Review of ‘Rising from Ash’ by Jax Meyer

I’m not sure why, but I finished this a while ago and have been sitting on my review for some reason.  This was a fascinating read for me and I think I wanted to settle on it for a bit and think over my feelings on it for a little while…

To be honest, I went into this reading wondering if I’d be frustrated with it.  I read one of Meyer’s previous stories, ‘Dal Segno’, and it just didn’t resonate with me despite the music theme.  I’m glad to say that this was a complete change and I loved it!

Asexual (ACE) representation in fiction, especially lesfic, is pretty brand new.  I have to admit that I’m pretty sure I’m on the ACE spectrum personally, falling closely along the lines of demisexual, and I didn’t even realize that there were others like me until I read about it in a book.  That’s what I think fiction does for us – it opens up windows for those who may be feeling lost or alone, helping us to find similarities and celebrate our differences.

As for this Lesfic asexual story itself, I loved seeing more ACE representation!  I’ve seen other reviewers mention that this felt a bit like reading about ACE 101, but I thought that Meyer handled that perfectly for the characters.  Main character Ash was teaching MC Phoenix about what it meant to be ACE right along with the reader, and through their creation of a comic story on ACE topics, it all just made sense why it was handled this way.

The story premise itself is fascinating to me also.  Having people essentially cut off from the outside world for months at a time while living at the South Pole was a perfect situation to put these characters in as they learned about each other.  I can’t wait to read the next installment!  4.25 stars.

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.