Athena's Ashes Review

Athena's Ashes by Jamie Grey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for this review.

Renna wakes up in a medical facility. She has had an implant placed in her brain. She is trying to destroy Pallas, the traitor within MYTH that she believes has done this to her. The implant gives her special mental abilities, such as the ability to see maps, and to communicate with other electronic systems. Renna is worried that she is turning into a cyborg. (Think Summer Glau in the Terminator TV series from a few years ago.) Dr Samil tries to give her injections to control the integration of the implant, while Pallas is Meanwhile, Renna misses the captain of the ship, Finn, that she was on before being brought to the hospital. She may be faling in love with him.

That's just from the beginning of the book. I won't give away too much because of spoilers, but I didn't want to put the book down. The plot moves fast, with a lot of twists and turns that are unexpected. The focus is on Renna, and her increasing abilities with the implant. I found shades of Terminator, Star Wars, and 2001: A Space Odyssey in this book. Pallas is also trying to construct a cyborg army based on the implant.

This is book 2 of the series. I didn't read book 1, but the first few chapters brought me up to speed on the important things. It can be easy to get lost in the details, but I was able, after a few pages, to catch up.

I liked how the author showed Renna's increasing power from the implants, and how she is able to use that power to get what she needs. Again, I won't say too much because of spoilers, but the integration isn't always smooth, and its use isn't always perfect. If it were, it would have ruined the plot.

This was an ARC, so there were some spelling errors, which I wrote off as typos. I assume they will be fixed in the final copy. When I review ARCs, I make allowances for this, and just review the content.

The ending is a little ambiguous. It ends, but it leaves open the possibility for a 3rd book in the series. I'm not sure if that's going to happen, but I think I would enjoy it if it did. All in all, a good book.



View all my reviews