Liquid Silver Books, $4.75, ISBN 978-1-59578-524-4
Fantasy Erotica, 2009

Eh, how do I review a story like From the Ashes? The problem here is that there is no build-up in the plot, things just happen. There are plenty of information dumping done in a most uninteresting manner interrupted by sex scenes that are too short and unimaginative to be of any use even for readers who are looking for mere titillation. Cilia and Fiach, last seen in Born of Fire, are back. This time around they have sex, encounter some demons, have sex anyway, encounter Fiach’s folks, have sex some more, and it’s the end. What on earth was that all about again?

The thing is, this story reads like the work of amateur from beginning to end. It is very dull because of the lack of build-up and its pacing issues. The author is just telling, telling, telling here. The characters are flat. The story moves from points A to B to C with all the lethargy of a drugged mule. The sex scenes aren’t even innovative in any way to make up for the amateur hour that is the rest of the story.

On the bright side, this isn’t a bad story, in the sense that it is not particularly awful. It is just very boring, and when I’m done with it, I can’t remember much about it other than it is nothing more than a bunch of boring sex scenes stringed together by a paper-thin plot. Come on, Ms Hailey, we need to do much better than this the next time around. This is really not good.