The Road of Bones
By Demi Winters (2023) The Ashen Series #1
Fantasy Romance
★★★★★ 5 Star Review
The Road of Bones takes place in the kingdom of Iseldur with strong Norse roots and muted viking vibes. Our MFC Silla is on the run, narrowly avoiding capture by the Queen. When the one person Silla can count on is taken from her, she must traverse the Road of Bones in order to make her way to a safe house. One bargain later, and Silla is traveling with the notorious Bloodaxe Crew, a group of mercenaries. Although Silla can’t be quick to trust the bandit crew, they appear to be the lesser of two evils. Especially compared to the Queen’s ruthless assassin, a mysterious murderer, and the many creatures of darkness Silla will face (like vampire deer and forest walkers).
Along the journey Silla must win over Axe Eyes, the quiet and brooding leader of the Crew, while sparks fly with the Wolf, who happens to be Axe Eyes' right hand man. As a forbidden romance transpires, Silla finds herself trusting the mercenaries more and more. However, that doesn’t stop her from keeping a few secrets of her own.
Many fantasy romance books follow the same predictable writing and storyline structure, I am happy to say that this book was not predictable in the slightest. Keeping things vague, the plot twists were incredible, some I saw coming, but some were absolute shocks that made the book thrilling. The book didn’t exactly leave on a cliffhanger, but there is definitely a lot of options for how things can play out in the next installment of this series.
This book is written from a third person perspective with about 4 different POVs. Switching the POVs is something that can be done so well and makes the book infinitely better, or it can be a fail and result in me wanting to skip some chapters. This book did it perfectly. I got exactly the perspective I needed from each character without having to live through each scenario multiple times or bore myself to tears.
While there is a hefty pronunciation guide and glossary included in this book, don’t let it overwhelm you. I didn’t event attempt to learn all the terms until I came across them in the book. I had no problem keeping track of names or terminology. There is a lot of Norse style language and pronunciation used, but that is the main extent of the viking specific lore involved.
While Silla is still a bit young (20), she has shown she has emotional depth and the heart of a warrior. Even if I don’t agree with all her choices, she has shown a level of strength and integrity I love to see in a main character. Her character arc was full of growth and maturity, but I don’t believe she is at her full potential yet.
I love the character Hekla, I am hoping we get more of her in book #2! She is a badass on the Crew and is portrayed as a strong competent warrior. I think she was such a good influence on Silla. Rather than treating Silla like the enemy, Hekla immediately took her under her wing and helped her train. Love women supporting women.
There is a bit of a love triangle situation between Silla and the two MMC’s, who are both broody alpha males. While one falls quite quickly and a bit possessively, the other is more withdrawn and mysterious. I liked the banter between the Crew, both friendly and romantic.
I am so happy that Skraeda was given chapters devoted to her point of view, as a magic-wielder assassin working for the Queen in a kingdom where magic wielders are persecuted. Skraeda has taken the opinion that in order to survive in their world, she must put herself first. Even if that means killing other magic-wielders or betraying her own twin. Controversially, I would almost say I enjoyed Skraeda more than Silla, but that is just my personal preference leaning towards morally gray characters.