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Tree of Ages #6

Dawn of Magic: Forest of Embers

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A new era has dawned. An era of dragons and gods, balanced on a tenuous edge between redemption and ruin.

★★★★★ "This book is a treat for long-time fans and new readers alike!"

Finn thought she had found her happy ending, but she hadn’t considered the consequences of breaking the barrier to the in-between. The land is in chaos. Mages are pitted against non-magical humans, and the Faie are a threat to all.

A powerful magic as old as time itself has returned to the land, and its sole intent to is to restore balance . . . and to punish those who threw everything off to begin with. Finn is one such person. Will she be powerful enough to stand up to an ancient god, or will the ones she love pay the price for her actions?

Forest of Embers is the continuation of the Tree of Ages series, but can be read as a book one for readers new to the Tree of Ages world.

214 pages, Paperback

Published March 22, 2019

861 people are currently reading
717 people want to read

About the author

Sara C. Roethle

126 books921 followers
Sara C. Roethle is a Fantasy author and part-time unicorn. She enjoys writing character driven stories in various fantasy realms with elements of Celtic and Norse myth, humor, and metaphysical ponderings.

Her series include:

Tree of Ages
The Thief's Apprentice
The Moonstone Chronicles
Xoe Meyers
Bitter Ashes

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5 stars
879 (54%)
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534 (32%)
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173 (10%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
Profile Image for Ashley Daviau.
2,262 reviews1,059 followers
February 21, 2021
I was hesitant to read this because I was so happy with how the series ended and I didn’t see how a new book could possibly add anything. And I was right. It’s not absolutely terrible but it just wasn’t necessary and I wish I never read it because it kind of spoiled the ending of the series to go beyond it and see what happened after. The ending was incredibly satisfying and it should have been left at that. I’m just going to pretend I never read this and purge it from my brain to salvage the series.
Profile Image for KitKat821.
677 reviews6 followers
March 3, 2019
I really enjoyed this book, though it’s way too short. I love the new changes in the world, especially the dragons. However, I’m a romantic and Iseult and Finn are sooolk boring together. Have they slept together? The romance needs some spice or something. It feels like a friendship where they are confused, and I really want the characters to be together.
Profile Image for June Schneider.
Author 3 books71 followers
March 24, 2022
Well, since I've just finished book 7 I thought I should say something.

I really liked the first book, grabbed me, loved the 'tree girl' and her adventures and the mystery of it all. Very different, couldn't wait to see where it went.
The second book not so much, more violence and so many added characters it just wasn't as good to me, I got a little bored at times. Then the rest of the series kept getting more of the adventure going for me again, with some decent twists and turns, and I continued to enjoy reading this story, even though most of it wasn't too much of a stretch or surprising. It's just a fun adventure to read...I want to see what happens to the 'little tree girl' in the end.

However....first of all this book is a mini book...I know the author made comment that this originally was meant as a novella but changed her mind...well, it's uber short, but for the same price as the others. Why even bother? Just finish the story, make it exciting, stop with all the quick stories, as I noticed the book before that last one was fairly short as well...but nothing like this one. We're talking short. Yet another follows in it's path...why not make one good book?

And here's my number one negative critique ....every other page (and I'm literally not even exaggerating), every few pages, someone is 'sucking their teeth'!!!??? What??? I'm fairly certain she means to say they simply inhale in a way of worry or thought, but seriously, sucking their teeth! I actually attempt to do this and feel how it is, or what it could possibly sound like and would that really fit in the story at that moment. And it's so constant a description I am angered every time I see it...it's relentless. Figure out another way to say this please, I'm begging you.

And even though the story isn't a big surprise with character building ....good vs evil...it still is fun to read. Keeps my attention....most of the time.
Profile Image for Edwin.
1,078 reviews33 followers
August 18, 2025
#DNF

het lijkt er op dat er geen deel 7 in het Nederlands is, en daardoor mis je heel veel informatie uit dat deel, want dit deel gaat er op verder. Omdat die lastig leest het boek terzijde gelegd en maar 1 ster.

over het algemeen is de serie niet een van de beste, maar had wel hoger kunnen scoren ALS er bij het vertalen geen gebrom was gemaakt van een A I. Hele zinnen lijken 1 op 1 vertaalt te zijn waardoor je dus kromme zinnen krijgt.
jammer
57 reviews3 followers
March 7, 2019
love this author!

