Ashes of the Sun (spoiler free review)

[Gaston de Foix]

Like any addict, I have my rituals. One of those is that I divide my SFF authors into three categories.

There are those authors whose work I like and admire, or who have been vouched for by someone whose judgment I respect and I’ve decided to give them a try. Currently on my list are the likes of Kearney, Sykes, Scalzi, Liu, Jemisin. To be read, at leisure. 

Then there are those whose new books are added to my to-read list (Jemisin, Tad Williams, Hobb), even if I don’t always get around to reading them immediately. 

And lastly there are those authors whose every new publication I must read as soon as available (if not sooner).  I scheme to obtain the book early by ordering through amazon.jp (12 hours ahead of EST), purchasing ARC copies from ebay, or travelling considerable distances to find a bookstore that has it in stock and is oblivious of embargoes. I end up finishing their books within 72 hours of publication or sooner.

In this list I put Martin (duh), Lynch (yes, even now), Abercrombie, Butcher, Gaiman, Mantel, Zachary Mason, and Django Wexler.  Wexler? Why not Sanderson or Rothfuss or any of a half dozen big names in the SFF world?  Consistency in quality is a big reason, as is the ability to vary style.  Speed of publication also matters (see above, re addiction). The ability to surprise.  

Stephen Donaldson has spoken about his discovery that his fans weren’t really fans of Stephen Donaldson (despite the excellent work he has done in various genres) but fans of Thomas Covenant. For me to become a fan of an author and not just their best-known work means I trust every word they write is worth reading. And I’ve read everything Wexler has written so far. 

All this navel-gazing brings to me Ashes of the Sun, Wexler’s second book this year, and the start of a new series that came out at the end of July. I obtained an ARC through NetGalley for the promise of an honest review. 

It should be no surprise that I think it’s really, really good.  It rivals the Shadow Throne as a first novel.  And while it lacks the electric figure of Janus bet Vhalnich, the choice of a brother-sister protagonist (Gyre and Maya) works extremely well.  The world-building is very well done and the accomplishments and set-backs feel earned.  The magic system is cool and interestingly mixed in with ancient lost technology.  It's inspired by Star Wars and there are homages in the novel.  

There's something of a caper novel about it, and mysteries are gradually revealed with the promise of more. As in his earlier Shadow Campaigns series, Wexler doesn't shy away from demonstrating the human cost of grand ambitions and noble sentiments in maimed bodies and casualties. 

If there is a part of the novel that is somewhat disappointing, it is the ending which feels somewhat unconvincing.  But all in all another excellent novel with the promise of much more to come. 
 

[john]

Zachary Mason? For some reason this throwaway name intrigued me more than all the effusive Wexler praise.

[Gaston de Foix]

44 minutes ago, john said:

Zachary Mason? For some reason this throwaway name intrigued me more than all the effusive Wexler praise.

Yes, I think very highly of his work.  

[Seli]

That was the name I noticed as well. If I am not mixing up books I really liked The Lost Books of the Odyssey, but managed to miss he wrote more.

[Gaston de Foix]

He's published two: Void Star and Metamorphica. 

If you liked the Lost Books, the latter has similar arresting imagery, bold retellings and is inspired by what is arguably one of the first published collections of fantasy short stories, Metamorphoses.  

[JGP]

10 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Stephen Donaldson has spoken about his discovery that his fans weren’t really fans of Stephen Donaldson (despite the excellent work he has done in various genres) but fans of Thomas Covenant. For me to become a fan of an author and not just their best-known work means I trust every word they write is worth reading. 

Grapes. Sour.

I'm a huge fan of Donaldson, and I'll give all of his stuff a try. He's just hit and miss [even within the Covenant series] I mean, I loved the First and second Chronicles [the Third, not so much] The Gap [may be my favorite work of his] Mordant's Need, most of his short stories.

But I couldn't even get a 1/4 into the Seventh Decimate.

 

10 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

It should be no surprise that I think it’s really, really good.  It rivals the Shadow Throne as a first novel.  And while it lacks the electric figure of Janus bet Vhalnich, the choice of a brother-sister protagonist (Gyre and Maya) works extremely well.  The world-building is very well done and the accomplishments and set-backs feel earned.  The magic system is cool and interestingly mixed in with ancient lost technology.  It's inspired by Star Wars and there are homages in the novel.  

There's something of a caper novel about it, and mysteries are gradually revealed with the promise of more. As in his earlier Shadow Campaigns series, Wexler doesn't shy away from demonstrating the human cost of grand ambitions and noble sentiments in maimed bodies and casualties. 

If there is a part of the novel that is somewhat disappointing, it is the ending which feels somewhat unconvincing.  But all in all another excellent novel with the promise of much more to come. 
 

I liked it too. Maya resonated with me more than Gyre did, and while I'd agree there was a Star Wars feel to it, I also picked up what I felt were a few GRRM story beats [from ACoK in particular] and even Mieville [the Ghoulish Uther Doul type technology] but influence of creatives, on creatives, is hard to avoid entirely. If we were infinitely imaginative, it's hard to picture us as limited as humanity is.

I think I commented elsewhere on this, but one thing I appreciate about Wexler is even if his secondary and background characters aren't entirely three dimensional, he infuses them with enough personality that they ring more as interesting unknowns as opposed to ciphers, plot advancing cut outs, or otherwise.

