In Truth & Ashes by Nicole Luiken ~ Review

Title: In Truth & Ashes (Otherselves #3)
Author: Nicole Luiken
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Length: 358 pages
Publisher: Entangled TEEN
Release Date: January 2, 2017
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

What she can’t remember could ruin her life.

The Mirror Worlds are but dull reflections of the True World, where magic and technology blend together…

On the True World, Belinda Loring has known from childhood that she must Bond with the son of another noble First Family. Uniting the families ensures hers will hold onto its powerful position, and so she’s always pushed down the tender feelings she has for her best friend—gorgeous, steadfast Demian, who isn’t noble. 

But when the ceremonial magic goes disastrously wrong, Belinda becomes a national disgrace. Scorned as Broken, she turns to Demian for help getting revenge on the man who ruined her: the radical Malachi.

But the seeds of Malachi’s murderous plans lie buried in Belinda’s past, in the dark days of her kidnapping—a period of which she has no memory. And Demian may hold the key to recovering all that she’s lost—and saving the worlds.

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In Truth & Ashes was a bit different from the previous books in the Otherselves series. It really focuses on one world - the True World. The True World sits at the "center" of the Mirror Worlds and somewhat exerts control over them, playing matchmaker to ensure the True World selves have matching selves on the Mirror Worlds. It was all a bit creepy and really relegated that elemental worlds to nothing much more than a source of resources and prestige.

Belinda is the center of our story and matching self for the characters in the Mirror Worlds. And at first, I hated her. I never really truly liked her, but she did earn my respect. The final book in this series tries to draw all the cords together into one place, but that means I really missed seeing more of the Mirror Worlds that I had really loved. Fire is the only one that really manages to take center stage other than the True World.

Things do come to some rather startling and unexpected conclusions. There is far more heart-pounding excitement in the final book than the others, and the way the day is saved was amazing. A few times we went over the top, but if you're going to go there, an explosive ending is the way to do it.

*I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of this book*

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