Way back when in 2022, Nils and Beth buddy read the Daevabad trilogy and loved it, so jumped straight into Chelsea Abdullah’s fantasy debut that was also inspired by Middle Eastern mythology and was packed full of jinn – The Stardust Thief. Beth enjoyed it, and Nils fell utterly head over heels. Beth’s had to check back to doubly make sure but yep, it really was 2022. It finished on something of a cliff-hanger, and the pair have been eagerly awaiting the sequel since then.

They’ve had quite the wait, but The Ashfire King is finally here and so their buddy read can resume!

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, BUT LONG AGO . . .

After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.

The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. Amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion is on the rise. When Loulie assists a dissenter she puts herself in the centre of a centuries-old war.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?

The Ashfire King is available now – you can order your copy HERE

So, you’ve waited three years for this sequel, what are your expectations? Are you worried about trying to get back into the world?

Beth: This was a big concern for me, so I went back and reread The Stardust Thief. I had thought that, despite the time passed, the story was still fresh in my mind – I was very wrong! There were characters I’d forgotten, lots of very important details I’d forgotten … it’s a very complex and twisty story! Reading it a second time, there are still aspects I’m a little confused about and I’m hoping the sequel will clear things up or reveal things.

Nils: I had the same concerns as Beth, because three years is a long time and we’ve both read a lot of books since then, so inevitably remembering all the details would be impossible. However, I am not one to reread books often so therefore whilst I’m reading any book I always keep notes on a Word document to remind myself of key events. Therefore I had a quick look at these before I jumped into The Ashfire King and I’m so glad that I made those notes because like Beth said a lot does happen in The Stardust Thief! Luckily Abdullah also provides a really good summary at the beginning in the form of a story and I found that extremely helpful.

My main concern wasn’t that I wouldn’t be able to immerse myself into this world anymore because I remember loving the worldbuilding so much and I remembered a lot of the details, it was more that I thought I wouldn’t be able to connect with the characters in the same way that I did when I read the first book.

Beth: Yes, I was the same Nils, I’m looking forward to getting back into the worldbuilding! As for my expectations past that, I’m not really sure. I’m a little worried that the story might not have the same impact or will have a different tone, I’m not sure whether the writing of the book was delayed or just the publishing of it! As excited as I am to see where the story takes us, I can’t help but have reservations!

Nils: Considering the cliff-hanger at the end of The Stardust Thief my main expectation was that we would get to explore the jinn/ifrit world and find out more about the Kings because that was something that I was very excited about in the first book.

What were your first impressions?

Beth: A key theme of the first book had been stories and the magic of storytelling, so I thought presenting a recap of the first book in a story format similar to what we had in TST was inspired! 

Nils: I was so impressed by that too! And the opening lines of “neither here nor there” was a great way to get us back into this storytelling style.

Beth: I love that line so much, it’s a constant throughout that transports you and grounds you into the story. 

I was relieved to find the story picks up almost immediately from where we left off; I’m not a huge fan of sequels that do the whole five years later thing. The events from the last book still feel believably raw for Mazen and Loulie. 

I am absolutely loving the descriptions of the jinn world, the city, the enchanted sky, descriptions of the jinn themselves – Nils I know you’ve been enjoying the world building too! 

One thing I’ve struggled with is the magic system; I find myself trying to work out what the rules are in connection with the plotting of the story, and I need to stop letting it bog me down, and just enjoy the story! 

Nils: I was really pleased as well that we didn’t get a time skip and that the book picks up exactly where we left off. Like I said above, I really wanted to explore the jinn world and on that score, Abdullah didn’t disappoint. I immediately loved how magical it was, from the sky of fish to the sinking sands and the dazzling but often crumbling architecture. It was great to see this through Loulie and Mazen’s perspective and how alien they were finding it. We start off with a lot of mystery and I’m not quite sure how this jinn world works, but I was eager to find out. As Beth mentions the magic system is confusing at times because it seems to be changing from the first book, but we’re not clear why or how? Yet I’m quite happy to just go along with it and hope for clarity along the way.

In all honesty, I did really struggle to connect with the characters again just like I feared and I felt quite distant from them, but the more I read the more I became excited to see where their journeys would lead as I discovered that there would be some swashbuckling adventure to come!

