Chasing Embers

Ben Garston #1

by James Bennett

Behind every myth there is a spark of truth . . .

There's nothing special about Ben Garston. He's just a guy with an attitude in a beat-up leather jacket, drowning his sorrows in a downtown bar. Or so he'd have you believe.

What Ben Garston can't let you know is that he's also known as Red Ben. He can't let you know that the world of myth and legend isn't as make-believe as you think, and it's his job to keep that a secret. And there's no way he can let you know what's really hiding beneath his skin . . .

But not even Ben knows what kind of hell is about to break loose. Because the delicate balance between his world and ours is about to be shattered.

Something's been hiding in the heart of the city - and it's about to be unleashed.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction, Magic, Mythology, Science Fiction Fantasy

417 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

James Bennett is a British Fantasy Award winning author. Raised in Sussex and South Africa, his short fiction has appeared internationally. His acclaimed debut 'Chasing Embers' came out in 2016, the first of the Ben Garston Novels, a series in which mythological creatures fight for dominance in the modern world. Other works include the well-received 'The Book of Queer Saints' and his latest stories can be found in The Dark magazine, BFS Horizons and Occult Detective magazine.

A short story collection 'Preaching to the Perverted' arrives from Lethe Press in September 2024.

James lives in the South of Spain where he's working on a new novel.

'...Inventive and vivid... This is smart action storytelling...'
Publishers Weekly on RAISING FIRE (starred review)

The Ben Garston Novels are available in all good bookshops.

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aka: The review where I lose my Netgalley privileges.

There's something to enjoy here. A dragon. A fast moving plot. A dragon. Realized settings from NYC to London to Berlin to Cairo. Oh, and a dragon. It starts as a simple plot: an age-old enemy is trying to kill Ben, the only dragon left walking the earth. He represents his species while the rest slumber as part of a Compact (aka The Magna Carta), awaiting the return of the Fay and the First Ones/Lost Ones/gods. What was less enjoyable was the abundance of forced purple prose that did nothing for the story but serve as a distraction.

"The man called Fulk grinned, a self-satisfied leer breaking through his shaggy black beard. Coupled with the curls falling to his shoulders, his head resembled a small, savage dog, ready to pounce from a thick leather pedestal.
'London. Paris. LA.' Fulk named the cities of his search, each one a wasp flying from his mouth."

I tell you, I stopped comatose on the rail with that one (see what I did there?), trying to picture a dog sitting on a bar stool pedestal--for some reason a pug kept coming to mind, although they don't have curly hair. And the 'words as wasps?' Okay, 'stinging' must be what he wants but what is so harsh about place names? He's basically just complaining he had to look all over for the dragon. Well, yeah. Last one left and all that. Like it's the dragon's fault to not have a physical address that says 'kill me here.'

"'It was yesterday to us,' Fulk said, the claim escaping through gaps in his teeth.'"

What? Why should the claim 'escape?' Are we making fun of poor dentition? Does he mean 'hissed,' or something?

"'The sword Fulk drew from the scabbard on his back was a guillotine on the barman's words. The youth scuttled backwards, bottles and cocktail sticks crashing to the floor, panic greasing his heels."

It's like dragon MadLibs. Instead of 'cutting someone off,' we get "guillotine" and 'words.' 'Bottles' crash, but cocktail sticks don't. 'Panic greasing' just sounds weird. A sentence or two later: "Ben watched them leave in peripheral envy." Uh, what? Out of peripheral vision? Or with a shred of envy? Then "he grimaced, his teeth clenched with dull yellow effort. The sword came up, came down, scoring a line through shadow and sawdust..." Yellow effort? I don't even know what that is. Did he mean 'grey' with effort? Or wait, I figured it out--these are malpropisms by a dragon. Or an alien. The author isn't really human! Now it makes sense.

"The wind off the Hudson stoked the embers of his hair as he scanned the shattered facade." Because our hero is red-headed, I guess. This is so weird. Why didn't he just say it 'ruffled his hair'? Now I think his head is on fire, like a Q-tip dipped in lighter fluid.

"The debris supported the article's claim that the thieves had fled the exhibition this way, but the fact seemed as lonely as an abandoned lighthouse." Because the lonely fact used to provide guidance to ships at sea? Because the fact used to warn about rocks? This language is amazing to me, and not not a good way.

I can't stop myself. Another: "Babe Cathy's lips were a fishbone, rattling out an incantation, and he stumbled to a halt, watching her." For the life of me, I couldn't picture any way that made sense in this mix of audio and visual. Pursing her lips? Why are they rattling? Let alone why the dragon is watching her instead of kicking her butt.

Last one, I swear: "Her sore feet tingled on stone and she moved forwards as if through water, a subtle magnetism drawing her on, the sense of little teeth nipping at her budding breasts." What. The. Hell? Why he didn't just stop after 'water,' and leave a perfectly good metaphor alone, I don't know. Not sure where the magnetism got it's teeth, either. Why'd we have to bring boobies into it? Voyeurism? Creeper.

Ok, I lied. "Before leaving the Gold Street apartment, Ben dug around in the bedroom closet and unearthed a pair of trainers, lurking in the gloom like stuffed rats." What? How do shoes 'lurk?' And those must be some seriously gross shoes.

I can't stop! Somebody take this Kindle away from me. "His hair was a blizzard atop his skull, his pyjamas disarrayed." It's the HEAT MISER!

Still, not the worst specimen of writing I've read. It took me quite a few chapters to train myself to ignore the style, because otherwise I would have been highlighting all damn day. I thought Bennett nicely conveyed a sense of age/longevity to Ben, unlike some other urban fantasy authors (hello, Hearne!) I loved the scene in the Berlin--fun dialogue, interesting backstory, evocative imagery. The plot is decent, except for the stupid romance aspect, by which I mean we get a lot of romance flashback bracketed by a lot of stupid miscommunication and assumptions between the parties. It doesn't make sense, anyhow, that a centuries old dragon would pine over a woman.

The villains are well done and appropriately hateful, but there's also some sophisticated subplots with characters who are mislead into action. The inclusion of the village witch-woman and her own gods was interesting but honestly felt a little incongruous with the rest of the story. However, it was one of my favorite parts of the book. There's a fairy-tale substory in here that is supposed to be Ben's past, and his past with the enemy. Again, kind of incongruous with a vastly different writing style. It is also basically a red herring, giving a bit of insight into why Ben is ridiculous about women, but not any insight into the plan the villains are hatching.

It is also worth noting that my copy had a chapter from the next book, and the writing style and narration was considerably more concise. Now, that might be a fun book. There's a good chance I'll read the next book based on that chapter, but I'll be crossing my fingers, hoping for less strained writing.

Two and a half embers rounding down, because let's be honest: those words!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advance reader copy.

As always, my reviews hang out here, with bonus links to the Magna Carta and the Heat Miser:

https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2016/...

[Mogsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/11/12/...

Chasing Embers is an urban fantasy that seems to have a little bit of everything. There are dragons, magical spirits and mages, the Fae, and even a generous helping of ancient Egyptian mythology. The strange thing is though, even with so much going on in this novel, I actually find myself with very little to say about it. The story was a fun romp, but I enjoyed it on a very “surface” level without forming many deep attachments to its people, places, or events. That said, being the first book of a series, it has strong potential and room to grow.

The story stars Ben Garston, who’s no ordinary UF hero. For one thing, he is a dragon (which I don’t think is a spoiler, since it’s revealed almost right off the bat, not to mention it is blatantly hinted at in the synopsis and on the cover). Centuries old, “Red Ben” now walks the streets in human form, bound by a pact that was made long ago between all the magical creatures of the world. To prevent widespread chaos and fear, Ben and others like him had to agree to hide their existence and live among the mortals as one of them. In turn, guardian knights will protect them and ensure that the pact remains unbroken.

However, the peace is about to be shattered. Recent events make Ben suspect that his protections are no longer in place, and already there have been a couple attempts made on his life. But Ben has more than himself to worry about. From years of hiding in plain sight among the humans, he has come to learn to look like them, live like them, and even care for them. Even knowing from the start that their relationship is doomed to fail, Ben has nonetheless fallen in love with a mortal, a young woman named Rose. It is in his nature to protect those he treasures, even though he can never tell Rose who he is—or what he really is—and all those unspoken truths have strained things between them. Now an old enemy has resurfaced to hunt Ben, and worse, they know all his secrets.

I enjoyed Chasing Embers; I really did. I thought it had a lot to offer UF fans, including a unique twist on the paranormal creatures that usually populate this genre. James Bennett deftly combines fantasy with real world elements, sometimes blurring the lines between mythological lore and history. I particularly enjoyed the story of Ben’s origin, which touches upon so many aspects of his character (both as a dragon as as a “human”). While heartbreaking, the details of these past events also make it easier to understand his complicated relationship with Rose, and reveal much about the tragedy that sparked an old rivalry. In fact, I actually thought a lot of the flashbacks and past sequences were done very well, going against the norm of how I usually feel about nonlinear storytelling.

But while I could list many more things that I thought were interesting or cool about this book, there was also this nagging sense of distance between myself and the plot and characters, that try as I might, I could not shake. It’s a dissonance that’s hard to explain, but we often use the term “bring something to life” to describe how an author can not only create something interesting but also make them exciting and easy for readers to feel passionate about. Part of my problem was that I never managed to reach this point with Ben or the world of Chasing Embers. I’m not sure why, since on the whole I found the book well-written and put-together. A few forced metaphors aside (how does one grin widely enough to “fill a car park”, exactly?) I also thought Bennett’s prose was complex and rich but also easy on the eyes. Still, something prevented me from feeling fully invested. In the end, perhaps it simply boils down to having too much to absorb in a very short time. There is, after all, a lot going on in this book.

The good news though, is that Chasing Embers has established a strong foundation for future books in this series. Now that most of the world-building, history and background of the lore has been covered, hopefully the sequel won’t be as bogged down and will be freer to delve deeper into the characters and expand on plot development. If I sound like I’m placing some high expectations on the next book, the truth is that most urban fantasy series take a time to build, and it’s not uncommon for one to take more than one installment to hook me. This might be the case here. Chasing Embers gave me a good taste of what’s to come, piquing my interest even it did not sweep me off my feet, but I am definitely curious to see what else Bennett has in store.

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to be on a dragon themed reading kick lately. And, as far as I'm concerned, that's awesome!

Red Ben is a dragon, masquerading in human form so that he can walk down the street without everybody freaking out. Hundreds of years before this, he signed a pact called the Lore with a bunch of other magical creatures and knights, in which, he essentially agreed to hide his existence from humanity at large and the knights, in turn, would protect him. Tonight, he was attacked twice. What's up with that? Ben doesn't know, but he's going to find out. He's also had a falling out with his lady fair. Hiding your true nature from someone doesn't make for a healthy relationship, but Ben's enemies seem to know Rose's (the girlfriend) name. So, now, he has to save his hide, her life, and still preserve the Lore.

Meanwhile, in a desert in Africa, an ancient power is awakening...

I enjoyed Chasing Embers. I really dig the basic premise that there's a magical world existing alongside ours but we just can't perceive it. Also, the idea that the Magna Carta wasn't a political document but a secret, magical pact is fun too. "John, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and Count of Anjou, doth decree and grant this day, by common counsel of our kingdom, this Pact devised by the Curia Occultus and witnessed by those guardians of our realm. Those Remnants of the Old Lands, which yet linger amongst us, shall forthwith succumb to the Long Sleep..." loc 362, ebook.

The other magical creatures are straight up creepy- like magical creatures should be in my opinion. Also, Bennett seems to ascribe to the Terry Pratchett view that too much magic use thins the veil between worlds and draws attention of the things outside of this world to the magic user, which is also pretty creepy: "The nether wasn't space, nor the ambient cosmos, but a place that lay beyond, or between, as inner as it was outer. Perhaps it was the raw, empyreal stuff of creation, for all Ben knew. Things lurked in that astral sea, creatures hungry for life, and all magic had its price. When a person drew on the nether- drew on it like a thread in a carpet- they risked unravelling the world entire." loc 393, ebook.

The romance between Ben and Rose is just the perfect amounts of dysfunction and sparks (nothing graphic in here though for folks who look for such things): "I miss you," she said, quiet and fierce. "I hate you." Defeated, Ben rested his head on her shoulder, smoothing down the flowers on her dress. He let her anger hit him like a wave, tasting her muted fury at her love for him. Since he'd first crawled out of his egg, it had always been this way. Some women went for the knight. Others wanted the beast. Neither stood a chance of a happy ending." loc 711, ebook.

Ben's angst at his long-lived existence reminded me of Atticus in The Iron Druid Chronicles. He loves deeply but, at the same time, he realizes that those he loves aren't going to be around that long: "Your love of humans. Do you never grow tired of it? You might as well love a sunbeam that flickers through a cloud. This world was not meant to hold them. Time will take them all so quickly. A blink in the life of a god." loc 3112, ebook.

What kept Chasing Embers from being a five star read to me is that I thought Bennett explained himself too much. Leave some of the plot mysterious and murky, like magic itself. I don't need to be spoon-fed why this happened or that happened. Otherwise, this was an excellent read. There's some language in here and a few disturbing, physical descriptions, but nothing that a mature teen couldn't handle. Highly recommended for urban fantasy and dragon readers!

