Only Ashes Remain is Rebecca Schaeffer‘s sequel to last year’s breakout debut Not Even Bones and, let me just get this out of the way right now, it most certainly does not suffer from the dreaded “sophomore slump” that tends to afflict many creators in the entertainment industry.
Our “unnatural” heroine Nita returns, but under the protection of INHUP (International Non-Human Police), an agency that not only protects humans from the dangerous non-humans living amongst us in this alternate reality, but also protects non-dangerous non-humans such as Nita from both dangerous non-humans as well as the very paranoid and sometimes more dangerous humans who tend to think of everyone unlike themselves as being a threat.
There’s a risk inherent in reading the first published novel by an otherwise new author. There’s additional risk when that first published novel is announced as part of a planned trilogy before the author has even had the opportunity to toe the waters of publishing success. I admit I initially felt this way about reading Rebecca Schaeffer‘s Not Even Bones. But the official synopsis won me over and made me overlook my trepidations and dive in.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
