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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
3.5/5
I thought The Girl Who Talks to Ashes was enjoyable, and was centered around an interesting concept, but the writing style was a little lacking for me. It felt a little young, which I wasn't expecting -- however, this is actually a positive, because it's so rare now to get a YA tag on a book that is truly YA. So many are more like adult fantasy, but the genres have been flattened into one lump together. It was also much shorter than I wanted; by the time I got invested, I realized I was more than halfway through! Overall a fun read, but not mind-blowing.
I thought The Girl Who Talks to Ashes was enjoyable, and was centered around an interesting concept, but the writing style was a little lacking for me. It felt a little young, which I wasn't expecting -- however, this is actually a positive, because it's so rare now to get a YA tag on a book that is truly YA. So many are more like adult fantasy, but the genres have been flattened into one lump together. It was also much shorter than I wanted; by the time I got invested, I realized I was more than halfway through! Overall a fun read, but not mind-blowing.
Mixed feelings about this
On the whole the book was fun and intriguing but the whole ‘disability causes magic power’ trope completely ruined it for me.
On the whole the book was fun and intriguing but the whole ‘disability causes magic power’ trope completely ruined it for me.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
TL;DR – this pink book is not actually a pink book and I love it
9/10⭐
Okay, let me try to explain this book... You know how in the middle of an exam season you find that one TV show and then you suddenly have all the time in the world to binge the first 27 seasons as all of your deadlines shoot from the sky right toward you?
Well, this was my TV show and I may be late with exam prep now, oops 😅
Before I start, let me tell you this: shallow past me didn't want to read this book because it's pink. Yeah yeah, I know, I'm quite literally guilty for judging a book by its cover, but honestly, there are just so many books to read and I had to decide based on something!
So, why am I reviewing the pink book now? You see, that's kind of a funny story: I happened to love one of Rachel's short stories and I wanted more of her work, so in a stunning turn of events I got my hands on a review copy. That being said, everything I state in this review is my honest opinion because, let's be real, having dishonest reviews would be as stupid a move for me as it would for the author. Anyway, it's time to review the pink book, starting with the awesome things:
*Read it for one reason, read it for Stan* – I present to you one of my favorite father figures in all of literature. Imagine a dad joke, but like an actual person, that's literally Stan. Don't be fooled tho, he's also the most wholesome thing in the entire novel—how much he loves his wife and daughter and what he's ready to do for them breaks my heart into more pieces than I can count... and then he hits with another dad joke 😂
*Messed up epileptic Time Ranger Teenager* – not gonna lie, I really like Lilah as an MC. She's cute and smart and funny, but also stupidly reckless and complicated at times. Apart from all that, she seems to be the only person in the entire world that can use magic, so she basically needs to figure out an entire magic system on her own (would anyone here try to mess with those things? Because she did). All in all, I really enjoyed following her, but I don't wanna get into spoilers so just go read the book!
*A cozy low fantasy murder mystery* – I don't know how else to describe it, but it's really a perfect summer read. This book manages to be light and dark at the same time, to tackle very deep and sensitive topics and still feel like a puffy cloud. That's quite a unique feeling there, as the author definitely didn't refrain from exploring serious themes and punching me in the gut whenever she could, but on the other hand, it's so bingeable? I don't know, see for yourself, but my experience reading this book was less "I need to know what happens" and more "I'mma read 3 more chapters during lunch because it makes me happy"
*Themes* – I'm trying not to spoil anything, so hmmm... Let's just say that this book is a beautiful exploration of family, identity, and grief, and leave the rest to you 😁
Alright, alright, enough praise (I might come back with more though, who knows). Let's state the obvious: this book, like every other book, isn't perfect.
There are couple of things that bothered me as I blazed through it, but nothing too critical, hence my rating of the book. However, I do feel the need to be transparent about these things, so let's talk a bit about my biggest disappointment:
*Perspective* – granted, I'm not too used to third person omniscient, perhaps because most of fantasy is written in either 3rd limited or 1st, but that's not the reason why I'm putting this as the main con. Third person omniscient can be done incredibly well (take Sir Pterry as an obvious example), but I feel like there were spots where this book lost depth because it felt like I was just hovering above certain scenes without really gaining a deep insight into who some of the characters are. That doesn't mean there aren't deep moments of introspection and processing life, but they mostly happen with Lilah and Stan, and I just wished that some of the other cast members got the same treatment because I really liked some of them.
Now, I was trying to think about why this bothered me more than it usually would, and I came to the same conclusion I've been having lately with more and more books, self-pub or not: "I've seen you do this masterfully, so I know you can do it better than this, so why are you not doing it?"
In this case, I've already read the aforementioned short story, which was one of the best uses of 1st person ever. In my opinion, the author used everything that makes 1st person great and ditched everything that could've made it a disaster, so I automatically came to expect a great level of understanding (and therefore amazing execution) of the tools she uses in her writing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying perspective was utilized poorly, I just wish I got more out of certain characters and moments because I know the author has the capacity to blow my mind with the way she uses perspective for character development, and it just wasn't at a level at which I wanted it to be.
