By: Claire Legrand
Recommendation: 🌕🌕🌕🌗 - (Out of 5 🌕)
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Length: 592 Pages
**Not a stand alone. Book 2 of 3 (3 has not yet been released)**
We learned in book one, A Crown of Ivy and Glass, that a demon has pitted the Bask and Ashbourne families against one another. Both have been cursed for several generations, each generation learning to hate from their parents. The curse has become so extreme that each family has made attempts on the others lives. The point of view of book one was from the perspective of the youngest daughter in the Ashborne family, Gemma, as she worked to free her demon lover, Talon, from the clutches of the evil being known as Kilraith.
Farrin Ashbourne is a complex and complicated woman. As the oldest child, she is heir of Ivyhill, the Ashbourne family home. Because of this Farrin has had to learn to be responsible at a young age. After her mother abandoned her, her two sisters, and her father, Farrin was forced to manage the family estate while her father fell into a pit of depression and then raged from intense bouts of anger. She is a savant, with the magical talent to entertain through her ability to create beautiful music using any medium. When Farrin was a child, the Bask family attempted to kill her family by setting fire to Ivyhill. Farrin would have perished if not for the shining boy who guided her out of the fire and to safety.
With a very precarious truce between the Ashbourne and Bask family they come to realize they must all work together to learning what is causing the Queen to become ill, the changes to the Middlemist, and bringing scary creatures to the capital. Farrin must work closely with Ryder Bask, a Wilding who has the ability to communicate with animals. When Ryder's sister goes missing his focus to bring this war to an end has only intensified. He will work with the Ashbourne's in any manner to bring his sister home.
Each installment of this series focuses on one of the Ashbourne sisters. Gemma's was the first story. It was quite a lengthy preamble, setting up the basis for the remainder of the story. Let's be honest, Gemma and Talon were very flawed characters. Both had selfish tendencies. Farrin and Ryder are selfless. Farrin had to give up her lifes desires to hold her family together when her mother physically left them and her father checked out mentally. While reading book one I was extremely excited for Farrin and Ryder's story. Farrin has so many layers, like an onion. She keeps up a solid wall to prevent herself from getting hurt. Because of this, she can come across as cold and frigid. She only allows those she wants to let in to see the true her. I was curious to better understand her. Ryder initially appeared to be the 'bad guy'. He comes across as tough and rage filled but just like Farrin, once you get to know the real him, you see he is patient, kind, giving and he is so easy to love.
The entirety of this series when taken as one whole story can take some patience to read. It started out as a walk with book one but easily became a run in book two. There is and incredible amount of depth to the history of both the characters and the world. It takes some time to absorb all the minute details as they are presented and to really get to know and understand each characters motivation. I am very excited for Mara's point of view.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
'A Song of Ash and Moonlight' releases September 17, 2024.
