First of all, happy mental health awareness month! I will be sharing more content this month related to that, and you can also check out my Instagram for related posts.
But today I have something that is loooong overdue: a review of my friend Ann Dayleview’s debut YA fantasy book, A Tale of Ashes.
Guys, I’ve been privileged to read this a few times at various stages. I’ve fallen in love with characters and worldbuilding. And I’ve gone along on Freddie’s wild ride. It was so worth it. But because I have been so involved, I’m not going to give it a star rating. Instead, I’m just going to talk about it.
So let me tell you a little about this book.
A Tale of Ashes takes place in a modern town that is situated right on the border between the human world and Faerie, and so it sees immigration from Faerie as the magical folk are at war. But the humans aren’t all so welcoming. (Heavy themes here… immigration, racism, prejudice…)
In the middle of this setting sits Freddie, a girl with a love for journalism and a passion for justice (and a controlling ex-boyfriend who also happens to be the Faerie Prince of Summer). So when students start disappearing and the police begin blaming the Fae, she of course has to dig her nose in, where she finds nothing but trouble.
So now that you have the gist of it, let me tell you some things. Let’s start with the characters. Dayleview has built such a cast that grabs the reader and makes them fall in love, starting with the two main characters and spreading out to all the secondary and minor characters. Each of them truly feels like they have their own story.
Freddie is one of those characters who I love but who gives me intense anxiety. Like a true protagonist, she gets herself caught up in all sorts of trouble and does not let anyone tell her what to do. Cue the anxiety.
Aiden, the second point of view in the story, is a lovable, damaged cinnamon roll that I just want to hug and love forever. He does horrible things, but he doesn’t want to. And he also is adorkable, as they say.
And then there are the secondary characters: Jefferson the friendly vampire and his girlfriend (Freddie’s best friend), Ginnith the tiny but terrifying bodyguard who ex-boyfriend assigns to Freddie, and a wide range of magical and non-magical people who either make your heart swell or your skin crawl. Dayleview does that really well.
And then there’s the worldbuilding. The way Faerie overlaps with the human world is so well done and thought-provoking, and the magic system is well-developed and interesting. There’s plenty that the reader may find familiar, but this series (yes, this is the start of a series) does a good job with twisting it just enough to make it brand new.
Finally, let me talk emotions, since a good part of how much I like a book has to do with the emotions it evokes. Freddie will call for the adventurous at heart, but I connected so much to Aiden. He struggles so much to connect with Freddie and wants to do things right, and it is adorable and heartbreaking to watch his journey. There are such ups and downs throughout, from rage at certain characters and their behavior to heartbreak to those d’aww moments we all love.
So overall, do I recommend this book? Absolutely I do. It’s a fun adventure, and it made me feel things. If you love urban fantasy, Fae, and some romance, I’m sure you will enjoy this as well.
If this has intrigued you to want more, you can check it out here.
Until next time, happy reading!
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NEWS! I have finished the paperbacks for all my backlist books! I just submitted the last four today, so as long as the vendor has no issues with the files, they should be available this week. If you want to see which ones are submitted, check it out on my TikTok!
Selina J. Eckert 