The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King

This was a satisfying conclusion to Oraya and Rhain main story but it did not grab my attention as the first book in the series.

What I liked about the book:
- Oraya remains a very strong character and I enjoyed how grief keeps being portrayed in the story.
- Vincent is my favorite character and I'm glad we got to see a bit more of him.
- The story is full of action and interesting events.

What I think it could have been better:
- I feel Rhain betrayal was too big to be forgiven. However, considering it could be forgiven eventually, begging during sex should definitely not have been the way to do it. I could understand if it was “only” the kingdom... but he killed her father!
- I know Carissa is amazing writing villains and morally grey characters (Vincent is one perfect example of this) and, therefore, I was expecting more from Septimus and Simon. Rhain POV would have been perfect to develop more layers to these characters (Septimus through dialogues in the main POV and Simon in the interludes for instance)
- I continue to believe the story would benefit from more info regarding world building. I still don't fully understand the different magics of the different gods (not even Nyaxia magic which we should be perfect familiarized by now).

Overall I enjoyed the book and still recommend its reading. However, so far, I think Daughter of No Worlds is a far superior story.