I stumbled upon this one at the library, and as soon as I saw the cover, I knew it was something special! I enjoy a good dark fantasy, but I have never read one like this! Full of sorrow and mystery, loss, and hope, this story takes part in a war-torn world, where dark gods are real, and Twisted Things corrupt all they touch.

I loved this story, and though it is a slow read, I enjoyed it from cover to cover. The writing style kept me interested and made me want to know more. Most importantly, I had to know how things turned out! I love the characters, and how they came to life with their complexity. I enjoyed the plot, that while not always the main focus, was still important through-out. The plot is that a small family, two sisters and an unborn child, relearning what it means to be a family, and how to cope with loss, pain, and struggles after the war left one with-out a brother, and the other without a husband.

The dark god and his followers added yet another layer to this complex world and added a fantasy element. We learn that a dark god has died, at the hands of a formerly unknown soldier. The event has repercussions no one could have guessed and the war comes to the front door of our main characters Hallie and Marthe. When a stranger asks about work, and Twisted Things attach their small farm, things start to spiral out of control!

Sometimes, the amount of time that passes between when I receive a book from NetGalley and when I have a chance to read it is longer than I’d like. Because of this, I may forget what the book is about or why I selected it. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing; I just forge ahead and see what happens, trusting in my original inclinations. In the first couple of pages of this book, I was reminded of Cold Mountain, and mistakenly imagined I was reading about soldiers returning from the Civil War. Well, not so much. This is not the Civil War, and these are not those men.

 

Bobet’s fantasy is remarkable for its realistic details; she has recreated our world, circa the late 1800s, and turned it on its head. The old cities with their towering skyscrapers are a thing of the past, and the people who remain live off the land in traditional farming communities — only now their men are off fighting a ruthless dark god. The comfort found in this bucolic scene is shattered by the appearance of an inescapable evil, far from the original scene of battle.

 

This is a compelling, eerie tale. While some of the story is predictable and less convincing, Bobet keeps the narrative moving with her vivid descriptions and attention to detail. I cared about these characters, and I was afraid of that dark god and the wretched monsters he unleashed on their world. So yes, I am a wuss, and you will probably be braver and just muddle on through the scary bits. But in the end, like me, you will be happy you did, because Bobet has woven a lyrical, heartbreaking tale of a strange and unforgettable new world.

 

p.s. – I loved this cover – makes me want to go out and buy a hard copy of the book.

The Marla Mason story, which I have just started, is my favorite so far.   Love, love, love Marla!

Happily Ever After  - Kiera Cass – 5 Stars

 

Delightful Selection fluff that reminded me why I love this series after the immense disappointment of The Heir. 4 short stories – The Queen – Amberley’s story. This one I’ve read and reviewed once before, a few scenes of how Amberley and King Clarkson got together. The Price – some Selection scenes from Maxon’s view point. The Guard – my least favourite as this was Aspen’s story and I really really do not like Aspen at all and The Favourite – Marlee’s story. Also included are a few scenes from Lucy’s POV. I like Lucy, but her relationship with Aspen felt like unnecessary insta love to get Aspen over America. Because of course it’s obvious from the start of this series what America’s destiny is. There’s also a few scenes from Celeste’s POV. Some absolutely lovely art work scattered throughout of various scenes throughout. There’s a map in front of the book done in the most lovely pink and purple ink. The hardcover itself is so pretty, and purple!

Square crossed off: Book Towards Another Challenge (this was my purple themed cover for Story Sprites Round 3)

 

Court of Fives – Kate Elliott – 5 Stars

Brilliant fantasy novel. Great family dynamic between the main character, Jess and her mother and sisters. Incredible sense of place, brilliant world building, including religion, status, and every day life. The plot includes a competition of both mental and physical ability which can be run by both men and women but not someone of Jess’s family’s precious social status. Very well written, very gripping and hardly any romance and what romance there is is something Jess uses to help her family when they are in mortal danger. Exciting and intriguing, intricately plotted world of adventure and fantasy politics with a great cast of characters.

Square Crossed off: Number in Title.

 

Awake At Dawn (Shadow Falls #2) C.C. Hunter – 4 Stars

Second book in the Shadow Falls series. Following on shortly from the first book the continuing saga of Kylie’s daily life at the camp and her search for whatever paranormal species she really is. For a paranormal romance, the writing and the dialogue is very well written and extremely realistic and relatable too. Several different plot developments and twists as Kylie learns new things and relationships develop, and some scary stuff happening as well. This series manages to mix some series side and light hearted romance and humour. Though the final events did feel a tad bit rushed, and I’m hoping they will be explored in the more in the next book. More questions than answers, but a very good series.

Square Crossed off – Characters are Not Human

 

An Inheritance of Ashes –Leah Bobett – 2 Stars

A very weird dystopia. This one made no sense whatsoever. It’s got a very bleak the world has ended feel to it, but there’s no history and whatever world building there is was confusing as hell. Some sort of war had taken place and from the sound of it the good guys had won. But the bad guy still had weird creatures showing up and attacking the farm where the heroine and her sister lived. Dull and boring. I can’t even remember the plot of this one that clearly. Just that it was bleak and I didn’t like it.