Beth: You were so excited about the prospect of swashbuckling!

Let’s talk about characters: Nils did you connect to them eventually? Did we meet anyone new? Who were your favourites this time?

Beth: We do have a lot more characters joining our previous cast of Loulie, Mazen, Aisha, Rijah, and Qadir, but I’m reluctant to name too many for fear of spoilers! I will say there was one new character, Duha, who I immediately took to. There’s a kind of black cat/golden retriever duo and is definitely the golden retriever; she was a spark of friendliness and warmth for Loulie when things seemed quite dark.

Nils: Oh I loved Duha too! At first I thought she was going to be a comedic character because her first conversation with Loulie was her commenting on how small and squishable Loulie is! Yet she turns into much more than light relief, she helps certain characters understand each other better and once we reach a certain island she helps us understand its nature better.

Unfortunately though, I really didn’t warm to Loulie and Mazen this time around. I felt that they didn’t mature in the way I hoped to see and some of their decisions had my eyes rolling with how impulsive and, I’m sorry to say this, but stupid they were. I know they were placed in a really alien world with enemies surrounding them at every turn but given that you’d have thought they’d have been a tad more cautious. 

Beth: I wholeheartedly agree with you Nils. In The Stardust Thief, a big issue for Loulie was her worry that she couldn’t do anything without Qadir, and The Ashfire King felt like a study in how her fears were entirely grounded. It would have been wonderful to see her prove to herself her own capability, but she kept doing worrying things which, unfortunately, had the opposite effect.

Nils: I did like the way Abdullah portrayed Loulie’s grief at being separated from Qadir, that created some truly touching moments, and I loved how she kept reminding herself of his advice. It’s just a shame she never paid any heed to that advice and didn’t stop to think a little more. 

Beth: Excellent point Nils! Abdullah did do a great job there, we were both moved by her struggle in missing him.

I have to talk about Aisha now though! She wasn’t one of my favourites in the first book, but her character growth over the two books has been amazing, and she was the character I was most eager to return to each time in this one. 

I struggled a little with Rijah, I could never quite tell if we were supposed to trust them or not, and I always felt on the back foot with them and not sure what to make of them!

Nils: Like you Beth, Aisha was my least favourite in The Stardust Thief but this time around I was so invested in her story arc, particularly towards the end where we get more of her chapters. I felt Aisha’s struggle to live with the Ifrit inside her from the first book was so well explored and fascinating to see develop. 

I thought Rijah would be a firm favourite with me but I feel like we don’t really get to know them a lot and their ambiguity stopped me from wholly trusting them. 

What was your favourite aspect of the book? Was there anything you struggled with?

Beth: Hands down the best part of the book for me was Abdullah’s stories peppered throughout. I was so glad she continued these as they were something I loved about the first book too. The characters tell each other stories, storytelling is a huge part of their culture, and they’re presented in the book as separated stories. I had a weekend of camping with my children’s Scouts group, and during a quiet period asked the children if they wanted a story, and read them one of these. They absolutely loved it, and kept asking for more over the course of the weekend – I had to go back and read some from The Stardust Thief too! Nils suggested Abdullah should publish a short story collection and I wholeheartedly agree! She really has a talent for storytelling in this shorter format, for capturing the sense of the mythical and magical in this way!

Nils: I’d so love a whole collection of those stories, they really were wonderful. Did you have a favourite Beth? I think mine was the one about the Firebird! 

Beth: The Queen of Dunes from the first book was a favourite of mine, but I’d probably say the story of the Firebird too! The kids especially loved that one, they were very inspired by the evil older brother, and were coming up with what villainous things they’d do to their own siblings. Yes, it was worrying…

Nils: I love the way kids minds work 🤣

Beth: They were… inventive, I’ll give them that.

Unfortunately, there was quite a lot I struggled with in The Ashfire King – I just couldn’t understand the magic system. I’m not the kind of reader who expects rules for the magic system, I love a mystical magical system and am usually happy to just go with the flow and accept ‘it’s just magic!’ as the guiding rule. However in this instance, there seemed to be rules to Abdullah’s magic, and where I stumble is when there are rules but they contradict each other and don’t make sense, and unfortunately that was the case for me here. 

