I really loved that amongst the suitors there’s also a woman. Add this to the fact that Sebastian continues to showcase her ability to brilliantly pace the story so that it never lags and you have a book that just draws you in and begs to be read. I just love the attention given to character development, so that while you could say not much action happens it always feels like there’s important things happening. Theo has to contend with subjects that aren’t about to bow down to a young girl, a fire burning in her that is building towards an inferno and those that claim to have her best interests at heart. Theo isn’t suddenly brilliant at being queen nor is her PTSD brushed under the table because she’s free. Sebastian once again does such a great job with these characters. But even as suitors pour into the city Theo is still not safe from the long reach of the Kaiser and there are those within Theo’s circle who might be working against her. Theo is being pushed into forging an alliance through marriage and she finds herself having to confront the possibility of giving up her newly gained freedom in exchange for the men, arms and funds needed to take back Astrea. Lady Smoke finds Theo and co in Sta’Crivero, a seemingly flawless city. Lady Smoke is a fantastic second instalment in the Ash Princess trilogy.

Theo will soon realise it’s one thing to escape the Kaiser’s stronghold, it’s another thing altogether to tear it from his murderous grasp and take back her country. Theodosia is finally free of the Kaiser, she’s onboard the Dragonbane’s ship and Prinz Soren is her prisoner. Theo knows that freedom comes at a price, but she is determined to find a way to save her country without losing herself. Something an Astrean Queen has never done.

And according to Dragonsbane, an army can only be produced if Theo takes a husband. But securing an army means she must trust her aunt, the dreaded pirate Dragonsbane. But her people remain enslaved under the Kaiser’s rule, and now she is thousands of miles away from them and her throne. She has taken back her rightful title, and a hostage-Prinz Soren. He didn’t realize that a sharp mind is the deadliest weapon. The Kaiser thought his prisoner weak and defenseless. He took Theo’s country and kept her prisoner, crowning her Ash Princess and humiliating her for ten long years.

Blurb: The Kaiser murdered Theodosia’s mother, the Fire Queen, when Theo was only six.

Lady smoke series