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Review: Ashes by Iona Wayland

Hi bookish friends!

You’ve probably seen me talking about this book on social media already, but to celebrate the fact that Ashes was officially published today I wanted to share my review of it here too!

I first found out about Ashes when I saw a friend talking about it on Instagram, and I was incredibly fortunate to be one of the people who won an eARC of it in the author’s giveaway.

Happy reading,

Maisie Rose x

About Ashes

Genre: Dark fantasy / horror

Age rating: Adult

Content warnings: drug use, addiction, overdose, suicide, assault, rape (including a graphic flashback), graphic violence, homophobia, consensual sexual situations, grief, attempted murder

Summary:

After her brother Donny’s tragic death, Angela Soloman is instructed where to lay his ashes to bring peace to his restless spirit. She must journey and battle deviant supernatural beings, face her own traumatic past, and follow the rules of Hollow Forest to avoid the stalking creature called the Canid Carey. With help from a mysterious ally, she fights to quiet more tormented souls than one. – blurb

Main Characters (drawn by Odette A Bach!)




From left to right: Angela, Donny, Wyatt

My Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5 stars)

I sat down on October 4th 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:

  1. Fans of dark fantasy & horror

  2. Fans of the movie Annihilation

  3. People who like their horror to be written from a trauma-informed perspective

  4. Fans of magical realism

  5. People who like diversity across a book’s cast of characters

  6. People looking for latinx characters written by latinx authors

About the author

Iona Wayland is a Writer, book lover, and tea enthusiast. She considers herself a child of the forest, and is a devoted animal mom and mental health advocate. She depicts aspects of the human experience often in fantastical ways. Common themes of her work include: grief, surviving trauma, and finding purpose and strength.

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