Heart of Blood and Ashes

A Heart of Blood and Ashes (A Gathering of Dragons 1)- Milla Vane
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: February 4, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚

Synopsis: A generation past, the western realms were embroiled in endless war. Then the Destroyer came. From the blood and ashes he left behind, a tenuous alliance rose between the barbarian riders of Parsathe and the walled kingdoms of the south. That alliance is all that stands against the return of an ancient evil—until the barbarian king and queen are slain in an act of bloody betrayal.
 
Though forbidden by the alliance council to kill the corrupt king responsible for his parents’ murders, Maddek vows to avenge them, even if it costs him the Parsathean crown. But when he learns it was the king’s daughter who lured his parents to their deaths, the barbarian warrior is determined to make her pay.
 
Yet the woman Maddek captures is not what he expected. Though the last in a line of legendary warrior-queens, Yvenne is small and weak, and the sharpest weapons she wields are her mind and her tongue. Even more surprising is the marriage she proposes to unite them in their goals and to claim their thrones—because her desire for vengeance against her father burns even hotter than his own…

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A Heart of Blood and Ashes begins a new, dark fantasy series from author Milla Vane (aka Meljean Brook).  It's a world rebuilding after being torn apart by the Destroyer and holding tentative alliances as each kingdom focuses on protecting itself from invaders.  It's been roughly a generation since the Destroyer swept through, but now rumors claim he is returning to lay waste again. That might be the big picture, but Parsathe warrior Maddek is focused on a smaller, more personal one: his king and queen (and parents) have been murdered by a corrupt king and to keep the peace, the alliance forbids Maddek to fight.  But Maddek will have his revenge, no matter where it takes him.

Maddek is a tough character.  You can sympathize completely with his pain, grief, and rage.  His parents have been murdered and the leaders of the alliance they have sworn to help aren't interested in true justice.  Lies have been told, and the alliance would rather have temporary peace at the cost of good leaders and turn a blind eye to the corruption Zanathe is spreading throughout the land because it doesn't effect them at the moment.  It isn't a surprise that he wants revenge and may do some reckless things to get it.  He decides to go after Zanathe's daughter Yvenne- who he believes had something to do with his parents' deaths. Here's where he starts losing me.  There's no evidence Yvenne had anything to do with the murders.  But Maddek would be happy to kill her and then go after Zanathe and his sons even if that means his own people are attacked by the alliance.  Everyone expects him to be the next Parsathe king, but he isn't thinking of his people- only his hatred.  He's fully prepared to use Yvenne as a tool of revenge, whether that means killing her or having children with her that will usurp Zanathe on the throne. Maddek refuses to listen to Yvenne about his parents, and ignores evidence of her own suffering under her father to better fit his ideas.  He sees her as weak and lashes out at her every chance he gets- then gets mad at her for not wanting to talk to him and tell him personal things.  

Yvenne is patient and cunning, but also has a joy in seeing the world that makes her seem younger than she is, and it is delightful to see someone who has suffered her whole life not give in to rage and hatred, but allow joy and hope to live alongside those darker emotions.  She's not all sweetness and light, but has a bloodthirsty practicality to her that I really enjoyed.  She's fully prepared to fall in love with Maddek because she's heard about how honorable and strong he is, their goals align and she believes they should be able to work together.  But that isn't a side of himself that Maddek shows her. It's painful to watch her start to connect with Maddek only to be slapped back down as he tells her she's only a vessel for revenge.  Even after he snaps at her to remind himself to not fall in love with her, she doesn't know that.  But every time her hope is crushed, or disaster happens, Yvenne gets up.  And we learn what she tries to teach Maddek- you only really know a person after they've been defeated and if they get up again.  

A Heart of Blood and Ashes was a hard book to get into, but when Yvenne entered the scene I started to get into it more.  Maddek might have been a sympathetic character in terms of his pain and grief, but I didn't like him as a person- especially in the beginning.  The narrative switches between Maddek and Yvenne so we get to learn their inner thoughts and drives, and Maddek doesn't change for most of the book.  By the end, he does become more the kind of main character we can appreciate and there is a great scene as the army storms the castle to rescue Yvenne where we can cheer Maddek as finally really understanding things- and recognizing Yvenne as a strong person all her own.  As one of the other warrior points out, they come in to perform legendary heroics and Yvenne very simply takes care of things ahead of them.

A good ending made the long and slightly plodding pace of most of the book worth it for me, but I'm not sure I'd pick up the next book in the series based on this one.  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review