Nils: Ok I’m used to complex magic systems, with intricate rules, limitations and growth, so I do prefer it when rules are introduced so that I can understand how it works. Unfortunately here I wasn’t clear how it worked at all and I really struggled understanding the distinction between Ifrit powers and Jinn powers because they felt equally powerful which didn’t make sense to me, given that the Ifrit were kings and should therefore have been more powerful? There’s a lot of other things I can’t mention because of spoilers but I just really needed more clarity on how certain characters were able to do things and on how Qadir’s powers worked. 

Beth: Omgosh we were so confused about Qadir’s powers, weren’t we! And every time we thought we had a handle on them, something would happen and throw it all out again!

Nils: Yes, exactly and that left me feeling so puzzled!

Having said that, the seafaring battles were one of my favourite aspects of the book as I loved seeing a battle between marid. I remember first being introduced to these middle-eastern mythological beings in Shannon Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy and they have fascinated me ever since so I’m so happy Abdullah included them here. 

Favourite quotes

Beth:

‘Aisha smiled at the fear in his eyes. She would never tire of seeing terrible men cower.’

In the absence of the truth, people make up their own stories. That is why there is so much hatred… You know as well as I that there are people who do not believe in those stories, people who are caught in the middle that only wish for peace. But when we think about war, we forget about those people. We forget that there might be an alternative to violence.

Nils:

“Every story is a memory, she had once said. A tale that happened neither here nor there, but in another time and place. Our job as storytellers is to describe that reality as we understand it. It is the listener who must determine what is and is not.”

“Remember this, gentle friends: what might today be a flame will tomorrow be ashes. We cannot condemn fire for its nature, but if we attempt to master it, we are doomed to burn with it.”

Overall impressions:

Nils: Whenever I read a sequel, I look for character growth, the worldbuilding and magic system to deepen and my understanding of it to deepen alongside that, and for the plot to move significantly forward whilst also leaving me wanting more. I felt that the first half of this novel was incredibly slow paced and when trying to sum up what was happening, I struggled. The magic does evolve but unfortunately in ways I didn’t really understand, I couldn’t quite see how characters were suddenly having the ability to do things that they previously couldn’t do and how to distinguish between the powers of the Ifrit and the jinn. Yet for me, my biggest issue was the characters. We spend the majority of the book with Loulie and Mazen, and some of the decisions they made really frustrated me because they always landed them in further strife and had they thought about their actions for just a moment, a lot could have been avoided. It just didn’t feel like they had grown at all. We are also left without Qadir, which I found a real let-down because had he been there a lot could have been answered more clearly.

I know I’ve been quite negative here, but there were some positives too. For instance, I loved the descriptions of the Ifrit world, it was so magical and mesmerising. The interlude stories were all amazing. There were also the  seafaring adventures I was looking forward to and the battle between the gigantic marid creatures was extremely thrilling to read—I love stories set on the sea. We also have some magical creatures and my favourite was Azhar the Firebird. Surprisingly, I also really enjoyed the chapters we get with Aisha, the assassin thief.

Overall, there were many scenes that I enjoyed and found exciting in The Ashfire King but many elements which also left me disappointed. Believe me that really pains me to say.

Beth: I wanted so much to love this sequel, and I don’t know if the anticipation built it up too much for me, but I ended up just not I’m afraid. Nils sums up perfectly about the magic system, and it was this that was the biggest barrier for me. I got so caught up trying to understand what was happening and why, that it really hampered the flow and enjoyment of the story for me. I had questions at the end of The Stardust Thief, and not only were these not answered, but I found myself with even more questions and just feeling confused.

Like Nils, I really hate writing anything negative about books; these are entirely subjective perspectives, and plenty of other readers may understand the magic system much better than me! 

There was plenty about The Ashfire King to love; Abdullah is remarkably skilful at bringing to life her world of wondrous magic and myth. The palaces, the sea battles Nils describes, the creatures – it’s truly a glorious feast for the imagination. Unfortunately, the plotting just left me dissatisfied. I’m so glad I read this with Nils though, despite our problems with the book, we had fun working them out together!

The Ashfire King is available now – you can order your copy HERE