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rharrison_'s review against another edition
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
richardzx's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoying this series. They scratch two itches, historical fiction and anything faerie. Lovely stuff.
gavreads's review against another edition
As above, so below. There is a struggle above. King and Parliament vie for power. Below, there is rebellion in the faerie realm and the Onyx Court. And in a humble bakery in London’s Pudding Lane, a spark will ignite and force all, Roundhead and Cavalier, human and fae, to set aside their differences to save their homes from annihilation.
Brennan’s mastery of mixing history with her faerie world was tested in Midnight Never Come. But as important as the history was Brennan was free their to build a love story around the events without the being tied too strongly to fixed dates and events.
This time history is front and centre though she’s left plenty of room for development the story is constrained by the timing and movement of historical events.
In order to split things up and also to show more sustained development Brennan switches from the slow burning events which lead up to the beheading of King Charles and the restoration of Parliament and the Monarchy to the supernatural fight that takes place during the Great Fire of London.
Because of the limitations of the narrative I did find it a slow going. This isn’t to say that it isn’t enjoyable but due to the timescale it had sometimes lacks a sense of urgency to drags you from one event to the next.
Brennan does do an amazing job of weaving parallels between the real world events with the affects on the fae and vice versa.
We meet some new characters and see the return of others. Lune is immortal but Deven is mortal and can not live forever. Instead Lune has chosen a new Prince of Stone, a mortal to help rule at her side. Anthony’s role is more than ceremonial. He’s Lune’s connection with the mortal world and it’s a connection that works both ways. He needs the fae in the real world as well.
Some great touches are explored like Queen Lune and the long shadow of the Queen she replaced in Midnight Never Come and those events lingering influence over Lunes decisions.
Like Mythago Wood this is closer to my idea of fantasy and what I want from a fantasy story. I want a story that has clever ideas, emotional and characters that can be connected with and getting away from the quest stereotypes, though they of course have their own place in fantasy.
Overall, the tone is different from Midnight Never Come but Brennen takes that foundation and expands on it focusing in on historical events but also fleshing out on earlier characters and new challenges. It does require you to be paying a bit of attention, especially during the leaps in time but they are all flagged if you take a little bit of time.
I’m excited to see the next one is called A Star Shall Fall. How teasing is that!
PS: I was lucky enough to meet Marie when she was doing on the ground research for A Star Shall Fall and her schedule for her London trip was exhausting. I’m always a bit worried when meeting and author that I won’t like the book after meeting them.
Thankfully I did end up liking In Ashes Lie, as Marie has a wonderful sense of humour and is a fascinating person to listen to and she showed that what is presented in each novel is just the surface of the attention to detail she has put in to it.
Brennan’s mastery of mixing history with her faerie world was tested in Midnight Never Come. But as important as the history was Brennan was free their to build a love story around the events without the being tied too strongly to fixed dates and events.
This time history is front and centre though she’s left plenty of room for development the story is constrained by the timing and movement of historical events.
In order to split things up and also to show more sustained development Brennan switches from the slow burning events which lead up to the beheading of King Charles and the restoration of Parliament and the Monarchy to the supernatural fight that takes place during the Great Fire of London.
Because of the limitations of the narrative I did find it a slow going. This isn’t to say that it isn’t enjoyable but due to the timescale it had sometimes lacks a sense of urgency to drags you from one event to the next.
Brennan does do an amazing job of weaving parallels between the real world events with the affects on the fae and vice versa.
We meet some new characters and see the return of others. Lune is immortal but Deven is mortal and can not live forever. Instead Lune has chosen a new Prince of Stone, a mortal to help rule at her side. Anthony’s role is more than ceremonial. He’s Lune’s connection with the mortal world and it’s a connection that works both ways. He needs the fae in the real world as well.
Some great touches are explored like Queen Lune and the long shadow of the Queen she replaced in Midnight Never Come and those events lingering influence over Lunes decisions.
Like Mythago Wood this is closer to my idea of fantasy and what I want from a fantasy story. I want a story that has clever ideas, emotional and characters that can be connected with and getting away from the quest stereotypes, though they of course have their own place in fantasy.
Overall, the tone is different from Midnight Never Come but Brennen takes that foundation and expands on it focusing in on historical events but also fleshing out on earlier characters and new challenges. It does require you to be paying a bit of attention, especially during the leaps in time but they are all flagged if you take a little bit of time.
