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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
A Sword of Bronze and Ashes by Anna Smith Spark
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
A Sword of Bronze and Ashes, a single POV story, told in third person, opens up as its main character, a middle-aged mother of three daughters named Kanda, comes across a corpse floating down the river running by her cattle pastures. From that point follow a series of harrowing, supernaturally-tainted events, told in a present timeline, as Kanda is forced to flee her home, with her family, to protect it... and is forced to reckon with her progressively revealed past – told, in parallel, in a past timeline – as Ikandera Thygethyn, the greatest warrior there ever was.
Okay, so this one was strange and, unfortunately for me, strange in a way I largely found unsatisfying.
On a positive note, I definitely think this book's prose stood out: its author used very lyrical, evocative prose to convincing effect and, more impressively, a somewhat 'stream of consciousness'-infused narrative style that, on its own, for once, largely worked for me. The story's pacing was also pretty even overall, which I liked.
I really enjoyed just how gynocentric this story was, given the kind of story it was. A Sword of Bronze and Ashes is pretty dark, gritty fantasy with significant supernatural, folklore or mythology-derived horror elements – and yes I'm aware the author is known for writing grimdark fantasy, specifically, though I'm not entirely sure this novel counts as grimdark for me, but of course your mileage will vary with this. But so, given the story's nature, I found the fact its main character was a middle-aged mother of three very pleasantly refreshing. Additionally, the author didn't shy away from showing the less savoury parts of womanhood, of aging womanhood (chin hairs, bodily pains, heavy periods and all) and how this affected her main character with regards to self-image and self-worth – to some extent at least.
Kanda's character work was pretty good overall, though it largely failed when it came to establishing some of her character motivations, specifically, which then impacted the plot's resolution in a way I found frustrating. The book's broader character work also largely fell by the wayside when it came to the story's secondary and tertiary characters. For the most part, those felt more like sketches, archetypes, plot conveniences or rather conveniences drawn for the sake of Kanda's character growth, more than fully fleshed characters in their own right. The amount of plot armour some of the characters received was also very inconsistent and felt, as a result, very convenient in a way I also found frustrating.
As to the book's world-building, and theming... ach, both left me wanting. I didn't get much out of this one with regards to the latter, beyond a couple of threads of exploration on moral redemption and (chiefly) motherly love. Then with regards to the former, well, this book just didn't deliver much that I could really engage with. I believe this book is, partly at least, sold on the fact its world-building is influenced by Celtic folklore and/or mythology. And I could, yes, kind of see it in very subtle ways. But I'm also a mythology nerd and have a very specific interest in, and fondness for Celtic stuff... so I'm not sure this would be at all apparent to more casual mythology enthusiasts, and thus worth promoting.
More than anything though, this novel had a significant problem in terms of tonal, narrative dissonance. It felt, to me, like A Sword of Bronze and Ashes was trying to marry two fairly different, and easily dissonant, narrative tones: one of epic mythicality, and one of more immediate, intimate, psychological and familial tragedy... in a way that just didn't work very well. The book's prose was very lyrical, but also fairly dreamlike, in no small part due, I'd wager, to its 'stream-of-consciousness' inflections. You eventually learn that Kanda is, not only much older than a mortal has any right to be, but a kind of... demigod, is how I understood it. But the narrative doesn't devote enough time to fleshing out the actual nature of her origins, setting- or era-wise. Strange, godlike and demon-like beings are mentioned, but you never really get to understand what their nature truly is. There are also several points in the narrative where you're not entirely sure if what Kanda is experiencing, is actually real. There is a lot of shape-shifting as well, of fluidity between states of life and states of death... which, yes, makes sense in a mythological setting, and which, yes, points to Celtic influences if, like me, you know what to look for. But the problem is I felt like the book ultimately 'wanted' me to focus on the immediate experiences, and emotions, of a middle-aged mother trying to save her family... and none of it meshed together all that well.
