Monday 24 September 2012

Falling to Ash review

Falling to Ash
Karen Mahoney
September 27th 2012
Corgi/Random House

You can’t choose your family... living or dead.

Trapped between two very different worlds, newly made vampire Moth is struggling to find her place in either. Not only does she have to answer to her strict Irish-Catholic Dad, but her over-protective maker, Theo, is intent on making her the star attraction in his powerful Boston vampire clan. Moth will have to pull off the double-act of the century to please both of them...

Adding to her problems is the dangerously attractive Jason Murdoch, a trainee vampire hunter who loves to play cat and mouse in his spare time (Jace = cat; Moth = mouse). But when the teenagers of Boston’s wealthiest families start to disappear, it forces Moth and Jace into an uneasy truce. Will they be able to solve the mystery behind the disappearances—before someone winds up undead?


Before you start rolling your eyes at the word vampire, hear me out. I'm going to give you cynics more reason than just the beautiful cover to read this book. It's not a new take on vampires, but to be honest with you, I prefer my vamps just like your bog-standard vamps, because it's when people start making their own drastic twists on these things that really kind of grate on me. It feels more like an urban fantasy than anything else, as well, which I really enjoyed because I don't read enough urban fantasies these days, and I prefer them infinitely more to paranormal romance (and yes, they so ARE different, even if they're both still YA).

A lot of my enjoyment of this book was because I just loved Moth. I really need to read the short stories about her, because she's just so cool. I saw her described around the interwebz as being like Buffy, but if Buffy were a vampire, and I cannot agree more. She's a badass for a fairly new vamp,and she definitely utilized her vampy strength. She was a bit needy at times, but she admitted it to herself so it didn't really bother me. Besides, I think it would've annoyed me more if she wasn't, and wasn't still a bit messed up from being turned, because then she just wouldn't have felt real. That was the thing about Buffy, not that she was a badass, but the she was a badass with a heart and all the other things you need for a good character. (Not that badassness is key to having a good character- that's not true.)

I actually really liked the relationship situation, as well. It took me a while to warm to Jace because it felt a bit like he was being so blatantly set up as the love interest that all I could ascertain about him was that Moth was seriously lusting after him, but after I got past the hundred page mark, we started to see a lot more of Jace (no, it's not THAT kind of book!) and he became so much more that just the love interest, and I'm actually really glad it ended the way it did because after everything that happened to him in the big finale fight, he really needed to take a break. But I am very looking forward to the next book and seeing how things happen between him and Moth.

I wasn't too keen on Theo at first. As soon as centuries old vampires start calling people 'my child' or whatever, my creeper alert starts a-flashing. Seriously, centuries old vampires, it is NOT cool or sexy and you're just not doing yourself any favours. I did grow to like him quite a bit though, and if everything had gone as Kyle had wanted it, I would've been really bummed. I really hope that him and Moth sort stuff out, because I think that they're relationship is really interesting, though realistically, it'd probably be better for both of them if they just, well, stopped.

The vampire mythology in this book was really good, too, because it wasn't overly-complicated, and yet it still managed to make itself feel different enough from other vampire books that I've read (though admittedly, I haven't really read that many. Vampires are not my favourites. It's the bloodsucking - it's just so GROSS.) I really liked the vampire families, and I hope we get to see more of them in the next book. I really want Holly to be in it more! I feel like we definitely didn't get to see her enough even though she's Moth's roomie. I did really like the focus being of Caitlin and Moth's human family, too, though, and I hope that Caitlin is still in it a lot. I'd like to see more of the Vampire heirarcy in the next book as well. I thought that the structure of it was pretty interesting, and I want to see some of the higher-ups.

Falling to Ash is a really great first book in what I think is a duology, and I really just want to read more about her. If you're curious about it, for the book's release there's a webcomic that's being updated every Monday and Friday, so do please check it out! It's really great :) 


4 comments:

  1. I first heard of Falling to Ash a couple of months ago. It sounded really interesting, so I'm really pleased you enjoyed it. Great review! :)

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  2. So glad you enjoyed this! I loved it too and know what you mean about moth and theo... I'll be interested to see what goes on in the next book with them!

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  3. I'll admit it. I dismissed this book when I saw the cover + "vampire" in the synopsis. Thanks for the review! I've finally added it to my Goodreads list. Moth sounds awesome!

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  4. I only sort of skimmed your review because it seemed headed towards spoilers and I'm in the middle of reading this book at the moment, but I'm really enjoying it! I like Moth's character as well and I'm intrigued to know more about her.

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