Feast of Ashes by Victoria Williamson #BlogTour #BookReview #YADystopian

• Genre: YA, dystopian fantasy
• Length: 334 pages
• Published: 5th October 2023
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194228639-feast-of-ashes
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feast-Ashes-1-Victoria-Williamson/dp/1911107879/

The Earth’s ecosystems have collapsed, and only ashes remain. Is one girl’s courage enough to keep hope alive in the wastelands?

It’s the year 2123, and sixteen-year-old Adina has just accidentally killed fourteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-six people. Raised in the eco-bubble of Eden Five, Adina has always believed that the Amonston Corporation’s giant greenhouse would keep her safe forever. But when her own careless mistake leads to an explosion that incinerates Eden Five, she and a small group of survivors must brave the barren wastelands outside the ruined Dome to reach the Sanctuary before their biofilters give out and their DNA threatens to mutate in the toxic air.

They soon discover that the outside isn’t as deserted as they were made to believe, and the truth is unearthed on their dangerous expedition. As time runs out, Adina must tackle her guilty conscience and find the courage to get everyone to safety. Will she make it alive, or will the Nomalies get to her first?

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and a historical farm estate, which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China, and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part-time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels and visiting schools, libraries, and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.

Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.

Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle-grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organization working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.

You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits, and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com

Thank you, The Write Reads, the publisher, and the author, for the free digital book!

🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂

🎃 Feast of Ashes by Victoria Williamson 🎃

One-word review: dark

Emojis: 😳🫣🐶😭🫥

Rating:  n/a 🌟s ^*

My thoughts:

I’ve read half of the book^* and here are my thoughts:

The plot and setting of Feast of Ashes by Victoria Williamson are exciting and compelling. Africa has become a wasteland, and to survive, people moved to a biodome-type building with many floors below ground that can house and feed over 14,000 people. The people in the biodome in the story think that the whole world is in the same shape that they are and that there are numerous biodome-type places that house survivors. When I stopped reading, the main characters had just started piecing together what had happened to turn their world into a wasteland.

I loved the suspense of the countdown in the chapter titles. It greatly aids in speeding up the pace, which is necessary because the depressive tone of the story weighs it down a great deal. I also enjoyed the foreshadowing provided by one character, as it creates excellent suspense. These are wonderful literary devices, and they are used very well.

The story is told in 1st person by the main character, Adina. This narration style should help increase the pace, but Adina is not a character I could empathize with or feel anything positive about. She is immature and cruel, only thinking of what she wants without regard for others. I can’t imagine a heroic bone in her body, and I needed to see that possibility in her for buy-in. She reminded me of a poor man’s Veruca Salt.

I understand that at least one twist toward the end makes most readers want to continue with the series. I have some theories about that, but it sounds like it must be good.

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^* For full disclosure, I was unaware of any triggers when I started this book, and by the halfway point, I started hearing the “!Danger! Danger! Danger ahead!” warnings going off in my head. Those who have followed my blog for some time know I can’t handle books where anything terrible happens to an animal, particularly a pet. I can only deal with it if it’s brief and only once, and even then, it still colors my thoughts on the book and sticks with me for too long. This story has a dog that, by the survival phase of the story, was put in danger very briefly at first and then had a more traumatic scene that still haunts me, and I couldn’t go any further. But I did read the first half and can share my thoughts on that with you. I invite you to check out one of the many other reviews by people who don’t share my trigger issue. See below for the X (Twitter) handles of these reviewers: