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Ember Flame
Orphan outcast Les has longed to discover her true self outside of the dense forest of Grel. However, her own insecurity keeps her permanently trapped ... until soldiers incinerate the forest and slaughter the other woodcutters. Vowing revenge, Les is forced to escape the forest and enter Holdinus- a world plagued with an all-powerful dictatorship, a tyrannical lord, and scattered children with dangerous powers known as the Leverage. Les must accept her place in the world as Ember Flame, one of the six Leverage. If she cannot find her destiny and the other Leverage, the souls of the people will perish. Will she sacrifice her desires for a world that has been nothing but cruel to her? Or will she succumb to the wills of a tyrant and live a life of numbness?
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 30, 2019
I found out about this book from the author's aunt who is a good friend of mine. It has taken me awhile to get around to reading it, but I'm glad that I finally did. The author was a young teen when she wrote this and I must say that I'm impressed with her creativity and imagination at such an early age. To be frank, the dialogue does sound like it's written by a young person, but that is very refreshing because the characters are teenagers. Most YA authors are adults writing from a teen perspective and the dialogue comes out sounding like the characters are more mature than they probably are. In this story there is a lot of sarcasm and word play which most adult writers would not include. But that is what makes this a very unique story with a very interesting premise and story line.
May 22, 2014
I appreciate the efforts of new Christian homeschool authors. One even wrote one of my new favorite books, The Heart of Arcrea. So I was excited to read this book.
The titular character, Ember Flame, finds that she, along with several other youths, are known as the Leverage; their destiny is to stand against the evil, tyrannical ruler of Holdinus, Sicreet, and bring peace to the land. Always fiercely independent and self-reliant, Ember has to decide what she believes about Elethor (God) and learn to rely on Him and to work together with others. Those themes are great.
The author is not afraid to get into the souls and emotions of her characters. Ember's thoughts, character, and struggles are relayed to readers well. The other thing the author isn't afraid to do is get her characters in very sticky situations. The evil Sicreet is sadistic and fond of torture. Without giving spoilers, I was surprised at the amount of death in the story, but it moved the plot along and worked.
The fantasy world, rules, customs, and all are very interesting and creative. I guess its setting is medieval, though it's kind of confusing. Swords, axes, and dragons show up alongside levers, glass, and machinery. Kind of like "The Princess Bride," I thought. It is a well-done setting.
There was a good bit of mystery that was well carried out. The book ends on a cliffhanger as the story continues, in a planned trilogy.
The writing style of the book is definitely modern ("hey," "yeah," "duh"...) but it works. And how could we forget the banter? Ember has quite a wit and quite a mouth. This is not a problem in and of itself—it is pretty entertaining at first. But by the end of the book it gets to be a bit much. The same things are repeated by the characters and the same topics are rehashed. We know what they're like and how they bicker by now—it doesn't really need to be repeated.
There is some romance in the book. I do not like romance between kids in books as a rule, (the pair are in their teens; I think that's too young for that kind of thing) but at least it was only at the end. Thankfully it doesn't go beyond thoughts and talk of feelings, and hugs.
The one thing that really needs work is the editing—the punctuation and grammatical errors detracted from the entertaining story.
So, overall a great story. The author has created an amazing fantasy world with great potential.
3.5 stars.
The titular character, Ember Flame, finds that she, along with several other youths, are known as the Leverage; their destiny is to stand against the evil, tyrannical ruler of Holdinus, Sicreet, and bring peace to the land. Always fiercely independent and self-reliant, Ember has to decide what she believes about Elethor (God) and learn to rely on Him and to work together with others. Those themes are great.
The author is not afraid to get into the souls and emotions of her characters. Ember's thoughts, character, and struggles are relayed to readers well. The other thing the author isn't afraid to do is get her characters in very sticky situations. The evil Sicreet is sadistic and fond of torture. Without giving spoilers, I was surprised at the amount of death in the story, but it moved the plot along and worked.
The fantasy world, rules, customs, and all are very interesting and creative. I guess its setting is medieval, though it's kind of confusing. Swords, axes, and dragons show up alongside levers, glass, and machinery. Kind of like "The Princess Bride," I thought. It is a well-done setting.
There was a good bit of mystery that was well carried out. The book ends on a cliffhanger as the story continues, in a planned trilogy.
The writing style of the book is definitely modern ("hey," "yeah," "duh"...) but it works. And how could we forget the banter? Ember has quite a wit and quite a mouth. This is not a problem in and of itself—it is pretty entertaining at first. But by the end of the book it gets to be a bit much. The same things are repeated by the characters and the same topics are rehashed. We know what they're like and how they bicker by now—it doesn't really need to be repeated.
There is some romance in the book. I do not like romance between kids in books as a rule, (the pair are in their teens; I think that's too young for that kind of thing) but at least it was only at the end. Thankfully it doesn't go beyond thoughts and talk of feelings, and hugs.
The one thing that really needs work is the editing—the punctuation and grammatical errors detracted from the entertaining story.
So, overall a great story. The author has created an amazing fantasy world with great potential.
3.5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews