First and foremost I want to thank Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to read this book and give an honest and unbiased review.
Honestly I have a whole lot of things to say about this book I'm halfway through with it now and I'm writing this honestly just to apologize that I cannot write a review for this book that will do it justice and I like it so much that I had to go and buy a physical copy because I don't want to finish it. I want to be able to hold the book in my hand,this is amazing stuff from DJ his writing chops have only gotten better since The Remaining series which by the way is amazing all in its own. Molles just gets better and better and this book is no different if you love fantasy Brutal, Dark and non-stop action with awesome World building you're going to love this book,just wait until you meet Lochled Thatcher and this Dark Magical World in a very intence Adventure

Published on Goodreads and Instagram August 4th, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley, Blackstone and D. J. Molles for the eARC! All opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/ 5

⚔️ A Harvest of Ash & Blood captivates the reader with its action packed, intense, military focus and deep character reflection. You are thrown into a world that is powered by the ashes of children. More specifically, the ashes of children with magic abilities. With a church that controls everything, a magical Industrial Revolution, deep rooted political betrayal, and an invasion turned into barbarism - how will our veteran Lochled handle it?

⚔️ The beginning of this book throws you right in the middle of a war which we know nothing about, it was a little overwhelming with all the world building in the beginning but once you get your bearings; you’re ready for the wild ride which is the second half of the book. The intricate magic system, world building, even down to the unique weapons was incredible.

I heavily recommend this to those looking for something new in the fantasy genre, Lochled and Rony will not disappoint.

A Harvest of Ash and Blood by D. J. Molles has created an interesting world and an captivating story.
The chacter development, world building, and authenticity of the emotions of the characters have really set this book apart for me, and I'm so excited to read more from Molles!
This exciting new action-packed, fantasy adventure is one that shouldn’t be missed!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing
eARC!

When I tell you that this book blew me away...I will say I was biased before I started. I have never read any of DJ Molles' books but I do know he writes a lot of cop fiction. Being a daughter of a police officer I was not interested in that at all. But this is something completely different. This world that DJ Molles has created is a captivating Dark fantasy that pulled me in and I couldn't let it go. I am so sad that this is a standalone novel as there is so much more that I want to know. Prepare to be spellbound by D.J. Molles' astonishing creation, a gripping tale that seamlessly weaves brutality and humanity. Get ready for an exciting ride as violence starts early on, revealing surprising truths about the characters' important decisions. This powerful story highlights the best and worst sides of humanity, even when faced with difficult challenges. It's a must-read masterpiece that keeps you hooked from start to finish! D.J., Make this a series!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC

Fantastic book!

I was looking forward to seeing DJ's foray into fantasy and I was not at all disappointed. DJs gritty style of military/combat fiction lends itself well to this fantasy setting. The worldbuilding and magic systems were satisfying and left me wanting to know more, and the banter between squadmates was on point. Highly recommend this book and cannot wait to see what's next!

The premise of this book reminds me a little of The Last of Us and The 5th wave. It was very military focused and war driven which I’ve discovered is not my absolute favorite to read. The first half of the book was pretty slow to me, but the second half go extremely interesting. I’m really curious to see what will come of this series because I feel like the end of this book has set up a lot of great potential for future installments.

What do you get when you combine an epic fantasy, with war, religion, and politics. Well...pretty much a lot of fantasy novels actually. Specifically we get this gem, A Harvest of Ash & Blood.

So this story takes place during a war time, we have our religious sect that basically controls the Brannic Empire because the Church of Alchemy harvest goods to make "progress" or "new technology" such as lights and such. What are these goods you may ask? People, and now mostly children. Not just anyone, people who have magical abilities. Most of the kids don't even know they have these abilities as the Seekers find them when they sense their power and they take them off and burn them. The ashes are then used to power everything. This my friends is all just the first few pages.

