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Embers: [part three of the Traces trilogy]
Forever means however long we have.
Aiden has made it home, but danger smolders below the surface of her days. Commander Hirt is imposing draconian rules on her household, and keeping the young empaths out of his grasp is burning her strength away. When ATHENA paroles Cole, Aiden is forced to face the cost of her collaboration with the Cole’s past is still holding him prisoner, and if she can’t rekindle the ashes of his trust, his self-hatred will consume him entirely. Reaching out to Cole in defiance of the Agency’s orders might take a toll much higher than her life — and yet, one last time, Aiden can’t help but try.
Embers, the New Adult finale of the Traces trilogy, asks a devastating how do you love someone you cannot save?
Aiden has made it home, but danger smolders below the surface of her days. Commander Hirt is imposing draconian rules on her household, and keeping the young empaths out of his grasp is burning her strength away. When ATHENA paroles Cole, Aiden is forced to face the cost of her collaboration with the Cole’s past is still holding him prisoner, and if she can’t rekindle the ashes of his trust, his self-hatred will consume him entirely. Reaching out to Cole in defiance of the Agency’s orders might take a toll much higher than her life — and yet, one last time, Aiden can’t help but try.
Embers, the New Adult finale of the Traces trilogy, asks a devastating how do you love someone you cannot save?
606 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 12, 2023
About the author
Sophie Johannis
5 books24 followersI write books for wounded weirdos who love poetry.
I also read nonstop (and keep forgetting to add my books to Goodreads...).
Review policy:
You might notice that the average number of stars I give books is pretty high. That's because I generally try to review a book according to what I think it's trying to be rather than what I think is cool. Example: I'm not going to give a bad rating to Pride and Prejudice because there aren't enough neurodivergent people with paranormal abilities in it, and I'm not going to give Romeo and Juliet a 1-star review just because I oppose child marriage. Similarly, I'm not going to deduct stars for a lack of political relevance from a book that's obviously meant to be purely light and entertaining, and I'm not going to deduct stars from a book focused on addressing current issues for prioritizing its message over its style. I also think that no book is (objectively) perfect -- you simply can't please everyone and think of everything at once. And that's perfectly okay.
Hence, I review...
- Self-published books / books by indie publishers: according to what I think the target audience would love about them, not necessarily according to my own personal preferences. As I read, I try to figure out what kind of person would love the book and why. If I don't have anything nice to say about an indie book, I don't publish a review at all because I don't want to make things more difficult for authors pouring their time, energy, and love into their books and don't get any corporate support whatsoever.
- Classics / canonical texts, particularly those written by old dead guys: absolutely 100 percent based on my own taste and perception of the book. This is where you might actually find negative reviews. I think that's fair because I'm only "punching up."
- Traditionally published books that aren't considered "classics": Somewhere in between, honestly, but it takes a lot for me to actually post a negative review rather than simply deciding not to review a book at all. I always want to appreciate the hard work that went into the book, but I also think that if a book is hyped like crazy, it's fair game.
Here's an incomplete list of things I actually do deduct stars for:
- Women "characterized" by boob size
- Bogus science, like "we only use 10 percent of our brains"
- Racism, homophobia, transphobia et cetera
- Inconsistencies, i.e. when it's obvious the author no longer remembers the plot of the first part when writing the second
- The glorification of toxic and straight-up abusive relationships
- Uncritical (or not sufficiently critical) portrayals of thinly veiled (or not-at-all-veiled) pedophilia
- Sub-par editing, particularly in professionally published books that are well-received
(and so on)
I also read nonstop (and keep forgetting to add my books to Goodreads...).
Review policy:
You might notice that the average number of stars I give books is pretty high. That's because I generally try to review a book according to what I think it's trying to be rather than what I think is cool. Example: I'm not going to give a bad rating to Pride and Prejudice because there aren't enough neurodivergent people with paranormal abilities in it, and I'm not going to give Romeo and Juliet a 1-star review just because I oppose child marriage. Similarly, I'm not going to deduct stars for a lack of political relevance from a book that's obviously meant to be purely light and entertaining, and I'm not going to deduct stars from a book focused on addressing current issues for prioritizing its message over its style. I also think that no book is (objectively) perfect -- you simply can't please everyone and think of everything at once. And that's perfectly okay.
Hence, I review...
- Self-published books / books by indie publishers: according to what I think the target audience would love about them, not necessarily according to my own personal preferences. As I read, I try to figure out what kind of person would love the book and why. If I don't have anything nice to say about an indie book, I don't publish a review at all because I don't want to make things more difficult for authors pouring their time, energy, and love into their books and don't get any corporate support whatsoever.
- Classics / canonical texts, particularly those written by old dead guys: absolutely 100 percent based on my own taste and perception of the book. This is where you might actually find negative reviews. I think that's fair because I'm only "punching up."
- Traditionally published books that aren't considered "classics": Somewhere in between, honestly, but it takes a lot for me to actually post a negative review rather than simply deciding not to review a book at all. I always want to appreciate the hard work that went into the book, but I also think that if a book is hyped like crazy, it's fair game.
Here's an incomplete list of things I actually do deduct stars for:
- Women "characterized" by boob size
- Bogus science, like "we only use 10 percent of our brains"
- Racism, homophobia, transphobia et cetera
- Inconsistencies, i.e. when it's obvious the author no longer remembers the plot of the first part when writing the second
- The glorification of toxic and straight-up abusive relationships
- Uncritical (or not sufficiently critical) portrayals of thinly veiled (or not-at-all-veiled) pedophilia
- Sub-par editing, particularly in professionally published books that are well-received
(and so on)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 24, 2025
This book this boooook ahhh! This was the perfect ending. The most beautiful, heart-wrenching, love-filled story. Johannis paints every emotion so vividly, captures the story so perfectly. I just loved every second of it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review