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A review by nicoleeast
Emberblade by Steven Kelliher
4.0
Brief summary: Kole Reyna is an Ember, one of the few remaining Landkist in the valley who can control fire, but though his people have retreated from their desert home the threats they face are far from withdrawing. The tainted presence of the Dark Kind lingers even as the days lengthen. Is this a sign the Eastern Dark has risen again to power, or are the Landkist simply a pawn in a much greater war?
This was a close 4-star for me. It certainly earned a 3, but the 4 is symbolic of the potential I think this series has.
This took me quite by surprise. It was a very atmospheric read, and it reminded me much of The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington but with elemental magic. That combined with the idea that demon-like armies terrorize humanity during the night reminded me of Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle series (without the rampant sexism).
I also enjoyed how quick of a read this was. There's plenty of action, and you can easily see Steven Kelliher's influence as a fighter at work. He clearly knows his stuff. I don't enjoy action scenes unless there's an interesting element to them, but I feel these were paced with great care.
Now on to the parts that could improve. The characters felt wooden to me. An unfortunate side effect of having so many action sequences is that you lose out on the quiet character moments that really serve to flesh them out. Unfortunately, I don't really know who the characters are. I can say that Kole wants revenge against White Crest for killing his mother, and that's about it. He serves as more of a vehicle for the plot than an independent person.
Also...because there aren't info dumps most of the information is given by dialogue. This caused conversations to drag quite a bit, especially in the last 50 pages. Not to say there's a lot of long social soliloquies or mentor teaching moments, but more so dialogue was stretched unnaturally to hit all the necessary points.
I also would really, really like a glossary of characters and terms in the back of the next volume. I kept forgetting who the Second Keeper was in Hearth, or what it even meant.
If I sound harsh it's because I really enjoyed my time here and I'm excited to see the story grow. I will certainly pre-order the next book when the paperback is available!
This was a close 4-star for me. It certainly earned a 3, but the 4 is symbolic of the potential I think this series has.
This took me quite by surprise. It was a very atmospheric read, and it reminded me much of The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington but with elemental magic. That combined with the idea that demon-like armies terrorize humanity during the night reminded me of Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle series (without the rampant sexism).
I also enjoyed how quick of a read this was. There's plenty of action, and you can easily see Steven Kelliher's influence as a fighter at work. He clearly knows his stuff. I don't enjoy action scenes unless there's an interesting element to them, but I feel these were paced with great care.
Now on to the parts that could improve. The characters felt wooden to me. An unfortunate side effect of having so many action sequences is that you lose out on the quiet character moments that really serve to flesh them out. Unfortunately, I don't really know who the characters are. I can say that Kole wants revenge against White Crest for killing his mother, and that's about it. He serves as more of a vehicle for the plot than an independent person.
Also...because there aren't info dumps most of the information is given by dialogue. This caused conversations to drag quite a bit, especially in the last 50 pages. Not to say there's a lot of long social soliloquies or mentor teaching moments, but more so dialogue was stretched unnaturally to hit all the necessary points.
I also would really, really like a glossary of characters and terms in the back of the next volume. I kept forgetting who the Second Keeper was in Hearth, or what it even meant.
If I sound harsh it's because I really enjoyed my time here and I'm excited to see the story grow. I will certainly pre-order the next book when the paperback is available!