A review by freddielounds
First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
 I had such high for hopes for this after loving their debut novel, Docile, so much; unfortunately this one fell a bit flat. The multiple perspectives failed to elevate the story in any, real meaningful way and left the pseudo-enesemble cast under developed. The story maintains such an intense focus on decided protagnoists Lark and Calvin, that, as a result, the perspectives and characters of Derryn and Kane (who we get entirely in the past as world building) fall a bit flat. Additionally, the lack of perspective from Nova was a missed opportunity. Both the beliefs and practices of the cult as well as the extent of Nova's villainy  are mostly left off page. To be clear, though Nova by no means comes across as a good person (the few flashbacks we do get are trully awful) there's a layer of removal there that creates a disconnect with the story. There is simply not nearly enough of her on the page for Nova to represent much more than an idea of a character. The fellowship as a whole felt underdeveloped and unexplored and Agent Miller is never given enough time on the page despite, as Nova's child, the story positioning her as the indirect cause of the cult's existence. It almost feels like she belongs in an entirely different story. Calvin's interests feel more like a convinient plot device vs. concious character choice, but, again, that may also be a symptom of how underdeveloped the entire novel feels as a whole. 
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