Memories of Ash by Intisar Khanani

Finally, Memories of Ash is here! When I reviewed Sunbolt (link leads to review), I mentioned that I needed Memories of Ash immediately. However, when my review copy came, I realised that... I forgot what happened in Sunbolt!

So first, I went back and read book one. And then I started on this.

And it was fantastic!

Memories of Ash continues the story of Hitomi. When the book opens, her mentor Stormwind is taken away on the charges of treason. There's a lot more, but they all mean treason. Of course, Hitomi isn't going to just sit in a safe place and hope that her mentor is fine - so she goes after Stormwind.

There is a lot of action going on here. There are a lot more new characters too, and there are several that I'd love to see again - like the phoenix, the guardian Jabir, and Osman Bey. Plus, Val from the first book makes a return. (By the way, I can't remember, for the life of me, how I saw a potential romance in the first book. Shows you how awful my instinct is with fictional relationships.)

My favourite part of the book is probably the mixing of various cultures. I recognise Japanese culture, for sure, and I'm pretty sure there's some Middle Eastern culture in there, although I'm not familiar with it so I'm not even going to guess. It's really refreshing to have a fantasy world that doesn't have Anglo-Saxon as their dominant culture.

This book was definitely worth the wait. I really enjoyed it, and I'm hoping that the next book in the series will be released sooner, because I definitely want to know what happens next.

Disclaimer: I got a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review.