, and ever since was called Half-Mask.

In alternating chapters, the story follows the faith of the siblings twelve years after Maya's kidnapping: 20 years old Gyre in a Robin Hood like behavior steels from the Order and passes some wealth to the forgotten folk of the undercity. 17 years old Maya travels with her mistress solving mysteries of smugglers of forbidden arcanes, showing her cunning sword art, wielding her legendary blade called "haken" and weaving magics spells. They never met since their rough separation and fight on opposing sides: Gyre ultimately seeks revenge, risking anything to wield enough power to destroy the Order, while Maya tries to rise to an accepted member of the Order.

Review: This is the first entry in the Burningblade and Silvereye fantasy series, but could very well be read as a standalone. It concludes with a few dangling threads but brings the plot to a satisfying ending.

There is a lot of SFional influence drippling down into the fantasy setting: gigantic flying fortresses crashed into the earth generations ago, and many of the magical artifacts are driven by a force I often read as electricity. The "haken" felt like a Star Wars lightsabre.

But Wexler not only integrated SF into this fantasy novel, but also horror elements: necronomists creating monsters called the "plaguespawn" which range from rat sized up to bear large entities driven by their yearn to destroy anything living and incorporating remains into their own bodies. Both siblings fight against numerous of those beasts, mostly in cellars or labyrinthic tunnel systems fitting to a wonderful Dungeons&Dragons session.

In fact, a huge part of the novel describes fights very detailed, bordering LitRPG, and very bloody. The first 50 pages was nearly continuous fighting with only small breaks in between. While I liked the diversity of the fights - Gyre mostly with alchemical bombs and weapons, and Maya as sword wielding magician - I could have lived with half the amount of action. In between, I yearned for a chapter just settling down a bit - well, there was one, but it was short. Action oriented fantasy fans will find their needs filled to the fullest, no mercy given.

Both main characters were relatable and believable in their youthful recklessness and naivety. Some teenage angst drove me nuts when Maya unfolded her virgin lesbian drive to fellow character Beq, taking them nearly half the novel to come to fruition. That was clearly too much romance suspense for my taste. The complete opposite was frivolous and mysterious Kit Doomseeker, acting as a quest giver for Gyre.

Also, this novel wins the "Most grins" Award. My Kindle counted 100 occurences, and given that its used mostly in the chapters featuring Kit Doomseeker, that's awfully often.

The novel is a really high-octance, mostly underground, thriller fantasy, tending towards YA in some aspects. It shines with character, plot, and setting, and sometimes just has too much in it. I found it very entertaining and recommend it. ...more

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Jun 26, 2020 Maddy rated it really liked it

The copy of Ashes of the Sun I recieved was provided generously by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

By first impressions, Ashes of the Sun was a book I was incredibly excited to read: the cover is beautiful, the description presented a new and interesting fantasy world with a unique spin, and the author is an already well-known fantasy aficionado. And, largely, my first impressions of the book carried through with surprising longevity, and the novel was a great experience to The copy of Ashes of the Sun I recieved was provided generously by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

By first impressions, Ashes of the Sun was a book I was incredibly excited to read: the cover is beautiful, the description presented a new and interesting fantasy world with a unique spin, and the author is an already well-known fantasy aficionado. And, largely, my first impressions of the book carried through with surprising longevity, and the novel was a great experience to read.

This review will contain some spoilers, so please read with caution!

First, I must praise Wexler's writing style, because it is something that captured my attention at page one. With a lot of epic fantasy and high fantasy stories, the writing can become very long, explanatory, and blocked with a lot of info dumping (this can be done well, of course, it's just a genre stereotype). I found that Wexler managed to (mostly) stave off the things that many readers are not fond of, which made the 600-page story quite an easy read. Wexler's writing was continually interesting, his descriptions were to the point, not overly indulgent, and even his characterizations of the plethora of female characters were positive and non-sexualized. I include this bit because, as any fantasy fan will know, writers tend to overly describe female characters (because we really need to know the size of her breasts in proportion to how small her waist is...) and I was very happy to see that Wexler avoided this trope, and gave all his characters respect.

The worldbuilding of this novel came only slightly second to me after the writing style. The world of Ashes of the Sun is complex, and there are a lot of layered elements and ideas that are unveiled, bit by bit, as the novel progresses. Although this makes the first few chapters hinged on mystery, as we come to try to understand dhak, centarchs, who the Chosen were, who the Republic is etc, this element keeps the reader interested. This novel upped the formulaic "chapters should ask questions that are answered in the next" idea of novel writing, as we are not only grasping the questions of plot, but also the questions of how the world works, and I found this to be quite compelling.

Although there were many elements of this book that I loved, there were a few issues I had with the story. Ashes of the Sun is told between two alternating point-of-view, a brother and sister separated at childhood. Maya, the sister, becomes a centarch-in-training for the Twilight Order, while Gyre becomes a glorified thief, working with a band of rebels that challenge both city and governmental authority. I found their different fates interesting, and their different views of the world was a great way to tell this story, however it created an issue where there was no cemented plot. There were some ideas of a plot, and there were events and story arcs that the two main characters separately went through, but up until the midway point of the novel I felt like there was no real connection. Even when the siblings reunite, twelve years after their separation, their stories continue in different directions (I should say different paths, as both paths end up leading to the same place). If someone asked me what the overall plot to this story was, I'm not sure I could say without breaking it up between Maya and Gyre.

The culmination of the novel is where the story really gets confusing for me, personally. It seemed like the book took a really drastic turn from the events in the first half of the story to the second half, and the ramp up of the drama was turned up to eleven, so to speak. In the first part of the story, we're with Gyre and a band of rebels, seemingly interested in some type of governmental overthrow, or at the very least revolution for the tunnelborn folk of Deepfire. In the later chapters, Gyre and Kit are working with one of the last remaining ghouls, a species that was previously thought wiped out, attempting to awake a collosal construct to destroy humanity. The divide between those two things, and the events between them, did not fully resonate with me.

This brings up the issue of their own personal plots. Maya's story seems well enough fleshed out on its own - we understand what she wants, what she's working towards, the obstacles she must overcome, and so on - but Gyre did not receive the same luxury in my opinion. Gyre's story confused me, because at first glance it really seemed like he had interest in Yora's cause (gaining rights for the tunnelborn to provide them with a better life). Although we get the idea that he has a bigger goal in mind, I was still a little surprised to find out exactly what his goal was, and most especially, why he had it. The explanation regarding why Gyre wants to destroy the Order and the Republic seemed a bit lackluster. Although he thinks about Maya from time to time, he flat out says that his goals are not because of her, despite her being taken by the Order as a child being the inciting incident for the novel. He mentions that his family was torn apart, but I didn't get the impression that he cared much about it, especially due to the back-and-forth we hear about Maya from his internal monologue. I don't understand why it's enough of a reason for Gyre to be so obsessed with the destruction of the human governmental constructs (so obsessed, in fact, that it's almost his entire reason for existence as a character; he becomes increasingly unsympathetic, loses what small empathy he had for anyone else, all because he wants to find the Tomb so desperately). For story purposes, we needed Gyre, but I wish he had more compelling reasons for his actions, because I found myself almost doubly interested in Maya's chapters than his.

On this point, I'd like to touch on the characters. Maya and Gyre, due to their stories being mostly separate, encounter different secondary characters, with some small overlap later on in the story. I feel like most of the secondary characters were well-written and had their own identities, and we get to learn about their motives, hopes, desires and such that makes them relatable and sympathetic. The only (important) character I felt that I had no interest in was Kit, for a few reasons. At first, Kit seemed like she was going to be a really interesting character with a lot of depth, as the reader was given near no answers with regard to her past, who she was working with, her personal gain, and such. Although frustrating to know next to nothing about her character, her meet cute is interesting, and she had a lot of potential with her secretive nature. Once the reader is made to know more about her, however, those mysteries do not seem as enticing as they did once before. Kit is completely unsympathetic to other people, even to Gyre for almost all of the story, despite the feeling that we the reader are supposed to somehow root for them as a pair. Though it makes sense that she doesn't care much for the lives of others, her continued examples of brutality, enjoyment of bloodlust and fighting, and half her dialogue talking about sex, did not resonate with me as anything deep or interesting. Even her backstory did not make me feel any sort of empathy for her. I was also confused about what Gyre took interest in her for, until I further understood that he truly only did care about finding the Tomb and power enough to overthrow the Order, then it made a little more sense.

Another point I'd like to give both in favor and against this book, with regard to the characters, is the LGBT+ representation. Being a member of the LGBT community myself, I am always excited to experience stories with LGBT+ characters, especially in high fantasy, where it feels like there is a lot less representation than in other categories. There were several LGBT+ characters in the novel, some more explicit than others, and I personally don't mind when some of the representation is in the background. This would, of course, be an issue if one of the main characters themselves didn't experience an LGBT+ romance, which Maya did. However, this was not represented, to me, as well as I would have liked.

Maya and Beq experience a slow-burn style attraction to one another after their first meeting, that eventually culminates in a relationship at the end of the novel. Maya's descriptions of Beq are what threw me the most - almost every single interaction with Beq, Maya's internal monologue would mention how attractive Beq is, ow how Maya needed to focus on the task at hand and NOT think about how attractive Beq is, or how she wanted to kiss her, etc. This didn't sit well with me for a few reasons, namely that it constantly enforces the over-sexualization that many real life LGBT+ people face. It also deflated their culmination of the relationship for me, because when they were finally able to express their feelings, I realized that there was no evidence that they had real interest in each other. Maya's interests in Beq, at least in her head, were mostly physical, they only talk about how they saved each other's lives at one point or another, and it seems like when they do find time to talk about their interests (my example here being Beq's interest in arcana), the other party isn't particularly interested. This does not a fulfilling relationship make.

Despite my personal criticisms, Ashes of the Sun was a great read that left a lot of possibilities open for the incoming sequel, though I wish I had known beforehand that it was a planned series! I find myself wondering what's next for Maya and Gyre, and although the end of the story left me with a lot of unanswered questions, I fully believe that Wexler will deliver a great sequel and continue their story in beautiful hand. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys new worlds, and especially new, well implemented magic systems. Compelling characters, interesting twists and amazing writing will be sure to satisfy any fantasy fan! ...more

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Jul 14, 2020 Adrianna (anntokki) rated it liked it

Shelves: on-my-kindle

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(This was more of a 2.75-star read, but I rounded up to 3 stars)

Before you start reading this book, definitely check out the glossary in the back. Unless you'd like to decipher the language Wexler uses yourself. Because I jumped right into the story, I found myself very lost at the beginning of the book. It wasn't until I made the connection that the terms being used were similar to those in Star Wars. The Thank you, NetGalley for providing me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(This was more of a 2.75-star read, but I rounded up to 3 stars)

Before you start reading this book, definitely check out the glossary in the back. Unless you'd like to decipher the language Wexler uses yourself. Because I jumped right into the story, I found myself very lost at the beginning of the book. It wasn't until I made the connection that the terms being used were similar to those in Star Wars. The Centarchs could be compared to Jedi, and Maya (and the other Agathia) could be seen as Padawans.

Ashes of the Sun did not feel very story-driven. Really, this felt like a series of events that just kind of happened. Nothing tied the story together. The characters were going on mission after mission, and for what? There didn't seem to be an end goal, for Maya at least. Gyre's goal was to overturn the entire Order. Hopefully, in the future books in the series, more sense is made of the events that happened.

The one thing that was tying me to this book was the characters. Because we are following two separate paths throughout the book, we meet many side characters. I enjoyed how the characters were written and I was interested to see how they would tie into the main story. I wish I was able to feel a bit more of a connection to these characters, though. We did see many side characters die throughout the story, and I didn't even think about their deaths after they happened. Perhaps it was because the characters also had little care for the deaths of their friends.

I also appreciated the LGBT representation within the story. It was great to see this in the main character and in other background characters. However, I do not believe I appreciated the relationship between Maya and Beq. I wish we got to see their relationship develop further, as Maya's attraction to Beq was simply on a physical level. Hopefully, that is something we will see further in the series.

Ashes of the Sun had great world-building and a fantastic magic system. If you're a reader who can appreciate lore, this may be the book for you. However, if you are looking for a fantasy with characters that tug on your heartstrings, you may want to skip out on this one. ...more

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Jul 14, 2020 Kaffeeklatsch and Books rated it it was ok

Shelves: ebooks, 2020, fantasy, netgalley, dystopian

It appears that my opinion is going to be an unpopular one.