So congrats, Rachel, you can take a seat in the "you're better than this" club, there's a free chair between Argyle and Rothfuss so you're in good company 😂
Anyway, I may have talked for a bit too long now... My final cons would be mostly some of the tropes I'm generally not a fan of, as well as the fact that it was a biiit repetitive at times, but those two kinda pale in comparison to what I consider to be the biggest weakness of this book.
To end on a light note, if you haven't noticed already, I ate this book up like nobody's business! It was a very fun and beautiful read and it made my heart melt, and all that despite the fact that it is, wait for it, a pink book!
#JusticeForPinkBooks #MoreGreatDadsInFantasy
9/10⭐
Okay, let me try to explain this book... You know how in the middle of an exam season you find that one TV show and then you suddenly have all the time in the world to binge the first 27 seasons as all of your deadlines shoot from the sky right toward you?
Well, this was my TV show and I may be late with exam prep now, oops 😅
Before I start, let me tell you this: shallow past me didn't want to read this book because it's pink. Yeah yeah, I know, I'm quite literally guilty for judging a book by its cover, but honestly, there are just so many books to read and I had to decide based on something!
So, why am I reviewing the pink book now? You see, that's kind of a funny story: I happened to love one of Rachel's short stories and I wanted more of her work, so in a stunning turn of events I got my hands on a review copy. That being said, everything I state in this review is my honest opinion because, let's be real, having dishonest reviews would be as stupid a move for me as it would for the author. Anyway, it's time to review the pink book, starting with the awesome things:
*Read it for one reason, read it for Stan* – I present to you one of my favorite father figures in all of literature. Imagine a dad joke, but like an actual person, that's literally Stan. Don't be fooled tho, he's also the most wholesome thing in the entire novel—how much he loves his wife and daughter and what he's ready to do for them breaks my heart into more pieces than I can count... and then he hits with another dad joke 😂
*Messed up epileptic Time Ranger Teenager* – not gonna lie, I really like Lilah as an MC. She's cute and smart and funny, but also stupidly reckless and complicated at times. Apart from all that, she seems to be the only person in the entire world that can use magic, so she basically needs to figure out an entire magic system on her own (would anyone here try to mess with those things? Because she did). All in all, I really enjoyed following her, but I don't wanna get into spoilers so just go read the book!
*A cozy low fantasy murder mystery* – I don't know how else to describe it, but it's really a perfect summer read. This book manages to be light and dark at the same time, to tackle very deep and sensitive topics and still feel like a puffy cloud. That's quite a unique feeling there, as the author definitely didn't refrain from exploring serious themes and punching me in the gut whenever she could, but on the other hand, it's so bingeable? I don't know, see for yourself, but my experience reading this book was less "I need to know what happens" and more "I'mma read 3 more chapters during lunch because it makes me happy"
*Themes* – I'm trying not to spoil anything, so hmmm... Let's just say that this book is a beautiful exploration of family, identity, and grief, and leave the rest to you 😁
Alright, alright, enough praise (I might come back with more though, who knows). Let's state the obvious: this book, like every other book, isn't perfect.
There are couple of things that bothered me as I blazed through it, but nothing too critical, hence my rating of the book. However, I do feel the need to be transparent about these things, so let's talk a bit about my biggest disappointment:
*Perspective* – granted, I'm not too used to third person omniscient, perhaps because most of fantasy is written in either 3rd limited or 1st, but that's not the reason why I'm putting this as the main con. Third person omniscient can be done incredibly well (take Sir Pterry as an obvious example), but I feel like there were spots where this book lost depth because it felt like I was just hovering above certain scenes without really gaining a deep insight into who some of the characters are. That doesn't mean there aren't deep moments of introspection and processing life, but they mostly happen with Lilah and Stan, and I just wished that some of the other cast members got the same treatment because I really liked some of them.
Now, I was trying to think about why this bothered me more than it usually would, and I came to the same conclusion I've been having lately with more and more books, self-pub or not: "I've seen you do this masterfully, so I know you can do it better than this, so why are you not doing it?"
In this case, I've already read the aforementioned short story, which was one of the best uses of 1st person ever. In my opinion, the author used everything that makes 1st person great and ditched everything that could've made it a disaster, so I automatically came to expect a great level of understanding (and therefore amazing execution) of the tools she uses in her writing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying perspective was utilized poorly, I just wish I got more out of certain characters and moments because I know the author has the capacity to blow my mind with the way she uses perspective for character development, and it just wasn't at a level at which I wanted it to be.
So congrats, Rachel, you can take a seat in the "you're better than this" club, there's a free chair between Argyle and Rothfuss so you're in good company 😂
Anyway, I may have talked for a bit too long now... My final cons would be mostly some of the tropes I'm generally not a fan of, as well as the fact that it was a biiit repetitive at times, but those two kinda pale in comparison to what I consider to be the biggest weakness of this book.
To end on a light note, if you haven't noticed already, I ate this book up like nobody's business! It was a very fun and beautiful read and it made my heart melt, and all that despite the fact that it is, wait for it, a pink book!
#JusticeForPinkBooks #MoreGreatDadsInFantasy