House of Ash and Shadow
Ratings3
Average rating2.3
15
Ratings3
Average rating2.3
From USA Today bestselling author Leia Stone, House of Ash and Shadow is the first book in the addictive Gilded City series, about a girl who must battle curses, dark powers, and her own heart. This world of dazzling fae magic and romantic pining is perfect for fans of Wednesday and Holly Black. Seventeen-year-old Fallon Bane was born with a devastating curse: a single touch from another person will cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father, though it breaks her heart every day. But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae that can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father's healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony... but it never comes. For the first time in her life, she imagines a new future for herself. However, that fantasy is quickly destroyed, because not only does Ariyon flee from her in disgust when he learns of her curse; he also reveals her existence to powerful fae who want to hurt her. Fallon is then swept away to a magical academy, where she learns the terrifying truth about her family history and her dark magic. Her life and the future of fae everywhere hang in the balance, and all the while Fallon can't help but wonder if she will get to touch Ariyon Madden one more time before she dies... This enchanting story of family, fae, and yearning is perfect for readers who love: Romantic fantasy books for teens Unputdownable & bingeworthy novels Magical boarding schools Grumpy sunshine romance Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas
Featured Series
3 primary booksGilded City is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2024 with contributions by Leia Stone.
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I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)
I liked the idea of this book but it felt like it's geared towards the younger part of YA. The mix of modern slang words mixed in with ye old speech patterns was kind of off putting. Not a ton of world or character building either. Ending felt kind of rushed too since suddenly a lot was happening.
well. i've been having some shit luck with some of my reading choices lately.
lemme be honest: the writing wasn't great, it was pretty juvenile and bland at best. everything felt like it was happening too easily and too fast, and at points i felt like this would've been better off marketed as a middle-grade. all of the characters are extremely emotionally immature, especially fallon. the story wasn't the most original either, it's basically like a reverse shatter me with fae, and the names for all the people and places were a bit convenient or ordinary. also, i couldn't tell if this was high fantasy or urban/dystopian fantasy? it seemed like high fantasy but the characters used a lot of modern colloquialisms and phrases that had me doubtful (‘dude' ‘pizza' ‘bro' ‘bestie' etc). however. i did have fun reading this. overall this was a pretty mediocre but entertaining book. still gonna read the next one for funsies probably.
tl;dr this gets to go into the category of books that were objectively horrid but i still had fun and somewhat enjoyed them, along with the selection, american royals, and house of marionne.
Edit: ok. so. after taking some time to Think, i've concluded that this book was not as enjoyable as i originally thought tbh. there are books where the writing is bad but you're staying interested because of the plot, characters, pacing etc, and there are books where the writing is so bad that you're finding any way to force yourself into finishing it. i had gotten to a point where i was deluding myself into thinking this had some kind of redeeming quality when it absolutely did not. sorry to anyone who enjoyed this, but the writing was extremely poorly done.
