An alternative view of historical fiction in an Elizabethan parallel world where women are in charge and men simply tools for making daughters.

First book of a trilogy so lots left unresolved, but with a dynamic plot

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book at 26%. The premise of this book sounded very interesting to me. I loved the idea of putting a feminist spin on the world of Henry VIII, with an element of both historical fiction and fantasy, the politics that play into choosing a consort and the responsibility of duty for the crown vs. self. I was very excited to delve into this world, but unfortunately I had a hard time getting into the story. There a quite a few elements I enjoyed, but ultimately had to put it down.

Characters:
So the story is told from first POV of Princess Elizabeth, the queen's sister. I loved the idea of the story being told by both an insider and an outsider of the Queen's court as it adds another layer to the book, providing an inside look at this world that is based on a facade. However, I had a hard time connecting to the character. In 6 chapters we still only know a handful of things about her and even less about there other characters. There are breadcrumbs there that can be explored such as her relationship with her father, her stance at court, the freedoms she has that others do not, her painting hobby and how that plays into all this.

World Building
As a fantasy reader, I understand that sometimes quite a bit of a book may be devoted to world building and a Tudor inspired fantasy had so much potential in my mind. I think my expectations of this were perhaps higher, but I was looking for a world rich with colors, textures, visual descriptions. Quite a bit of time is spent on describing the different Houses at court and the male figures they are presenting as potential consorts, but other than the color yellow and a few sparse descriptions of the emblems of each house I found the world hard to imagine.

Themes
Again there is so much here to explore and really built upon that the potential for this to be an amazing book is there.
Loved the flip of this feminist world ruled by women.
loved the politics and pressure of aligning with the right house, what this means for the crown and what this means for the houses
loved the conflict of having to choose btw crown and state vs. self and how this affects the characters themselves

Honestly the themes is where this book shines and there's so much there to build upon.

Writing
So the story is told in 1st person omniscient point of view, which can definitely work. However, the sentences themselves I found unnecessarily wordy without being very descriptive. Ex. "Her waist is cinched in so tightly, my hands, covered in gloves but roughed by time with brushes and canvas, could encircle it." Too many ideas but really the visual is just the same. Quite often I found details missing. Things are described as being the 'finest materials" but there's no visual concrete adjectives or examples to portray these in the reader's mind (Ex. Silks the color of bright rose petals from the (whatever area/region of the kingdom she is describing). I feel because of this I had a hard time really getting a sense of the world the author was trying to portray and unfortunately because of this had a hard time really being engaged in the story.

Additionally, the same words or ideas are quite repetitive in each chapter. The words "codpiece" and the color "yellow" are repeated so often it that is became distracting for me personally, while the reasoning for the prevalence of the color yellow is not brought up or explained until Chapter 6. The words 'Throne of Ash" or "Court of Ash" are repeated so many times it honestly took me out of the story and the ability to enjoy it.

Overall, I was really intrigued by the premise of this book, the political stakes and feminist take on this Tudor style world, but felt the execution lacking in regards to character development, world building and ultimately the writing. I would have loved to see more details in the description of this world, a lot more insight on the characters themselves and a lot more action to move the plot along.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with a digital review copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

This was a fantastic book, with a great look into a unique kingdom- do not be fooled by its cover, this is not just a repeat of the story you've read before! Prepare yourself for intrigue, for fascinating looks into the female society, and for toxic gender roles to be flipped around. I feel like this book will truly make you think about the world around you, and will make you consider the fact that things are the way they are based on chance, not just how it "ought" to be. I also feel that anyone interested in history should read this- the imagery and historical depictions stole my breath. One negative could have been the lack of dialogue- I felt like we could have gotten to know Elizabeth a lot better if she had more room to breathe, and more simply conversations with other, rather than lengthy exposition. Still, I loved this look into a unique world, and I hope everyone else enjoys it as well!