This story goes hard and fast, we are thrown in to war, secrecy, morality, and interpersonal turmoil very quickly. The violence is very violent, but not off putting. The world that is built is very vivid with well developed characters. The story is well written and we see the struggles of humanity through all of our characters. How far is too far? Can we fix the past wrongs? Etc.

This is a really good, dark fantasy that does a fantastic job with all its subtleties and world building. I can't wait to see what else is to come.

The world building was (chefs kiss) perfection. This books keeps you on your toes the entire time and I do say it is a MUST READ! Thank you so much for the ARC copy.

Title: A Harvest of Ash & Blood
Author: D.J. Molles
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publishing Date: Aug 8, 2023
Pages: 545
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ☆☆☆☆.5 (rounded up to 5)

LOVED it.
This was the grimdark fantasy I’ve been waiting for! The magic system was so well written and I am obsessed with the fact that they have to harvest their magic. It made for such a cool, survival of the fittest kind of vibe and made it very real and gruesome! I love a violent book and this delivered. I found it comparable to a GRRM level, and I’m a huge fan of GRRM.
The pacing was pretty good, it slowed down a few times but it worked well because you kind of needed those small lulls! I actually really appreciated them and thought it was necessary!
The only thing that I could critique would be that I wanted more world building and backstory! I’m a huge lover of complex epic fantasy worlds, so I really yearn for more. Even though I didn’t get as much as I wanted, I can really appreciate how amazing the world and the writing was for me to want that much more from it! The story made sense and didn’t need anything extra, but I WANTED it.
Absolutely loved it and can’t wait to read more from D.J. Molles!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for sending this book for review consideration! All opinions are my own.

This was a very compelling read. It reminded me of Abercrombie or even Lawrence in the Grimdark genre.

The magic system was super unique and had the perfect amount of gruesome aspects to stick working the Grimdark genre for me. I really enjoyed how original it was. I've never read anything like it.

The storyline was interesting and definitely kept my interest. The pacing was a little slow at times but it picked up and I was able to easily finish the book.

I'd definitely recommend this book to fantasy and Grimdark lovers.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy of this book.

Have been waiting for this one! It so did not disappoint. Found myself reading into the eee hours of the morning to finish!

Should be at the top of your must read list!

Highly highly recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy of this book.

Have been waiting for this one! It so did not disappoint. Found myself reading into the eee hours of the morning to finish!

Should be at the top of your must read list!

Highly highly recommend.

Five stars!!!

I had mixed feelings on this book. But that didn't classify it as "a do not read." The book simply garnered some true emotions for me.
At the very basic, the characters were interesting, the time period difficult to place because technically savvy ideas were present, but it definitely got your typical sword, armor, journey details...

Now, the MAGIC...a very different & unique system, but because of the need to "harvest" this magic to feed the needs of the masses...( IE: running water, levelers, etc.) There is a some gruesome aspects to it. And there was some actual violence that was very sensitive.

This doesn't undermine the story by any means and overall the book was good. I am looking forward to another book in this world

A Harvest of Ash and Blood is a white-knuckle ride that gets your heart pounding and your pulse racing as it rampages through the hell that is the battlefield. D. J. Molles has written around twenty novels prior to this, almost all of which seem to be some flavor of military thriller. Maybe it's because I haven't read much like this, but I'm thoroughly impressed by the book's continuous intense action from start to end except for a few breaks for the characters to rest for a bit. The fantasy elements are well-integrated, though those looking for a typical epic fantasy adventure may find themselves with a rather different narrative. This is almost entirely a series of brutal military engagements that reminded me of a mix between twentieth century and medieval wars.

Depending how caught up the reader is by the action there may be little time to think about what is happening, why it is, or what it means. Although many details are stated directly, the implications are left for the reader to determine and the real-world similarities may not be immediately obvious. The narrative walks a fine line between being morally repugnant and awesome, though depending on your sensibilities it may only be the former. I chose to see it as more the latter, if only because the characters reacted what they had done and had great interactions between them. This is as much about the characters as it is about what they do.

