Review: The Wings of Ashtaroth

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May 24, 2024

Tags: Inspired by real history, Political Fantasy, Review, Sands of Hazzan, Steve Hugh Westenra, The Wings of Ashtaroth

The cover of "The Wings of Ashtaroth", by Steve Hugh Westenra. It depicts a city with domed roofs and tall towers seemingly sculpted out of sand, with a giant winged person's torso and head behind it. The person in question has feathered wings, delicate features, and wears a crown of branches and dried leaves and flowers. The title is at the top, in big white letters, while the author's name is at the bottom in a smaller font. on the left side, there's a caption with the words "a novel".

Heyo, long time no see (again, sorry). Today I bring you my sixteenth read of the year, first book in The Sands of Hazzan series... The Wings of Ashtaroth, by Steve Hugh Westenra! A political fantasy inspired by the Punic Wars.

The blurb goes:

The great city of Qemassen is at a crossroads. A powerful empire from beyond the ocean threatens to reignite a centuries-old feud. A slave rebellion brews in the tangled labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city streets. And Crown Prince Ashtaroth, the city's supposed saviour, is considered unfit to rule even by those closest to him.

When the high priest burns one of the royal children alive as a desperate offering to the city's absentee gods, it destroys the fragile peace within Qemassen's scheming first family. Seeking revenge for the death of her child, Ashtaroth's mother calls on a powerful demon named Lilit.

But Lilit cannot be trusted. Her cruel machinations pit brother against sister and father against daughter, laying waste to Ashtaroth's family. Then Lilit approaches Ashtaroth with a demonic pact of his own-one that could save his people and his home. But between war from without and a revolution erupting within, even a demon may not be enough to keep Qemassen standing.

Set in a secondary world based on the conflict between Ancient Carthage and Rome, The Wings of Ashtaroth is a sprawling, multi-POV epic fantasy, full of queerness, political intrigue, and demons.

My review:

Another tough book to talk about, so I'll deviate from my usual and do a pros and cons list!

TLDR: It's a good book, very well written, but I didn't vibe with it as much.

Pros:

- The worldbuilding is incredible. Seriously. This book oozes it from every pore, and you can tell the author devoted a lot of time and effort into it. Simply amazing, chef's kiss.

- The characters. They're very diverse and most of them get amazing development, and there are lots of twists involving them.

- The vibes. I described this one to a friend as "Game of Thrones but toning down the sex and violence" and that description still holds true.

Cons:

- Again, the characters. A common pitfall for multi-POV stories is that sometimes some characters outshine others, and this is one such instance.

- The plot and pacing. Note: I do not say this to mean the plot is bad. It isn't, the premise is great and the plot is good, and I definitely do recommend it. But it has caveats. The problem is more like... some of the different POVs feel disjointed from each other for most of the book, in plot, setting and pacing, which sometimes made me feel like the book was grinding to a full halt. I understand that not every book should be fast-paced, but no book should ever feel slow, and this one felt slow at a few points. Which is a big problem when the book is also this long.

That being said, I did finish this chonker, so I think you should believe me when I tell you that it is a good book. Who knows, you probably might like it even more than I did and disagree with me on every level. Like I said, it has excellent worldbuilding, well-developed characters and LOTS of interesting intrigue, all wrapped up in Steve's superb prose, so it's still a solid 8/10.

Final rating: Four stars.

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