There was the long gap between childhood and the current story that I felt, character wise, could've occasionally been filled in better with contextual flashbacks or references at least, but that's a minor nitpick and something that could certainly be addressed in subsequent books.

I wouldn't say I loved it, but it was a solid and enjoyable read. It's the first truly distracting book I've been able to rip through since the advent of covid, so that's something. Definitely good.   

[ljkeane]

I'm a Wexler fan too and I just finished Ashes of the Sun. I enjoyed it and I'd agree with most of the things said about it here but I will say there's no way that was just 'inspired' by Star Wars, it was blatantly originally a Star Wars book that he's rewritten. Maya's definitely a Jedi. I like the way he's rewritten it and the world building is pretty cool but he's pretty much admitting it with all the talk of the amount of rewriting in the acknowledgments at the end of the book.

[JGP]

3 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I'm a Wexler fan too and I just finished Ashes of the Sun. I enjoyed it and I'd agree with most of the things said about it here but I will say there's no way that was just 'inspired' by Star Wars, it was blatantly originally a Star Wars book that he's rewritten. Maya's definitely a Jedi. I like the way he's rewritten it and the world building is pretty cool but he's pretty much admitting it with all the talk of the amount of rewriting in the acknowledgments at the end of the book.

Huh. I rarely read the acknowledgments.

[Gaston de Foix]

3 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I'm a Wexler fan too and I just finished Ashes of the Sun. I enjoyed it and I'd agree with most of the things said about it here but I will say there's no way that was just 'inspired' by Star Wars, it was blatantly originally a Star Wars book that he's rewritten. Maya's definitely a Jedi. I like the way he's rewritten it and the world building is pretty cool but he's pretty much admitting it with all the talk of the amount of rewriting in the acknowledgments at the end of the book.

I never visualized the burning blade as a lightsaber.  Is that how the text describes it?

[ljkeane]

1 minute ago, Gaston de Foix said:

I never visualized the burning blade as a lightsaber.  Is that how the text describes it?

I don't think it's explicitly described as being exactly like a lightsaber in every way but the centarchs' hakens are a sword handle from which an energy blade (the type of energy seems to vary) emerges and can cut through pretty much everything. He's changed it a bit but it's a lightsaber. 

[JGP]

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

I don't think it's explicitly described as being exactly like a lightsaber in every way but the centarchs' hakens are a sword handle from which an energy blade (the type of energy seems to vary) emerges and can cut through pretty much everything. He's changed it a bit but it's a lightsaber. 

I thought the expressions of Tanax's haken and other abilities were quite a bit higher up the cool scale than Maya's, but when you put it like that... yeah.

[ljkeane]

Don't get me wrong it doesn't bother me that I think it started out as a Star Wars book. I think it's a good story and the world building he's come up with is very interesting.

ETA: And obviously the centarchs can do non Jedi like stuff with their hakens. He's clearly developed it beyond the initial premise.

[shortstark]

I liked Ashes, its a curious mix of YA and adult fantasy, didn't catch the star wars vibes as not a huge fan but in retrospect the haken is obviously modeled after a light sabre, its a familiar fantasy trope of ancient civilization leaving behind technology that is barely understood by the current inhabitants, but it was handled well and had two interesting lead characters, the brother/sister was an unusual twist.. I look forward to the second installment. 

[Gaston de Foix]

On 8/14/2020 at 5:35 PM, ljkeane said:

Don't get me wrong it doesn't bother me that I think it started out as a Star Wars book. I think it's a good story and the world building he's come up with is very interesting.

ETA: And obviously the centarchs can do non Jedi like stuff with their hakens. He's clearly developed it beyond the initial premise.

When you say it started out as a SW book does that mean a book in the SW setting or a book commissioned for the franchise? 

[ljkeane]

34 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

When you say it started out as a SW book does that mean a book in the SW setting or a book commissioned for the franchise? 

I don’t know. I’m not claiming any inside knowledge or anything. Either seems possible. He could just be a Star Wars fan who had an idea for a Star Wars story for fun or he could have been asked to write an EU story that didn’t work out for whatever reason. 

[polishgenius]

On 8/16/2020 at 12:44 PM, ljkeane said:

I don’t know. I’m not claiming any inside knowledge or anything. Either seems possible. He could just be a Star Wars fan who had an idea for a Star Wars story for fun or he could have been asked to write an EU story that didn’t work out for whatever reason. 

I've only just started so there might be more I see that makes me lean another way, I think it was the former, because it's as much Final Fantasy as Star Wars so I think he just fanboyishly wrote a crossover fanfic that turned into a real novel. The Warbirds are clearly Chocobos, it seems a magitechy world in an FF style anyway, and if my understanding of FF XII is correct (I've not played it but I've played the FF Tactics games from which Ivalice spun out in which the Judges started, but I believe they later became basically the Judges out of AD2000 but medieval and magic) the Centarches in both manner and dress with the Judges from that game as with Jedi (presumably there are other enemies/orders in other FF games that might also have inspired it) , I'm not super familiar with the series but there are always soldiers in flashy metal armour hanging about).

Course he might have also gone all the way back to FF's original inspiration, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, but I suspect FF is a more likely direct influence here.