This book was a great, easy read. It had some plot holes and could have had a bit better character development. However, I genuinely enjoyed reading and I appreciate the opportunity to read early!

I don’t think this book was meant to me even that the gender-swapping and a tudor era rule by females catch my attention.
It definitely had the good indication that was going to be an interesting book but it definitely feel dull. There were moments in which the characters were not convincing to me.

The novel's premise was intriguing and had a lot of promise. I loved the idea of a gender-swapped Tudor-esque court; however, it ended up falling flat.

I really liked the intrigue and relationships between characters, especially between Princess Elizabeth and her sister. However, I feel like many of the characters had wasted potential. We had the potential for a strong villain, but too much happened off-page to be satisfying. Additionally, the main character had so much potential to grow but ended up a flat, 2D character continuously pining after a flat, 2D love interest.

My two major issues were the writing and the character development. The language was clunky and flowery, which disrupted the flow of reading. The worst for me, which continuously took me out of the story, was the frequent repetition of the phrases “The Throne of Ash” and “The court of the Throne of Ash”.

Overall, I enjoyed the world-building and political intrigue of the court in this book but was left wanting in terms of the characters and a higher-stakes climax/conflict.

2.5/5 stars

Wow. I never thought I would read about a kingom that is ruled by females but here we are.

Overall, I think its almost 3.5 going to 4 but because of getting too repetitive with words, and the girl being too dumb, I will give this book a 3.45 so I an round it down.
Thank you to Netgalley & the Author for an arc of this book for my review.

- I knew she would get back with him when she said: " I’ll have Harry back. No matter how embarrassing. No matter how mortifying. He’s my lover, and when the queen has finished with him, I’ll take him far from here, and we’ll live in obscurity, forgetting every single coupling he’s forced to endure with Queen Cecily." and then said she wont take her back. There were too many chapters where she says she is deep in her thoughts but we barely get to hear any of them.
- She kept saying "No one will see it, no one but me. "
"They wouldnt know it but i know my sister i would know and understand" in the first half, which almost led me dnf the book, along with the repetitiveness of some words like "bedecked". We hear her saying that like 20 times in 5 chapters or something. If this book was her debut, I would say she can improve but this is her like 5th book so I think she still yet has to improve her writing.
But aside from that, I definitely loved and enjoyed reading a book where females are superior and males are worth very little.
SPOILERS!
What I dont understand is why she doesnt think about NOT being intimate UNTIL the queen actually gave birth. It's stupid of her. And also why she doesnt think about her own baby growing in her belly after the Queen died. Like girl, you promised your sister you wont have successor so that Queen Cecily's daughter will rule. You had to fix that problem even before killing Harry. Talk to your mother, father or even Lady Mary.
There was also not really tension between love interests because she kept going back and forth between Harry & Charles. She had to make a choice, had 50% percent chance but picked the wrong one, Harry.
Overall, I think its almost 3.5 going to 4 but because of getting too repetitive with words, and the girl being too dumb, I will give this book a 3.45 so I an round it down.
Thank you to Netgalley & the Author for an arc of this book for my review.

Thank you so much to the author for allowing me to read this book.

Unfortunately, I do not think this book was for me. I was so excited for the premise but could not get over the writing style. It read like a diary, which is totally fine! But just not for me.

I would have loved to see more dialogue and conversation between the different characters, as well as a more diverse back and forth. Some of the conversations seemed very awkward to me.

Again, the premise was SO GOOD. The whole society created around women being the heads rather than the men was spectacular.

"I can't do anything. He's been Chosen. He's her Consort. Not mine."

The Queen must choose her consort amongst the sea of men in front of her to give her the highest chances of conceiving a girl. To end up choosing the man her sister was almost promised too and the Queens choice of consort is to not be challenged, even by her sister Elizabeth. Asking her parents and those who know to keep it a secret. What will Elizabeth do?

The entirety of the book is from Elizabeths point of view and the first few chapters are a lot of world building and info dumping, explaining each house, each man, and so on. Gender norms are reversed making the females the "superior gender" in this instance and the men are in the background, only needed to provide and help conceive children.

This book was really interesting, though there is a lot of narrative and little dialogue which made it harder for me to read on continue. I wish we got the other characters POV's especially from the Queen and possibly even Harry's when he was selected to be her Consort. This would've made it a little easier to read as it did drag at times.

Thank you Netgalley & Publishers for the Arc..

Firstly thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read the arc,

I would like to say I was instantly drawn in by the description given for the throne of ash. The premise being a twist on Henry the VIII and if instead women ruled was intriguing. While I enjoyed the book I did find it to be a little too slow for me and lacking in dialogue throughout reading more like a diary than living in the story.

I will say I thoroughly enjoyed the ending pushing this to a solid 3.5 stars for me.

A good read and a twist on Henry VIII if women were the rulers and men had to deliver to their Queen female offspring. I loved the tete de tete between the throne and Lady Alice the best! The problem I had with the book was too much narrative and not enough dialogue. It was more like reading a journal. Still it was a fun read and is the first in a series. I give this a solid 3.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was really intrigued when I first read the description of The Throne of Ash. The concept of an alt reality similar to that of Tudor England, but where it's a matriarchal society made me super eager to read. However I was disapointed. The story concept is brilliant and I would of loved to learn more about the diffrent houses and lands but unfortunately the delivery was lacking.

Elizabeth is the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Ash and her elder sister Cecily is the queen looking for her first consort. The man Cecily chooses happens to be the secret lover of Elizabeth due to the maschinations of his family. We discover all of this in the first few chapters and apart from the end that I won't go in to, there isn't much intrigue or action to drive the story forward.

There is a lot of narrative and very little dialogue which at times made it a very frustrating read. Our main characters especially Princess Elizabeth feels very 1 dimensional, even though the whole book is from her perspective. It feels like half the book has been cut out in the middle but I felt the ending lacked the emotional punch that was intended because we didn't really know the characters.

Overall the story itself has a great concept and the world felt rich and had depth to it that makes you want to know more. But that's exactly why it's slightly disappointing because your let down by not being able to connect to the characters and empathise with what they are going through because you don't fully get to know them.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc

A tudor inspired fantasy with romance and lots of politics. I found the world building quite fun and the plot was good however it could have been developed more as it did begin to feel abit flat throughout!

With its Tudor-inspired setting and a world where women hold power while men are little more than political tools, The Throne of Ash has a fascinating premise. The story centers on Queen Cecily, bound by tradition to wear the Queen’s Face mask and choose a Consort to produce an heir. When she unknowingly selects her sister’s lover, ambition and jealousy ignite a dangerous game of politics and betrayal.

The novel’s strongest point is its worldbuilding. Porter crafts a court ruled by rigid etiquette and ruthless maneuvering, where every decision carries weight. The dynamic between Cecily and Bess is particularly intriguing, as sisterly duty clashes with personal desires. The idea of men being sidelined in the political sphere is a refreshing reversal, adding an interesting layer to the court intrigue.

Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t quite live up to the concept. The writing feels clunky at times, making it harder to get lost in the story. The beginning is especially slow, weighed down by exposition and excessive detail before the real conflict gains momentum. While the stakes eventually become clear, it takes too long to get there.

That said, if you’re patient and enjoy slow-burn political intrigue, The Throne of Ash does have rewarding moments. The shifting power dynamics and betrayals keep things engaging once the story picks up. It’s not without its flaws, but for fans of courtly drama with a unique power structure, it might still be worth a read.

The Throne of Ash by Lissy Porter is an exciting Tudor-inspired fantasy filled with intrigue, political maneuvering, and courtly romance. The world-building is rich, and the atmosphere captures the tension of the Tudor era. While the plot is engaging, some parts feel a bit slow, and the characters could have been developed further. Overall, a solid 3.5 stars—gripping and enjoyable.