Perhaps it’s a waste of your time, but I want to first say that I don’t enjoy giving negative book reviews (not that this review is ALL negative). I would love it if all reading experiences were four-plus stars and I could just rave about everything I read (especially ARCs). However, I am honest to a fault. Which doesn’t mean I am always right, by the way. I am an experienced and more-than-proficient reader, but what I’m really giving here is my experience with a book. Readers look for different things in books, so they may or may not agree with me. This is why I try to choose books that I’m going to like. Obviously, this doesn’t always work out. It’s also why I take notes at book discussions–to give you more thoughtful and well-rounded reviews. But another thing I don’t enjoy? Wasting my time. Which is why I go ahead and share my thoughts with you even when I didn’t like a book. Hopefully you can find yourself in the review and therefore determine whether or not it’s the right book for you to pick up. Perhaps read some other reviews, as well? (Or maybe you’ve just come here to think about the book, yourself, or to have a shared experience. That’s cool, too.) I know I’ll be panned as a writer, as well. It’s the nature of the job, I guess. Honestly sharing our opinions; others honestly sharing theirs (and sometimes dishonestly or unfairly). I try to be fair.

Now for the actual review:

I read The Ashes of the Forest by Güzide Ertürk as the first ARC I snagged on NetGalley (since you have to wait for approval of the “bigger” titles). I found the premise interesting, and since I now know that I have Turkish ancestry, I enjoy learning more about that specific part of the world. Basically, though, I was going in blind.

Ashes took me a minute. Why? It has a compelling concept (combo of small village life with mythology and climate fiction), but I wrestled with the clunky prose for much of the book. There is awkward phrasing and noticeable mistakes which at first I chalked up to the ARC (though I have never seen nearly this many mistakes in any ARC and it’s understood that they don’t “count”). As it persisted though, I thought it was probably the result of poor translation. Oops. Apparently, this is not a translation. Ertürk is Turkish-American, is getting her MFA in Portland, Oregon, and wrote Ashes of the Forest in English. So somehow it feels like a poor translation, even though it isn’t a translation at all. Because of this, I found some parts confusing or too subtle. The pacing/structure is also uneven, with transitions abrupt (and the ending especially), lingering in some scenes longer than they kept me interested. And those POV shifts some people claim are intentional? They didn’t feel intentional to me. Again, I thought they were translation or editing errors.

There were times, though, that I appreciated more than just the concept. Occasionally, I was swept up into a scene just by the romantic, lush portrayal of the setting, sometimes too the characters. Certain scenes were magical, intriguing. I wanted to just go there, to this other place, this other life, but could never stay there long. I certainly didn’t hate the book, don’t disdain it. But it feels like it’s a rough draft, quite frankly. That it needs more through-lines, more emotional connection between the clunky pieces. And just more drafts.

I suppose if you are familiar with the myths and legends in the book, you might find the way Ertürk brings them together interesting. I only vaguely knew about some of them.

I won’t tell you not to read this book. I just lament my experience, which promised quite a bit more than it delivered.