Lady Smoke has been born and the Ash Princess has fallen. Theo already feeling more like herself again; no longer wearing a crown of ashes and has her rightful title now. However, her people are still being tortured and enslaved under the Kaiser and Theo is miles away from her throne and country. In order for her to get those back she will need to secure an army. And securing an army meant she had to trust the dreaded pirate, Dragonsbane, who is also her aunt. According to Dragonsbane, the only way Theo can get an army is if she marries a husband; something an Astrean Queen hasn’t and shouldn’t do. She seeks help and allies from anyone that she can reach, but every time she gets so close, she falls back down again. As she fights to unravel the secrets and mysteries, she realizes that Dragonsbane is harboring secrets of her own. On top of that, Blaize has been having strange episodes and Theo has taken Prinz Soren, the Kaiser’s son, hostage. Will they still be able to survive the enemy’s attacks if they were already internally ripping each other apart?
I love this book and this trilogy and I can’t wait until I finish the third one! I whole book is filled with suspense and thrills. The romance is perfect and love all the drama. As each character fights to survive with their own intentions in mind, they have to figure out everyone else’s true motive as well. Everybody isn’t who they seem to be and everyone has dark secrets locked away, while others hide them in plain sight. The book was really political and tons of scheming. Usually in a trilogy the second book suffers the second book syndrome. But to me, Lady Smoke was an amazing sequel to Ash Princess. It shows how Theo really struggles about her own identity and how she fights to not lose her true self. But obviously it is war inside her mind as she tries to free Theodosia and Lady Smoke after being Theo and the little Ash Princess for years. How she had buried away the girl she was and now she is wrestling to try and find her. That was one of the main points that really intertwined the first and second book together. I would rate it 9/10, because even though I love the romance, I kinda hoped it had evolved some more.
You can read some of Laura Sebastian’s other works here.
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