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A review by milton
Kingdom of Ashes by Elena May
4.0
After "Twilight", I had given up on vampire fiction. I was sick of the old “teenaged girl falls in love with sexy dark lord who abuses her, but it’s okay because he loves her” paranormal romance trope.
And, boy, was I glad to find out that this book is different.
Well, Myra is still a teenager and self-proclaimed "Prince" Vladimir is still pretty attractive for a mass murderer. There’s also some “Beauty and the Beast” in here, with Myra being held in a castle by her enemies and slowly growing to like them, but “Kingdom of Ashes” is not, I repeat, NOT a romance. And thank heavens for that!
What I liked about this book:
1) It’s essentially meta-fiction, taking on all the old fantasy and paranormal romance tropes and lampshading, if not subverting them. Myra’s story about her fictional heroine “Maryabella” is reminiscent of all the Mary Sue-ish self-inserts one can find on fanfiction sites. Vladimir calls her out on this and gives her advice on how to become a better writer. Of course, having a vampire use word such as “genre savvy” is a bit much, but it’s enjoyable to read about a fictional character (who is himself somewhat similar to a literary cliché)expressing his exasperation at a teenage girl's romantic fantasies. Myra also makes fun about the classical “Resistance fighting Evil Empire” trope, pointing out that using words such as “headquarters” and “Resistance” is a bit much for a guerilla troop who barely survives by eating rats. Also, vampire clichés get viciously mocked by all characters. These vampires don’t sparkle in the sun. They just burn to ashes.
2) There’s no love story. At least not in this first part and I hope it’ll stay that way. In a typical paranormal romance, Myra would probably have to decide between her human friend and leader of the “Resistance”, Zack, and her darker but also hotter vampire love interest who would probably be either Tristan or Vladimir himself. But, no, Vlad already has a girlfriend and Tristan seems too much in love with himself to develop feelings for anyone who isn’t his platonic life partner Vlad. It’s beautiful and proves that a fantasy plot doesn’t need a cheesy romance.
3) It’s well researched. For once, most characters have culturally appropriate names and if not, this is explained soon enough. The author also uses history as a plot-driving elent. Although some events in the past of the characters are only hinted at, you can unravel the mystery yourself by doing a bit of research. I won’t give you any spoilers, but it took me only a couple of minutes to find out who Vlad’s people actually were and how his family died – this being directly linked to why he dislikes the Cyrillic alphabet so much. (Yes, this is mentioned at one point.) Emily May uses her knowledge of history to embellish her futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting without info-dumping the reader. It’s clever and perhaps surprised me more than anything else. Also, kudos to the author for including a performance of “Tosca” in her book – some foreshadowing, perhaps?
What could have been improved perhaps:
1) I know this is YA but the prose seemed a bit simplistic at times. There were beautiful parts, too, but not enough for my taste. I don’t simply read for the plot, but for the beauty of language itself and sometimes the writing felt a bit like the bad fanfictions it tries to parody.
2) Some minor plot inconsistencies. Why does it take the Resistance so long to invent rat farms? Are you honestly telling me that three generations went by without anyone thinking about breeding animals for food? Why do the vampires dress in 700-years-old clothes? I know clothing is scarce, but the Victorian period has been over for almost sevenhundred years, their clothes would be almost antique at this point. And why is everyone speaking and understanding English? The story may be set in Scotland but since none of the main vampire characters speaks English as a native tongue, it seems surprising that they chose it as their main form of communication. Maybe I’m just disappointed. I was awaiting the glorious return of Church Slavonic as a lingua franca.
While this book might not be perfect, it’s an entertaining, enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the second part. By now, I have grown fond of the characters and am interested in how their journeys will develop. And I hope that the author will elaborate more on what appears to be the actual theme of her novel: What makes humanity human? Do we need art and literature to survive, even in the face of the apocalypse? Does the end justify the means, like murdering someone to keep hundreds of other people from dying? Can the world really be divided in “good” and “bad”? And if yes, what side are humans actually on?