I’m excited to see the next one is called A Star Shall Fall. How teasing is that!
PS: I was lucky enough to meet Marie when she was doing on the ground research for A Star Shall Fall and her schedule for her London trip was exhausting. I’m always a bit worried when meeting and author that I won’t like the book after meeting them.
Thankfully I did end up liking In Ashes Lie, as Marie has a wonderful sense of humour and is a fascinating person to listen to and she showed that what is presented in each novel is just the surface of the attention to detail she has put in to it.
clacksee's review against another edition
About a third of the way through, time jumps forwards by several decades and the whole human cast changes.
aurora69006's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tashhatcher's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
sylyons's review against another edition
3.0
It was a little too political for me but very interesting. I always enjoy stories that incorporate real life history with some sort of twist to it. She does it really well. I don't mind politics and royal court goings on but this one was very into it. It felt like I was in Congress at times. Also, Lune really got on my nerves. Another things was the way time passes in this book. The author has dome this in her other books but it distracted me in those as well. She marks the time period she is talking about but it bounces around so much sometime, it took me a little bit to get a hold of the characters. I had to go back several times to make sure I had the right character in mind. Even with those two big problems I had, it was a pretty good read.
clare_the_reader's review
4.0
This book was the bane of my existence. I do not mean that it was bad (I rated it four stars, after all), I just mean that, for nigh on a year, this book sat on my shelf with less than the first hundred pages read. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the terrible cover. Maybe it was my post-Christmas reading slump (which I’m hoping to dodge this year). Whatever it was, this book sat on my shelf, judging me for my cowardice for eleven long months. Then, after the all-consuming disappointment that was [b:The Subtle Knife|41637836|The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, #2)|Philip Pullman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1535965085l/41637836._SY75_.jpg|1570229], I decided to retreat back into a world I knew.
And I loved it.
I think I must be one of the few people out there who prefer these books to Marie Brennan’s Lady Trent books. Don’t get me wrong, I adored Isabella, and I owe [b:A Natural History of Dragons|12974372|A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)|Marie Brennan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359770409l/12974372._SX50_.jpg|18132937] a huge debt for getting me back into reading, but I always felt that those books fell short of what they could be. In a way, I do feel the same way here. I dearly wished that we could spend more time with strange creatures such as the mara, the goblins, the Cailleach Bheur and the talking tree. It’s actually a similar problem to what I had with [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394545220l/20174424._SY75_.jpg|28030792] – I just wasn’t allowed enough time with the weird creatures.
What really sells this series for me is the characters. I would hate to be in Lune’s position. I took one look at the catty backstabbing and constantly shifting friendship groups of high school and promptly ran away. One day in the Onyx Court and I think I’d lose my mind. The political machinations and difficulties are very well done, and the layering of mortal and human politics was fascinating to watch. The characters go through a lot in this, both Lune and Antony, her new human consort. Lune has to deal with betrayal on all sides and has to fight for London, both below and above, to keep them whole. Antony, on the other hand, is torn between the two worlds, one of which he must keep secret from Kate, his wife (who I loved, by the way). Antony may be my favourite character in this book, partly because, through him, I was able to see England’s struggles. First under a hapless king, then through civil war, then under Oliver Cromwell’s fist, then in plague. It was stressful, I’ll tell you that. One of the things I loved most about Lune was her struggle between keeping control of a cutthroat court and trying not to become like Invidiana. Even dead, the old faerie queen continues to cast a shadow, one felt most acutely by Lune, and it was fascinating, if sometimes painful, to watch Lune grapple with handling her predecessor’s legacy.
The final thing I love about this series is the way fae are portrayed. When I was a child, I received two versions of faeries. One was from Disney movies: tiny, shiny wings, little wands and ridiculously adorable and bungling. The other I’m not even sure where I got it from. Maybe it was from one of those multi-coloured fairy books. Maybe I made them up. (Come to think of it, it might have been after reading [b:The Luck Uglies|18635085|The Luck Uglies (The Luck Uglies, #1)|Paul Durham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383709002l/18635085._SY75_.jpg|26431642]). Whatever instigated it, I entered teenagehood believing that fairies were strange creatures – long-living, eldritch and a little twisted. When I began reading Sarah J Maas’ [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824|A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546406962l/16096824._SY75_.jpg|21905102], I was hoping for something along these lines.
