This is the last guest post of launch week! Note: it’s not the last post, I’ll still be here tomorrow, but this is our last guest. I’m proud to introduce Rebekah, who I met last year in a peer-led Cohort. She writes “ultra-top-secret-projects” and is a ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) reader for the sequel to this book. Hopefully she’ll return to review it! Without further ado, her review:
“The scream of the fireborn stallion shivered against her spine. Heat blasted behind, and sparks stung the backs of her legs. Ceridwen staggered upward toward the rim of the crater, resisting the call to battle that surged through her blood. There would come a moment for vengeance, a day for retribution. But now… now there was no time.”
These are the opening lines of Of Fire and Ash, by Gillian Bronte Adams – an exhilarating, heart-pounding, high-fantasy epic. Complete with a hair-raising plot, breathtaking world-building, and a cast of fascinating characters, this book is at the top of my recommendation list for just about any given person.
First, I’m going to critique the storytelling side, then we’ll discuss the spiritual side of the story (because – gasp – this book’s author is Christian!), and lastly, we’ll tackle the content warnings.
Let’s dive in.
First, the storytelling. I have two favorite parts of the storytelling in Of Fire and Ash: the characters and the world-building. Those are the elements I’ll be talking about the most. (Though the prose perfectly complemented the epic fantasy setting, and the themes matched each character perfectly!) We have three main characters: Ceridwen tal Desmond, an exiled warrior princess forced to reclaim her throne; Rafi Tetrani, an exiled nobleman turned reluctant rebel; and Jakim Ha’Nor, a zealous missionary caught up by events bigger than he can handle alone.
Ceridwen is an interesting little charrie. She’s extremely rough and unlikable at first… but Gillian Bronte Adams opens the story with a short prologue of Ceridwen’s brother’s death and her own subsequent banishment, which allows you to see her at her lowest point… and cut her hardened older self a bit of slack. (And honestly, I think that’s genius!)
Rafi, like Ceridwen, also struggles in the midst of trauma. He almost seems even more wounded than she does, because where Ceridwen was forced to accept her own failings, Rafi wasn’t. He’s running from his own memories, as well as from his foes, for almost the entire book. This gets quite annoying after a while, though admittedly once his backstory is revealed, his reaction is understandable. (But his character arc is all about learning to face his fears, so it’s all good. XD)
Jakim is probably the least broken of our three POVs, in addition to being the youngest (he’s 17, where Rafi is 19 and Ceridwen is in her 20s). Like Ceridwen and Rafi, he’s experienced trauma… but unlike them, he’s actually managed to heal. And while his memories are still painful, he’s forgiven the people who hurt him. Completely. A concept Ceridwen can’t even comprehend when he tells her. This difference is due, I think, to the fact that where Ceridwen flung herself into trying to earn her own “atonement,” and Rafi simply ran from everything and everyone… Jakim poured himself into his faith. I find that fascinating. (And would you believe it, I never noticed that until I typed it out right here? XD)
The side characters are equally fascinating… and so are the villains. Among them, Iakki, Rafi’s rebellious 9-year-old friend; Apex Markham, Ceridwen’s gruff but caring mentor; Finnian, a determined young warrior with more than his fair share of scars; and Seamus, a gruff but thoroughly amusing sailor. Ceridwen, Rafi, and Jakim each have their own villainous foils (who I won’t critique as in-depth for the sake of space), who they face off with throughout the book, including Khilamook, a philosopher of questionable morals, and Sahak, an assassin… who also happens to be the most terrifying and sadistic villain I’ve ever come across. XD
And now that we’ve discussed the characters… we’re going to discuss the world-building. It’s incredibly complex (which, for all my fellow Tolkien fans, is exhilarating; for those of you who don’t generally read hardcore fantasy, that’s probably terrifying). Tolkien-level complex. Gillian Bronte Adams didn’t just worldbuild the kingdom where most of the story would take place (Soldonia)… she world-built the entire crudding planet. And every. Single. Culture. That we encounter throughout the story is unique. You can catch traces of real-world influence (for example, Jakim is Eliamite, which is the story-world’s equivalent of Hebrew, and the three Que tribes living in the jungle definitely have some South American / Native American vibes going on), but there isn’t a single culture that’s a near-exact copy of a real-world one. And every element of world-building – from the logistics of riding a fire-breathing horse, to the government system of Soldonia, the kingdom where most of the story takes place – is mixed in without a single info-dump. Now that’s skill.