These are some pretty deep topics for a YA vampire novel and I can’t wait to find out how the conflicts are resolved in the following parts.
And, boy, was I glad to find out that this book is different.
Well, Myra is still a teenager and self-proclaimed "Prince" Vladimir is still pretty attractive for a mass murderer. There’s also some “Beauty and the Beast” in here, with Myra being held in a castle by her enemies and slowly growing to like them, but “Kingdom of Ashes” is not, I repeat, NOT a romance. And thank heavens for that!
What I liked about this book:
1) It’s essentially meta-fiction, taking on all the old fantasy and paranormal romance tropes and lampshading, if not subverting them. Myra’s story about her fictional heroine “Maryabella” is reminiscent of all the Mary Sue-ish self-inserts one can find on fanfiction sites. Vladimir calls her out on this and gives her advice on how to become a better writer. Of course, having a vampire use word such as “genre savvy” is a bit much, but it’s enjoyable to read about a fictional character (who is himself somewhat similar to a literary cliché)expressing his exasperation at a teenage girl's romantic fantasies. Myra also makes fun about the classical “Resistance fighting Evil Empire” trope, pointing out that using words such as “headquarters” and “Resistance” is a bit much for a guerilla troop who barely survives by eating rats. Also, vampire clichés get viciously mocked by all characters. These vampires don’t sparkle in the sun. They just burn to ashes.
2) There’s no love story. At least not in this first part and I hope it’ll stay that way. In a typical paranormal romance, Myra would probably have to decide between her human friend and leader of the “Resistance”, Zack, and her darker but also hotter vampire love interest who would probably be either Tristan or Vladimir himself. But, no, Vlad already has a girlfriend and Tristan seems too much in love with himself to develop feelings for anyone who isn’t his platonic life partner Vlad. It’s beautiful and proves that a fantasy plot doesn’t need a cheesy romance.
3) It’s well researched. For once, most characters have culturally appropriate names and if not, this is explained soon enough. The author also uses history as a plot-driving elent. Although some events in the past of the characters are only hinted at, you can unravel the mystery yourself by doing a bit of research. I won’t give you any spoilers, but it took me only a couple of minutes to find out who Vlad’s people actually were and how his family died – this being directly linked to why he dislikes the Cyrillic alphabet so much. (Yes, this is mentioned at one point.) Emily May uses her knowledge of history to embellish her futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting without info-dumping the reader. It’s clever and perhaps surprised me more than anything else. Also, kudos to the author for including a performance of “Tosca” in her book – some foreshadowing, perhaps?
What could have been improved perhaps:
1) I know this is YA but the prose seemed a bit simplistic at times. There were beautiful parts, too, but not enough for my taste. I don’t simply read for the plot, but for the beauty of language itself and sometimes the writing felt a bit like the bad fanfictions it tries to parody.
2) Some minor plot inconsistencies. Why does it take the Resistance so long to invent rat farms? Are you honestly telling me that three generations went by without anyone thinking about breeding animals for food? Why do the vampires dress in 700-years-old clothes? I know clothing is scarce, but the Victorian period has been over for almost sevenhundred years, their clothes would be almost antique at this point. And why is everyone speaking and understanding English? The story may be set in Scotland but since none of the main vampire characters speaks English as a native tongue, it seems surprising that they chose it as their main form of communication. Maybe I’m just disappointed. I was awaiting the glorious return of Church Slavonic as a lingua franca.
While this book might not be perfect, it’s an entertaining, enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the second part. By now, I have grown fond of the characters and am interested in how their journeys will develop. And I hope that the author will elaborate more on what appears to be the actual theme of her novel: What makes humanity human? Do we need art and literature to survive, even in the face of the apocalypse? Does the end justify the means, like murdering someone to keep hundreds of other people from dying? Can the world really be divided in “good” and “bad”? And if yes, what side are humans actually on?
These are some pretty deep topics for a YA vampire novel and I can’t wait to find out how the conflicts are resolved in the following parts.