I was anticipating "Ashes of Sun", but was quite disappointed. My eARC didn't come with a cover, map or glossary, but I've found that other reviewers copies did come with a glossary. I had a hard time imagining the creatures and world and I found some names extremely cringy - "Suddenstorm" and "Thousandcuts" and "unmetal" to name a few made me roll my eyes.

The writing felt more YA to me than the epic adult fantasy I expected.

The plot is ...more

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Jul 20, 2020 Morgan (dragonsandpages) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler showed up on my doorstep I was SO EXCITED. A huge shoutout to Orbit for sending a beautiful finished copy my way!
This book really hooked me from the very beginning. We are thrown into a unique almost sci-fi/apocalyptic fantasy world. This book felt like a very new and fresh entry into the fantasy genre the whole way through. One thing that Wexler did so well, in my opinion, was making you feel that you knew what was going to happen next and then completely ...more

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Jul 13, 2020 Kara Babcock rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ebook, netgalley, 2020-read

One of the reasons Brandon Sanderson took off, I suspect, is that he manages to bring an urban fantasy feel to more high fantasy or epic fantasy settings. In Ashes of the Sun, Django Wexler accomplishes a similar feat. This is a book set in a world incredibly different from our own, a land reminiscent of the epic fantasy books that for a time dominated this genre, yet the pacing and style are much closer to urban fantasy. I find that very appealing, and even though it took me a few more days to ...more

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Jul 27, 2020 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: epic-adventure, elusive, fantasy, science-fiction-romance

I'd rate this at somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars. Though it certainly has potential and I'm more than a little interested in seeing what happens next I'm not sure the world building or even characters were really here for me to get super into the story.

I like the concept a lot. The world of Ashes of the Sun is one built on the bones of an ancient war. 400 years ago the Chosen and the Ghouls fought it out for world supremacy and the Chosen lost and the Ghouls vanished. They left behind amazing I'd rate this at somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars. Though it certainly has potential and I'm more than a little interested in seeing what happens next I'm not sure the world building or even characters were really here for me to get super into the story.

I like the concept a lot. The world of Ashes of the Sun is one built on the bones of an ancient war. 400 years ago the Chosen and the Ghouls fought it out for world supremacy and the Chosen lost and the Ghouls vanished. They left behind amazing and mysterious technology only the Chosen and their heirs can use and the remnants of dhaka, a strange, organic Ghoul magic.

Now society is kept under control by The Twilight Order and their Centarchs (wielders of Chosen power that allows them to use Chosen tech). The Order works to maintain peace, but their numbers have dwindled over the years and things are pretty chaotic. Lots of people live in abject poverty underground and a very small merchant, nobility class basically hoards everything and keeps the masses enslaved to their factories and mines.

So into that world are thrust siblings Maya and Gyre. When Maya is five years old she's taken by the Centarchs who correctly identify her chronic illnesses as a sign that she's a wielder of Chosen power. Gyre attempts to stop them and his horribly mutilated as a result. Years pass and Maya becomes a powerful Centarch apprentice and Gyre is a respected member of a group of bandits who are kinda sorta also freedom fighters with no real goals.

That's unfortunately where things kind of fall apart for me. Despite an interesting idea for a setting and some fascinating pre-story historical tidbits we never really learn much about the Chosen or the Ghouls or the war or what really happened versus what everyone believes. The people who are anti-Twilight Order don't really have a better idea for how the world should work they just sort of abstractly believe the order is evil. The Order isn't evil or good really, its just a bunch of mildly ineffective scholars who send people out on missions to fight monsters and argue among themselves. Its not even very clear how, with so few of them, they even manage to stay in power.

I think we're meant to feel that Gyre and Maya are truly pitted against each other in a Civil War level rivalry but Gyre's total lack of motivation beyond "they took my sister" make his blood thirsty desire to basically end the world seem kind of insane and Maya, who seems to be a really good person, kind of sort of figures out that not everyone in the Order is a good person but honestly most of them seem to be and they seem like they're trying to help people so I just didn't really get what was at stake. There just wasn't any true dramatic tension.

What Django Wexler seems way more interested in is the sex lives of his characters. Because I sure learned a heck of a lot about Maya's crush on her companion Baq and Gyre's firey flirting with the more than mildly sociopathic Kit.

I have some hope that Wexler will get more in depth on the actual story in the second book, which I would like to read but alas, this promising concept loses almost all of its punch to star crossed love affairs and half hearted sibling rivalry. I would, at least, like to know what happens next. ...more

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Aug 03, 2020 Al Burke rated it it was amazing

Finally got the review for this - https://www.alwroteabook.com/2020/11/... ...more

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Jan 01, 2021 Mike rated it it was amazing

This is my first of Django Wexler’s books, though I’ve been aware of him for years. It’s not going to be the last, and not just because this is first in a trilogy. This book was a great way to end my 2020 year in reading.

This book is set in a world a few hundred years after the end of a war between elder races, who wiped each other out. Human society was built by the Chosen, who arranged things so civilization would continue after they were gone (albeit with a lower standard of living). But the This is my first of Django Wexler’s books, though I’ve been aware of him for years. It’s not going to be the last, and not just because this is first in a trilogy. This book was a great way to end my 2020 year in reading.

This book is set in a world a few hundred years after the end of a war between elder races, who wiped each other out. Human society was built by the Chosen, who arranged things so civilization would continue after they were gone (albeit with a lower standard of living). But the world is still infested with plaguespawn, an ever present danger left over from the plague the ghouls unleashed to kill the Chosen at the end of the war.

The two protagonists are a pair of siblings, Gyre and Maya, who haven’t seen each other since Gyre was 8 and Maya 5. Maya was taken away from her home by the Twilight Order, which was set up by the Chosen to protect civilization. The Order maintains the magic that humans can still use, hunts down the dangerous ghoul artifacts that remain, and protects humanity from the plaguespawn. Maya was born with the ability to use Chosen magic, and so she was taken to be trained as Centarch of the Order. This was against her wishes (though, as she points out herself, she was 5; her wishes should only count for so much). Gyre, the big brother protector, was desperate to keep her from being taken.

In the twelve years since, Maya has nearly reached the end of her training. Though she knows the Order isn’t perfect - it’s divided among rival factions, and has its share of corruption and zealotry - she also knows that they do a great deal of good in the world. The protection they provide is absolutely needed, and it’s thanks to the Order that humanity has flourished as well as it has since the end of the war.

Gyre sees things differently. As far as he’s concerned, the Twilight Order is a bunch of hypocrites and tyrants. The only power they approve of is that which they control. Any powers that originated with the ghouls (even something as innocuous as the pesticides Gyre and Maya’s father kept carefully hidden in a shed back home) is anathema and punishable by death. Except of course for the ghoul magic that’s simply too useful to ignore; that’s ok, but only when Order-approved. The Order holds humanity back, keeping them shackled to the desires of a race long dead and gone and answerable to none.

I happen to think they’re both right.

And that is a recipe for a hell of a good story.

It’s not a spoiler (because it’s freaking obvious, and actually says so right out in the blurb) that Maya and Gyre cross paths over the course of this book. They disagree on pretty much everything, but they still love each other and neither wants to hurt the other. I’m extraordinarily interested in seeing where this goes in the rest of the trilogy. The book itself reads like a mix of many of /r/Fantasy’s favorites. Fans of Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, and Scott Lynch will all find things in this that appeal. ...more

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Jan 10, 2021 RG rated it it was amazing

I'm so hlad this author has returned to adult fantasy. Years ago an empire was destroyed by a magical war. Gyre and maya are siblings who get separated atva young age, as Maya attends a school called the Twilight Order. From here we get amazing world buidling, plotting/action and beautiful characterisation. The authors strengths lie in its characters, especially the females. We get great representation of different identities and amazing themes, very reminiscent of Star Wars. Dont get me wrong, ...more

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Aug 12, 2020 Tammy rated it really liked it

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.The nitty-gritty: A sprawling, epic fantasy with plenty of exciting action, high stakes, and sparkling characters, Ashes of the Sun is a fantastic start to a new series.

A race to find a powerful magical artifact, heists, deals, doublecrossing characters and much much more, I had a blast with Ashes of the Sun . This is my first time reading ...more

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About Django Wexler

Django Wexler

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Django Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. Eventually he migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering mountain of books. When not planning Shadow Campaigns, he wrangles computers, paints tiny soldiers, and plays g ...more