“Nerdection Must Read”
Spoiler-free Plot Summary
Ensom – a small, irradiated island in Europe – is in a travel lockdown. No one can come in and no one can leave anymore, not since the volcano that looms over the population like a vengeful goddess spewed forth an apocalyptic eruption that irreversibly changed the island and its inhabitants. Now the island is home to a population of super powered people. The Core is the only thing protecting everyone from succumbing to the Chernobyl-like radiation poisoning that would kill everyone on the island. The Core provides protection through fantastical science and is powered by magic. But it was only supposed to be temporary, and the political burying of heads in the sand may be leading the island down a worse path than ever before for the health and longevity of its citizens.
The story begins from the perspective of Maka, a blind seventeen-year-old high schooler who lives in fear, but simultaneously craves the love of, her aerokinetic mother. Maka has the power of aura reading, and she must use it as well as her other gifts of manipulation and cunning to regain her mother’s love, which was lost during the volcanic eruption in 2008. Maka must use all of her wits to navigate to her goal, shifting around autocratic politics she can’t begin to fathom, a princess who stands a depressing chance at never truly being able to be herself, and a commander who loves like a good guy (someone who would sacrifice the love of his life to save the world). Will Maka’s desperation for her mother’s love be the thing that truly damns Ensom this time?
The story also follows Helen – Maka’s ice-hearted mother, Harkonen, and a collection of scientists, all trying to live with choices of their past and figure out how to move forward in the best way possible. All choices will lead to the climax of the story, where everyone’s intentions will be tested to their furthest limits.
My Take on The Warmth of Ashes
I found myself reflecting on The Trolley Problem whilst reading The Warmth of Ashes. For those unfamiliar with the psychology and ethics thought exercise, it goes something like this: There’s a runaway tram that has lost function of its brakes and there are tram workers on the track up ahead. If the tram were to keep speeding along the track straight, it would eventually hit a large group of workers working on the track. On the side track, there is only a single worker on the tracks, but you know this worker. A bystander – you – has access to the track switch. The dilemma is now yours… do you do nothing and allow the tram to kill the large group of workers, or do you take action and kill a single person instead?
The Warmth of Ashes sees multiple characters experiencing similar dilemmas. The raw emotionality of characters doing the best that they can, believing that they are making the best decisions that they can, either for the masses and strangers, or for themselves and the ones they love, builds an incredible suspense. And whilst I can’t truly say that I liked many of these characters, many of them saturated in righteousness or self-loathing or something equally human, I was invested in the outcomes of their decisions.
I enjoyed how many perspectives were encompassed in this story. There were the adolescences, simply struggling to come to terms with their existence, as all teenagers do – with no shortage of stumbling awkwardness, mortification, and barely concealed rage. I cringed and laughed along with the antics of Maka, Goldie, and Carrington. And I remember clearly the emotional growing pains of my own adolescences, how I too thought that my feelings were so unique in their agony. Now as an adult, I realize that I simply had no context for adult suffering and pain, and of course, was too self-centred to realize that everyone who had come before me had experienced something similar too. O’Gorman Schwartz hits this nail on the head with a stunningly articular clarity for the teenage characters dispersed through her story.
Meanwhile, there were the adults, who were still coming to terms with the sheer quantity and weight of the losses they were enduring in the post-apocalyptic reality of Ensom. Most of them grieve, for lost relatives and loves, for their old selves they were before they sacrificed so much during a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on the island, or for parts of their souls they had to sacrifice. It was fascinating watching the adults navigating their political problems and the injustices that they had created for themselves a decade before – each of them taking turns to stand beside the figurative track lever in their own Trolley Problems and the accompanying internal turmoil that some experience, and some do not.
I loved all the sci-fi fantasy elements around Ensom’s chemistry and biology, Felsicon and spabs, and how it was changed by the eruption back in 2008. The biochemical base of everyone’s unique magical abilities is a refreshing take on the fantasy genre. Likewise, all the minuscule details around the island’s cultural and colonial history add another layer of enjoyment to the story.
Rating and Content Warnings
Even though this book falls under the YA fantasy genre, I would argue that there are some strong themes around sexual intercourse, sexual assault, consent, and emotional intention in relationships that make this book more suited for readers 18+ years, or at least those of a high level of emotional intelligence.
There are also trigger warnings for sexual assault and child abuse.
Ultimately, I adored the complexity and detail of this book and rate it a “must-read” for fantasy sci-fi lovers.
About The Author Of The Warmth of Ashes
Laura O’Gorman Schwartz is a queer writer of fiction and non-fiction who grew up in Ireland, Japan, Singapore and (anticlimactically) New Jersey. She fled to Bard College in upper New York to major in Japanese and now resides in Singapore with her non-binary spouse and their boyfriend, as well as two cats and too many cactuses. Her short stories have appeared in several publications, most recently ‘The Birmingham Arts Journal’, ‘Ruminate Magazine’ and Ohio State’s ‘The Journal.’ She has also been Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Living in Singapore Reference Guide’ for the past two editions and a contributing writer since 2014. Her obsessions include: teashops, pole dancing, postcards, mornings, Nihonga, mountain hikes, bookstores, cocktail bars, BTS, the moon and words words words.
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