Ashes of Revival by Alex Shobe

Not Easy to Be the Queen

In this book, the heroine is a queen in a land that has never had a ruling female monarch. The men who should be her counsel are unwilling to give up control easily. The heroine very much acts the queen at times while at others she seems too meek and subservient. I couldn’t discern a pattern to it, so it felt disjointed; I never knew which aspect of the person I was going to get. The book is written in the first-person present, which I find to be a tough perspective to read. In general, I am not a fan of the first person in fiction, though I have gotten used to it as so many books are written in it these days. But I cannot get used to the present tense being used at all times in a book. It sticks out like a sore thumb and is quite wearing to read, actually. I thought some language was too modern sounding for a book that is supposed to be medieval-style fantasy; some words seemed like contemporary psychobabble or modern business speak. I couldn’t quite get into the characters, although I could not help but appreciate Colton’s difficulties at first. The book didn’t gel for me, as I really could not come to genuinely care about the characters and what happened to them.