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A review by ria_mhrj
The Hour of Dust and Ashes by Kelly Gay
5.0
There was SO MUCH to love in this book, I'm struggling to gather my thoughts. First and most prominent thought is this: the Charlie Madigan series has now officially joined the ranks of my auto-buy favourite series.
The characters: Charlie ticks so many of the cliched urban fantasy heroine boxes, but not once did her behaviour or attitude make me roll my eyes. She is a living, breathing ball of energy who bursts off the page. Flawed, courageous, funny and loving, Charlie would make for an awesome drinking buddy - I doubt I would be able to keep up. And the relationship with Hank - well, let's just say I have loved watching the romance blossom between these two and book 3 offered enough progress to keep me happy. Revelations about Hank are shocking and heart breaking and help offer context to elements of his character that have been hinted at in previous books. Charlie's recollection of their first meeting was a moment of genius and actually made me laugh out loud in public as I read, earning me a few strange looks.
I could happily gush about the supporting characters (Rex! Emma! Bryn! Brim! Aaron! Love them all) but I'll talk about the world building next. It's a clever concept - heaven and hell-like beings living on earth and clarifying hundreds of myths and creation stories. Charlie's own growing abilities continue to provide seeds for future instalments.
The pacing was fast, despite all the carefully laid out character development and backstory spilling, and the action was exhilerating.
So much to love - hopefully my enthusiastic rambling has conveyed how pleased I was by The Hour of Dust and Ashes. The ending provoked a very strong reaction from me, as I suspect it would anyone with a pulse, and it is with baited breath that I await book 4. Awesome stuff.
The characters: Charlie ticks so many of the cliched urban fantasy heroine boxes, but not once did her behaviour or attitude make me roll my eyes. She is a living, breathing ball of energy who bursts off the page. Flawed, courageous, funny and loving, Charlie would make for an awesome drinking buddy - I doubt I would be able to keep up. And the relationship with Hank - well, let's just say I have loved watching the romance blossom between these two and book 3 offered enough progress to keep me happy. Revelations about Hank are shocking and heart breaking and help offer context to elements of his character that have been hinted at in previous books. Charlie's recollection of their first meeting was a moment of genius and actually made me laugh out loud in public as I read, earning me a few strange looks.
I could happily gush about the supporting characters (Rex! Emma! Bryn! Brim! Aaron! Love them all) but I'll talk about the world building next. It's a clever concept - heaven and hell-like beings living on earth and clarifying hundreds of myths and creation stories. Charlie's own growing abilities continue to provide seeds for future instalments.
The pacing was fast, despite all the carefully laid out character development and backstory spilling, and the action was exhilerating.
So much to love - hopefully my enthusiastic rambling has conveyed how pleased I was by The Hour of Dust and Ashes. The ending provoked a very strong reaction from me, as I suspect it would anyone with a pulse, and it is with baited breath that I await book 4. Awesome stuff.