Thursday 16 July 2009

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: In Ashes Lie - Marie Brennan


BOOK BLURB:

September, 1666 The mortal civil war is over. But the war among the fae is still raging, and London is its battleground. There are forces that despise the Onyx Court, and will do anything to destroy it. But now a greater threat has come, one that could destroy everything. In the house of a sleeping baker, a spark leaps free of the oven -- and ignites a blaze that will burn London to the ground. For three harrowing days, the mortals and fae of the city will fight to save their home. While the humans struggle to halt the conflagration that is devouring London street by street, the fae pit themselves against a less tangible foe: the spirit of the fire itself, powerful enough to annihilate everything in its path. Neither side can win on its own -- but can they find a way to fight together?


REVIEW:

Having loved the original novel by Marie, I really was looking forward to this novel. Yet when I was reading it, I couldn’t help having that nagging feeling that something was missing. What it was took me a while to pin down.

Whilst the novel is well written and some of the previous characters reappear what was missing was character growth, for me they seemed pretty stagnant and with the huge time between the start and the completion of the novel really got to me a bit. Historically its pure literature dynamite and so that does come over in the tale but for me, whilst I think this one is acceptable, it really doesn’t beat the original.

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