Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Ashes of London

A very solid first volume in what promises to be an excellent historical saga set in the early years of the reign of Charles II Stuart, more precisely at the time of the Great Fire of 1666. While it certainly falls into the "historical crime fiction" category, there are murders, criminals and many mysteries to unravel - but this one is neither a somewhat anachronistic "police procedural" nor even fully a whodunnit. It rather resonates like the starting point of a fresque in the vein of Victor Hugo or Ken Follet. It is the beginning of the story of two young persons, both finding themselves caught up in the instability, unrest, intrigues and ruthless ambitions in the young restored Stuart monarchy of Charles II, a few years after the downfall of Cromwell's Commonwealth. Just as London burns fiercely behind them, the lives of James Marwood, an entry level clerk and former printer apprentice working in the office attached to an under-secretary of state and Catherine Lovett, young woman living with rich relatives after the disgrace of a notorious father are thrown to the winds, as they both get embroiled deeper and deeper in a web of murky political, religious, personal and financial secrets. Life is not always easy for pawns in the games of the powerful.

Taylor's portrait of burning London is vibrant, rich in historical details that the writer however never lets encumber the narrative, and while the mystery story is in itself intriguing and very satisfying to unravel, a main interest of the novel is in how well it builds the two main characters of James and Cat on their separate paths, introduce many secondary players who are not yet fully developed but have a lot of potential to be in future volumes, and clearly sets the stage for a much longer saga. It leaves you with a strong desire to pick up the next book.

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megkitts10's review against another edition

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adventurous informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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meghmac12's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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nana05's review against another edition

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Too slow, quite dark, didn’t like the atmosphere

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irfoxwriter's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I’m not a fan of murder mystery, but I do like historical fiction, so I gave this a go. It’s well written but a bit… plodding? I found it lacked tension.

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reading_rae's review against another edition

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Can write historical explanations, but cannot write women (noticeably written by a man).

Summary of book is misleading and not what the actual book is about.

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_haggis_'s review against another edition

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I have mixed emotions about this book - might come back to it later.

I just really struggled with the pacing of the novel. At first, the intensity of the descriptions of the great fire were exhilarating and sympathetic, I thought Taylor did a really good job at bringing the audience into the setting and aligning you with the hopelessness, fear and adrenaline of the Londoners. And then at Cat's appearance.... it just felt really meandering.

The same scene is replayed with multiple, choppy perspectives, the characters go back and revisit it (fine we get it. You think her eyes are pretty. she's mysterious. who is she???) and the book overall seemed to dally between moments of intense climax and cliff hanger - and then meander down old streets and philosophise. There seemed to impetus to solve the murders and very little at stake.

I also thought the characterisation of Cat, from what I've seen, is completely cardboard and boring. She has no personality beyond her trauma and her goals (unusual for a woman at the time) which are meant to demonstrate her rebelliousness against the patriarchy just felt twee. She also suffered from male-author-writing-a-woman syndrome: her breasts and body are constantly talked about.

The Rape scene was just tropish. I'm frustrated at the number of books recently that use 'young woman raped' as her moment of self-discovery and empowerment, and the explicitness of it made it eroticised and uncomfortable to read. I don't think it really added anything to the plot (beside being a final straw that broke the camel's back) and there's a lot of victim shaming at the start -- but then towards the end of the book she sort of forgets? And it's never brought up again??? It just feels a very tired characterisation tool, and doesn't help anyone -- certainly not those who have experienced sexual assault/harassment.

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