SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ash by Grace Walker

 

Ash is a self-published science fiction novel that is the start of a new series/trilogy by 17 year old author Grace Walker, whose bio notes that her first trilogy was written at age 14. And let me tell you, for a 17 year old's self published work, Ash is very solid - the prose is written very well and is very readable and the main characters are certainly likable, with the story also containing some promise of exploration of serious themes. And the novel is short enough that readers will get through it fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, Ash isn't ultimately a satisfying novel because the book feels incomplete. As I'll explain more below, the book stops on a cliffhanger before the story really gets into anything, despite the reader knowing that certain events are going to happen, so it just winds up being kind of frustrating. And the book definitely could use a bunch of editing as it takes just too long to get out of the first act that is basically just preamble and probably could've used more time in the book's second act. There's a good novel in what is written here I think and an editor probably would've helped Walker tease it out, but Ash isn't there yet.
Plot Summary:  

On the planet Xeiryn, humans are largely not considered intelligent life. The planet's atmosphere is hostile to humans, causing them a fatal lung disease if they don't take the drug Ivior...and the drug is strictly controlled by the alien syndicates who rule the planet. To survive, humans must ally themselves to one of the syndicate leaders, such as The Queen, and hope their missions don't lead to death. For Kade there was no choice in the matter but to do just that, although it isn't as bad as it could be....for Kade has been claimed by Ash, a human who has worked her way up in rank in the Queen's service and serves as Kade's Mistress. More than that: Ash is secretly Kade's wife, the love of his life, for whom he will do anything...and who will protect him in turn.

But then one day chaos comes to Xeiryn...and Kade finds himself sent away by Ash off planet to escape against his own will with only her promise that she'll find him. Years later, as Kade serves on a mercenary crew, Ash still haunts Kade's dreams. And then his crew gets a mission that takes them back to Xeiryn.....

Ash is a novel that is very easy to read and very easy to get into. Lead character Kade is very enjoyable as he goes from naive protected human who wants to make Ash happy as he stays alive to a jaded grief-stricken survivor who needs to relearn how to live. Ash herself gets a few POV chapters in the first act and she's certainly a likable character as she struggles with her need to protect Kade and to try to make Xeiryn a better world for them both. And in the book's latter half, we meet alien mercenary friend of Kade's Xiara, a woman with a hidden history of her own and a love of life and fun that she tries to pass onto Kade, although Kade can't quite appreciate it (and to be fair, it's insanely reckless at times). These characters, the dialogue, and the prose are really easy to read, so readers probably will tear through Ash pretty quickly if they give the book a try, even with occasional moments of infodumping.

Unfortunately, this will likely lead readers to finish the book and to get frustrated faster and how little the book actually covers in the series' overarching story. The book spends a solid 40% in its first act as Kade escapes Xeiryn, and that's just too long honestly. The book could probably cut all of Ash's own POV chapters without losing anything (and actually induce more mystery in the process), and could replace that with showing how Kade's life has been since he escaped in the time jump that happens thereafter. But instead, we go from the escape right to Kade getting tagged with a mission that will have him eventually heading back to Xeiryn...even if the way there is enough to provide character development enough to keep going. But then the book ends basically just as Kade gets to Xeiryn, before they've actually done anything of note, which just makes it feel unfinished.

Let me be clear: first books in trilogies can totally end on satisfying cliffhanger endings - that happens often! But they still need to have plot arcs that are resolved or progressed significantly to make the reader satisfied; otherwise they just feel like someone cut off a larger story at an arbitrary point. And Ash feels just like that.

This cuts off Ash's possible examinations of some pretty potentially interesting themes too. For example, Kade's relationship with Ash features her being controlling/patronizing of him and the book seems to be hinting at the negatives of that, even if Ash is well meaning. There's a heavy theme in the second half of Kade having to learn to move past grief and to a future that seems more possible...and to simply enjoy his own life. Kade struggles to do anything other than survive, and there's some interesting stuff about maybe him learning to do more....except he never comes close to there because the book ends well before he can have any essential development.

In short, there's a very promising book here in this story's prose, and I would definitely be interested if the author ever picked up an editor to help her better establish a full story (or maybe just released this book's whole series as a single volume, since this book is certainly not very long). But as it is written, Ash is just unsatisfying and I won't be recommending it for the next round of the SPSFC.