Some read alikes: Hounded by Kevin Hearne or Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for a free, digital advanced reader's copy of this book for review purposes.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last of the dragons hidden within society, passing as human and trying to live out his life until he becomes embroiled in a mystery? Count me in. Plotwise, this book should have been right up my alley, but unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. If I were forced into conciseness, I think I'd describe Chasing Embers as a take on Neil Gaiman's American Gods written in the style of Wilkie Collins. While it may be sacrilege and I may end up tarred and feathered for it, I must admit that I'm not a fan of American Gods. I do generally enjoy Wilkie Collins, but while the Victorian era does much to excuse his fraught verbosity, the careless sexism, and the thoughtless xenophobic exoticism of foreign cultures, it's rather less understandable in a modern novel. As with all my negative reviews, I'm going to lay out my problems with the book because the things that drove me nuts may be unimportant or even positives to other readers.

The most notable feature of the book is probably the overblown style. A few examples that might demonstrate why I initially thought it intended to be some sort of spoof:

"Flames sputtered. Steer horns flew. Smoke fouled the air. A girder screamed, busted outward. The city peered in through the breach, her distant lights jealous of the fireworks. A hush washed over the bridge, a murmuring tide carrying prayers."

[About a ten-year-old] "Her sore feet tingled on stone and she moved forwards as if through water, a subtle magnetism drawing her on, the sense of little teeth nipping at her budding breasts. Ants swarming in her guts."

"White fire claimed him, closing around him like a cage. A brief, blinding fulmination and he was in the heart of the Star.
The star was falling, falling. The meteor shook off rock at the edge of space, a flaming Cinderella fleeing a ball."

"Blood streaked the horizon, congealing into an ugly purple, the dam of day broken by the encroaching penumbra, the night flooding in. In minutes, the moon had swallowed half of the sun. It was a black eye bordered by gold, scouring the sands with ominous portent. A minute more and it had obscured the sun completely, the sight a blazing ring in the sky, a flaring golden corona."

"Uncurling from his foetus of grief, Ben raised himself on his one good arm."

The sun blinked a ruddy eye, one moment near the horizon, the next half sunken under it. Like a ball released from a catapult, the moon escaped the temporal glue, then slowed in the heavens, continuing her voyage skyward."

The book also demonstrates a cheerful Victorianesque disregard for the proper use of punctuation and cheerfully substitutes em-dashes and semicolons for commas, colons for semicolons. Yeah, not my cup of tea.

Continuing the Wilkie Collins motif, we have a credulous starving native, exotic African magics, and quite imprecise Egyptian history--e.g. ushaptiu described as "bricks"-- as well as a rather Victorian attitude towards women. Women are repeatedly described as animalistic and controlled only by their passions. Those who aren't "all heart, fury bred from spurned love, vengeance from the pain of treachery" want to live out the nineteenth century feminine ideal: "She told him, through pretty tears, that she only wanted a normal life. Marriage. Kids. A future." In no particular order and with possible overlaps between roles to avoid spoilers, this book contains: a damsel in distress, a powerful and magnetic seductress who is the pawn of the man manipulating her, a woman who becomes utterly consumed by revenge against the man who done her wrong, a bunch of evil witches who use sexuality as a weapon, and, to top it all off, a refrigeratored female.Yes, yes, Rose doesn't actually die, but she is so clearly refrigeratored, mutilated, and dressed as a princess in a tower. The most over-the-top offensive parts? When one woman is considered valuable, or "invested with power," as the book put it, solely because she is a receptacle for a man's sperm. Literal or metaphorical, a lot of the women end "opened up like a door", to be raped and used as emotional pawns. I had to push myself to keep reading, and I'm glad I did, because there is a certain amount of saving grace at the end. I really loved that Rose turned out not to be dead and confronts Ben: "I am not... a prize." Yet even there Ben strips away some of Rose's agency by deciding that he can "save" her and "protect" her by staying away, making it his choice, not hers.

I also really didn't buy the basis of the worldbuilding. The basic scenario: King John got all the magical Remnants to make a pact that would leave exactly one of each of their kind in the world and push all the rest into endless sleep. Now, who on earth would agree to that, and in particular, who on earth would elect some leader as the only one to remain alive?
Leaving aside the fact that King "Lackland" John was a pathetic whinging scheming excuse of a king who managed to infuriate the Church, antagonize his populace to the point of war, and lose massive chunks of territory to the French, how on earth would a peace brokered with a weakling king of one measly little island become some sort of universal law to be obeyed by every mortal and immortal being all over the world? At that point, believe me, the sun definitely set on the British empire--on winter days, after less than ten hours. It's that sort of thoughtless exceptionalism that really gets on my nerves.

As as surely become clear by now, this book was not for me. I really wish it had been--it sounded so perfect. However, it was not meant to be. If you are more tolerant than me, or if a cross between Wilkie Collins and Neil Gaiman sounds fun to you, dear reader, then Chasing Embers may be worth a look.

~~I received this book through Netgalley from the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for my (depressingly) honest review. Quotes are taken from an advanced reader copy and while they may not reflect the final phrasing, I believe they speak to the spirit of the novel as a whole.~~

Cross-posted on BookLikes.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Urban Fantasy, with dragons and written by a British author. This book sounds like my perfect match so I was incredibly excited to read it and was fully expecting it to be the start of a new favourite series. There's no denying it's well written but unfortunately I just didn't get on with the writing style so I didn't finish reading it. I was just over 300 pages in (out of 464 total so I think I gave it a fair shot!) and I realised that I just didn't feel invested in any of the characters and didn't really care what was going to happen to them. I made the mistake of putting it down for a couple of days and just couldn't bring myself to go back to it.

Like I mentioned this is a well written story but it does have a very wordy and (in my opinion overly) descriptive writing style so I don't think it will suit everyone but it is definitely worth trying the free sample pages and making up your own mind about it. I'm including a couple of quotes here to give you an idea what to expect. Please note that these quotes are taken from the UK arc so the wording and/or page numbers may be different in finished copies of the book. I opened the book at 2 random pages and am just sharing the first paragraph that caught my eye:

Page 49:
(Ben explaining how his body is capable of flight)

Up here, where the eyes of the world couldn’t reach him, Ben let the air rush into his lungs, the night surging into a visceral cave. In, out, his lungs throbbed, pushing against two tubular chambers lower down his tusk-like ribs, secret respiratory organs lined with hundreds of alveoli, little sacs containing a super-ordinary gas. Among other things, this inner buoyancy helped his bulk stay aloft, assisting his unfurling wings as they caught the buffeting airstreams. Now, his wings carried him away from danger. Or so he hoped.

Page 88:
(Ben describing a random suit of armour that he sees in a corridor of an acquaintance's workplace. As far as I can remember this suit is of no importance to the story and isn't mentioned again in the 300 pages I read so I don't think we needed to be given quite so much information about it)

Ben came to a halt, arrested by a suit of armour in an alcove on his left. It stood there guarding the gloom, a steel scarecrow with pointed helmet, curved pauldrons, dented breastplate and scarred greaves. And spikes. Lots and lots of spikes. Spikes protruded from every available space, sticking out of hinged elbows, collar and cuisse. The helmet was an evil star in the lamplight, the sieve-like visor bristling with blades. Someone had recently polished the suit, and as Ben paused to inspect it, trying to ignore the ghost of hatred haunting its hollow, vulturine beak, he saw his horror reflected back at him.

_____________________________________


Thoughts before reading:
Quote from the front of the ARC: Perfect for fans of Ben Aaronovitch

Quote from the back of the ARC: From the publishers of Jim Butcher comes a fresh and original mix of adventure and mythology with an anti-hero to rival the likes of Harry Dresden

Those are some pretty big shoes to fill but if it can live up to them then Chasing Embers has the potential to be epic. Fingers crossed!

[Yodamom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I loved the story, the developed history and myths. I reread some of the amazingly beautiful descriptive scenes, they awed and left me breathless. The action was nail bitting worthy. The book was an epic movie in written on pages. This epic-ness made it hard to read at times.
There was so much information dumped, so many extremely detailed details, written with such artistic flourish that the book felt heavy. I could only read for short amounts of time, my brain needed time to rest after struggling to unwind the woven words into meaning. This was not an easy book to read, it had to be savored slowly taking time to contemplate the events both past and present.
Ben the man who is not a man but a red dragon from lore lost with time, was trapped in a web. He had lived centuries hidden, long lonely centuries with humans never knowing his secret. He has a woman, Rose, that he cares for but knows it can not last, and he doesn't have the nerve to be honest with her. Her safety, his secrets and the world will all be trapped in a tornado of ancient myth come to the present. His secrets are held in check by a pact.
It is a pact him and others not human made after years of slaughter and near extinction threatened them when the Fae left this world. This world full of suppressed magic and lore is ruled by humans with a hope that the Fae will return and the magic will once again be free. Witches, Egyptian gods, spirits, Fae and more. When the pact is broken everything bleeds and worlds collide .
I don't think I'll continue with the series. It was a story I loved but was so difficult to read it took some of the pleasure out of reading. I would go see the movie !

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urban fantasy with dragons: where do I sign?

This opener showed lots of potential, for two main reasons:

1) Bennett has clearly done his research. There are lots of references to various world religious and mythical systems/beliefs, but he has not allowed them to box him in. Instead, he has used them as the basis for an imaginative storyline that speaks to the power of myth and its essential nature: change.

2) The subversion of stereotypes. Again this fits with point one, in that Bennett has felt free to make this his own. Each character is not quite how you imagine them to be, especially the main 'damsel' Rose who refuses to treated like anyone's treasure (or slave). I liked her attitude. An there's real diversity. This is not one of those imperial white men books that the dragon myths seem to segue into, it's not all jousting and knights and the superiority of male power. Quite the opposite. It says in the blurb that Ben is 'ordinary', save the whole dragon thing obviously, but he really is. He bumbles about in the book making mistakes and a bit of an arse of himself for a good deal of it. I wonder whether this will continue or whether he will get on top of things now he has been awoken. I think I might prefer him to be a bit more on the ball in the future, instead of having one response to every situation: essentially turning up and smashing s*** up, hulk style.

In any case, this is a series to watch and a new direction in Urban Fantasy.

Thanks to James Bennett, Little, Brown Book Group Ltd, and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urban fantasy (yay) and dragons (yay) this book seemed like the perfect fit for me when I’m in the mood for this sort of thing and with more yay I was right. Thoroughly enjoyed this one, kick ass start to kick ass finish.

I do love a book that has intensely exciting action scenes, divisive characters and a kind of enigmatic flow to it which Chasing Embers has in spades. I like the history as mythology angle, Ben as a character (and a dragon no less) is so beautifully flawed in a kind of useless hilarious way (but somehow muddles through) that I got totally tangled up in his world and the descriptive sense of it is wonderful. I banged through it in record time.

The world building is carefully clever – the author manages the (rather huge) amount of backstory well and even though there is an info dump feel to some of the narrative ultimately it all fits together and creates a real sense and feeling for the world that our characters inhabit. I love how James Bennett writes in a style entirely his own and with a good eye towards the building up (and knocking down) of the “people” we meet within the pages. There is both adventure and romance, action and contemplation – all the required elements for really excellent urban fantasy are there in the mix and handled in unique style. Call me a convert…

Chasing Embers is fiery, full on, imaginative fun. I’m ready for book 2 now if we could hurry that along please.

Recommended.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragons? Check. Egyptian mythology? Check. Urban Fantasy setting? Check.

At first glance, this book seems to have been written with me in mind. You've got a dude that turns into a dragon (rawr!), witches and gods and fairies (oh my!), and all sorts of fun locales.

Honestly, this book was a wild ride. My only gripe is that there were a few "infodumps"... granted, they were worked into flashbacks or portrayed as a history lesson at a museum gala, but still... infodumps. Other than that, it was a solid story that entertained.

Looking forward to seeing the fallout from the events of this book in the sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review!

[The Shayne-Train · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 67%

I tried, guys. I really, rrreally tried.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I just don't really dig on traditional 'Urban Fantasy' like I used to. The writing had spots of being good, but.....I just couldn't get into it. The characters, the world, the so-UF 'secret history' of fey things operating under the normo human radar: it all rang false to me.

I tried, guys. Really.

[Maja (The Nocturnal Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good urban fantasies with a male protagonist are so very hard to find. I can name no more than three series I truly enjoyed from start to finish, which is why books like Chasing Embers are not only fun, but also necessary and always welcomed.

Chasing Embers is told in third person from more than one perspective, which is fairly unusual for urban fantasy. I sometimes wished for the first person narrative I’m more comfortable with, but I understood why Bennett made his choice and how it served his story. It would have been easier to form a connection with Ben had the story been told from his perspective alone, but the slight distance gave us insight into things we wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

Bennett did an excellent job portraying a centuries old character. He really took Ben’s age seriously and adapted his approach to life, his worldview and his whole reality accordingly. It didn’t seem fake like it sometimes does with ancient characters in urban fantasy, his actions and his way of life reflected both his natures, as well as his age. The depth of characterization is truly impressive. There are so many small things in Ben’s behavior that make us uncomfortable at first, until we realize that it’s actually his dragon nature at work, and not the part of him that’s himan.

The author uses his characters (Ben’s love interest Rose especially) to challenge stereotypes. Being a dragon, Ben sees Rose as his damsel in distress and wishes nothing more than to close her in some tower and keep her safe for all eternity. Rose, however, adamantly refuses to be viewed as such, often displaying characteristics of a heroine in her own right. Ben himself isn’t what you’d expect from an ancient dragon. A bit awkward, essentially ordinary and emotionally stunted, he defies every expectation and belief.

