Review: Complex Fantasy with Epic Stakes
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2014
“Ashes to Ashes: The Scribing of Ishitar” is a complex, sprawling fantasy epic that focuses on a time of great strife between the angels and the demons, both of whom were sent in exile to form their own societies (with varying success) after a failed rebellion against the Gods.Against that broad background, you have a host of minor and major characters who are either actors or pawns in that struggle; these include the cocky and powerful Ishitar, whose hubris may be his downfall; the young elf prince Iladrul, who will be forced into manhood by the impending war; Na’amh, who goes looking for her mother but finds devotion to another in an unexpected place; Metatron, forced to be a double agent and unlucky in love; and so many more.“Ashes to Ashes” is the second in this series, and honestly I wish I’d read the first book before this one—I struggled a lot at first with remembering all of the characters and who (and what) they were. However, “Ashes to Ashes” is a well-written and compelling fantasy, and such attention to detail is given to both the characters and the settings that I was pulled in regardless of whether I remembered who was a demon and who was an angel. My favorite character was Iladrul; as a reader, watching him grow and mature was satisfying and fulfilling. And while at first I didn’t much like Ishitar, by the end he had grown on me a lot—perhaps in part because of his loving relationship with Na’amh in her other form.I also liked how the author put a lot of thought into the politics and class structure of the world in this book—while there is plentiful action and a lot of fantastic creatures (vampires, fairies, centaurs…) there is also a lot of intelligent political scheming. The doxies who serve the elves and how almost everyone in the book is subject to someone else’s power makes for a layered, intelligent read that goes beyond the usual fantasy plot.I would recommend “Ashes to Ashes” to readers who enjoy intricate fantasy; while this isn’t necessarily a light read, it is an entertaining and rewarding one.