So today I’m excited to bring you a blog tour for a YA Dystopian, Feast of Ashes by Victoria Williamson. A massive thank you to Dave at The Write Reads for inviting me along.

Let’s not waste time and just jump right in…

The Earth’s ecosystems have collapsed and only ashes remain. Is one girl’s courage enough to keep hope alive in the wastelands? It’s the year 2123, and sixteen-year-old Adina has just accidentally killed fourteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-six people. Raised in the eco-bubble of Eden Five, Adina has always believed that the Amonston Corporation’s giant greenhouse would keep her safe forever. But when her own careless mistake leads to an explosion that incinerates Eden Five, she and a small group of survivors must brave the barren wastelands outside the ruined Dome to reach the Sanctuary before their biofilters give out and their DNA threatens to mutate in the toxic air. They soon discover that the outside isn’t as deserted as they were made to believe, and the truth is unearthed on their dangerous expedition. As time runs out, Adina must tackle her guilty conscience and find the courage to get everyone to safety. Will she make it alive, or will the Nomalies get to her first?

-Goodreads-

Feast of Ashes is my first book by Victoria Williamson, it’s not often that I read YA these days, however I seem unable to walk away from dystopians. After not having read the synopsis I dived into this having no idea what what in store for me.

We begin with a countdown to the day that Adina kills almost 15,000 people and her home. I loved learning about the Gardens of Eden and how they work as well as their day to day lives. We have quite a bit of science in here which is clearly well researched and as I work everyday in a Biochemistry lab I very much appreciated, honestly I probably could have devoured even more.

Adina was so complex and there are many questionable scenes that I struggled to warm up to her, however once there’s a smaller group fighting for survival I started to relate a little more to her.

There’s so much world building, that I didn’t have trouble visualising any of the scenes. I had many conflicting feelings while reading this book which also made me question how I would survive or even mentally cope with what is happening and then I remember Adina is 16. The author took this book is a direction that I definitely didn’t see coming.

The authors writing combined with the structure of this book made this just so easy to consume and hard to put down, Feast of Ashes will not be the last book I read by Victoria Williamson.

-Grab Your Copy Here-

So Who Is Victoria Williamson?

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.
Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019. Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.