Plot-wise, Chasing Embers is a bit rough and gritty at times, which is to be expected from urban fantasy. There is, however, nothing rough or unpolished about James Bennett’s writing – quite the contrary, in fact. There is a richness and a precision in his sentences, a beauty that isn’t flashy, but that’s very present nevertheless. As his protagonist flies from New York to London and beyond, Bennett provides us with an abundance of details that somehow never get in the way of the story he’s telling. The myths and legends are also well researched and not taken lightly, but the author takes certain liberties as he sees fit and the book is so much better because of his approach. The best urban fantasies entertain and educate, and one can learn a lot by reading this debut.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chasing Embers
By James Bennet
This is an interesting and entertaining story about a guy who seems a bit dull and ordinary, but he has a big secret. Within a few pages of starting the book, he is confronted by a bully as he he downing several pints at his favorite pub. His secret is revealed to the reader, but the people in the pub, he magically charms them to forget. He finds that there is a bounty on his head. His lands taken over. Now, this means war, but what can he do? It's a fun read. I think some of it could have been condensed. I loved the dry humor.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chasing Embers is a fun first installment in Bennett’s urban fantasy series starring Ben Garston, the last dragon awake in our modern world. There is something gritty and noir about the writing style itself, which I enjoyed. The use of metaphor is overdone, but in the same way that noir detective movies overdo it, which added to the hardboiled feel of the story. Ben Garston is basically a Heartstriker (definitely not Julian) with the personality of John Constantine, and the same inability to learn from his mistakes. The history was very interesting, and I could tell that a ton of research had gone into writing this story. I also really appreciated that this book didn’t go in the well-worn directions that so many urban fantasies follow, instead referencing different mythologies in refreshing ways. So why didn’t I love it? I definitely liked it, but couldn’t quite make that like solidify into love.

For some odd reason, this book was impossible for me to read while my intellect was engaged. I’m not saying that it’s drivel at all. It was far from it, well written and snappy and interestingly plotted. But every time I picked it up, my brain turned off and I just mindlessly read. I found this similar to watching a fun, action-packed movie on a lazy, rainy afternoon while also half dozing. Nothing felt quite real. The characters were just that: characters. I never connected with them on an emotional level, even when they were going through horrible things. And speaking of, this emotions in this book were so overblown they edged into soap opera on multiple occasions. The villains all felt too much like mustache-twirling baddies from silent movies to be believable. There was one exception, but that particular villain was also a bit of an anti-heroine, and she was insanely sexual. I also found myself zoning out while reading, and having to go back and reread what I missed. What I definitely didn’t miss was the girl power there at the end. That was such a great twist on the damsel trope.

That sounds like a lot of criticism, but I really did enjoy reading this. I might even continue the trilogy at a later date. If nothing else, Ben’s life reminded me during a difficult time that things could always be worse. I’ll take my problems over his any day.

[Cee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. Dragons, mythology, ancient gods... and an epic showdown to match. What a great debut.

Chasing Embers is an exciting new urban-fantasy, beautifully written and on the gritty side. Red Ben is not as human as he seems, and his rather slumberous life is disturbed abruptly by an attempt on his life. A centuries-old pact has been breached, and it is up to Ben to find out what happened, and why.

[K.J. Charles]

DNF at 25% because the overwriting was becoming physically painful. Nice concept, author can tell a story, but wow this book needed an editor.

[Maryam]

از عکس شراره میزند:)

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Source* NetGalley/Publisher
*Genre* Fantasy
*Rating* 3.5

*My Thoughts*

Chasing Embers is the first installment in author James Bennett's Ben Garston series. Chasing Embers is told in the third person narrative with a male lead character. Bennett takes his character from New York City, to London, to Berlin, and onward to Cairo for the crushing finale. Ben Garston, aka Red Ben is one of the last dragons left in existence thanks an agreement that was signed between the Remnants, and King John who also signed the Magna Carta, 800 years ago.

*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews

http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...

Published September 6th 2016 by Orbit

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story has some cool ideas, but it never quite came together for me. I spent a lot of time wishing I could reach into the story and smack the main character, and on a purely nuts-and-bolts level the prose drove my internal editor berserk. (If I make one literature-related resolution this year--and stick with it--I'm going to read a chapter or two before putting down money for a whole book by a new author. Because a lot of this is just a poor match between me and the book, and realizing that earlier would have saved some trouble.)

[Lynn Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 -4 of five stars
Strong start to series. Full review to follow
https://lynns-books.com/2016/09/30/ch...
Chasing Embers certainly gets off to a very promising start, in fact you barely crack the book open before there’s an explosion of action that leaves you anxious to read quickly on. I’m not sure how many books are planned but I can see that this has the makings of a very entertaining urban fantasy series where a world of mythology lives alongside our modern world and a whole host of fantasy creatures hide in plain sight.

Basically, and without giving away too much of the plot, long, long ago an ancient pact was formed between the fantastical beasts that roamed the earth and the humans. This pact was formed to prevent large scale war and bloodshed and the stipulations of the pact must be closely observed in order for it to remain intact. I’m being a little bit mysterious here because you need to discover the history as you read. Anyhow, at the start of the story, our central character, Ben, finds himself in a couple of close encounters that leave him seriously questioning whether or not the agreement still stands and with his life under threat he finds himself in a desperate chase, following in the wake (or embers) of another creature that could threaten the fragile peace of the world.

I enjoyed Chasing Embers, its a very ambitious first book in series but it’s a very well researched story that encompasses many different myths and religions and takes us on a fantastical flight of fancy round the globe from New York to London to Egypt. Yes, there are a few old tropes that pop up but there are also a few unexpected twists that bring something new to the scene.

In terms of the writing I enjoyed the authors style. I’m not going to deny that he has a descriptive or wordy approach but this is a style that I sometimes enjoy although I can see that it maybe slows the pace down a little or, more accurately, it’s not something you will be able to race through. A book to savour methinks!

I mentioned above that the story is quite ambitious. There’s a fairly detailed plot going on here and whilst at first this may just seem to be a bunch of fantasy creatures holding a grudge the actual main theme is much more in depth with a lot of world building and history to be threaded into the story. Yes, there are dragons, witches and ‘others’ but also thrown in for good measure are Gods!

