Off the Books discussion

This discussion thread is for our November book, Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West!

Did you enjoy this book? What were your favorite parts? What do you think the author could've done differently or improved upon? We'd love to know what you think!

I thought that is was a weird balance of middle grade tone, and then it was suddenly quite mature.
I found that a little off-putting.

Also, the relationships weren't given enough room to grow and the whole thing was a little obvious.
But I enjoyed it for like, a light hearted, brief read.
I don't know that I would bother reading it again, but I don't regret reading it.
I actually think a duology might have suited it better.

Also, the fairy-tale retelling part seemed almost... unnecessary?
Did anyone else feel like it wasn't a retelling, so much as she wanted to tell a story that had similar elements to the fairy tales she used and so she was like "Yeah, I'll just call it a retelling."

I don't know, I was half and half with it, but I did enjoy it.

This book, to be completely honest, lost my interest more than once. I agree with Anna that it often felt like the book couldn't decide whether it wanted to be middle school fiction or ya fiction and the jumping back and forth from innocent fairy tale re-imagining to much more mature themes was slightly jarring.

Bristal was an interesting character but it never felt like any of the other characters were properly fleshed out. I was much more interested in learning more about Tamarice and Brack's relationship and the whole backstory/idea of the elicromancers than I was in whether Bristal and Anthony got together.

Most of the fairy tale "cameos" where used only to further Bristal's master plan and I personally did not give one holy heck more about those characters at book's end than when they were introduced which was...disappointing...as that was the theme that sold me on reading the book in the first place. lol

I ended up skipping a lot of paragraphs and (eventually) whole pages and never felt like I missed anything. I don't regret buying it, but I already know it's destined for the "donate" pile...

How silly was it that Bristal was literally the mother to... the Aurora character, I can't even remember her name now, and it felt like they were strangers the whole time?
She disappears and is away from this girl she's raised and doesn't even think about her? And Aurora didn't even notice that a completely different person, who literally never met her and therefore knew nothing about her, was filling in as her mom?
Like "Hey Mom, remember how I was saying I hate tomatoes? Why are we suddenly having tomatoes all the time? In fact, why does your cooking taste different?"
Also, how did she get the message that Bristal was ok with her dating the prince? That message came from the mystical elicromancer, not her mom? So why were they suddenly talking about them dating like it was no biggie when as far as Aurora knew, her mom forbade it? Their whole relationship was a thorn in my side the whole book.
Not to mention how Drell could have been amazing and she was stuck playing babysitter!

I totally agree Kinsey, and the more I think back on it, the less I a) even remember and b) really liked about it.

Anna wrote: "How silly was it that Bristal was literally the mother to... the Aurora character, I can't even remember her name now, and it felt like they were strangers the whole time?
She disappears and is awa..."

Oh my god, I am so happy someone else had a problem with this! Listen, I am probably the least maternal person you'll ever meet but dear lord, she raised this kid up and their entire relationship was just glossed over! I mean, sure, she could've reminded herself that Rosamund was a princess and she was just being her caretaker for a little while. I mean, that could've created some emotional distance between them but then why not *show that*? Why not have Rosamund struggle with why her beloved "aunt" was standoffish and disappeared constantly (and don't think I didn't see the whole "well she's vacant and innocent" excuse because I totally did, Ms. West!)? Why not have Bristal slip into a maternal emotion and have to pull herself back like "This isn't my kid. I'm just trying to keep her alive, not bond with her."? It would've created a much more humanizing effect than what (I think) the author was trying to present with Bristal falling for Anthony. I get it, he's handsome and a prince and rich af, but you raised a kid and don't seem to give two shakes about her other than keeping her alive so she doesn't take the entire aristocracy with her...

She saw her as a chess piece! You're exactly right, if she was as cold and dead inside towards her as it looked like she was from her actions, it should have been for a reason.

Ugh!! That "innocent and vacant" part made me so mad!
She just called her stupid and said "that's why this plot hole is ok!"

Lol i forgot to read this, November is always a crazy month for me, but now I feel less bad for not being able to crack it open.

Melanie wrote: "Lol i forgot to read this, November is always a crazy month for me, but now I feel less bad for not being able to crack it open."

That's okay, Melanie! November and December can be quite hectic, both school-wise and holiday-wise. :) And I would say that Kingdom of Ash and Briars is still a good book, there were just a few parts that I found...lacking and you guys are the only ones I can complain about it to. lol Who knows, you might like it! It's a pretty fast read both in terms of length and writing style (I think I finished it in two days?) so if you have a few extra hours laying around, it's still worth the read!

Yeah I agree, I read it pretty quickly. It actually was quite fast paced because it didn't go into much detail on things. There was always something happening, and the three fairy tales meant you got a break from each one pretty often. So I don't regret reading it!