The fantasy elements serve both practical and metaphorical functions. The former is how technology is powered by magic, which is a properly deceptive term on multiple levels. A select few individuals have specific magical abilities. Magic is mostly used by the enemy forces, though the allied forces have a few that can. As for the latter I found that there's surprisingly a lot to consider when making real world connections that go deeper than the surface level statements. There's a lot of social commentary, though it's often presented in ways that could be easy to overlook. For those who want it, it's there, and for those who only want the action, it's not difficult to let it all pass by.

This is listed as a standalone on the author's site and it works as a self-contained story, as long as you can be satisfied with many of the worldbuilding specifics being left unexplained. The opening map depicts a tidally locked planet and it's implied as such in the text, though that may not be evident if you didn't already know what that was. There's more than enough left for it to become a series, though that's probably dependent on how well this one does. If there are more, I'll definitely be reading them. If nothing else, this may get the author a few new readers for his primary series who otherwise wouldn't have known about them or gave them a try. I'll certainly try reading what else he's written.

Rating: 4.5/5

I received this DRC from Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley.

The world building of G.R.R.M. Mixed with the character development of Rothfuss, this one will chew you up and spit you out. Watch out.

"A Harvest of Ash and Blood" by D. J. Molles is hands down a must-read. This action-packed novel dives straight into a vicious and bloody battle full of wit, gore, magic, and magnificent technological devices. Readers who enjoy a gory battlefield and a sci-fi/fantasy mixed genre will highly enjoy this novel!

Despite the heavy themes of doom and gloom, there is a surprising amount of humour which made this dark read a little lighter. These special little laugh-out-loud moments also felt like a real depiction of soldiers bonding and getting to know one another. Especially when it takes the course of a novel for them to become a tight unit and to learn deep, meaningful information about one another, rather than huge exposition dumps or forced proximity to create a relationship between the characters. The closeness that happened between characters was natural and in a book that takes place on the battlefield, that’s a very important aspect.

The technology and magic in this book were fascinating to uncover, especially when it was so closely connected to those least expected to have it (which will make way more sense after reading the book!). Reading this aspect of the book, especially the character’s mixed feelings about their mission, was incredibly unsettling. To the point where not being able to reach through the pages and shake some sense into the characters really, really sucks. But it causes a lot of reflection to occur, especially when the events taking place are super similar to events that happened in real life. When fiction and reality are compared and cross-examined, the horror that is felt is indescribable, which may be exactly what Molles is striving for.

The only thing that was tough to get into with this story was not having enough background on why the war is happening, how the priests come to have so much power over people, and why no one else has questioned their place in the war. A few other questions about the world this story is set up in popped up throughout the story, and perhaps if some of them had been answered, the beginning of the story wouldn’t have felt so disorienting. It was a little like stepping foot where a previous book left off, even though this is the first novel.

Overall, this book is highly worth the read and deserves a lot of hype because I think Molles is doing something really cool and unique that hasn’t been done before in this genre. I’m really hoping this will be the kickoff to a series because I’m pretty attached to the characters (I’d make a bit of a joke here but then I’d spoil part of the book and I don’t want to be that person, but those who read this book will likely know what I really wanted to put here in parenthesis) and I also really want to know what comes next because the ending did not feel very final to me. This is a request if I can have one!

Please add “A Harvest of Ash and Blood” by D. J. Molles to your reading lists and if you don’t have one jot it down on your calendar or your friend’s or set a timer for the expected publication date of August 8th, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

This is such an amazing fantasy, with hardened rugged characters and a storyline that doesn't let up with the action (sometimes gory) that's addictive to read. This reminded me a lot about Game of Thrones with the way this was written, not the storyline but with the epic world building and an amazing wartime premise. This is skilfully written and Molles weaves an incredible story and start to what will be an epic series. I can see this becoming a must read and I highly recommend.