So, to the characters. The main star of the show is Ben Garson, previously known as Red Ben for that is the colour of his scales when he is in his true form. Ben is a dragon. He now walks amongst us in human form and for the past few hundred years his nature has remained mostly hidden, but scratch the surface hard enough and his real character will reveal itself. I think Ben is a fascinating character. He’s not one that you will immediately like perhaps but he’s incredibly complicated. He spends a good deal of time, for example, feeling a bit sorry for himself and wallowing around in self pity but let’s not forget he has a long and detailed past with plenty that he would probably sooner forget! On top of this he has to deal with his basic dragon instincts in a world where damsels in distress don’t really exist and flares of temper will put you into anger management classes. Ben is an ancient creature living in a modern world and is still struggling to adapt. He’s flawed and he certainly makes mistakes as he rushes headlong into situations without really considering the outcome. Rose is Ben’s on and off girlfriend. She doesn’t really know what it is that makes Ben different but she does know that there’s definitely something. Von Blaise is a very amusing character. A member of the fey he has a certain flair for dramatic entrances and I hope for much more from this character in further instalments.

Criticisms. I think that my main comments relate mainly to this being a first in series. I need more time to form real attachments to the characters and also to feel that the world is firmly established but this will develop as the series progresses. I would also point out that the author isn’t shy in terms of painting vivid fight scenes so bear that in mind if you’re maybe a bit squeamish. And finally, in terms of the world building. Bennett has managed to fit a lot into this first book. You could argue that maybe he’s tried to cover too much ground for a first in series and maybe in that respect their is a tendency to info dump a little but I think this was quite well blended in using stories and museum talks and the like.

On the whole I think this is an impressive debut and I definitely look forward to reading the next instalment.

I received a copy courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

[Charles Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a sucker for decent urban-fantasy I wanted to like Chasing Embers, the debut novel from James Bennett. The central hook, an immortal Dragon, in disguised human form, living in the contemporary world, was both appealing and had a degree of originality. It was certainly a departure from the usual wizards or vampires of most urban fantasy, and I was curious to see what Bennett did with it.

The answer, unfortunately, was he just tried to do too much and too quickly, and as a result I can only consider Chasing Embers to be a crushing disappointment.

Bennett’s basic mistake from the very start is that he doesn’t really establish the boundaries of the fantasy world he’s created before he thrusts his characters and the reader into it in a headlong charge.

Good urban-fantasy takes its time to establish how the magical operates, mostly unseen, within the ‘real’ world that we all live in. Mostly this is done by starting small, with stories that may have high stakes but lack scale. This allows the characters to have room to develop, the author time to clearly establish the rules under which his hidden world operates and makes it easier for the reader to suspend their disbelief because they’re not being asked to picture a world that is outwardly different from the one they know.

Prime examples of this are the ‘Rivers of London’ novels of Ben Aaronovitch and the ‘Dresden Files’ from Jim Butcher. Both series began with novels that were relatively small scale in terms of the scope of their stories, but still exciting and engaging. They only began ramping up in terms of scope and incident once their respective alternative-universes were well established and readers were fully invested in them and willing to go along with larger, wilder and more public flights of fantasy within what was still supposed to be essentially the real world.

Bennett skips that slower, patient build-up and instead elects to dive straight into epic action sequences from the word go, starting with a sword-fight in downtown New York and proceeding on through a showdown on the Brooklyn Bridge, a supernatural clash between Dragons in the British Museum, another in the Alps and then to a final epic confrontation involving everything from ancient Gods to army tanks in the Egyptian desert.

In that regard you can’t fault him for dramatic ambition, but the problem with this ‘go large or go home’ approach is that everything about Chasing Embers feels simply too large and too overblown. With the almost continuous, Hollywood budget busting action, there’s no real chance to get to know or empathise with any of the characters. The fact that none of them is actually human, bar a token love interest who is horribly short-changed and never becomes much more than a literal damsel in distress, doesn’t help, but even when Bennett does try to inject some emotional depth into proceedings or slows events down enough to fill in some backstory, everything is done in such an overblown, breathless style that very little of it rings true.

The same can be said of the various action set-pieces. Again, not only are these recounted in an overblown style, but none of them feels remotely plausible. That may sound a strange criticism to make of a fantasy novel featuring Dragons and Faeries, but if you’re going to set your urban-fantasy series in the real world then it has to operate within a vaguely consistent and plausible set of rules. The idea that a Dragon and a Witch could battle it out on the Brooklyn Bridge in front of hundreds of witnesses, or that a Dragon could literally crash into a museum in Cairo in plain sight of thousands of people and these events, and others, could simply be dismissed as hoaxes or mass delusion is, ironically, delusional. The same goes for Bennett’s throwaway reasoning towards the end that everything that has occurred would simply slip from the public consciousness over time as true stories-turned-into-ancient-myth had previously, like the entire world was suffering from collective cognitive dissonance.

It gives the whole alternative universe Bennett has established a rather thrown together feel, which no ‘Author’s Note’ at the end trying to give it some real world context will fix. This combined with the weak character building and the hyper-active nature of the narrative make Chasing Embers a difficult book to fully engage with and render the reading experience a fundamentally unsatisfying one.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating: 1/5
(I received a free copy from the publisher, Orbit Books, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)
***Minor spoilers***

In Ben's universe, myth is actually history. In fact, he's actually part of that history - he's a dragon. The only one awake at the moment, as per the rules of the Pact. The Pact dictates that one of each of the Remnant (mythical) species are allowed to be awake. The rest are in the "long sleep," a state where they are unconscious but alive. This keeps the peace, and ensures that the species do not terrorize the humans. However, this pact has been broken - somewhere in Africa, an ancient serpent-queen has been awoken by a girl hoping that the queen can bring rain to their lands to end the drought. However, the queen Atiya is only part of an entire scheme bigger than anything Ben has seen before.

The premise of this book was quite interesting, but I actually didn't enjoy this book much at all. I had a lot of issues with it and hardly anything I actually enjoyed. As such, this review will probably read as quite harsh but I'll do my best not to sound that way. Firstly, Ben is English, so it would make sense for him to use British vocabulary, and this probably made it easier on the author who is British as well. However, a large portion of the beginning of the book took place in America, where the English itself doesn't change much but the slang and vocabulary do a little. I noticed that the Americans didn't really speak like Americans but rather took on the British dialect, if you will. It wasn't that big of a deal but it read a bit awkward to me.

Speaking of vocabulary, I found this book pretty boring partially because of the vocabulary used. I'm not saying having a broad vocabulary as an author is a bad thing, but it can be when your novel starts to read like an essay. Because of this, I found myself reading but not really absorbing a lot of the time, and I had to use the Kindle app's dictionary feature a lot. I usually only ever use the dictionary feature once or twice a book (if at all) so it was a hassle having to use it almost every chapter. I would say this was the biggest downside of the book because it caused the book to drag, and in my opinion the diction in every sentence affected the flow of the book.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this book very much. It dragged a lot due to what was mentioned above, and I didn't feel any sort of connection to Ben or the other minor characters. Also, Ben's romance with Rose was mentioned a lot and had a huge impact on his character, but we don't see very much of her. Their relationship itself is a sideshow but it's pretty prevalent in Ben's head which I found weird. Perhaps if there was more of Rose or less mentions of Rose it would feel less strange. I wouldn't recommend it to a fantasy lover looking for their next great read, but if you're interested it can be found on Netgalley here: https://s2.netgalley.com/catalog/book...