Square Crossed off: End of the World (I may wind up reading something else for this square)

 

The Steep And Thorny Way – Cat Winters – 3 Stars

A unique Hamlet retelling. Set in 1920s Oregon. Hanalee is struggling to come to terms with the death of her father and the fact that her mom has moved on and married a white man. Hanalee is mixed race and at this particular town in this time that can be a very dangerous thing. Hanalee is all fire and determination. Though a revelation from the boy who was convicted of her fathers’ murder set in motion the fact that nothing is quite as it seems. Doesn’t stick to the Hamlet storyline exactly. I kept thinking – almost everyone dies in the end of Hamlet – I like this girl – how is this going to work? But it’s easy to see where the Hamlet parallels come in. The mystery is absorbing and the historical detail is very good. There’s an interesting author’s note as well about Oregon history and the law. Unpredictable and surprising.

Square Crossed off: Retelling

 

Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins – 5 Stars.

I’ve read this four times now. (Though for some reason I’ve only got it marked down as twice on Goodreads and three times on Booklikes). I found my original review here. 

It’s my go to book whenever I’m sick or sad. It’s fluffy and fun (and yes I know St Clair is a bit of  - well,  a lot of – a dick at times) but I don’t care. It’s still one of my favourite books ever.

Square Crossed off – Set in More Than One Country

 

Burn Baby Burn – Meg Medina – 4 Stars

A brilliant coming of age story set against the background of the summer of 1977 in New York. While the story itself is fictional, it’s set against some very real things that happened. The Son of Sam murder spree, an unseasonable heatwave, blackouts, arson attacks, and women’s rights movements. Nora is a very mature and well written character in a horrible home situation. Her brother has become a drug addict and as a result is a criminal and violent and her mother is turning a blind eye to it. They’re struggling to make ends meet, Nora just wants to turn 18 and move out. She has a good best friend, a steady job but doesn’t quite know what to do after high school. She and her BFF have their 18^th birthdays coming up and they just want to be able to go out and dance all night at the disco. Some delightful 70s pop culture references throughout. On top of all these Nora has to deal with all these other things happening, the heat, the terror of a serial killer stalking the city, being in the cinema when the big blackout hit…Very moving, good storytelling. A very interesting author’s note at the end about the real things that happened during that summer and how they tied into Nora’s story.

Square Crossed off: Based on Real Events.

Very occasionally, in the midst of all the other books, you come across one that feels like it was written literally and specifically for you. An Inheritance of Ashes is one of those books for me. As such–fair warning–the rest of this post is not even going to be remotely unbiased.

 

There are several things that An Inheritance of Ashes has going for it. I  loved the richness of the language; it’s a marvelous combination of realistic (and often funny) dialogue, and poetic prose without a misplaced word. The book opens like this: “The barley was in. The stubble of it lay bent-broke in the fields as far as the eye could see, rows of golden soldiers, endlessly falling, from the river to the blacktop road. On a clear evening, with the harvesting done, you could see both river and road from the farmhouse porch: every acre, lined in sunset light, of Roadstead Farm.” It’s lovely to read, and on re-reading it just now, I caught so many echoes that we’ll see later on in the book.

 

But while language is certainly important, for me as a reader characters will make or break a book. And here they make it. I cared about all of them: Marthe, and Heron, and Asphodel Jones. Even the more minor characters read as rounded and vibrant in their own right. As I think about it, I suspect that this is quite intentional; that we are supposed to see all of these people as real and important.

 

However, Hallie, our narrator, is central to this story. We have a tight first person narration here; we see everything through her eyes, through her experiences, and personality, and biases. Bobet is quite aware of this and plays with it throughout the book. While I wouldn’t say that Hallie is exactly an unreliable narrator, we are reminded several times that her point of view is not the only one.

 

Hallie’s voice is clear and strong and wonderful. She is neither perfect nor passive. She reads as very human: flawed, stubborn, contradictory, full of hope and fear and wanting to love. I completely and utterly believed in her.

 

The other area where An Inheritance of Ashes really shone for me was in the themes. Partly this is personal–the way Hallie and Marthe’s family is described, the way they struggle to deal with that past while not letting it define them, the way they don’t always succeed–all of that rang so familiar and so true that it felt almost eerie. It moved me to tears several times. I kept thinking, “Yes. This is how it is. This is how it feels. This is how I feel.”

 

But as well as this aspect, I also truly appreciated the way the book shows the importance of relationships, that our strength lies in each other. That it lies in reaching out, beyond all hope (a little bit of Cordelia Vorkosigan there, maybe). And again there’s that moment when Hallie’s perspective is shown to be limited, when the twists of the past are finally unknotted and we see, with her, a different truth. It might not have worked, but here it does, and it reinforces the idea that by reaching towards others, we can find our own strength.

 

Finally, I’ll mention that I found the worldbuilding and imagery here fantastic, and gorgeous, and scary, in all the right ways. There’s a lot of depth and richness to the images and the way they tie into the worldbuilding. I really felt that sense of history lying behind the story that we don’t see but that informs everything else.

 

I’m so glad that the Cybils gave me a reason to pick this one up; it’it will absolutely be one of my favorite books for the year, and one I intended to re-read regularly.

 

Book information: 2015, Clarion Books; YA

Book source: review copy from the publisher provided for the Cybils

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Other reviews: The Midnight Garden, Teen Reads, Kirkus, you?