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maisierosereads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
I won an eARC of Ashes from the author in a giveaway - thank you Iona! All views here are my own.
Content warnings: drug use, addiction, overdose, suicide, assault, rape (including a graphic flashback), graphic violence, homophobia, consensual sexual situations, grief, attempted murder
I sat down today thinking that I would start to read Ashes, not realising that I would also finish reading it today. Once I started reading I had to continue, capitvated by the writing and desperate to see where Angela's journey through grief and trauma would end.
Ashes is beautiful and horrific all at once. The author's perspective as a trauma-informed mental health professional showed in how compassionately she depicted such difficult experiences and ways in which the trauma from such experiences can present. The realities of serious traumas are mixed with dark fantasy in a way which enhances rather than detracts from these issues.
The flaws of all characters are very much on show through this story, but many of these flaws are addressed and the character development is handled really well. I would say that the cast of characters is diverse.
The worldbuilding is also excellent, as is the way the writer mixes the main character's present timeline with flashbacks and memories to gradually build the reader's understanding of what has happened.
I won't risk spoiling this story for anybody by going into detail but I felt satisfied with the ending and I'm very glad I read this book!
Recommended for:
Fans of dark fantasy & horror
Fans of the movie Annihilation
People who like their horror to be written from a trauma-informed perspective
Fans of magical realism
People who like diversity across a book's cast of characters
People looking for latinx characters written by latinx authors
Content warnings: drug use, addiction, overdose, suicide, assault, rape (including a graphic flashback), graphic violence, homophobia, consensual sexual situations, grief, attempted murder
I sat down today thinking that I would start to read Ashes, not realising that I would also finish reading it today. Once I started reading I had to continue, capitvated by the writing and desperate to see where Angela's journey through grief and trauma would end.
Ashes is beautiful and horrific all at once. The author's perspective as a trauma-informed mental health professional showed in how compassionately she depicted such difficult experiences and ways in which the trauma from such experiences can present. The realities of serious traumas are mixed with dark fantasy in a way which enhances rather than detracts from these issues.
The flaws of all characters are very much on show through this story, but many of these flaws are addressed and the character development is handled really well. I would say that the cast of characters is diverse.
The worldbuilding is also excellent, as is the way the writer mixes the main character's present timeline with flashbacks and memories to gradually build the reader's understanding of what has happened.
I won't risk spoiling this story for anybody by going into detail but I felt satisfied with the ending and I'm very glad I read this book!
Recommended for:
Fans of dark fantasy & horror
Fans of the movie Annihilation
People who like their horror to be written from a trauma-informed perspective
Fans of magical realism
People who like diversity across a book's cast of characters
People looking for latinx characters written by latinx authors
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide, Chronic illness, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Homophobia and Body horror
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