Gorgeous prose, imagery, immersive setting, and unique equine culture.
My amazon review:
What a delightful and satisfying read! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and look forward to the sequel. Gillian’s imagery and prose are highly inspiring to me as an aspiring author. I will be going back to study how Gillian crafted battle scenes and take notes on her immersive setting (by using all five senses and not just vibrant visual descriptions) AND learn by re-reading and highlighting how to make more memorable/distinguishable characters. Brava, Gillian Bronte Adams, for all of your hard work crafting this truly epic beauty of a story. (And it’s only part ONE!)
I loved the unique culture of the Soldonian solborns and their riders, and how the author unfolded understanding of them as the story progressed: Shadowers, Riveren, Earthhewn, Stormers, “Sea-demons” and Fireborn. As I am a horse lover, the elemental breeds of this book were the hook that made me purchase Of Fire and Ash, and I’m very glad I did.
[spoiler alert] Rafi was my favorite character, along with Jakim, although sometimes the story around Jakim was a little confusing to me. I thought Ceridwen was very closed off and guarded, a bit puzzling as she is such a key player. However, I will admit that it is true to her solborn personality and the rejection and brokenness of her past. Maybe in the sequel we’ll find out more about her pre-kasar life? (like, she never had a relationship before the kasar? No boyfriend? No crush? The unfamiliar “feelings” that rose in Ceridwen as she was around Finnian more were truly nothing she’d experienced before? Not sure I buy it…) I also found Ceridwen’s wispy attraction to Finnian flirting was just outside of the “love your protector” trope because they never had a (at least, in my mind and opinion) real romantic ah-ha moment as young man and young woman. All of their encounters were duty-related and emotionally guarded interactions when they weren’t in battle. Which tells you the great pacing of the plot, actually. Overall, though, I’m glad Ceridwen didn’t fall in love in this portion of the story—it’s more realistic ;) [/end spoiler alert]
My only “beef” with this story was that there wasn’t more mapping, both inside the one Soldonian map included (I was trying to find cities that weren’t listed and had a hard time visualizing where the characters were or where they were headed), and that there wasn’t a map of the lands/world OUTSIDE OF Soldonia. How close was the land of Nadaarians? Or where were Jakim and Rafi’s seaside villages? In addition, a list of characters and their countries of origin would’ve been helpful too, as there were many people to keep track of.
Overall, amazing. Just a wonderful, clean read that was beautifully written. Congratulations, Gillian. Looking forward to the next part of the story and I’ll have to go back and read your older stories.
Excerpt from chapter 2:
Screaming sea-demons jarred him from sleep. Not the rudest awakening Rafi had experienced, but then it had stiff competition--like the time he'd woken up inside a python's jaws or the night he was hauled from bed to the news that his chambers had been permanently relocated to the dungeons. Still, the eerie shrieks shivering across the rain-soaked beach to penetrate the palm-thatched walls of the fisherman's hut chilled his spine. Made him wonder if he really had awakened, or if he was trapped in the nightmare that awaited him every time he closed his eyes.
Sea-demons haunted him there too. Always they called him to remember.
Always he tried to forget.
Rafi tried to sit up, and the world flipped. He smashed into the floor with a pain that was all too real and rolled over onto his back, wheezing until his lungs remembered they had mastered that critical skill known as breathing and he was able to inhale again.
He didn't bother rising. Just lay there, legs tangled in a sweat-soaked sheet, shivering as a damp breeze seeped through the thatch and set his hammock swinging jauntily above him, as if the ornery thing enjoyed dropping him on his head. He could hear Torva snoring from the second hammock. Rafi consciously aligned his breathing with the old fisherman's and coaxed his mind back from the nightmare's grip. He had been falling there too, wind whistling in his ears as he hurtled into an endless drop. That had not been the worst of it though. It never was.
...
Well, he could lie her while the hours dripped like melted wax. Or he could get to work.
His legs protested as he hauled himself upright and picked his way across the cluttered floor in search of the rock oven to heat a cup of seaweed tea. He stoked coals to life beneath the copper water pot and swept a space clear of woven baskets, conch shells, and half-braided ropes so he could sit, then dragged a torn net into his lap and began splicing the broken strands together. Narrowly missed slicing his left hand on a broken harpoon embedded in its bulk and had to spend the next five minutes working to extract it.
"Really, Torva?" he mumbled beneath his breath. "Place is a death trap."
I gave Of Fire and Ash 4.5 stars. I'm looking forward to the second book in this fantasy series, releasing in November of 2023, of Sea and Smoke.
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