Legacy of Ash: Book One of the Legacy Trilogy

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On our site, you can find not only book reviews but author interviews, cover reveals, excerpts from books, acquisition announcements, guest posts by your favourite authors, and so much more. I did appreciate that the Hadari Empire was something different, but still didn’t feel completely new or even that different from the Tressian Republic. If you have read any of my reviews about Anthony Ryan‘s books, you may know how much I LOVE a good start to a book.

I am reluctant to compare Legacy of Ash to the A Song of Ice and Fire series for fear of it falling into a cliched pocket, but it is similar in its large main and minor cast and the magic throughout the entire plot. Though, having said that don’t think you will be bored, you won’t, this book has a solid plot that keeps you interested throughout with its characters (and there are quite a few), world building and magic system. Leaving things unexplained to cover in future books is all fine but this book is almost unreadable simply because the lack of info needed to make reading it enjoyable. I thrived on traveling into a new world, my imagination turning the words on the page into colorful, vibrant pictures.He had suffered an eight-year defeat on this question but would leave a legacy of ashes for his successor. Our introductions focus on the warring families of Tressia and the heroes that will be the main focus of this epic tale. She revealed that it was he who’d set her free by drawing on the magic of her prison during his triumph at Davenwood. She hoped Calenne’s thin body stiffened at the cold and wet, and not revulsion for a woman she barely knew.

Kennedy and Robert McNamara would have a solution, of sorts, in creating the Defense Intelligence Agency in 1961). Boots planted on the cobbles like the roots of some venerable, weather-worn oak, he checked each strike with grace that betrayed tutelage no less exacting than Katya’s own. Matthew Ward’s The Legacy Trilogy opens with Legacy of Ash, a 240k word behemoth of a novel which sets out Ward’s stall for the series and emphasises the epic in epic fantasy. I picked Legacy of Ash up in a Kindle deal but I pretty much listened to it all via audiobook after listening to a sample of Hampton's lovely narration.Each character is interconnected one way or another with each other’s narratives, for good or ill they impact each other’s lives, and therefore Ward deliberately positions each point of view to give the reader the best insight. Personally I appreciated this so much, because the fantastical is an element that is a huge part of the fantasy genre; the possibilities are endless, so why not celebrate that? I did like that they were quite consistent in their characterizations, but they just felt kind of boring.

There is a detailed Dramatis Personae at the beginning of the book and Ward dedicates the time to ensure each character is given the literary justice they deserve. We then move forward to fifteen years later, and the Prince of Hadari plots to set his army upon the lands of the Tressian Republic to further his rule and secure his seat on the Emperor’s throne. The amount of action, intrigue, and battle depictions packed into this one book would fill the majority of fantasy trilogies. Oh and my favourite duo were Kurkas and Revekeh; these two made the most unlikeliest friendship, but somehow they were both perfect for each other, and their banter together was the absolute best!I particularly loved that there were multiple plots set up, as the depth of the story continuously impressed me.

When I think back on the story, the setting is not something that jumps out at me as being particularly interesting, but I found the world building in general to be more intriguing. When the looming threat of the neighbouring Hadari Empire becomes too much to ignore, it falls to the Council’s champion Viktor Akadra to rally the Southshires in defence of the Republic, while siblings Josiri and Calenne Trelan – whose mother led the failed rebellion – face difficult choices as they confront both the lasting implications of their mother’s actions, and Viktor’s role in her death.While I had hoped they would be front and center as well since it’s Josiri’s people and land that needed both saving from the Hadari and the rest of the Tressian Republic, their causes and personalities felt very bland and one note in comparison to Viktor. While Viktor, Calenne and Josiri provide the core viewpoints, alongside Melanna Saranal – daughter of the Hadari Crown Prince – on the side of the invading Hadari, they’re accompanied by a wide range of supporting characters. It’s perhaps a little overwhelming at first, and the dramatis personae certainly proves valuable for the first couple of hundred pages, but after that things settle down and the richness of the characters becomes a key strength of the book. Ruling families — once protectors of justice and democracy — now plot against one another with sharp words and sharper knives.