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God's Ashes: A Novel
A gripping tale of loss, betrayal, and redemption set across the porous maritime borders of Southeast Asia and the remote islands of the Pacific.
In God's Ashes, an archipelago of displaced characters -- refugees, dissidents, and indigents -- converge in an unseen transnational crime. Years later, their hard-won reshaped identities threaten to crumble when one among them disappears. The ensuing search could upend the existing world order.
In God's Ashes, an archipelago of displaced characters -- refugees, dissidents, and indigents -- converge in an unseen transnational crime. Years later, their hard-won reshaped identities threaten to crumble when one among them disappears. The ensuing search could upend the existing world order.
308 pages, Paperback
Published July 30, 2024
8 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 8, 2024
Full disclosure: I received a copy of God’s Ashes from the author herself. I am also her avid reader. As someone who has read all of Marga Ortigas’ books, I have to say that God’s Ashes is by far my favorite one for a good reason: the book embodies what any reader would appreciate in a novel, which is a fresh perspective through an enjoyable read. Marga Ortigas possesses the ability to write bingeable books that explore otherwise heavy topics. Her first book, House on Calle Sombra, appears to be an intimidating multi-generational narrative that weaves through more than a hundred years of Philippine history but manages to be an approachable book that can be read for hours on end. Her second book, There Are No Falling Stars in China, captures poignant moments of Marga Ortigas’ career as an international journalist, which includes assignments in no less than war zones, through succinct but heartfelt chapters. With God’s Ashes, Marga Ortigas experiments with science fiction and puts together, among many others, gem stones, blockchains and the forgotten problem of nuclear waste into the reader’s consciousness. From historical fiction to nonfiction and science fiction, Marga Ortigas treats her narratives almost in a tongue-in-cheek manner as a tool to keep the reader engaged. In God’s Ashes, a catastrophic nuclear disaster is imminent. The world is ending and no one is paying attention. It may seem to be a hopeless situation but like the plot device from which the main plot point is derived from, God’s Ashes presents an unexpected solution to an impending disaster. This is exactly the author’s the underlying message to the reader in God’s Ashes — one is not necessarily invited to look deep within but to pay attention to what is right in front of your eyes. There lies the magic of Marga Ortigas’ books.
April 22, 2025
Picked up this book blind without knowing anything besides it was written by a Filipino author. I honestly thought it would be a fantasy book because the summary at the back didn’t give away anything 😁 Imagine my surprise it was sci-fi heavy but I wasn’t disappointed!
God’s Ashes is a story about interconnected characters set in the near future (I think) where the world is ruled by technological advancements and cryptocurrency. There is an app developed which makes the user smarter and they have to rack up points doing good deeds until they reached Elysium. Such utopian ideals, of course, was ladened with violence, corruption, nuclear disasters, and climate changes.
The story spans different timelines and I was initially wondering how these characters with seemingly different ethnicities and backgrounds are related to each other. At some point, I got a little confused because there were new characters introduced even more than halfway! Glad I persevered, tho, because once everything was unraveled, I was hooked.
The premise is intriguing, listing down the consequences of man’s desire to achieve paradise at the expense of the environment and the marginalized. Overall, it took a while for me to get into it but the last 100+ pages were definitely amazing enough to make up for the slow pace. Definitely recommending this book!
God’s Ashes is a story about interconnected characters set in the near future (I think) where the world is ruled by technological advancements and cryptocurrency. There is an app developed which makes the user smarter and they have to rack up points doing good deeds until they reached Elysium. Such utopian ideals, of course, was ladened with violence, corruption, nuclear disasters, and climate changes.
The story spans different timelines and I was initially wondering how these characters with seemingly different ethnicities and backgrounds are related to each other. At some point, I got a little confused because there were new characters introduced even more than halfway! Glad I persevered, tho, because once everything was unraveled, I was hooked.
The premise is intriguing, listing down the consequences of man’s desire to achieve paradise at the expense of the environment and the marginalized. Overall, it took a while for me to get into it but the last 100+ pages were definitely amazing enough to make up for the slow pace. Definitely recommending this book!
January 13, 2025
This book is def a 5 star read.
It crosses among various genres—setting themes of national and cultural identity, social heirarchy, political involvements in tech advancements (and vice versa), and even gender and sexuality, on a fictional story world set in the very real, untold world. Not much can be said beyond giving this book a 5 star rating. It does get hefty in the beginning with new characters being introduced throughout different timelines, but it all wonderfully ties together in the end.
Specifically, I admire the novel as it creates a fictional, almost sci-fi, world but through the lens of real and actual problems that nobody has heard of, such as the displacement of individuals vis-a-vis making way for corporations and national agendas of countries from the global north. These are untold stories of those that suffer the most at the hands of those who have the rest of the world dancing like puppets (through globalisation of media & tech most likely), and Ortigas does this by weaving this truth to the stories of the characters.
It crosses among various genres—setting themes of national and cultural identity, social heirarchy, political involvements in tech advancements (and vice versa), and even gender and sexuality, on a fictional story world set in the very real, untold world. Not much can be said beyond giving this book a 5 star rating. It does get hefty in the beginning with new characters being introduced throughout different timelines, but it all wonderfully ties together in the end.
Specifically, I admire the novel as it creates a fictional, almost sci-fi, world but through the lens of real and actual problems that nobody has heard of, such as the displacement of individuals vis-a-vis making way for corporations and national agendas of countries from the global north. These are untold stories of those that suffer the most at the hands of those who have the rest of the world dancing like puppets (through globalisation of media & tech most likely), and Ortigas does this by weaving this truth to the stories of the characters.
February 1, 2025
The world this is set in is so cool!! The corals, the app, the different characters, the political and environmental themes. That said, I found the plot a bit hard to follow. It'd probably make a really cool show though.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews