u/quibily

I have read so much of this genre (like 80 books, I think?), and I've seen it done pretty well once--in {Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews}--but wasn't QUITE what I wanted.>!..I was a little disappoint because the reaction to the pregnancy wasn't included. Very little fluff. Cool protective parents/mama bear stuff, though, so I liked that! And Kate definitely was still "Kate-ing," just with a toddler in tow, sometimes.!<>! But this series has never been great for when you want characters to have deeper fluff or angst and actually sit with their emotions at all, so that left me wanting more.!<

My list of requirements:

1. High-stakes fantasy/romantasy (So no Ice Planet Barbarians. I enjoyed the first book but found it a bit plot-light.)
2. Couple takes a book or two to get together/work through their dynamic as a couple before the pregnancy occurs. (So, no The Everlasting.)
3. Pregnancy is wanted by both parents
4. Pregnancy brings both fluff and angst to the narrative. Angst can be as simple as "She got pregnant during peacetime, and now it isn't peacetime anymore, and both parents are in extra protective mode."
5. NO body horror/traumatic birth experience. I am sooo done with the deadly pregnancy plot.
6. Being a parent is not the FMC's entire personality or main contribution to the story--not a MC's mother in a flashback story arc or narratively going into confinement like this the Victorian Era. If she was doing work as a diplomat before, she's still doing that. Stuff like that.
7. This feels obvious, but no epilogue pregnancy. It's cute and can be satisfying but not what I'm looking for.

*** Pregnancy doesn't have to be a cis lady, really. I'm cool with a queer narrative. As long as someone is pregnant and part of the main couple. My point six just felt pretty cis lady relevant. The Fridged Woman and the Dead Disney Princess Mother.

The Ashen series has one more book after Embers of Chaos. Seeing the cover for book four has made me wonder…

Each of the four main characters has been on the covers of the Ashen books, so who or what is left? Who should be on the cover of book 5?

View Poll

You can now pre-order the book, and those who do will get a bonus chapter.

Better yet we can vote, on that page, for what kind of chapter we want it to be. The choices are:

-Volsik sisters
-Rey POV
-Kritka POV
-Kassandr POV

Which chapter would you prefer?

My first experience with Rachel Gillig was the Shepherd King duology. I thought One Dark Window was pretty good, so I went into Two Twisted Crowns optimistically.

Then I got more and more annoyed as I realized the main couple was basically shoved into the background. The character who tells the story in first person POV almost does nothing! Her MMC? Also doing very little. It annoyed me too much for me to enjoy Elm's love story--even though Elm was my fave character in ODW, and their love story is objectively better. I couldn't get past my annoyance! (I think part of this is because my soap box in this genre is that a love story can still be great after a couple has gotten together. I want that relationship to be challenged! To DEEPEN. So yes, I was bitter about that, too...)

So, does The Knave and the Moon do this? Is she gonna throw the initial couple to the wayside in book two? Is the first person POV character still relevant and doing things in book 2?

So, how fast can you make two weeks fly by?

Because it looks like the release date for book 4, Embers of Chaos, has been pushed from May 4th to May 18th, 2027.

What a tease! On Instagram yesterday, Demi posted screenshots of the reactions her beta readers were giving her, and I thought we might discuss them here.

https://preview.redd.it/ax5lu8gjzrkh1.png?width=598&format=png&auto=webp&s=80ed1f6f434c512055d0b96f76eabfdda4df6d5e

Give me your theories! I think the biggest reveal is "Silla's desire to prove herself as a better leader than Saga."

So the sisters ARE going to butt heads! I'm sad but also excited about this.

1. Do you think one is a better leader than the other? Which do you think will be queen of Iseldur, in the end?
2. Do you think someone is manipulating Silla, pushing her toward this power grab? I think, if someone is telling Saga she's the better leader and SHOULD be the leader (though the implication with her being the eldest is already there), it's gotta be Kass, right?
3. Do you think the differences in upbringing between Silla/Rey (raised working class) and Saga/Kass (raised royal) is causing part of this issue?

Feel free to comment on other parts of Demi's post. I just thought the leadership struggle was most interesting!

Demi sent out a newsletter, recently announcing that the complete first draft of the fourth Ashen book has been sent out to beta readers! The book is projected to come out in 2027.

Here is a little graphic she shared in the newsletter that gives "Book 4 Stats":

Dev edits: done (?) - Beta readers: in progress - Words: 169,500 - Chapters: 80

​For comparison -

The Road of Bones: Chapters: 63, Words: 171,000

Kingdom of Claw: Chapters: 92, Words: 201,000

Dawn of the North: Chapters: 69, Words: 186,00

I can't find a site with a particularly reliable word count. They're all estimations and all vary by 15K words or more! But it seems the next book will be longer than Dawn of the North--with Kingdom of Claw still the longest of the series.

If anyone has a good resource for book word counts, though, let me know!

EDIT: Someone on Demi's Discord used their Kobo to find the word count of each book, so I added them above. Actually, it looks like this upcoming book will be the shortest. Kinda bummed... But maybe this is because there is less to establish now (so no new couple introduced like each book has done--though, yes, Hekla/Eyvand weren't technically introduced in Dawn of the North)

One of my favorite aspects of {Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley} was the fact that the main female friendship was not insta-besties and support the whole way through. There was actually a story to it where they grew to get to know each other and overcame differences. The second book also has an important female friendship subplot with tension, which was also quite good.

I had never read that before. Typically, of the romantasy books I’ve read, the FMC either already has a bestie who is there throughout, or she pretty quickly becomes tight with one of the supporting female characters.

Are there any where there’s some tension (either at the beginning or later)? Maybe overcoming differences or even a betrayal?

To be honest, it could also just be ANY friend of any gender—or a sibling. The most common is the female friendship, so that’s what I led with.

So do you have any books you enjoyed that had this?

I used to prefer finished series, but I've decided to plunge into unfinished series, recently. I have decided I don't actually want to constantly binge two-three-FOUR books at a time. It's also fun to have release dates to look forward to.

Not to mention that I like supporting authors as they are writing--encourage them to keep going!

My fave series, so far, that I don't see very much talk about, are:

1. The Dark Inheritance (Smart and dark FMC! MMC is a giant green flag! Witch coven goodness! Awesome mother-in-law! Some truly surprising twists!)
2. The Godkissed Bride (The third book has been the best one yet! Forbidden romance! Soft FMC with woodland creature friends! MMC's possessiveness is kept in the bedroom!)
3. The Shards of Magic (female friendship story lines instead of just fluff or insta-friendship! feral and empathetic FMC! sadboi dangerous MMC with surprising depth!--who ABSOLUTELY looks like Richard Armitage in Robin Hood, and I will not be convinced otherwise)

What are yours? Feel free to give your sales pitch on your series. I am open to picking up some more...