Content no longer available, I am unable to review this book at this time. I am working on clearing my backlog, thank you for the opportunity.

I so wanted to like it. I mean Arthurian era? come on!!
But urgh...it was just...boring?
Not for me. Somewhere it seemed like it was book two, not book 1 and i felt confused.

I really, really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me. I struggled to understand the language used, couldn't connect with the characters at all and just felt it needed another round of really strong editing.

Thanks to Netgalley for letting me try this book!
I'd recommend this story for readers trying to get into fantasy.

This was unfortunately not for me.
High fantasy, compelling writing, however the mix of archaic and anachronistic language is rather jarring - books and letters are “scribed”, but people are also constantly going “out the door” or getting “out the way”. Apart from that it could have really done with more rigorous editing, as there are numerous grammatical mistakes. I don't set out to find mistakes, but unfortunately if they happen too often they do indeed take me out of the story, to the detriment of my enjoyment of it.
Plot: After a promising start with a great setup that sometimes has page-turner potential, the novel descends into cliché. The main characters are relatively well-drawn, but the conflict itself is black and white (the fight is literally between the Light and the Dark) and most of the villains are cookie-cutter villains. If you like your conflicts and characters more nuanced, this may not be for you.

Amazing book. Many different story's all put into one but it makes perfect sense as they all link with each other. Would definitely recommend to anyone

this was a great start to a series, i loved the magical elements in it. The characters were great and I look forward to more in the series.

I was really excited about this book, but unfortunately I didn’t finish it. I liked the idea of the story a lot, but I felt it was a bit slow and I couldn’t stand the characters. The book could also use quite a bit of editing. I still think this has potential though, so maybe if he author puts in some more time and had it checked by am editor, this might end up being a really good book.

2.5/5

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a hard book for me to rate. While I enjoyed some of the narrative, overall I did not like the world or some of the characters' actions. From the Ashes reminded me of The Name of the Wind in the way that's told. The opening starts with a young girl, Elowen, in danger and is rescued by a knight named David for no reason other than the goodness in his heart. These two end up sitting together for the night and David begins to tell his backstory. There's nothing wrong with this sort of narrative, but I don't get why David is telling Elowen his story. Why does Elowen even matter? The whole story arc only revolves around David and the characters of his past story so why is this random girl here? Maybe there will be answers in the next book, but I do not care enough to find out.

So David's story is one we've all heard before. A valiant knight and how he gets there. A girl with crazy powers and a sassy mouth. I loved Arread, but at times it felt like her character was only there to forward David's storyline when she is the chosen one. Arread is the sorceress foretold to align the balance between Light and Dark yet she's not even the main character?? Plus there was the whole awful sexism and misogyny of this world. Like why?? I get that this is told in Arthurian times, but come on. We can do better than that crap. Plus this whole story had a very "male gaze" vibe and I am not here for it.

I liked the training parts of David's past, but god they took up a ridiculous amount of time in the scope of the story. We really did not need every little detail of how he became to be such a great knight. The growing friendship between Andrew and David was well done, but half the time I hated both of them for different reasons.

I feel like I could've really liked this story, but the world and characters are just not for me. Add onto the fact that this was like 200-300 pages too long and it makes for a chore to read.

From the Ashes is the start of a new series that tells an epic mythical story of darkness vs. light. David and Andrew are knights from the Order of the Phoenix who are tasked with keeping a magick named Arread who is prophesied to be the Power of Light safe.. This is a deeply imagined novel; extremely detailed and amazingly well thought out. The only confusing piece was the side story of Elowen. David is telling Elowen this story of his and Andrew's life and experiences with Arread. However, it is unclear of how this ties into the overall story. Overall, enjoyable book and I look forward to book 2.

I really enjoyed this novel and I can't wait to see what this author has to offer in the future. I'm very excited to read the next book in the series.