I loved the Tree of ages series, so I was really excited to start this one. I would however recommend if you haven't read the first series, or haven't read it in a while that you do read them first. I found myself for the first probably 12 chapters trying to get into the characters and their backstory, cause a lot of it I just didn't remember! However after that it was a quick great start to what i'm sure will be an amazing series. I cannot wait to read the next book!
21 reviews3 followers
February 8, 2019
I enjoy these books for the most part but I still find the Iseult/Finnur relationship annoying. He treats her like a child and he has zero personality. I find him dull and infuriating. Also Finn doesn’t seem to understand utilitarianism which makes her a less admirable leader.
Profile Image for Jessica Donegan.
Author 1 book10 followers
May 21, 2019
It was too short! There are some elements lacking in Roethle’s latest book (including the ability to pick this series up on a cold read, don’t bother reading this if you aren’t familiar with “Tree of Ages”). I can think of about half a dozen elements I could pull apart.  
But, my first desire: more story, please. End of the day, I am invested in these characters; the story entertains and has enough moving parts I want to keep reading.  

This is a rocky start for the new series. The character voices feel muddled. Some of then jumped ahead into new emotional arcs (which makes sense given it’s four years later but it takes the reader a moment to catch up) and others regressed back to how they felt in book two or three. I want new arcs, not to relive old ones.  

My biggest concern is that love/romance/friendship between characters becomes stilted in these books. I love Roethle’s style. She lets her characters relate to each other as complete beings with a wide spectrum of emotions instead of minimizing emotional impacts to hormone filled will they/won’t they side plots. However, her usual style isn’t working here. There are three pairings where I should read more affection. It’s been four years and they are still together. I don’t care how hard-boiled one character is; I don’t care how conflicted a character is, four years of life saving adventure in a war-torn land would build more affectionate moments. Hidden jokes, long looks, flash backs, give me something on this relationship!  

The characters themselves seem like they’ve been overly indulged in the last four years, which doesn’t match the “strife” this returning magic brings. I get strong spoiled vibes off of all of them.  

There’s some spoiler-like elements that do not line up with the lore from the first series, but that’s always an issue when authors continue a beloved series beyond their planned ending. Have to shoehorn extra magic rules or strifes for our characters to fight against.  

Overall, the plot is the strongest part of this first book. The stakes are well defined and engaging. It makes sense that characters would “risk everything” because if they do nothing they will perish. The plot’s pacing is a little choppy, especially in the back third where we push through a lot of revelation that readers deserved more pages to run through.  

Grudgingly, I have to admit, there are warning signs in this book that make me worry for the series but none of it stops me from wanting more. I’m excited to read Book 2.  All the issues I have in this current book can be corrected/explained over the course of a series.
Profile Image for Julie.
4 reviews18 followers
May 18, 2020
I wanted to love this as much as the original series, but a small problem I’d had towards the end of the 5th book became a main story component in this book. Ultimately, that made me not enjoy it nearly as much.

Sort of spoilers? from here.

Anna’s character was built up as a pretty strong, take no s**t kind of female character that is so often lacking in fantasy. Instead of the typical “oops I always seem to get myself in trouble teehee!” type, we have a woman who has literally fought to survive and doesn’t let anyone get in her way. She’s not soft, she doesn’t smile at everyone, and she’s usually in charge. I loved that, even when she kidnapped Finn and we were all supposed to hate her for a while, she was one of the most real characters to me. I also appreciated that, on top of her personality, she was presented as an LGBTQ character (again, so often lacking in the fantasy genre.)

In the end of the previous book, she falls in love with a male character. I wasn’t crazy about it - I was actually expecting her to wind up with Bedelia because it was hinted at - but figured, hey, maybe this will be a good thing. Maybe.

Well, I was wrong. In this book, she becomes petty, flustered, and unreasonably defensive. Then we find out the only reason she “preferred women” is a boy broke her heart once like a decade prior? Being left for dead notwithstanding, that is just such a cliche misconception about LGBTQ women. “He broke my heart, I’m done with boys!!” Ugh. It doesn’t work that way! After that, I was rolling my eyes every time Anna’s perspective came up. She deserved so much better than this. Seeing such a strong character be reduced to an annoying little girl “confused” about being in love with a boy just ruined this book for me.

