Kingdom of Ashes

by Rhiannon Thomas

Overview

The kiss was just the beginning . . . The second book in Rhiannon Thomas’s epic retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" combines adventure, magic, and romance for a sweeping fantasy about one girl’s journey to fulfill her destiny.

Aurora was supposed to be her kingdom’s savior. But when she was forced to decide between being loyal to the crown and loyal to her country, she set events in motion that  branded her a traitor.

Now, hunted by the king’s soldiers, Aurora’s only chance of freeing her kingdom from the king’s tyrannical rule is by learning to control her magic. But Aurora’s powers come at a price—one that forces her to leave the only home she’s ever known, one that demands she choose between the man she loves and the people she seeks to protect, and one that will cause her to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before . . . and uncover the truth about the destiny she was always meant to fulfill.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062303578
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/24/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	628,824
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Rhiannon Thomas is an English lit grad from Princeton University. She currently lives in York, England, in the shadow of a thirteenth-century Gothic cathedral. When she isn’t lost in YA fantasy, she writes about feminism and the media on her blog, www.feministfiction.com. Visit her online at www.rhiannonkthomas.com.

Editorial Reviews

2015-11-03
This sequel to A Wicked Thing (2015) continues the "Sleeping Beauty" theme but expands it by making the beauty a powerful witch with a connection to dragons. Waking up from her 100-year sleep, Aurora flees the kingdom, as evil King John has put a reward on her head. When she inadvertently burns down a village during her escape, she discovers her fire magic. She arrives in the rival kingdom of Vanhelm and meets Prince Finnegan, who wants to use her magic to defeat the dragons that ravage his kingdom. Having learned to control her magic, she and Finnegan trek out to the region where the dragons fly, and during the trip she realizes she truly does have some kind of connection to the dangerous beasts. A fateful encounter with Celestine, the witch that put her to sleep in the first place, sends her back to her kingdom for a final confrontation with King John. Thomas keeps the focus on Aurora's emotions and her efforts to learn not only what she should do, but on what she really wants. The inevitable romance with Finnegan never threatens to overtake the main narrative. A nicely suspenseful confrontation resolves the book, which, although a sequel, contains enough back story to orient readers unfamiliar with the first. Undemanding medieval-style fantasy entertainment. (Fantasy. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews