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This scenario demonstrates a number of flaws with the PF2 scenario design simply since some of the encounters ask whether you've got the right builds in your party, especially the second encounter which is not telegraphed at all. It very much seems like more of a PF1 style ethos where the things you do *before* the encounter (in character building) are far more relevant than the things you actually do in the encounter since the creatures in the second encounter put a lot of different types of characters in goldfish mode where they simply can't do anything.

I do appreciate what other players have said about Pathfinders can't always win every time and agree that there definitely need to be stakes to the missions so I'm OK with having situations where success isn't guaranteed. However, I feel like the scenarios I've played so far where this is the case tend to be really quite punitive in the sense of leveraging unfair or binary mechanics (PF1 ethos) rather than being due to the decisions players make on the field of battle (PF2 ethos).

I love the premise and content of this book, but I feel like the pacing and environment is a bit off.

4 stars because I'm really excited about the premise and the content, with demerits for the pacing and environment as detailed in the Spoilers and for there being so few Deviant abilities, which makes them feel less special (I understand why there are so few since they're a feature that's rarely going to be used in games, so Paizo doesn't want to overcommit time to working on extensive options for features that aren't going to see much play, but would have liked to see a couple more since it's a central part of the flavor of the AP).

I've been wanting more Occult-related content since Pathfinder 2 rolled out, and this book *mostly* delivers. The new spells and archetypes get into weird esoterica and time manipulation. The Chronoskimmer and Curse Maelstrom archetypes in particular are very flavorful and interesting archetypes that really change the feel of a character, and while I'm not sold on the current implementation of the Time Oracle from a mechanical effectiveness perspective it really does a decent job of capturing that feeling of being progressively more detached from time as your curse progresses.

The two new classes are OK. The Thaumaturge never really caught my interest mechanically.

The Psychic is a class I was really looking forward to, and while it has interesting flavor and mechanics relative to some other full casters I feel like it runs into similar traps mechanically as the Oracle where it's pretty much always going to need to be resting for 10 mins after a fight. I am however glad that they gave access to at least a couple interesting and useful flavor feats in the class feat tree, compared to Wizards and Sorcerers who have nothing or very little in their feat trees that relate back to their choices of arcane thesis, specialist school, or bloodline (the arcane / divine / occult / primal evolution feats are really quite generic) that have flavorful, more permanent effects.

Ultimately, while there are definitely some misses in this book (the layout potentially being one of them), I think there is also a lot of good content here and I'd like to see so much more of the occult realm fleshed out both in expansions to current classes, archetypes, and options (aftermath / deviant feats), and in new material.

This book is one of the most creative rulebooks I have ever seen. It is largely written from the perspective of the Ghost King Geb, which gives a hilarious (if biased) perspective on all manner of subjects from geopolitics to arcane minutiae.

The crunch is decent and opens up some interesting concepts and design space, but too much of it seems far too niche to see much use in average play. Most of the Undead archetypes either give up too much with limited benefit (Vampires), or don't get much for their investment (Liches) to be worth considering at all. Many of the archetypes seem to have very niche applications and limitations that are too-strongly imposed to let them function well outside of an undead-focused campaign. I give the items a pass since those represent less-permanent decisions than feats, and having a toolbox of items that can be used to address thorny undead-related situations can help out characters going for more of a vampire / undead hunter-type theme while using a more generalist class like the Thaumaturge or Inventor.

The things that do work hit it out of the park though. The Skeleton ancestry and Zombie archetype are both hilarious and truly play with the question of how an undead of their specific types would change how a player might interact with the world. Skeletons can use one arm to pull off their other arm and swing it around with a weapon in that hand, granting them reach when they otherwise wouldn't have it, as an example. Zombies can detach a hand and let it crawl around to assault people.

This book, and the AP itself, deal with some pretty disturbing content so it's not recommended for all ages, or for anyone who is sensitive to this kind of content.

That being said, the Dreaming Palace is an exceptionally interesting locale as the end of this book. Getting there is a bit odd though, first working as beat cops to deal with some minor disturbances, and then breaking a violent(?) labor strike. This latter part rubs me the wrong way since the assumption is that the players will put the strike down violently and some key NPCs are explicitly noted as being unwilling to explain their points, negotiate, or even talk at all. I recommend updating a lot of this section - sure, hotheads with a predilection for violence exist so having some NPCs that are 100% raging against The Man are fine, but I definitely feel like players should have more options and autonomy in resolving the situation than simply bashing everyone in the head.

**Preliminary review pending book completion**

The players left the last book asking "wait, what's *next*?" after realizing that they've destroyed the Scarlet Triad and yet still haven't solved the problem.

Well, what's next is that Breachill is about to get NUKED, and the players are plenty attached to their home, so I'm really looking forward to chapter 1.

I'm also really looking forward to chapter 2 because of all the hooks I have planned to bring some character backstories into final focus, but I feel like on particular NPC is going to be too easy to figure out immediately so I'll be making some adjustments here.

I feel like chapter 3 is going to need some work though. As players have noted, it's a series of largely unconnected encounters that are kind of hard to justify. The final battle is largely just a PL+4 tank-and-spank as well.

In summary, I'm really looking forward to this one but the final chapter will need some tweaks.

This book is the culmination of the players' campaign against their main adversary so far and has some interesting points but ultimately ends up unfocused. The first chapter has players engage with a situation that is interesting but also very difficult to actually run in practice. While this first chapter does serve to introduce the players to a semi-important NPC, I found that it was difficult to build the connection I wanted with the NPC. I simply ended up hand-waving a large part of this chapter to move on to more interesting things.

Chapter two starts off interesting and has some concepts that an experienced DM can use to create interesting scenarios (like a heist!). However, as-written it simply ends up being a slog of skill checks and book-keeping without the contextual support to engage in extended roleplaying (like was provided in Chapter 4 with the Council of Kovlar). I ended up rewriting the heist to be a more dynamic scenario and cut a decent amount of the repetitive skill check stuff short.

Chapter 3 is amazing though, and is worth all the effort for that final hook of "wait, what comes *next*?"

This adventure hits some amazing story beats and provides DMs with an excellent playground for crafting experiences for their players without forcing them onto strict rails. It maintains a sense of tension and potential betrayal for the players in a foreign environ as they investigate political machinations without getting bogged down in an endless train of skill checks, and the looming question of a cursed, undead-infested city leaves players with senses of both foreboding and curiosity.

The one criticism I have for this book is that it starts with a very short "weird Darklands vibe," and then immediately and dramatically shifts to Dwarven political dynamics which is a little jarring and leaves players with a little confusion over the theme at the beginning. I recommend updating the set of encounters between exiting the Elf Gate and entering Kovlar with undead rather than the weird Darklands creature encounters.

The way in which the players are introduced to their new enemy should leave them chomping at the bit to right some wrongs - and this adventure path delivers. Most of the adventure path works as-is, with flexibility to add in new hooks, tie in character motivations or backstories, or create interesting dynamic situations.

There is a decent amount of fan service that will really only matter to players who played through the Hell's Rebels PF1 adventure path, but this is trivial to cut out and replace with whatever else might suit you better.

This book gives the players their first real view of the threat they're facing down, and provides a wonderful introduction to the Mwangi Elf culture and history which are unique and compelling, especially in the context of the threat the players are now learning that they are facing down. The one of the two "dungeon"-type areas also provides a wonderful array of approaches to solving it through non-combat means such as subterfuge and sabotage, but can really punish unwary players that attempt to simply come in guns blazing. The locale of the final dungeon-type setting and its history also make for a unique experience for a party that is engaged with the broader arcs of the story.

The main shortcoming of this book is that the majority of the activity is jungle hexploration, and it's quite a slog.

Age of Ashes represents a good framework for the initial book of the AP, but the motivations of the main villain for the book, and their competence, leave a bit to be desired. An experienced DM may want to restructure some components of the villain and her interaction with the plot to both make more sense and make them more competent, but the story as-written is still functional even if you don't make updates.