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ann_aguirre's review
5.0
This is an awesome debut. I loved it. The best thing about it was how different and dark and gritty it was. Anya is a different sort of heroine, and Sparky was freakin' awesome. I loved the Detroit setting, and it all felt very real to me. It was also a welcome change of pace from vampires and such.
Embers passed my highest UF test, which means I finished it and immediately gave it to my husband Andres, saying, "Read this, you'll love it."
He loves UF but he's pickier than I am, so I don't automatically give him every book I enjoy. He read and loved this one as well. The last author to pass the "will be read & loved by both Aguirres" was Kat Richardson, so we're both very excited to have Laura Bickle on board as a shared-author.
Embers passed my highest UF test, which means I finished it and immediately gave it to my husband Andres, saying, "Read this, you'll love it."
He loves UF but he's pickier than I am, so I don't automatically give him every book I enjoy. He read and loved this one as well. The last author to pass the "will be read & loved by both Aguirres" was Kat Richardson, so we're both very excited to have Laura Bickle on board as a shared-author.
panichistory's review against another edition
3.0
It's pretty clear that this is a first novel, the writing needed some work and I couldn't bring myself to really care about any of the characters at all tbh.
rosetyper9's review against another edition
1.0
Ok so this review is rated a 1 raven because I didn't finish it. I just could not drag myself through the pages. I stopped at about 80 but couldn't go further. I apologize for this but, I am not going to make myself read a book that I just can't get in to. I felt that Anya was a bit whiny and she just didn't grab my attention. I like the ideas of this author though, the whole elemental thing is pretty sweet.
tanaise's review against another edition
5.0
this may have been the first urban fan5asy I have read that was set in Detroit. It made me miss college, since like half of them came from there
sandyd's review
4.0
An unusual paranormal suspense story - it's set in Detroit, instead of Seattle or New Orleans. :-)
Bickle has created a really interesting protagonist (Anya Kalinczyk, from the historic Polish community near Hamtramck), and she uses a lot of fascinating Detroit history - the salt mines under the city, the churches, Devil's Night. I liked it a lot, even though I thought the story was a little disjointed. I'm looking forward to her next book in August (and very happy I plucked this off the new book shelf at the Ann Arbor library).
Bickle has created a really interesting protagonist (Anya Kalinczyk, from the historic Polish community near Hamtramck), and she uses a lot of fascinating Detroit history - the salt mines under the city, the churches, Devil's Night. I liked it a lot, even though I thought the story was a little disjointed. I'm looking forward to her next book in August (and very happy I plucked this off the new book shelf at the Ann Arbor library).
awamiba's review
Embers by Laura Bickle was one that I liked pretty well. It was interesting to hear about the character’s past and the way her magic works. I would read more of this series.
leydhen's review
2.0
La premisa es muy interesante, lástima que la ejecución sea un lastre.
Le ha costado arrancar. Le ha costado MUCHO arrancar y el ritmo es bastante desastroso. Todo se soluciona a la carrera en las páginas finales, dejándote con más interrogantes de los que tenías al principio. Y es que, aunque se nos amplía un poco la mitología del mundo, apenas sí hemos dado un paso más allá del umbral.
Los personajes son un poco... Ufff. A ratos quería darle de tortas a Anya por sus decisiones (claro que no, querida, no nos ocupemos en absoluto del demonio que te ha poseído y, sobre todo, no nos extrañemos como lectores cuando eches un polvo sin más ni más con tu culpable, si la explicación de que él también es un medium como tú nos lo aclara todo. NO ) y he acabado hasta el gorro de las exhaustivas descripciones de la arquitectura en Detroit, sobre todo cuando las descripciones referentes a los personajes han sido más bien escasitas (sí, Anya tiene el pelo castaño, Ciro es negro y Katya rubia... Y ya, soy incapaz de recordar ninguna otra característica física de cualquier otro personaje recurrente).
Le ha costado arrancar. Le ha costado MUCHO arrancar y el ritmo es bastante desastroso. Todo se soluciona a la carrera en las páginas finales, dejándote con más interrogantes de los que tenías al principio. Y es que, aunque se nos amplía un poco la mitología del mundo, apenas sí hemos dado un paso más allá del umbral.
