Scales of Ash & Smoke

By: Emily Schneider

Narrated by: Emma Faye, Adam Skousen

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

She lived her whole life enslaved to the dragons.

But now she’s one of them.

Seventeen-year-old Kaida, a human, has spent her entire life enslaved to the dragons who slaughtered half the human population 1,000 years ago. She is forced to serve her ruthless master, Eklos, until one deadly summer day when the Prince of Elysia saves her life.

Prince Tarrin steals her away to the royal palace, shocking Kaida when he reveals that she is mutator formarum. He promises her safety, but when they uncover a dangerous conspiracy to rid Elysia of the royal family, she begins to question how safe she truly is. And when desire blooms between Kaida and Tarrin, in the midst of fighting for their lives, she must choose whether to save the very creature she swore to hate, or allow him to perish…

And destroy her own heart.

©2021 Emily Schneider (P)2022 Emily Schneider

Critic reviews

2021 Best Indie Book Award Fantasy Winner

“…a masterful work of YA fantasy fiction which contains all the must-have ingredients for a thrilling read, from a compelling central pair of characters to a lavish and atmospheric setting filled with danger and intrigue.” (Readers’ Favorite)

Loved

I loved this book and the narrators. Kept me completely focused. Can’t wait to listen to book 2.

Phenomenal book and phenomenal narration!

I am generally not a fan of fantasy. However, this book hooked me from the beginning and was extremely enjoyable all the way through. The characters were relatable and I couldn't wait to hear what happened next throughout the whole book. I LOVED the narration too! The voices of the characters were consistent and pleasant. I hope to hear more narrations from these narrators. Everything about the book and narration was very well done! The book is also clean so I can recommend it to others with no reservations.

Surprised by this story!

I enjoyed this book! I’m not much of a fantasy person, but the writer is one I want to support. The story line seemed kind of strange to me, not gonna lie, with the shape shifting dragons. It took me a while to “see” the characters. As the story progresses it get better. The pacing is great! Near the middle of the book several events happened that I didn’t see coming at all, so huge props to the author on that. Other events were foreshadowed well. I think the writer did a great job!

Wonderful!

I wondered at first that each chapter was read by who's title it was rather than male/female voiced characters, but soon got over that seeing it was from their perspective.

I can't wait to start the next book to see where the story goes!

A story unlike one I’ve yet to read

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Scales of Ash & Smoke but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Schneider created a rich world (that I’m very glad I don’t live in) where dragons reign over the human slaves. I’ve never read a book where dragons take on human traits so I found this very intriguing and a lot of fun to read (listen to?)! I absolutely loved the magic system Schneider created, and Prince Tarrin, of course. If you’re looking for a fun, magic-filled dragon read with a cruel villain, give SOAAS a read!

Dragon-human feuds?! I’m in!

First off, and most importantly, (to me anyway) I found this story to be a great example of what it looks like to live in desperate situations and always living in fear and defense and how one can go from defenseless to confident and finally finding a place of inner peace. Lots of us who read all the time, do it to find that very escape. So when you see it happen for the characters you’re living through, it is gives us a boost of serotonin lol! (Poor us 😮‍💨) and this story certainly did that for me.

Now, on to the dragons! Scales of Ash and Smoke described a world with dragons in a way I’ve never read before. As a true lover of Skyrim, where my interest for dragons and magical stories began (apart from when I discovered Tolkien at 12 years old, of course), that is the standard I drift to. This take on how dragons interact with their surroundings was much more involved with the story than in those of Skyrim! (For all you video game nerds out there, you know what I’m talking about. Just give us more dragons please.)

The main character Kaida is a slave girl just trying to get through life pretty much hour by hour without dying by the hands of horrible dragons. A very gut wrenching way to live. She’s hardly aware that life could be different, if at all. Since she’s constantly living in fight or flight mode, she’s got serious issues when she finds herself “rescued” and she’s just not convinced that’s what’s happened to her. For good reason, given her life experience in life this far.

Her interactions with Tarrin in the beginning were frustrating for me at first. Their stubbornness towards the world and each other made me sigh in frustration a number of times lol! But as their story arcs evolved, I got committed and understood their… shall we say, convictions? Which pretty much remained to the end, but how they responded to those convictions grew and changed.

As someone who doesn’t mind skipping through scenes that might make me uncomfortable, this book didn’t have need of that! Which is a relief when sometimes important dialogue in books can be mixed in with scenes that could be uncomfortable (like sex stuff, if that’s bothersome to you). The slow burn in the romance scenes were there! And let’s be real, that’s what we’re here for.

Book two releases on may 24th and I’m anticipating what happens next! Especially after that epilogue, sheesh!

A thrilling fantasy

If you're looking for a thrilling fantasy, filled with dragons and adventure, this is the one for you. The author, Emily Scheider, has created a world where dragons can speak and humans are the weaker species. I enjoyed the story, brilliantly told by Adam Skousen and Emma Faye. Highly recommend to all lovers of great storytelling!

Great creativity

Good job on the dual narrations. Nice slow burn but almost a little too slow for me though. It did keep me listening with anticipation. Gave my imagination a workout (in a good way) imagining what the dragons looked like and picturing the scenarios.

Holy Smokes

wow that was a wild ride!

Emily is a master story teller. She brought Kaida and Tarrin and the rest for the characters and setting of Elysia to life for me. This is the first in the ash and smoke series and she does a beautiful job setting everything up giving the characters, the setting, the story line depth that makes you want to keep reading keep turning pages to find out what happens next. her characters all show growth or self destruction and I really like how she set it up for the next book eeek I can't wait ! also I really liked the use of a female narrator and male narrator they did an awesome job narrating and helping me focus to someone else reading to me.

must read!

This was my 2nd read, I first read my paperback copy, then once the audio came out, I had to hear it. It was like reading the first time again!! I've ready read book2 but now can't wait for that audio as well.