PICK ME! {Book Reviews}

From Ashes and Dust

Title: From Ashes and Dust

Author: PictureXthisX

Chapters: 21

Status: Ongoing

Age Range: 20+

Mature content: Language

TW: Violence

Focus: Plot, characters, flow

You were right when you said this story was a mix of American Gods and Guardians of the Galaxy. What a fun mashup! I was definitely interested from the story description, which reminded me a bit of a dystopian meets science fiction premise. I'm not normally one to like science fiction stories, but I did love Guardians of the Galaxy, so I was excited to start reading. And I gotta say, you have an excellent voice for storytelling. It was so fun that the first chapter starts in the midst of an attack on their ship, and the chaos that ensues because of it. One of the things I like the most about your writing is the beautiful description you provide. In the first few chapters, this was especially nice to see how Vatra and Spyro interact with each other. The little details about what they are doing as they talk really help paint the picture. And then when they arrive on Pocarro and we get to see a bit of your world building, it's wonderful. World building is one of my favorite things about writing, and one of the most difficult too, so bravo.

Your characters are fun to read, I can see each of their distinct personalities in the way they talk and interact. I also really like the idea that Vatra has this special ability that allows her to resurrect after dying. I would love to know more about this and how it plays into the story. You do a good job of keeping some of these details secret and only providing bits and pieces to build intrigue. That being said, I think readers would benefit a bit more from learning more about them outside of their dialogue. You start this a bit with Hisato, who is fantastic, but it would be useful to add a bit of description about their appearances. You have the great aesthetic boards before the chapters, but don't just rely on these. Add in details like hair or eye color, thin, narrowed faces, sharp features, etc. Provide some of the background information mentioned in the book description.

One thing I noticed is that a lot of the chapters are very dialogue heavy. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as dialogue can be great for moving the plot along, but sometimes important information or interactions happen outside of the dialogue. And you do such a great job of providing these details I would really love to see more of it. Not just the world building, but what are characters thinking/feeling as they are talking with others. You have such a beautiful way of writing, I think adding these little details would really make for an outstanding book.

Plot-wise, I think it is strong. It can be a bit slow to start, unless you've read the book's description and you have an idea of what's coming, a reader might wonder where things are going. But I really love where you are going with it.

Hope this all makes sense, and doesn't seem too overly critical. Your story is unique and beautifully written. Keep going.

~Crimsonfred1