[Shadowdenizen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book thru GoodReads' BookFirst Giveaway, but that has not impacted my review or opinion of this book.

As can be seen from the cover (front and back), this book falls squarely into the already-crowded "Urban Fantasy" genre, which counts, among others, such series as "The Dresden Files" and the "Hexed" series.

Fortunately, this book both honors that connection, and yet still manages to forge it's own unique and subversive path at the same time.

Overall, this was quite an enjoyable debut, with alot to recommend about it. The writing style is engaging, the characters are intriguing, and I'm certainly open to reading more about these characters and their world, which is all I can ask for from a Fantasy Novel!

[THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written draconic fantasy that imbues myths and legends of the medieval era while staging a conflict with the advent of modernity and its clash between science and magic, fairy tales and realism, nature and the grim polluted age of machines. Bennett has done a wonderful job of fusing these elements together into a solid story and a well thought plot that has the depth and tragic outcome of the old sagas.

The worldbuilding was good, rooted in modern London and carrying the reader across the globe to Egypt, Somalia giving a wide range of historical output mixed with religion, beliefs, and problems like hunger poverty, environmental issues. Bennett gives us information about how dragons, witches, giants, and other creatures of magic came into existence by linking it with the Arthurian romances filled with fallen gods and fairies that has a Celtic ring to it. He also doesn't shy away from giving a real horrific picture of Somalia plagued by disease, starvation, droughts which lends a grim realism to the fantasy story. I liked the concept of 'The Lore' that protects the creatures who are called as Remnants, and of how the lore came into being with its own twisted ends of the bargain. Also, the backstory of the protagonist helps in better understanding the rivalry between remnants and humans, and the way in which the legend of king Arthur is integrated into the story gives a somewhat new perspective to one of the most ancient and celebrated legends of England.

As characterization goes, I admired the way Bennett grafted them in relation to the mythical background which gives them a depth and otherworldly feel. Ben Garston, the six feet tall hulking man with red hair is the main protagonist who is a 800 years old dragon living among human in disguise. He has a cynical outlook towards life and humans whom he is sworn to protect. He does shadowy jobs for a living, drinks himself out, sleeps in his underground lair surrounded by gold and diamond riches. He also has a girlfriend named Rose whom he feels very protective about like his treasure, and hi relationship with her goes in up and downs. Ben is likable, but being such a old character he seems to be stupid at times and not that heroic though he tries to be and fails most of the time, and that makes him more human. Queen Atiya is also brilliantly portrayed, and her character was explored in all its complex depths. Being a queen and a goddess, Bennett handled her character with subtlety and emotion. Her backstory was poignant, and tragic which gave her actions and motive a credulity. The antagonist was a sort of surprise for me, and suffice it to say, he was one hell of a wily villainous bastard, selfish, cruel and power hungry. The end he deserved was fitting.

The writing though strong was uneven at places, and there were some odd similes and images littered in the prose. Apart from that, the story is a solidly entertaining one with a gripping adventurous plot. The pacing was fast with enough action and magic to boot, and the climax scene was freaking awesome. A God appears, can you feel how freaking awesome is that, and the action is brilliant with blood and fire. The ending was satisfactory without any cliffhangers, and hence, this book can also be read as a standalone, though there is sufficient pace left for further novels.

[Erika Pensaert · Rating 3 out of 5]

3- ✨
I liked the story well enough (dragons, myths, adventure), but I had to work my way through a lot of overblown language to get at it.

[dverghest · Rating 1 out of 5]

From the cover: Fans of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher will revel in this fiery tale of adventure and modern-day mythology from a stellar new talent.

I really wanted that to be the case, but there is absolutely nothing butcheresque or aaronovitchy about this book, unless you haven't read Dresden Files or Rivers of London *.

The premise / basic plot of the book isn't bad, but the execution is. Mostly, it is a book in need of fewer pages. It is so, so wordy, the author really going for intense and emotional, but mostly landing in absurdia.

* "Grant power to my ba," he said, offending the silence.
* Uncurling from his foetus of grief...
* Who knew what bitter seeds rolled around in his head, planted there by murderous tradition?

Even through the action sequences, there were verbose internal ramblings and silly woe-be-me/ah-Rose!-my-most-favourite-damsel! flashbacks. The final battle was bogged down with reflections on the properties and myths surrounding dragon blood, the rivers of England, more flashbacks, some flash-forwards, making the same points multiple times and a random guest appearance by private Banna, who is out of cigarettes. Quite frankly, I got bored and skipped several passages. The only good bits were Anubis showing up and getting his arse handed to him by a ten-year-old and Rose saving the day and topped it off by telling "the vast red oddity" to eff off.

* (If you are looking for something along those lines, why not try Charless Stross' Laundry files, or Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye series, or Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series?)

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars for Chasing Embers. Maybe 2.5 for the ending.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I ended up actually liking it. The premise seemed so interesting and I loved the idea of a shape-shifting dragon-man as the main character. Unfortunately it never lived up to everything I wanted for it.

As much as I liked the idea for Ben Garston, I never really connected with the character. I never felt his emotions. I didn't gasp when he was put in danger or worry about what was going to happen next. His motivations just seemed pretty shallow, and I don't mean in a "save the pretty girl" way, but just without depth and nuance. I can understand them but they didn't come alive for me.

The thing I struggled with most, however, was all the info-dumping. This world is complex and layered but almost too much so, or at least too much for the first book. There's all kinds of magical creatures, a backstory history with the Fae, a Pact, a Guild, witches, lots of British and dragon history... honestly the list could go on and on. While I love a good complex world, I love to explore it. I love all of these things unfolding as we go. I love to learn what I need to know, guess at the connections and depth to everything, and enjoy the reveals. I don't love pages and pages of worldbuilding vomit. I found myself skimming these a lot which is unfortunate. I don't think they're bad ideas even but it was just too much for a fairly short book. A 1000 pages of epic fantasy, sure. 300 pages of urban fantasy? Probably not.

Plus to top this all off, the main plotline deals heavily with Egyptian mythology. My mind was just blown trying to keep everything straight. I would have loved a book dealing with just understanding this world. An intro book almost before getting more complex and adding more layers to what there already was. Again, not that the Egyptian plot wasn't interesting, but there was just too much. It almost felt like the meat of the story was lost because of the time and space given to telling about everything.

The ending did pick up for me as everything really started to come to a head. There was more action and less reveal-dumps as we'd finally gotten through everything the author wanted to tell. I might look into the next books, because I do like the world; I just didn't like how revealing it was handled.