As anyone who’s come within poking distance of this series will know, that is not what I got. In Maas’ books, fairies are essentially super-hot, immortal humans with flawless skin and a culture-wide obsession with sex. These fairies are nothing like that. The majority of them see humans as paltry things, to be avoided and at best be used for entertainment (whatever that may entail) and then abandoned. But that’s not the whole story. The other side is the fact that, once given, a fairy’s love endures forever, long after the death of their beloved. A constant source of confusion to the fae is Lune’s love for the late Michael Deven, a human being. I loved the way Michael and his mortality had rubbed off on Lune. The subject of immortality (which is a concept that scares me to my marrow) is barely even mentioned in Maas’ books (another reason for disappointment) but in Brennan’s, with the plague raging through England, it is impossible to ignore, and it was interesting to watch the differing faerie reactions to such a grand scale of death.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this book – court intrigue, just enough historical stress, characters that I love and a version of fairies that I can get behind. Now please let me see more of the weird creatures, Brennan.
Clare G.
And I loved it.
I think I must be one of the few people out there who prefer these books to Marie Brennan’s Lady Trent books. Don’t get me wrong, I adored Isabella, and I owe [b:A Natural History of Dragons|12974372|A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)|Marie Brennan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359770409l/12974372._SX50_.jpg|18132937] a huge debt for getting me back into reading, but I always felt that those books fell short of what they could be. In a way, I do feel the same way here. I dearly wished that we could spend more time with strange creatures such as the mara, the goblins, the Cailleach Bheur and the talking tree. It’s actually a similar problem to what I had with [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394545220l/20174424._SY75_.jpg|28030792] – I just wasn’t allowed enough time with the weird creatures.
What really sells this series for me is the characters. I would hate to be in Lune’s position. I took one look at the catty backstabbing and constantly shifting friendship groups of high school and promptly ran away. One day in the Onyx Court and I think I’d lose my mind. The political machinations and difficulties are very well done, and the layering of mortal and human politics was fascinating to watch. The characters go through a lot in this, both Lune and Antony, her new human consort. Lune has to deal with betrayal on all sides and has to fight for London, both below and above, to keep them whole. Antony, on the other hand, is torn between the two worlds, one of which he must keep secret from Kate, his wife (who I loved, by the way). Antony may be my favourite character in this book, partly because, through him, I was able to see England’s struggles. First under a hapless king, then through civil war, then under Oliver Cromwell’s fist, then in plague. It was stressful, I’ll tell you that. One of the things I loved most about Lune was her struggle between keeping control of a cutthroat court and trying not to become like Invidiana. Even dead, the old faerie queen continues to cast a shadow, one felt most acutely by Lune, and it was fascinating, if sometimes painful, to watch Lune grapple with handling her predecessor’s legacy.
The final thing I love about this series is the way fae are portrayed. When I was a child, I received two versions of faeries. One was from Disney movies: tiny, shiny wings, little wands and ridiculously adorable and bungling. The other I’m not even sure where I got it from. Maybe it was from one of those multi-coloured fairy books. Maybe I made them up. (Come to think of it, it might have been after reading [b:The Luck Uglies|18635085|The Luck Uglies (The Luck Uglies, #1)|Paul Durham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383709002l/18635085._SY75_.jpg|26431642]). Whatever instigated it, I entered teenagehood believing that fairies were strange creatures – long-living, eldritch and a little twisted. When I began reading Sarah J Maas’ [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824|A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546406962l/16096824._SY75_.jpg|21905102], I was hoping for something along these lines.
As anyone who’s come within poking distance of this series will know, that is not what I got. In Maas’ books, fairies are essentially super-hot, immortal humans with flawless skin and a culture-wide obsession with sex. These fairies are nothing like that. The majority of them see humans as paltry things, to be avoided and at best be used for entertainment (whatever that may entail) and then abandoned. But that’s not the whole story. The other side is the fact that, once given, a fairy’s love endures forever, long after the death of their beloved. A constant source of confusion to the fae is Lune’s love for the late Michael Deven, a human being. I loved the way Michael and his mortality had rubbed off on Lune. The subject of immortality (which is a concept that scares me to my marrow) is barely even mentioned in Maas’ books (another reason for disappointment) but in Brennan’s, with the plague raging through England, it is impossible to ignore, and it was interesting to watch the differing faerie reactions to such a grand scale of death.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this book – court intrigue, just enough historical stress, characters that I love and a version of fairies that I can get behind. Now please let me see more of the weird creatures, Brennan.
