Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - First, Become Ashes

I had such high for hopes for this after loving their debut novel, Docile, so much; unfortunately this one fell a bit flat. The multiple perspectives failed to elevate the story in any, real meaningful way and left the pseudo-enesemble cast under developed. The story maintains such an intense focus on decided protagnoists Lark and Calvin, that, as a result, the perspectives and characters of Derryn and Kane (who we get entirely in the past as world building) fall a bit flat. Additionally, the lack of perspective from Nova was a missed opportunity. Both the beliefs and practices of the cult as well as the extent of Nova's villainy are mostly left off page. To be clear, though Nova by no means comes across as a good person (the few flashbacks we do get are trully awful) there's a layer of removal there that creates a disconnect with the story. There is simply not nearly enough of her on the page for Nova to represent much more than an idea of a character. The fellowship as a whole felt underdeveloped and unexplored and Agent Miller is never given enough time on the page despite, as Nova's child, the story positioning her as the indirect cause of the cult's existence. It almost feels like she belongs in an entirely different story. Calvin's interests feel more like a convinient plot device vs. concious character choice, but, again, that may also be a symptom of how underdeveloped the entire novel feels as a whole.

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arachne_reads's review

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dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I read this as a galley before publication, but my coworker had already written a staff recommendation for it by the time I was able to crack mine open. This is the second time Szpara has handed us a novel that I inhaled in only 2 days. Szpara has a way of showing how vulnerable we are through stories that examine trauma and the erotic. Calvin's arc in particular-- his deep need for magic to be real,

and his realization that his own pain and behavior enabled Lark in dangerous situations (but only when his best friend and Lark's own choices really sent the point home)

-- cut to the bone.

I am usually not a fan of present-tense narrative, since I keep stubbing my toe on instances where it's used in an unreflective way (since past tense is the literary norm, I think its unreflective use stands out less at the moment, though this seems to be shifting). Szpara uses it to excellent effect in this book, aligning the narrative with the fan fiction community and playing present tense main narration against past-tense reports from Kane which develop the trauma of Lark's and Kane's childhood, but also highlight the complexities of their relationship.

I like where the narrative lands in terms of the reality of magic-- it remains ambiguous, and leans on personal interpretation of experience, but hints at other possibilities. The only thing that knocked it down from perfect in my opinion was the coda, which felt a little too saccharine. I love the way Szpara takes all this pain and trauma and vulnerability and shows these characters just being messy humans through it, trying to be good humans through it.

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foreverinastory's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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