An Inheritance of Ashes
A Novel
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4.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A teen faces the aftermath of a supernatural war in this “remarkably good . . . feast of pleasures . . . Beautifully written, and emotionally provocative” (Tor).
The strange war down south—with its rumors of gods and monsters—is over. And while sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister wait to see who will return from the distant battlefield, they struggle to maintain their family farm.
When Hallie hires a veteran to help them, the war comes home in ways no one could have imagined, and soon Hallie is taking dangerous risks—and keeping desperate secrets. But even as she slowly learns more about the war and the men who fought it, ugly truths about Hallie’s own family are emerging. And while monsters and armies are converging on the small farm, the greatest threat to her home may be Hallie herself.
“[A] superb fantasy . . . Bobet is an accomplished stylist . . . and she insightfully examines the corrosive dangers of sibling rivalry in a story filled with impossible choices and unknowable ambiguities.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“War, community, long-festering anger, and forgiveness—all thoughtfully and deliberately conveyed.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A compelling interrogation of faith versus science . . . Readers with an interest in either will find this to be an elevation from the run-of-the-mill dystopia.” —Bulletin
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This superb fantasy takes place in a grim world that readers will come to recognize as a future North America. Reasons for society's collapse aren't given, but civilization is at a roughly 19th-century level. Guns are considered relics, but no one thinks twice about having Hmong neighbors. Months ago 16-year-old Hallie's brother-in-law, Thom, marched away from the farm she co-owns with her sister, Marthe, to fight the Wicked God Southward, an entity that traveled through a rent in the universe and, accompanied by its Twisted Things, was turning their world to ash. The ragtag human army defeated the Wicked God, but Thom, like many others, did not return; those who did have been badly damaged. When Hallie finds another Twisted Thing on the farm, the horror seems ready to return. Bobet (Above) is an accomplished stylist (a survivor of the war "carried the distance between us, five feet back and steady, like the borders of a whole universe"), and she insightfully examines the corrosive dangers of sibling rivalry in a story filled with impossible choices and unknowable ambiguities. Ages 12 up.