Clare G.
nancyotoole's review against another edition
3.0
In the mid 1600s England stands in peril. Above ground King Charles and Parliament fight for power. Below ground the faerie queen, Lune, struggles against dangerous adversaries. Together with Anthony, her human consort and The Prince of Stone, both hope to find peace for both the human and faerie England. But what will both sides be able to do when London is is suddenly set ablaze by a deadly and magical fire that consumes the city?
In Ashes Lie is the second book in the Onyx court series, following Midnight Never Come. The series has a fascinating concept, retelling English history by adding in a second court made up of faeries. The events of the human world are often mirrored by those in faerie. The character of Lune returns, but this time as Queen. It’s easy to sympathize with her during her struggle as she attempts to hold her world together even when things seem hopeless. I also enjoyed the character of Anthony who replaces Michael Deven (from Midnight Never Come) as her human consort. There is no romance between the two central characters this time, which I did miss a little. Still I found their relationship to be powerful, regardless of it’s platonic state.
Admittedly, I found In Ashes Lie to be a step below Midnight Never Come. Part of that reason is my own prejudices. While I have an established interest in the Elizabethan setting that housed Midnight Never Come, I am less interested in the English Civil War, so the historical elements did not always grab me as much. Also, In Ashes Lie makes use of two time lines. The main story takes place from 1636 to 1666, and features very long chapters. The secondary storyline takes place in 1666 during The Great Fire of London, and features shorter chapters. In someways it was interesting to see glimpses of the future, and then how the present got there, but in other ways this stylistic choice caused a lot of problems for me. I often found myself getting confused with the 1666 storyline, as so much time was spent away from it, I forgot what state the characters were in by the time I got back to it. As a result, this damaged my enjoyment of the book.
Due to my lack of initial interest in the chosen time frame, as well as problems with the multiple time lines, I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy In Ashes Lie as much as I did it’s predecessor. Still, I once again enjoyed watching how real life events were parallel by those in Onyx Court, and the characters were complex enough to hold my interest, so I did end up liking the book in the end. I do plan on continuing the series.
In Ashes Lie is the second book in the Onyx court series, following Midnight Never Come. The series has a fascinating concept, retelling English history by adding in a second court made up of faeries. The events of the human world are often mirrored by those in faerie. The character of Lune returns, but this time as Queen. It’s easy to sympathize with her during her struggle as she attempts to hold her world together even when things seem hopeless. I also enjoyed the character of Anthony who replaces Michael Deven (from Midnight Never Come) as her human consort. There is no romance between the two central characters this time, which I did miss a little. Still I found their relationship to be powerful, regardless of it’s platonic state.
Admittedly, I found In Ashes Lie to be a step below Midnight Never Come. Part of that reason is my own prejudices. While I have an established interest in the Elizabethan setting that housed Midnight Never Come, I am less interested in the English Civil War, so the historical elements did not always grab me as much. Also, In Ashes Lie makes use of two time lines. The main story takes place from 1636 to 1666, and features very long chapters. The secondary storyline takes place in 1666 during The Great Fire of London, and features shorter chapters. In someways it was interesting to see glimpses of the future, and then how the present got there, but in other ways this stylistic choice caused a lot of problems for me. I often found myself getting confused with the 1666 storyline, as so much time was spent away from it, I forgot what state the characters were in by the time I got back to it. As a result, this damaged my enjoyment of the book.
Due to my lack of initial interest in the chosen time frame, as well as problems with the multiple time lines, I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy In Ashes Lie as much as I did it’s predecessor. Still, I once again enjoyed watching how real life events were parallel by those in Onyx Court, and the characters were complex enough to hold my interest, so I did end up liking the book in the end. I do plan on continuing the series.
princess_starr's review against another edition
4.0
While Midnight Never Come was very much a “talky” book—a lot of the action and tension came from the dialogue and backstory—the follow-up was a much more action-packed and exciting read. While the sections switching off between the Protestant Revolution and the Great Fire of 1666 are a bit jarring at first, they seemed to flow better as you learned more about what was occurring in the previous chapter. One of my favorite things to read about in faerie books are the workings of the various courts, and in this book, you see how the various faerie courts of Europe either mirror or disregard their mortal counterparts. I also like how the main conflict is tied with what’s occurring in mortal London as well, giving further sense to how closely tied to mortals the Onyx Court and its sovereigns are. This is one of my favorite series, and I love going back and rereading these.