Plus, we have the solborn – super-powered fantasy horses. Those are always a plus. XD
And now that we’ve taken a look at the writing craft side of things, we’re going to take a look at the spiritual side.
Every culture in Of Fire and Ash has its own specific religion – the Eliamites (or what’s left of them, anyway) follow Aodh, Bearer of the Eternal Scars (God, as you probably guessed; I LOVE the name the author chose!). Soldonia technically also follows Aodh, though we’re also told that they pray to the spirits of warriors who’ve gone before. The Nadaarian Empire worships a deity called Murloch, and we aren’t told much about him; I’m not entirely sure whether he’s a Satan-figure or simply an idol (I’m leaning toward Satan-figure, but that should become more clear as the rest of the series unfolds).
Jakim is the only character who seems to truly believe in Aodh. Ceridwen mentions Aodh every now and then, but mostly in the context of a cultural blessing. It’s mentioned that she prefers praying to her people’s warrior spirits, though I don’t think we see her do it. Rafi “doesn’t consider himself superstitious,” though he occasionally exclaims with the name of the false goddess of his adopted people, the Alonque. I’m not entirely sure how religion will factor into the charries’ arcs, but given the fact that the author is Christian, I expect it will somehow (this is only the first book, after all).
Now for our final segment of this review: the content warnings.
This book is pretty clean. The only thing REMOTELY sexual is a brief mention of a character being illegitimate. Minimal language – characters exclaim the names of the deities they worship; Rafi says “Ches-Shu,” a false goddess worshiped by his adopted family (though he doesn’t appear to actually believe in her), and Ceridwen and Jakim sometimes say “Aodh,” or “Aodh have mercy,” but it appears to be more in the context of a prayer.
The Nadaari as a culture refer to the solborn horses of Soldonia as “___-demon,” because solborn are pretty terrifying if threatened. Rafi sometimes hears his dead brother’s voice in his head, but that seems to be just his subconscious, not an actual ghost. He’s also surprised to note that the sea-demon (seablood solborn) he befriends has the exact same eye color that his brother did. The solborn are occasionally referred to as “magical” in the sense that they’re fantastical and different; there’s no actual magic system in the book.
Honestly, I only have one real content warning for this book… and that’s violence. Of Fire and Ash is a story about war – and the author doesn’t tone that down. At all. Blood splatters as people are killed or wounded. Enemy warriors are burned to death by Ceridwen’s solborn steed, a fireborn. One character’s solborn is killed and his arm lopped off. One character is tortured horribly. Another has a deadly weapon tested on him (though he survives the test… barely). And there’s probably more that I’m forgetting about.
This book is not for the squeamish. It’s probably also not for those who don’t have the patience to settle in for the long haul. But it’s beautiful. We get to see the characters go toe-to-toe with their foes… and find that they can win. Aodh is clearly a part of the story – moving and working in His people to bring about their good. And it’s an excellent reminder that even when nothing makes sense… even when everything is falling apart… He’s still there. And everything is going exactly according to plan.
About the Reviewer:
Rebekah Doose is a dreamer… and above all, a daughter of the Most High. She’s an aspiring writer of Christian YA, and is always on the lookout for a good book that doesn’t shy away from the hard things. Rebekah loves swords, books, sailboats, and pianos… and she has no idea what those all have in common. She lives near the Rockies with her family, her characters, and a dog that yodels.
Note from Vella: I haven’t personally read this book yet, but I trust my guest reviewers to include all necessary content warnings.