Ashes of the Sun - Django Wexler

It appears that my opinion is going to be an unpopular one.

I was anticipating "Ashes of Sun", but was quite disappointed. My eARC didn't come with a cover, map or glossary, but I've found that other reviewers copies did come with a glossary. I had a hard time imagining the creatures and world and I found some names extremely cringy - "Suddenstorm" and "Thousandcuts" and "unmetal" to name a few made me roll my eyes.

The writing felt more YA to me than the epic adult fantasy I expected.

The plot is loose and we get mission after mission with no real goal in mind (except Gyre wanting to take down everyone). It doesn't feel tied together enough.

Maya was the most interesting character and all the side characters never felt fleshed out enough for me to care if they lived or died (and die they did).

I believe that many people will enjoy this book as the ideas altogether are very good, but I'd urge the publishers to add maps and maybe some illustrations to make sure readers aren't as confused as I was and this ultimately didn't make for a good reading experience.

Thank you Head of Zeus and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.