New World: Ashes (New World Series Book 2)

A solid mid-series book that coasts along nicely, sticking close to the formula established in New World Rising and expanding the world. It’s not going to stand out as amazing on its own, but if you liked the first book and there’s a Divergent/Hunger Games shaped hole in your life it’s well worth the follow up.

To recap: Phoenix, former loner/survivor turned uncertain rebel against the might of The Sanctuary has been caught. Sacrificing herself to save her found family, she’s taken by The Minister who she blames for her parents’ deaths and kept captive for reasons unknown. The outside city of Tartarus might have been dangerous, but the totalitarian Sanctuary is no safer and full of secrets.

I’m not going to say “OMGWTFBBQ best book ever” but it was still a pretty engaging follow up that did what it needed to in order to bridge the introduction of book one and set us up for the conflict to come in book three. It has got the YA sci-fi dystopia formula down to an art: allies and enemies not being who they seem, a nasty villain and his wingman who are just bad because power reasons, romance, action, disastrous consequences, arena training, and missions where the outcome of certain death seems far more likely then success. None of that is faint praise; this isn’t a deep book for adults so don’t expect it to be more than it is. Seriously, YA distilled to perfection by an indie author is a rare and beautiful thing.

The first half of the story is pretty dark, dealing with Pheonix’s torture inside Sanctuary. It’s pretty grim stuff, and her psychological breakdown is quite freaky to read. Nothing YA-inappropriate, but pretty tough stuff. I liked that it tackled the issues that The Hunger Games’ Peeta went through, only from the main character’s perspective. Dark it may be, but seeing everyone cope with the fallout and the guilt being shared seemed something new, even in this familiar setting. We get to see more of Phoenix’s character as she’s dealing with going from lone-ranger to having emotional ties.

We get to see more of Sanctuary too, learning more about how it operates and oppresses it’s citizens with order in stark contrast to the chaos we saw in Tartarus. Again, don’t expect deep sci-fi world building, but it’s just the right level for an action-led YA.

The whole thing is a little bit Mockingjay – Phoenix never wanted to be the figurehead of a rebellion but it seemed everyone else wants her to be. Sure, she’s tough and talented when it comes to fighting (not unbelievably so given her experiences), but she like Katniss lacks the charisma and desire to be at the forefront.

The romance carries on much as it did. It’s not all the gushing feels, but neither does it overpower the story. It’s actually nice to have a quiet romancein YA!

I did wonder a little about some of the action early on being unclear; one sequence I had to re-read because I wasn’t actually sure what happened. There’s also still that propensity for these rough characters to speak oddly formally and reference mythology and the like that seems a little bit high-brow for kids who have only really be trained by the military/life on the dangerous streets of a crumbling dystopia. And this is the most stupid nit-pick, but it bothered me the amount of times “?!” cropped up in dialogue and narration (plus a rogue “!!!” that shouldn’t really be seen outside of a teenager’s SMS.)

This is shaping up to be a strong contender in a genre that’s so crowded. Gritty YA at its finest.