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Legacy of Ash (The Legacy Trilogy Book 1) by [Matthew Ward]

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Matthew Ward

Legacy of Ash (The Legacy Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Matthew Ward (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Book 1 of 3: The Legacy Trilogy

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Legacy of Ash is an unmissable fantasy debut--an epic tale of intrigue and revolution, soldiers and assassins, ancient magic and the eternal clash of empires.
A shadow has fallen over the Tressian Republic.
Ruling families -- once protectors of justice and democracy -- now plot against one another with sharp words and sharper knives. Blinded by ambition, they remain heedless of the threat posed by the invading armies of the Hadari Empire.
Yet as Tressia falls, heroes rise.
Viktor Akadra is the Republic's champion. A warrior without equal, he hides a secret that would see him burned as a heretic.
Josiri Trelanis Viktor's sworn enemy. A political prisoner, he dreams of reigniting his mother's failed rebellion.
And yet Calenne Trelan, Josiri's sister, seeks only to break free of their tarnished legacy; to escape the expectation and prejudice that haunts the family name.
As war spreads across the Republic, these three must set aside their differences in order to save their home. Yet decades of bad blood are not easily set aside. And victory -- if it comes at all -- will demand a darker price than any of them could have imagined.

Book 1 of 3

The Legacy Trilogy
Print length

801 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Orbit
Publication date

Nov. 5 2019
File size

3305 KB
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Total Price: CDN$32.97

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Books In This Series (3 Books)

Complete Series

The Legacy Trilogy

Kindle Edition

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

1
Legacy of Ash (The Legacy Trilogy Book 1)
Matthew Ward

(1,220)

Kindle Edition

CDN$6.99
2
Legacy of Steel (The Legacy Trilogy Book 2)
Matthew Ward

(555)

Kindle Edition

CDN$12.99
3
Legacy of Light (The Legacy Trilogy Book 3)
Matthew Ward

(358)

Kindle Edition

CDN$12.99

Product description

Review

"Ward has created a novel with such intention and craftsmanship that it brings back that feeling of excitement fantasy readers felt when discovering masters like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis."―Shelf Awareness

"Packed with big battles, shadowy intrigue and a large cast of characters, Legacy of Ash is an absorbing debut."―James Islington

"A hugely entertaining debut."―John Gwynne

"As intricate as a precision-engineered watch; as surprising as a precision-engineered watch with a concealed face-stabbing mechanism."―Gareth Hanrahan

"Expertly interspersing vivid action sequences with quiet, introspective stretches, Ward guides readers and characters alike through this winding, well-crafted saga. The result is an impressive series opener."―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Epic fantasy as it should be: big, bold and very addictive."―Starburst

"An incredibly impressive piece of fantasy fiction."―The Fantasy Inn

"This is the first epic fantasy book I've enjoying getting immersed in for ages . . . a great romp in a brilliantly realized setting . . . I have lost sleep, forgotten food and made this the thing what I pick up every moment I can get."―SFFWorld

"A perfect blend of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom."―FanFi Addict --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Matthew Ward is a writer, cat-servant and owner of more musical instruments than he can actually play (and considerably more than he can play well). He's afflicted with an obsession for old places - castles, historic cities and the London Underground chief among them - and should probably cultivate more interests to help expand out his author biography.
After a decade serving as a principle architect for Games Workshop's Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 properties, Matthew embarked on an adventure to tell stories set in worlds of his own design. He lives near Nottingham with his extremely patient wife - as well as a pride of attention- seeking cats - and writes to entertain anyone who feels there's not enough magic in the world. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07PBVL92M
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orbit (Nov. 5 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3305 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 801 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #45,060 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,331 in Epic Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #1,622 in Fantasy Action & Adventure
- #2,663 in Epic Fantasy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
1,220 ratings

About the author

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Matthew Ward

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Matthew Ward is a writer, cat-servant and owner of more musical instruments than he can actually play (and considerably more than he can play well).

He's afflicted with an obsession for old places - castles, historic cities and the London Underground chief amongst them - and should probably cultivate more interests to help expand out his author biography.

After a decade serving as a principal architect for Games Workshop's Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 properties, Matthew embarked on an adventure to tell stories set in worlds of his own design.

He lives near Nottingham with his extremely patient wife - as well as a pride of attention-seeking cats - and writes to entertain anyone who feels there's not enough magic in the world.

Follow him on Twitter @TheTowerofStars

Matthew Ward
555
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Matthew Ward
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Cameron Johnston
1,004
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Chris Wooding
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Daniel Abraham
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Seth Dickinson
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

1,220 global ratings

5 star		53%
4 star		31%
3 star		11%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from Canada

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JD

The very definition of a three-star novel

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 11, 2022

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I don't think I'll get the next one, but I had an okay time with this. If you've read all the top authors in fantasy you might want to get around to this, but certainly check out Sanderson, McClellan, Martin, Rothfuss, etc, before this.

The first half is all setup, the second half is all payoff. Maybe too much payoff: there are like three epic climaxes and they feel a bit rushed.

The battle scenes especially feel a bit paint-by-numbers, with the author relying heavily on two main methods: 1. The POV character experiences a set of three physical sensations: sweat trickles beneath helm, hands grow heavy holding sword, feet trudge through muck. This recurs many times and feels rote, without really making me feel I'm there with them. 2. Every swordfight with a non-main character seems to follow this format: the MC blocks or dodges a swordstrike, then hits the shield twice until it falls aside or is broken, then stabs the enemy soldier, who screams and collapses. This happened in this exact way more than once in my recollection. Why bother wearing full armour if you die with one hit every time?

Oh, and at one point a magical infection causes jagged black veins. Seen it.

Still, the book wasn't bad. It had scope and some interesting turns of phrase and atmospheric musings on war, fate, destiny, etc. I like some of the magic systems. Maybe I'll get the next book after all, but not right away.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 14, 2019

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Could barely put it down...
A story with twists and turns.
Highs and lows.
Characters you love, hate and love to hate.

Helpful

Not Quite For Me, But Still Excellent

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 16, 2021

If I were to sum this book up in one word, it would be epic. It is everything I expected from a fantasy with various realms at war. It's a massive story that covers huge ground, introduces a rich world, focuses on political and war drama, has a giant host of characters, and lore. Be prepared to commit.

Many of the characters are familiar tropes of the genre. My favourite met an unwanted end fairly early on, but the cast is still diverse. Though it took me some time to warm up to some of the characters--and to remember them all--their motivations were clear and by the end I knew who my new favourites were. Viktor is grade-A hero material and I enjoyed the routes his story took, especially by the end.

There are countless faction, countries, and types of people to be found in this book. By the end I had them all nailed down, but like GoT, you have to be willing to wait out the long moments to get to the excitement. And that isn't to say the pacing is wrong or that the book is boring. Far from it. There are shocking twists, betrayals, conspiracies, battles, assassins, and heightened emotions. Ward simply takes his time describing the scenes and ensuring his characters have meaningful and genuine conversations.

All said, this book packs in a LOT. I would almost consider it a standalone given how many plot lines were opened and wrapped up. Yes, there are unanswered questions and more secrets to be revealed and I definitely wonder about the drama and consequences, at time of review, I don't think I'm the right audience.

To be clear, this is not a bad book. FAR from it. The writing is excellent, it is engaging, immersive, and does tell a sweeping tale. I just wish I had connected more with most of the characters or had a little less politics between action scenes. I would honestly LOVE a book just of the Crow Market.

While I don't quite think this was the book for me, I do recommend it for fans of epic war fantasy and Game of Thrones.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Fantasy Geek

Fantastic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 14, 2020

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I remember reading the Eye of the World well over 2 decades ago a fast paced exciting adventure light against dark, good vs evil Order vs Chaos, I have read literally thousands of fantasy novels since but that opening part of the wheel of time stayed with me even as the rest of the series lurched into incoherence and a swamp of dead end plot lines, there’s something about legacy of ash that reminds me the Eye of the world maybe it’s the fact that Duality is such theme in the novel, maybe because the central characters are ruled by the past in Eye due to reincarnation in Legacy because of the decisions there parents made, maybe simply because the cast is pretty well divided between male and female I don’t know what I do know this is a great read with a fantastic pace it takes familiar ingredients a pseudo feudal society complete with knights and corrupt churchmen and blends together something new it helps that the cast including Viktor the knight hiding a dark gift, Josiri and Calene the Children of a Duchess turned traitor are all likeable and engageable and they are a but a few of the cast members albeit the most important.