Los personajes son un poco... Ufff. A ratos quería darle de tortas a Anya por sus decisiones (
eilatan's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. Strong sense of place, strong and interesting protagonist with issues, and a pretty darned good story. I liked Anya tremendously, especially her relationship with her familiar and the various ghosts throughout the book.
Although I question whether or not it's possible to get paczki year-round. If you can, AWESOME.
Definitely looking forward to the next book in this series!
Although I question whether or not it's possible to get paczki year-round. If you can, AWESOME.
Definitely looking forward to the next book in this series!
prationality's review
5.0
Originally I had no intention of reading Embers. I'm a little burned out from Urban Fantasies, at least starting new series, and had resolved to take a break. Best laid plans and such found me buying Embers and then reading it in relatively quick order.
The tone of the novel was much darker than I expected, exploring several deeper emotions such as lust, guilt and personal responsibility in slightly uncomfortable ways (for me at least). Anya is a conflicted young woman with deeply rooted guilt issues and a problem with forming personal connections, not particularly uncommon in today's UF heroines, but Bickle takes it a step forward with Anya's growing fear that one unwary step will burn her life down. Uncertain about the exact nature of her power as a Lantern (spirits are attracted to her like a moth to flame and she has the power to devour them, burning them to nothingness), Anya fights her nature. Meeting the firebug with an oddly do-gooder mentality, confirms her worst fears, but also opens her up to exploring who and what she could be.
The cast surrounding Anya, both supernatural and otherwise, all have distinct personalities. Sparky, her 'hellbender' elemental protectors; Brian, tech geek who cares for her; Katie, organic baker by day, witch by night; Ciro, demonologist and one tough old man; Jules, group leader and fond of slapping Mike upside the head; Mike, the newbie on the crew with a whole lot of enthusiasm and then Captain Marsh, her boss at the Fire department. The firebug, who becomes more important for a variety of reasons as the story goes on, was oddly appealing. He was doing bad things, but I couldn't tell if he was a sociopath, warped from his experiences or genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for the city.
I had a growing fear, as the way to stop Sirrush from rising became more and more clear, about what would happen in the end. And it came true. And despite everything that had happened I got misty-eyed and sad. It seemed appropriate, but still.
Book 2, Sparks, is due out at the end of August though there isn't a whole lot out about what it will be about and the end of Embers gives nothing away to give us clues. I am however looking forward to it and have great anticipation for Laura Bickle's alter-ego, Alayna Williams's debut UF Dark Oracle due out in June!
The tone of the novel was much darker than I expected, exploring several deeper emotions such as lust, guilt and personal responsibility in slightly uncomfortable ways (for me at least). Anya is a conflicted young woman with deeply rooted guilt issues and a problem with forming personal connections, not particularly uncommon in today's UF heroines, but Bickle takes it a step forward with Anya's growing fear that one unwary step will burn her life down. Uncertain about the exact nature of her power as a Lantern (spirits are attracted to her like a moth to flame and she has the power to devour them, burning them to nothingness), Anya fights her nature. Meeting the firebug with an oddly do-gooder mentality, confirms her worst fears, but also opens her up to exploring who and what she could be.
The cast surrounding Anya, both supernatural and otherwise, all have distinct personalities. Sparky, her 'hellbender' elemental protectors; Brian, tech geek who cares for her; Katie, organic baker by day, witch by night; Ciro, demonologist and one tough old man; Jules, group leader and fond of slapping Mike upside the head; Mike, the newbie on the crew with a whole lot of enthusiasm and then Captain Marsh, her boss at the Fire department. The firebug, who becomes more important for a variety of reasons as the story goes on, was oddly appealing. He was doing bad things, but I couldn't tell if he was a sociopath, warped from his experiences or genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for the city.
I had a growing fear, as the way to stop Sirrush from rising became more and more clear, about what would happen in the end. And it came true. And despite everything that had happened I got misty-eyed and sad. It seemed appropriate, but still.
Book 2, Sparks, is due out at the end of August though there isn't a whole lot out about what it will be about and the end of Embers gives nothing away to give us clues. I am however looking forward to it and have great anticipation for Laura Bickle's alter-ego, Alayna Williams's debut UF Dark Oracle due out in June!
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