A review by star_sapphire
Ashes to Ashes, by Jenny Han
3.0
The ending was bittersweet/sad. This book was just all over the place, which is perfectly fine when it comes to the fact that there are three protagonists (Mary, Kat, and Lillia). The issue was that there were too many problems/issues that were either handled too quickly, took forever to be addressed, or barely brushed over.
As a person who disliked Mary since book 1, I enjoyed the fact that Mary didn't have as many chapters as Lillia or Kat did. As a person who likes Lillia, I was ecstatic to see this book more focused around her... until it started focusing around her too much. It became obvious that Lillia ended up getting a lot of book-time, while other characters barely had any chapters/pages/storylines dedicated to them. Kat ended up being treated like a background character, which was not cool at all.
I was really happy to see Lillia and Reeve's relationship develop in this book. It became obviously clear that se was the light of his life, and he was the one that she truly loved. (Hey, I ship these two. They're so sweet around each other).
I really loved seeing Reeve's character fleshed out. It was nice to get more of a backstory on him, his home life, and why he's who he is.
I didn't enjoy the fact that Alex Linds (who was one of my favorite characters, besides Kat, Lillia, and Reeve) ended up being used as plot device to create drama between Lillia, Reeve, and him. He was barely there in the book, besides being whiny over the fact that Lillia liked Reeve, and then ignored Lillia like an immature 8-year-old. It was also upsetting to see how little he and Kat interacted (although, that might also have to do with how little chapters she had in comparison to Lillia). What's even more upsetting is that most of the time the two interact, it always had to do with his harboring crush on Lillia. I missed seeing the two being friends.
While I was glad that Mary was getting little chapters, I hated how scornful she was. She immediately concludes to herself that Lillia and Kat are both traitors, and therefore she must seek revenge. It was very immature and just proved how little she valued their friendship. She even whines at one point about how "Lillia and Kat didn't even bother to look for her," which was absurd because Kat did try to figure things out. Maybe if she focused less on obsessing over Reeve, she would realize that her friends were worried for her.
The book was fast-pace, intriguing, and was on parr with the other two books in the trilogy. It was exciting, terrifying, and kept me on edge (especially towards the end).
And then the ending/epilogue happened. THAT IS ONE ENDING THAT IS JUST TOO DEPRESSING.
EVEN I WOULDN"T WISH THAT KIND OF ENDING TO MY WORST ENEMIES.
Not only does Kat not get into her dream school, her father dies shortly after she graduates for NYU.
IT'S ALSO TERRIBLE THAT LILLIA AND REEVE DOES NOT END UP TOGETHER. REEVE LEAVES AND NEVER CONTACTED HER AFTER HIGH SCHOOL. They only see each other again at Kat's father's funeral.
But the icing on the cake is the fact that the authors dare hint to us that Lillia and Alex are a thing.
NO. JUST NO. IT WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO BE KAT AND ALEX and Lillia and Reeve.
As a person who disliked Mary since book 1, I enjoyed the fact that Mary didn't have as many chapters as Lillia or Kat did. As a person who likes Lillia, I was ecstatic to see this book more focused around her... until it started focusing around her too much. It became obvious that Lillia ended up getting a lot of book-time, while other characters barely had any chapters/pages/storylines dedicated to them. Kat ended up being treated like a background character, which was not cool at all.
I was really happy to see Lillia and Reeve's relationship develop in this book. It became obviously clear that se was the light of his life, and he was the one that she truly loved. (Hey, I ship these two. They're so sweet around each other).
I really loved seeing Reeve's character fleshed out. It was nice to get more of a backstory on him, his home life, and why he's who he is.
I didn't enjoy the fact that Alex Linds (who was one of my favorite characters, besides Kat, Lillia, and Reeve) ended up being used as plot device to create drama between Lillia, Reeve, and him. He was barely there in the book, besides being whiny over the fact that Lillia liked Reeve, and then ignored Lillia like an immature 8-year-old. It was also upsetting to see how little he and Kat interacted (although, that might also have to do with how little chapters she had in comparison to Lillia). What's even more upsetting is that most of the time the two interact, it always had to do with his harboring crush on Lillia. I missed seeing the two being friends.
While I was glad that Mary was getting little chapters, I hated how scornful she was. She immediately concludes to herself that Lillia and Kat are both traitors, and therefore she must seek revenge. It was very immature and just proved how little she valued their friendship. She even whines at one point about how "Lillia and Kat didn't even bother to look for her," which was absurd because Kat did try to figure things out. Maybe if she focused less on obsessing over Reeve, she would realize that her friends were worried for her.
The book was fast-pace, intriguing, and was on parr with the other two books in the trilogy. It was exciting, terrifying, and kept me on edge (especially towards the end).
And then the ending/epilogue happened. THAT IS ONE ENDING THAT IS JUST TOO DEPRESSING.
EVEN I WOULDN"T WISH THAT KIND OF ENDING TO MY WORST ENEMIES.
Spoiler
Not only does Kat not get into her dream school, her father dies shortly after she graduates for NYU.
IT'S ALSO TERRIBLE THAT LILLIA AND REEVE DOES NOT END UP TOGETHER. REEVE LEAVES AND NEVER CONTACTED HER AFTER HIGH SCHOOL. They only see each other again at Kat's father's funeral.
But the icing on the cake is the fact that the authors dare hint to us that Lillia and Alex are a thing.
NO. JUST NO. IT WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO BE KAT AND ALEX and Lillia and Reeve.