All of that said, I did enjoy the majority of the book and I really love the world it all takes place in. I’m just sick of pretty much every woman’s story arc in fantasy being dependent upon whether or not she falls in love and/or gets married. That’s one thing I appreciated with Finn and Iseult - it was obvious from the second they met, but it was a super slow burn.
49 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2025
Another fantastic read by Ms. Roethle

I’ve read the first 5 books that lead up to this new installment in the series, and I just never get enough. Usually at some point in a long series I get bored with the same plot lines, machinations, and the characters themselves, especially if they’re stupid/consistently do dumb things. It’s infuriating. But this series doesn’t do that. Yes there’s lots of decisions, some good and some world ending, but they’re not “let’s run upstairs away from the door that’s the only means of escape in the whole house” dumb kind of decisions. The characters are fleshed out and by now I feel like I know them quite well and I’m rooting for them all, even the ice queen and the black dragon. I can’t wait to see where the author takes her characters, and I’m super excited to see there’s still several books after this one. At this point these characters are my family, and that’s something only a truly talented author can make you feel. I highly recommend you read the first 5 books to get all the background and the story behind how they got to where they are now. It’s fascinating work. So needless to say, I’m a huge fan of these books. I rarely ever write reviews, except when I feel strongly about something I’ve read, to the point of being moved. That’s probably the highest praise I can give an author: the writing moved me and meant something special to me.
Ms. Roethle’s writing style is quick and fluid, very crisp and detailed without bogging you down with it. Some authors put so much detail and go on at such length that my mind starts wandering and I’m just sort of skimming the words with my eyeballs until the story picks back up. There’s a tiny bit of that in her books too, but I think that’s more of a me problem and not any comment on her writing style.
Profile Image for Lana.
2,766 reviews59 followers
December 8, 2018
A land divided, a city inhabited by humans without magic, a city of mages ruled by the Queen of wands and in between these two were the Faie both light and dark running rampant in their struggle for dominion. A once balanced land was now in a mess as someone had broken the barrier and released wild magic. The magical balance needed to be restored and two Gods were planning on doing this by culling those who possessed it. Finn who was the one responsible for opening the barrier would not allow this and she set out to fight the Gods. Anna and Kai, her once mortal friends followed her to make sure she stayed safe cause wherever Finn went trouble followed. In the meantime Iseulth her beloved was lying in a deep sleep induced by a curse the God Arawn had put on him just to spite Finn. She also had her dear friends Loinnir, the unicorn and her spirit bonded dragon Naoki who also looked out for her. Finn had magic but she needed to be in touch with the earth for her to be able to use this and sometimes she could not access her magic powers. Queen Oighear came to her rescue when she was attacked by a black dragon but she used to be her enemy, now with more land shifts occurring, it seems that unless all factions could work together and forget their differences they would not be able to defeat the Gods and retain their powers. Could they do this? I just love this series, the characters are really strong and loyal to one another watching each other’s back even when their own lives are endangered and the unicorn and dragon are really beautiful and now with more dragons making an appearance the story can only get more interesting.

Profile Image for The Mysterious Reader.
3,588 reviews66 followers
December 24, 2018
I love when I proven author (ie one who produces great books consistently) comes out with a new series, especially when it’s s take ofc from s prior beloved series. That’s certainly the case with Sara C. Roethle and her new Tree of Ages: Dawn of Magic series, of which Forest of Embers is Book 1. Dragons, unicorns, Gods, fae, magic gone wild - and one heck of a lead in Finn, this book has it all and puts it forth perfectly. A wild ride that’s totally fun. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises. The book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, and it is easy to highly recommend. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.
Profile Image for Lily.
82 reviews22 followers
October 2, 2023
First of all - I would not recommend that anyone read this unless they've read the main series first (books 1 - 5). Without that initial investment in the story and the characters, I can see this bombing pretty hard. This isn't one of those books that, though it is the first of a sequel series, can really stand alone on its own.

That said, when read as a continuation of the series, it was decent. I'll be honest though, I loved how the series ended so nicely with book 5, so I'm really hoping that this add-on series doesn't ruin that for me. I'll admit that while it was still interesting and immersive, it did start to feel a LITTLE bit like "Oh no, the author is dragging this out too much." But this book was short, so I am reserving judgment for now.

I'm very happy there's more dragons, though!
280 reviews
December 28, 2018
I absolutely loved the Tree of Ages series and was happy to find out that the next installment book 1 was available. This first book was pretty good, I wish there would have been a little more to the story about the year lapse though. There was a good amount of action and the fan favorites were back which was nice. The story definitely ended on a cliffhanger so I am anxiously anticipating what will come next. I also wish the book had been a little longer but I believe the author said this was a novelette. Anyway it's worth the read!
1 review
January 29, 2019
Another home run for Sara

What a fantastic suprise to find this new book to continue the saga of the Tree of Ages story. Loved seeing the characters again and catching up where they are now. But i would like to get invested in the new characters more. How do they fit in to this world, and why do they need to restore balance? This book throws the reader right into the next drama without enough plot development. I hope that is coming in the next book. Sara, please keep it coming!
578 reviews1 follower
July 21, 2020
I enjoyed this book but didn't love it! I thought it was a direct continuation of book 4 from the last series but it seemed to jump directly into the story and I had no idea what was going on. It seemed too short and a bit rushed, it didn't go into that much depth on what I thought was a very interesting storyline. Very interesting to hear about the Gods and Fair creatures! Hoping the next one will be better now we are into the story a bit more.
Profile Image for Priscilla .
34 reviews
December 14, 2018
Great book!

I'm so glad Sara C. Roethle decided to write more about this series! I loved The Tree Of Ages and I love this book! I can't wait for more. Finn is at it again a year later trying to save everyone she loves (dragon included) and the world on top of it all. I can't wait for the next book to see what happens next! I highly recommend this book!
Profile Image for Juliana.
235 reviews2 followers
April 2, 2019
Needs a Little More

Having read the original set of books I was familiar with the characters and back story. I really would not have enjoyed this book without that knowledge and would have been hopelessly confused. Ms Roethle either needs a prologue or more in depth explanations of how these characters came to know each other and why they respond as they do.
Profile Image for Zan.
258 reviews1 follower
April 3, 2025
Still lots of "smirking" and "smug" looks going on.
This book in the series is different - it is much shorter, and was clearly written as a bridge from the "final" book in the previous series to the first book of this series. Not much happened to advance the story, and the new elements seemed instead to derail the story in many ways.
823 reviews4 followers
January 14, 2019
True to the series

This is a great continuation for the Tree of Ages series. It's a well written and easy to read adventure with the characters you've come to know. Can't wait for the next installment.
Profile Image for Donna .
96 reviews12 followers
January 20, 2019
I thought about Finn,All of the time..

Until it got to the point that I couldn't sleep anymore.I just wanted to finish the book. And now I have to wait until the next one comes out oh well such is life..always waiting for the good stuff.later y'all🆗🐸💜👣👣👣
7 reviews
April 3, 2019
Trully one of.the greatest fantasy series I have red in a long time

Real.breath taking adventure . Read.all.of.the books in one go.and could.not wait for the next book to.read and feel.like.more.and more.and more...



Profile Image for Dianna.
130 reviews
April 6, 2019
This book is a terrific start to this series! (continued from Tree of Ages) Things are changing for everyone and once again you will be sucked into the strong characters and the story! I cant wait for book 2!
Profile Image for Elizabeth Adams.
31 reviews
May 14, 2019
The whole series is entertaining.

The Tree of ages series hit all of my wants--excitement, romance, magic/magical beings, battles, friendship, and suspense. The series is great and it does not have blatant sex scenes nor use of foul language- for this I am grateful.
Profile Image for Lisa Whitehead.
554 reviews5 followers
May 26, 2019
A continuation on of the story of Finnur. However, Amazon says this is number six of a six series of novels, but it does not end the series?!

An enjoyable read, with some of the protagonists from the other stories. I find the cover annoying though, as this dragon should be white.
35 reviews
June 17, 2019
Awesome I love this series!

I adore the writing and intricate character plots nd turns. This whole series has had me pulled in. I have power read all of the books currently available in the last 2 weeks.
318 reviews2 followers
July 27, 2019
Excellent writing

Very interesting story.. Very enjoyable experience and exciting. Looking forward to next novel. It was fun to be involved with each character and see what would happen next.
Profile Image for Myla L A.
569 reviews9 followers
September 22, 2019
Good Read

Was a little disappointed that this book was not that long like the previous books and disappointed at what happens to our main heroine. Other then that this was a good read.
207 reviews1 follower
January 15, 2020
Who's. Who!!!!!

Can enemy s be frienddsdss and help one another. Can dragon love? This is where the goes stick their venomous hands in to stir the pot of life. Who will win who will loose?
Profile Image for Ginny Ferguson.
2 reviews1 follower
February 11, 2020
Can't stop reading

I have become entrapped by this series, reading at 3am in spite of needing to be at work at 7. It is gripping. I am just so sad to see this one end. I cannot wait until the next book is published.
Profile Image for jennifer.
4 reviews
June 9, 2020
What happened after


Glad the story continues, really liked the characters, and how they were able to
Flow with and with out reach other, so nice to have a story the let's u know how things are after barriers have been broken


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