Book: Ashes at the Altar by Ladarrion Williams
Reviewed by SimplySammie
Rating: 5/5
It's not uncommon for me to cry over fictional characters these days. I'm a marshmallow. However, it is rare for me to cry 10 times in one book. That is probably an underestimation, too.
Ashes at the Altar absolutely wrecked me, in the best of ways.
Coming to the end of the tale for Malik and his friends and family. was not easy, they had a lot of work left undone after everything in Bones at the Crossroads, and none of that work should have been on the shoulders of a group of college students.
That is one the central themes in this book and one of the reasons I found myself sobbing so frequently: the labor that was put on the backs of these young Black children and the parallels to the world today.
Incredibly written, fantastically paced, and full of twists and turns that kept me turning the page even when I should have been doing other things - this book owned my life for the day and a half it took me to read.
I am so sad to say goodbye to the world of Caiman U - what a fantastic journey it was.