[Sydney (sydneysshelves) West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chasing Embers is was pitched to me as a fantasy with dragons. And this is true and not. The book follows Ben who is indeed a dragon. He comes from the "days of old" when magic and humans lived together peacefully. Now in modern day New York he finds himself being hunted by new and old foes. Only to be surprised to find that one of the old sleeping remnants has been awakened. Sounds like a solid plot. But I struggled with this book. There was a lot of exposition and info dropping. Making the novel seems really wordy and less action-y. Which wasn't exactly true. But with so little dialogue in the beginning it was hard to stay attached to the story. At 25% of the way through Ben was just finally making his way to investigate the whole in the wall at the museum. I found this to be an issue with style rather than plot. Personally I would've enjoyed a different style, or pacing, or even just more dialogue. As for characters, I thought the characters were more pretty interesting and I was hungry to understand this world. I liked that there was more than one type of mythical creature. However I would have liked to have seen more dragons. More dragon fighting. More dragons doing kick ass dragon things. But despite all the info dropping I still didn't feel like I really knew how the world came together and the "legends and myths" we were working with. It was a very "just accept what you're reading and go with it" type of experience.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book filled with lots to love.

Full review to come.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that moment when a book clicks. When you’re reading an author’s work for the first time, and suddenly you just get it. There is always the little frisson of panic whenever an author is an unknown quantity. Will I enjoy their work or will it be for someone else and not for me? Within a handful of pages I knew without question that James Bennett was going to be an author whose work I was going to enjoy.

‘Red’ Ben Garston is a complicated soul. I’m going to try avoid any major spoilers, that’s part of the fun with Chasing Embers. Suffice to say, as you read the book you’ll realise very swiftly why this is the case. Let’s just say, Ben has been around for quite a while and when it comes to his chequered history it is often difficult to separate the fact from the fiction. Ben’s unique perspective has left him with lots issues and more emotional baggage than you would wish to shake a pointy stick at. When we first meet him he is all but burnt out. Living an idle existence in New York, he spends his days bemoaning his lot and drinking as much Jack Daniels as he can get his hands on. This bitter exterior barely hides the fact that he is in a state of constant inner turmoil. His love life is a mess, his personal relationships are a shambles and he is wallowing in self-pity. Should Ben just rollover, accept his fate and allow himself to be confined to legend, or should he fight for his right to exist? Does he have as much right as anyone else to find a little bit of happiness and contentment?

Ben wears his heart on his sleeve, and when you read his description, it is easy to visualise someone whose emotions play across their face. He is a real credit to James Bennett and his skill as a writer. Bennett makes Ben such an interesting and layered character. Lesser authors may have struggled bringing this complex creation to life, but Bennett manages this tricky task with aplomb. ‘Red’ Ben Garston feels well-rounded and fully fleshed out. His sense of melancholy feels palpable. It was so easy to empathise when Ben fells pain or anger. Impressive stuff when you realise this is a debut novel.

For every hero there has to be a villain, and in Ben’s case there is a veritable rogue’s gallery. His longevity has ensured he has managed to upset all manner of various groups and mystical forces throughout the years. Primary amongst them are a trio of rather nasty witches who would like nothing better than to see Ben destroyed. There is also a secret society whose sole purpose is to reclaim an item that Ben was responsible for them losing. How can they reclaim this item? Killing Ben of course. Our erstwhile hero wants nothing but a quiet life, but all these other magical types are keen to deny him that.

The good news is that Ben is not entirely alone. From time to time he is helped, and sometimes hindered, by a flamboyant character know as Blaise Von Hart. Calling the two friends might be stretching things a bit far. Let’s just say when you are one of the few long lived beings on the planet, you are going to get to know your contemporaries. Von Hart’s origins are also quite key to the plot so I’m not going to dig into them too deeply. I think the thing I liked most about Von Hart is that he is the polar opposite of Ben. He embraces his uniqueness in the grand scheme of things. Whilst Ben hides himself away, Von Hart does quite the reverse. I’m hoping there will be more from him in future novels?

There is a nice international flavour to events as the action moves from the streets of New York, to London and then onwards to Egypt. You get a real sense that what is transpiring has the potential to be world changing. Ben holds the fate of our world in his hands. Chasing Embers acts as the perfect beginning to this much larger story.

Before I forget. My musical recommendation to accompany Chasing Embers is …Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age. The reasons for this particular choice will become quite obvious when you read the book.

Ok, I know I’ve danced around a lot of the content in this particular review but this is entirely deliberate. As I mentioned before, there are some key points in this novel that you really need to discover yourself. I can assure you that your enjoyment will only be increased when you happen upon these revelations. All you really need to know is that Chasing Embers is great. Not only is there some rock solid world-building going on, but Bennett also leaves just enough questions unanswered to ensure his audience will be hungry for more. Blending together the best of action, adventure and urban fantasy, I reckon Chasing Embers is going to be one of my highlights for 2016. This is a cracking tale, well told, and with the promise of more to come. I’ll be honest, I can’t wait to see where this goes next. Oh and can someone please adapt this for the screen? Immediately would be ideal. Thanks.

[Caroline Mersey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chasing Embers by James Bennett (review copy from publishers Orbit, via NetGalley) is the first in a new series of urban fantasy novels about muscle-for-hire Ben Garston. Ben is not your typical mercenary, though. He's the last remaining dragon in the world. After ruinous wars, King John signed a Covenant that led to the fae and all supernatural beings withdrawing from the world, except for one of each species.

For the most part, Ben leads a pretty quiet life, doing the occasional job of work without asking too many questions about it, until the peace of the Covenant is shattered. There appears to be another dragon on the loose, stealing items from museums, which means Ben's enemies have free rein to try to act on centuries-old feuds. Ben's attempts to unravel the mystery lead him to Africa and an ancient goddess, and jeopardise the safety of his (ex-)girlfriend and, inevitably, the world.

I have to say I was underwhelmed by this book, and it was a bit of a plod to get through. Ben crashes pretty unthinkingly through life, which makes him hard to make a connection with and has the plot reeling from one fight scene or confrontation to another. There is also far too much reliance on the Deus Ex Machina of the one remaining Fae (who lives as a gloriously seedy nightclub owner in Germany) arriving to save the day and get the author out of a plot hole or comer he has backed himself into. And I was left slightly disturbed by the frequent resort to torture and Ben's sexual attraction to the African goddess, who is embodied in the novel through and around a prepubescent girl.

Bennett tries to do some interesting things with Ben's relationship with love-interest Rose, playing on dragon-tropes. Rose is presented as alternately a treasure he is seeking to add to his hoard, or a princess he is seeking to protect. She, by all accounts, is happy with neither role, nor with his inability to admit who and what he really is. But despite a few spirited attempts to rebel, Rose fails to pass the Sexy Lamp Test (could you replace the lead female character with a particularly attractive lamp, without making any difference to the plot of the story?) and becomes merely a plot device to get Ben to the scene of the novel's climax.