First, become ashes

K. M. Szpara

Book - 2021

"K. M. Szpara follows his explosive debut novel Docile with First, Become Ashes, a fantastic standalone adventure that explores self-discovery after trauma and outgrowing abusive origins over the course of an American road trip. The Fellowship raised Lark to kill monsters. His partner betrayed them to the Feds. But Lark knows his magic is real, and he'll do anything to complete his quest. For thirty years, the Fellowship of the Anointed isolated its members, conditioning them to believe that pain is power. That magic is suffering. That the world beyond the fence has fallen prey to monsters. But when their leader is arrested, all her teachings come into question. Those touched by the Fellowship face a choice: how will they adjust t...o the world they were taught to fear, and how will they relate to the cult's last crusader, Lark? For Kane, survival means rejecting the magic he and his lover suffered for. For Deryn, the cult's collapse is an opportunity to prove they are worth as much as their Anointed brother. For Calvin, lark is the alluring embodiment of the magic he's been seeking his entire life. But for Lark, the Fellowship isn't over. Before he can begin to discover himself and heal a lifetime of traumas, he has a monster to slay. First, Become Ashes contains explicit sadomasochism and sexual content, as well as abuse and consent violations, including rape"--

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Subjects
Genres
Fantasy fiction
Novels
Published
New York, NY : Tordotcom 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
K. M. Szpara (author)
Edition
First edition
Item Description
"A Tom Doherty Associates book"--title page.
"First, become ashes contains explicit sadomasochism and sexual content, as well as abuse and consent violations, including rape." -- Page [7].
Physical Description
304 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781250216182
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Lark is a man who has spent his 24 years being trained to defeat the monsters of the outside world, enduring pain alongside his partner, Kane, to be ready. But when Kane brings the FBI and SWAT teams to raid their home, Lark is told that monsters aren't real, and that the Fellowship's leader, Nova, is accused of perpetrating abuse and assault as the leader of a cult. Lark is still determined to defeat the monsters he knows are out there with the magic he knows he has, and he partners with cosplayer Calvin to complete his quest. Szpara's newest novel (after his hotly anticipated debut, Docile, 2020) is a standalone about the complicated ways we cope with trauma, about balancing acceptance and truth, and about belief in its darkest and brightest forms. The characters are rich in their yearning and hopes, with complicated relationships to their bodies, and the book explores the relationship between pain and sex, reverence and torture. It is a dark novel that nevertheless has a determined and compelling core of hope.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Members of a secluded cult grapple with sudden immersion in the outside world in the intense latest from Szpara (Docile). Lark has been raised as an Anointed, taught that strict discipline and pain will unleash his magical powers, and that one day he'll be called to fight monsters. He's eager to leave the compound in Baltimore's Druid Hill neighborhood, where he lives, to put his training to the test, but two months before his 25th birthday the FBI raids the compound with help from Kane, Lark's former lover and a closet nonbeliever. Lark flees and stumbles into a fan convention where he meets Calvin Morris, a cosplayer who longs for magic to be real and who agrees to help Lark search for monsters. Meanwhile, FBI agent Miller pursues Lark with the help of Kane and Deryn, Lark's sibling. Calvin witnesses Lark performing what seems to be genuine magic and agrees to help Lark recharge his powers through pain as they hurtle toward an uncertain showdown. Szpara intercuts the thrilling chase with flashbacks to the abuse and sexual violence Kane and Lark endured in the Fellowship of the Anointed. The rotating viewpoints showcase Lark's intense certainty, Kane's guilt, Deryn's bitterness, and Calvin's urgent credulity. Szpara mixes trauma and magic to mesmerizing results. Agent: Jennifer Udden, New Leaf Literary. (Apr.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Scriptwriter for numerous films that have emerged from various festivals with awards, first-timer Dewes offers a world at the edge of the universe in The Last Watch, with only the scurvy Sentinels able to save the day (125,000-copy first printing). Two-time winner of South Korea's annual best sf novel competition, Kim offers two pairs of linked stories in I'm Waiting for You that go to the very heart of existence and its meaning (75,000-copy first printing). In First, Become Ashes, from Hugo and Nebula finalist Szpara, Lark grew up caged and scourged to build up his magic to fight monsters--and remains committed to his mission when he is later told by combined government forces investigating child abuse that the magic and the monsters are not real (75,000-copy first printing). Launching a new series, van Praag's The Night of Demons and Saints features two sisters torn apart after failing to defeat their demon father, with Goldie plotting a human sacrifice to redeem all she's lost and Liyana arguing that there's a better way (50,000-copy first printing). In librarian Walter's Malice, a debut that intriguingly retells the Sleeping Beauty story, Alyce, the Dark Grace, has cursed the kingdom of Briar's line of princesses to die young--but Princess Aurora changes everything by falling in love with Alyce.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Magic or not? Abuse or necessary preparation for a sacred warrior? Szpara tackles tough questions of perception and consent in this disturbing, occasionally hallucinatory tale of the destruction of a cult. Meadowlark is Anointed, chosen by Nova to learn both magic and martial skills to fight the monsters that overrun the world outside the warded gates of the Fellowship of the Anointed's compound in Druid Hill, a former public park in the heart of Baltimore. His beloved partner, Kane, has already turned 25 and has been sent out on a quest against the monsters. But two months before Lark's own 25th birthday, the Forces of Evil strike first: The FBI and the police invade the compound and take Lark away, calling the Fellowship a dangerous cult and demanding that Lark testify against Nova. Worse still, Kane is the one who betrayed the compound. Aided by other captured Anointed, Lark employs magic to escape government custody. With FBI Agent Miller, Kane, and Lark's sibling Deryn in pursuit, Lark embarks on his quest, resolving to destroy the monster who has clearly corrupted Kane. He finds unexpected help from Calvin, a professional cosplayer who sees Lark as a fantasy hero made real--an impossibly beautiful and painfully attractive man who claims to wield magic--and Calvin's podcaster friend, Lilian, who's there for the novelty and to support Calvin. During the journey, we learn more about the physical and sexual abuse that Kane and Lark experienced as part of their training. This novel exists in the same intriguingly inchoate territory as Russell H. Greenan's It Happened in Boston? and Richard Matheson's Somewhere in Time, leaving it up to the reader to decide if the curious events that occur are the product of magic, delusion, or some murky place that draws from both possibilities. Frankly, the most implausible aspect of the story is the extreme latitude granted to Agent Miller, who should never have been in charge of the Druid Hill case given her very personal connection to the cult. Other aspects of the story seem more sadly believable: Recent documentaries about NXIVM underscore the power of a charismatic leader to convince or coerce their flock into suffering horrendous and humiliating treatment while they desperately try to convince themselves that it makes them stronger or, at least, that it is deserved. But this story ultimately offers balm; whether or not magic is real, the energies which apparently drive it can be channeled in more positive directions, toward hope and healing. A timely tale about the dangers of committing too fervently and unquestioningly to a person and their cause. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.