I really, really wanted to like this one. It has such a wonderful premise, and I even sort of liked the first section, but then it got really frustrating. David is not a particularly appealing narrator or character, and it dragged intensely in the mid-sections of the book. I couldn't get emotionally invested in anyone. The other problem (as reviewers have mentioned) is that the language is simultaneously stilted and formal and anachronistic; it felt mixed and occasionally really hard to follow. (The typos and formatting issues did not help.) I felt like the book could have used additional editing. The story was interesting and enjoyable, and I thought the various knight orders were interesting and the overall twist on Arthurian legend was a neat idea, but this one just wasn't for me.

"In honour we live. In death we are reborn."

-From The Ashes by S.L. Briden

Publisher's Description:

"A noble knight. A haughty sorceress. A dark prophecy that binds them together...

For David and Andrew, Knights of the Phoenix Order, it was a simple mission… escort a young woman to the safety of the Order’s fortified citadel. But in the midst of a simmering war, a chance discovery sends young David down a path he could never have imagined…

Arread, their beautiful and haughty charge, bears the mark of a powerful sorceress, one whose mystic abilities make her the ultimate weapon in the coming war. David prefers to place his trust in cold steel rather than the fickle powers of the arcane. But he soon finds himself drawn to the mysterious and tempestuous woman…

When dark forces led by the cruel and sinister General Sicarus kidnap Arread, the young knight is torn between his oath to the Order and the yearning in heart. As battle rages across the land, David and Arread discover they are both swept up in an ancient prophecy, from which there may be no escape.

And soon they may be forced to sacrifice everything they hold dear, to stem the growing tide of darkness...

High fantasy and Arthurian legend mix in this epic new series. Read 'From the Ashes' today, and discover an age of honour, valour and magick. 

This book is written in British English, not American English."

I'll be completely honest... I really wanted to love this book. The world building was interesting. The characters were multilayered. The dialogue wasn't painful. And yet... I found myself struggling to finish this one. It wasn't mysterious. It was confusing. This book wasn't bad at all but I feel that perhaps a little more editing for clarity may in order. It is possible that this story lost me because it didn't resonate with me and that there's someone out there that it would really speak to.

One thing I thought was very interesting was the different knightly Orders. I also thought it was interesting to read this from David's first person perspective because I would 80% of the books I read are from a female perspective. And I would say that of the remaining 20% none have been first person from the male MC.

I would say give this a try. It wasn't a bad book. It simply wasn't one I personally enjoyed.

Trigger warning: there's mention of assault and attempted assault.

#fromtheashes #netgalley

A very nice book in an Arthurian setting. I somehow always love books like this. The plot is worked out very well, and it was written in a nice and flowing way.

I love a good medieval fantasy romance.

But due to the many grammatical errors and typos, it turned into a frustrating read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

A good example of the sword and sorcery genre. It is well written and the story flows well, I would recommend this book.

This Arthurian fun time desperately needs a copy editing STAT. That would make this (currently) 3 star an EASY 4 in a heartbeat. Along with the typos, that dialogue has no heartbeat. All that aside, I am a sucker for a good medieval fantasy, and this one gave me a developed Magic Tree House vibe.

Gosh, but this was a frustrating book. The concept was interesting, but the book was so riddled with grammatical errors and typos that it made it physically hard to read at times. I'd recommend some serious copy-editing to polish this story from what was simply 'fine' into something great.

This book is set in Arthurian Britain about two members of the elite Order Of The Phoenix who are assigned to protect the woman prophesied to be The Power Of The Light, the being that will overcome The Dark Lord.

It's the first in a series and I will definitely be going back for seconds when the next book is released. The story was interesting and I felt invested in the characters. I never felt confused about who was who. The author laid them all out very well.

If I have one criticism it is the inconsistencies in the dialogues. The author swung between a quite formal, old fashioned style of speech to suddenly hitting us with very contemporary phrases which were a little jarring. And misuse of words which made for sentences which weren't quite right: 'I dallied a nod' being one example.

But this is a cracking good story at the end of the day and I hope the rest of the series continues the momentum.

100% honesty here: I only got through this pathetic shit storm of a book by texting my partner the worst, most maladapted or just plain grammatically wrong sentences I found so that we could make a game out of ranking them for ridiculousness out of context.