Strange, non-intuitive combinations, like salt and caramel, can sometimes lead to wonderful results (salted caramel anythingis the shit). But this novel was made up of a strange combination that didn't, ultimately, taste all that good to me. Its not that it tasted bad, either, exactly. It had, rather... an interesting taste, but I probably wouldn't order that specific flavour combination again, if ya catch mah drift. Which means I don't regret picking this one up, since it was memorable in its own way, but for me, it was only worth reading once.
Okay, so this one was strange and, unfortunately for me, strange in a way I largely found unsatisfying.
On a positive note, I definitely think this book's prose stood out: its author used very lyrical, evocative prose to convincing effect and, more impressively, a somewhat 'stream of consciousness'-infused narrative style that, on its own, for once, largely worked for me. The story's pacing was also pretty even overall, which I liked.
I really enjoyed just how gynocentric this story was, given the kind of story it was. A Sword of Bronze and Ashes is pretty dark, gritty fantasy with significant supernatural, folklore or mythology-derived horror elements – and yes I'm aware the author is known for writing grimdark fantasy, specifically, though I'm not entirely sure this novel counts as grimdark for me, but of course your mileage will vary with this. But so, given the story's nature, I found the fact its main character was a middle-aged mother of three very pleasantly refreshing. Additionally, the author didn't shy away from showing the less savoury parts of womanhood, of aging womanhood (chin hairs, bodily pains, heavy periods and all) and how this affected her main character with regards to self-image and self-worth – to some extent at least.
Kanda's character work was pretty good overall, though it largely failed when it came to establishing some of her character motivations, specifically, which then impacted the plot's resolution in a way I found frustrating. The book's broader character work also largely fell by the wayside when it came to the story's secondary and tertiary characters. For the most part, those felt more like sketches, archetypes, plot conveniences or rather conveniences drawn for the sake of Kanda's character growth, more than fully fleshed characters in their own right. The amount of plot armour some of the characters received was also very inconsistent and felt, as a result, very convenient in a way I also found frustrating.
As to the book's world-building, and theming... ach, both left me wanting. I didn't get much out of this one with regards to the latter, beyond a couple of threads of exploration on moral redemption and (chiefly) motherly love. Then with regards to the former, well, this book just didn't deliver much that I could really engage with. I believe this book is, partly at least, sold on the fact its world-building is influenced by Celtic folklore and/or mythology. And I could, yes, kind of see it in very subtle ways. But I'm also a mythology nerd and have a very specific interest in, and fondness for Celtic stuff... so I'm not sure this would be at all apparent to more casual mythology enthusiasts, and thus worth promoting.
More than anything though, this novel had a significant problem in terms of tonal, narrative dissonance. It felt, to me, like A Sword of Bronze and Ashes was trying to marry two fairly different, and easily dissonant, narrative tones: one of epic mythicality, and one of more immediate, intimate, psychological and familial tragedy... in a way that just didn't work very well. The book's prose was very lyrical, but also fairly dreamlike, in no small part due, I'd wager, to its 'stream-of-consciousness' inflections. You eventually learn that Kanda is, not only much older than a mortal has any right to be, but a kind of... demigod, is how I understood it. But the narrative doesn't devote enough time to fleshing out the actual nature of her origins, setting- or era-wise. Strange, godlike and demon-like beings are mentioned, but you never really get to understand what their nature truly is. There are also several points in the narrative where you're not entirely sure if what Kanda is experiencing, is actually real. There is a lot of shape-shifting as well, of fluidity between states of life and states of death... which, yes, makes sense in a mythological setting, and which, yes, points to Celtic influences if, like me, you know what to look for. But the problem is I felt like the book ultimately 'wanted' me to focus on the immediate experiences, and emotions, of a middle-aged mother trying to save her family... and none of it meshed together all that well.
Strange, non-intuitive combinations, like salt and caramel, can sometimes lead to wonderful results (salted caramel anythingis the shit). But this novel was made up of a strange combination that didn't, ultimately, taste all that good to me. Its not that it tasted bad, either, exactly. It had, rather... an interesting taste, but I probably wouldn't order that specific flavour combination again, if ya catch mah drift. Which means I don't regret picking this one up, since it was memorable in its own way, but for me, it was only worth reading once.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Child death