The novel is dark and there are real stakes characters die but this isn’t grim dark either the bad guys are clearly defined at least in the first book and there is plenty of evidence that something is coming, terribly original the book isn’t extremely well written with fantastic characterisation is what it is I highly look forward to more in this series and more from the author.

So plot

Calene and josiri children of a failed rebellion there world is rocked when on the heels of a coming invasion when the man they hold responsible for there mother’s death arrives to defend them meanwhile a master manipulator works from the shadows unaware that a greater evil is now stirring.

13 people found this helpful

Fantasy Book Nerd

Simply Brilliant.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 19, 2020

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Matthew Ward’s debut novel is a grand sweeping affair that whilst being expansive, is a tightly knit story that weaves war, rebellion, magic, political intrigue and legacy into a compelling drama that is unputdownable.

The Tressian Republic stands at the centre of the world, yet it’s might is being tested. Rebellion threatens in the Southshires and Josiri Trelan, the son of the rebel Katya Trelan and now imprisoned in his own home, is gathering his forces so that he can lead the rebellion started by his mother 15 years ago and free his people from Tressia’s harsh rule.

Meanwhile, the Hadari Empire is rising, ready to overwhelm the empire and become the leading power in the world bringing war and death

However, underneath the waves of military upheaval, a dark power is stirring. Gods walk the world, choosing their champions and setting in motion their own plans.

Ward’s tale is magnificent in its scale. The scope is an entire world, and yet, he can seamlessly change his focus to the smallest aspects of his tale and concentrate on the minutest aspects of the drama, like Revekaah and Kurka’s tale in the woods during the titanic battle against the Hadari, or Calenne’s story under the battlefield as she discovers terrible secrets.

The cast of characters is impressive, although at times this can become confusing, and sometimes if I took my brain off the plot for a second, I was left wondering what was happening and had to go back a page or two to reconnect. However, the book demands your attention and concentration, and if you feed the story well with these two things, you will be richly rewarded.

The characters themselves are excellently written, with the Lady Ebigail being a standout of scheming and general maleficence. However, she never once falls into parody as she joyfully plots and weaves webs of intrigue, murdering, blackmailing and manipulating anyone who gets in her way.

The other players in this book are Viktor Akadra, the champion of the Tressian council. A knight who gains this title after he kills Josiri and Calenne’s mother, Katya. Viktor is an interesting character, portrayed as a stoical villain initially, yet as the story progresses, his character is explored more, and we learn that his character is more faceted than we originally thought, and Ward plays with these facets to great effect. An especially touching aspect, is his relationship with Calenne, who originally believing him to be the monster who killed her mother and haunts her nightmares, forms an unlikely friendship and even allies with him to save the Southshires after she learns the truth of her mother’s death. In fact, far from being the monster and killing machine that he is believed to be, Viktor is a thoughtful, socially anxious man that is afraid of his own shadow (that part will become clear!)
Calenne, is the other prominent figure of the story. At first, she is portrayed spoilt brat of a child that generally mopes around her prison, dreaming of a way out, even if it is by dying. She is afraid of the legacy that her mother, the hero of Southshires has left her, and yet when the need arises, she wears this persona to motivate others around her. Again, Calenne is a rounded individual that has flaws, and at times shows that she can be as manipulative as Lady Ebigail, in order to get what she wants.

And then there’s Josiri, an ineffectual leader who dreams of freeing his family from the past. At times, Josiri can be the strong leader that is needed. However, other times he can be impulsive and not recognise the consequences of his behaviour. But, as with Viktor, Ward brings him to life showing us that his character has more sides than a twenty - sided dice.

Additionally, the main characters are bolstered by equally memorable side characters, like Anastacia, either an angel or a demon, depending on which characters point of view. And, the gods themselves, with some memorable cameo roles by the God of Death, known as the Raven, who reminds me in some parts of Baron Samedi crossed with old Father Time, a Herne the Hunter type figure who makes an infrequent appearance in the story and the capricious, Ashana.

Don’t be put off by the fact that this is a weighty book and the fact that the plot simmers for the first part of the book. When the gears are turned up, the story explodes and gallops along at full speed.

As with every other aspect of this book, Ward skilfully manoeuvres his cast of characters around the chessboard of his plot, carefully placing them where they need to be so that we reach the finale of the story. He carefully weaves plot, pace and characters, all the while building a richly complex world, magic system and mythology that will surely delight fans of epic fantasy.

8 people found this helpful

Oakhammer

Butterfly Editing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book but....
I may not be the brightest of readers and I am heading toward old age confusion but there are so many characters and so many with similar names, for example Malachi, Makrov (also sometimes referred to as the Archimandrite - more confusion) and Macchiato. No wait a minute that's a coffee.
The real problem comes when reading a long and interesting passage about Makrov then suddenly the next paragraph is about Malachi. You are half way through it before you realise you have changed scene and are miles away in Tressia or wherever.
Whoever edited this book flits about from scene to scene with never a thought for the poor reader trying gamely to keep their barings. A new chapter here and there would have helped greatly.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series but am hoping for a somewhat smaller cast and more precise editing.

6 people found this helpful

Ross

Epic but too epic at the same time

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

A very ambitious debut novel, epic in scope, cast of characters and plot. However, I found myself struggling to pick it up too often.
The book takes place in an empire with far-from-happy constituent parts and angry neighbours. The heirs of the traitorous Southweald "phoenix" are held captive as figureheads warning off any thoughts of rebellion. Meanwhile, a cliched corrupt council tries to keep the empire safe from impending invasion.
The book is filled with interesting magical creatures and abilities, with a demon, witches, crow-themed goth assassins and ancient spirits. These were at the fore nowhere near often enough, treated as curses and cast aside in favour of political plotting and old fashioned battle.
The first third of the book was awesome: learning about the richness of the world, its history, politics and magic. It really was set up to be an epic story of political intrigue, deception, plotting and underhand nastiness.
Sadly, this all lead to a battle sequence that lasted far too long. It was really like Joe Abercrombie had taken one of the First Law books and shoved The Heroes into the middle of it. I really struggled to get past this long, fairly boring conflict.
The second half of the book then calms down and focuses once again before taking a massive left-turn and changing to something very different.
As with many books of this size, the cast was massive and a number of characters not distinct enough to remember by name. And so many had such promising abilities to offer but were largely absent when they would have been so useful. It was like having a superstar in an amateur dramatic society and leaving them out of most of the script. Having said that, I once saw a pantomime with David Van Day in the cast and it was in everyone's best interests that he was largely absent.
The book finished well, but it was an 800-page book that read like a 1200-page one, taking me 5 weeks to read.

2 people found this helpful

David

I give up - will refund

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

We start out with a lady fighting knights who had just defeated her army. For some reason none of them wear armour and are easily stabbed in the torsos. OK, maybe there's some reason for this - maybe in this setting people haven't invented armour? Who knows, but I could overlook that, but then I hit this sentence:

"With one last, defiant glare at the buccinator, Katya turned her steed about, and galloped through the narrow streets after her children."

I'm not often completely stumped by a word, so I look up "buccinator" and discover that it is "a flat, thin muscle in the wall of the cheek." So... did Katya glare defiantly at a very specific cheek muscle of someone? Did the writer make up a word that was just coincidentally already a word and use it with no explanation? Does the word have another, secret meaning? Is it a typo and poor editing? I do not know, but at this point I decided this book is not for me.

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Legacy of Ash (The Legacy Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

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About the Author

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About the author

Matthew Ward

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