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Dragons of Mother Stone #3
Ember in Shadow
As a royal wedding draws near, relations between humans and dragons are better than ever. Even the discovery that an ancient, evil entity was behind the human animosity toward dragons cannot stop the dragon Lamprophyre and her human friend Prince Rokshan from feeling victorious. But the entity still exists, and its next attack targets Lamprophyre directly, using magic that no one alive has ever seen before.
Virtually helpless and newly vulnerable to the entity’s attacks, Lamprophyre must discover a way to stop an enemy she cannot see, whose minions lurk in every shadow, while searching for a way to reverse what the entity did to her. And time is running out.
She has to be lucky all the time. Her enemy only has to be lucky once.
Virtually helpless and newly vulnerable to the entity’s attacks, Lamprophyre must discover a way to stop an enemy she cannot see, whose minions lurk in every shadow, while searching for a way to reverse what the entity did to her. And time is running out.
She has to be lucky all the time. Her enemy only has to be lucky once.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2021
About the author
Melissa McShane
96 books862 followersMelissa grew up a nomad, following her family all over the United States, and ended up living in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains with her husband, four kids, and three very needy cats. Her love of reading was always a constant during those uncertain years, and her love of writing grew out of that. She wrote reviews and critical essays for many years before turning to fiction, and was surprised at how much she liked it. She loves the fantasy genre and how it stretches the imagination.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 1, 2021
This is third in a fantasy series that builds some character and plot arcs over time. So I recommend reading them in order.
Ah. Right. My non-standard standard disclaimer. I nearly forgot it this time. As always feel free to disregard my review as biased because I'm more-than friends with the author. Or so our kids claim. They're really poor judges of character, though. Plus, I try really hard to be honest in all my reviews, even those of Melissa's books. Still, take that into account as you decide whether to take me seriously.
The series takes a definite turn here that works against expectation. Rokshan and Lamprophyre have become best friends and that has been explicitly platonic because, well, different species and all. Lamprophyre has been somewhat distressed because she doesn't have any romantic feelings for anybody and she's of an age where the pair-bonding should be kicking in and it just doesn't seem to be on the docket. So when an enemy turns her human in order to make her vulnerable to threats a dragon can shrug off, things get even more complicated on the relationship front.
So in addition to the investigation and exploration that is the center of this series, you have relationship changes with Rokshan. I was delighted to see them navigate these fraught waters, each having to be both brave and vulnerable. And I love that they get angry with each other and hurt, sometimes, and have to choose to communicate and reconcile. It's a really hard position because there is no easy answer if they're going to develop feelings that go beyond friendship. They really can't afford to have Lamprophyre so vulnerable with the unknown entity gunning for her so assiduously, so there are some definite conflicting motivations happening here.
Which brings up the fast pace and excellent plot. Having a hidden enemy who can manipulate others from afar is crazy-making as Lamprophyre and Rokshan try to discern what it can and cannot do. Some very scary developments happen and some tough choices have to be made. Who do you risk when death, and worse than death, are on the line?
Anyway, I loved this story and was so thrilled to see how it developed. Even as it broke my heart at times. Tough choices are faced and the friendship between Lamprophyre and Rokshan is tested to its limit. I'm so thrilled with how it played out so this is five stars and I can't wait for the next book!
A note about Chaste: For the first time in the series, sex is a possibility. There are some frank, but not detailed, discussions. But there is no sex. Prior in the series, we've heard Rokshan talk about sex and how he's decided not to go there until married. And he holds onto that. There's some kissing, but nothing more. Lamprophyre's exploration of her alien, human body has a few details as well, though not dwelled-upon or frequent. That may kick others into non-chaste evaluations, despite the decidedly non-sexual nature of her curiosity. For me, I think it's very chaste, with nothing more than some kissing, but others could disagree.
Ah. Right. My non-standard standard disclaimer. I nearly forgot it this time. As always feel free to disregard my review as biased because I'm more-than friends with the author. Or so our kids claim. They're really poor judges of character, though. Plus, I try really hard to be honest in all my reviews, even those of Melissa's books. Still, take that into account as you decide whether to take me seriously.
The series takes a definite turn here that works against expectation. Rokshan and Lamprophyre have become best friends and that has been explicitly platonic because, well, different species and all. Lamprophyre has been somewhat distressed because she doesn't have any romantic feelings for anybody and she's of an age where the pair-bonding should be kicking in and it just doesn't seem to be on the docket. So when an enemy turns her human in order to make her vulnerable to threats a dragon can shrug off, things get even more complicated on the relationship front.
So in addition to the investigation and exploration that is the center of this series, you have relationship changes with Rokshan. I was delighted to see them navigate these fraught waters, each having to be both brave and vulnerable. And I love that they get angry with each other and hurt, sometimes, and have to choose to communicate and reconcile. It's a really hard position because there is no easy answer if they're going to develop feelings that go beyond friendship. They really can't afford to have Lamprophyre so vulnerable with the unknown entity gunning for her so assiduously, so there are some definite conflicting motivations happening here.
Which brings up the fast pace and excellent plot. Having a hidden enemy who can manipulate others from afar is crazy-making as Lamprophyre and Rokshan try to discern what it can and cannot do. Some very scary developments happen and some tough choices have to be made. Who do you risk when death, and worse than death, are on the line?
Anyway, I loved this story and was so thrilled to see how it developed. Even as it broke my heart at times. Tough choices are faced and the friendship between Lamprophyre and Rokshan is tested to its limit. I'm so thrilled with how it played out so this is five stars and I can't wait for the next book!
A note about Chaste: For the first time in the series, sex is a possibility. There are some frank, but not detailed, discussions. But there is no sex. Prior in the series, we've heard Rokshan talk about sex and how he's decided not to go there until married. And he holds onto that. There's some kissing, but nothing more. Lamprophyre's exploration of her alien, human body has a few details as well, though not dwelled-upon or frequent. That may kick others into non-chaste evaluations, despite the decidedly non-sexual nature of her curiosity. For me, I think it's very chaste, with nothing more than some kissing, but others could disagree.
Read
February 17, 2022I gobbled this book in a reading binge, and got behind in my reviewing due to a bottleneck in Stuff, but also because I wasn't sure how to review it.
Basically I was totally taken by surprise by a sharp turn in the ongoing plot, which change is the undergirding of this book. So little can be said, except that the world building continues to be intriguing and fun in its details. I love the dragons here, and their culture and beliefs, and it's so very much fun seeing humans through dragon eyes.
Even better, the emotional stakes are never subsumed by the world building pyrotechnics. Far from it. Emotionally this is a real roller coaster, with some meaty discussions along the way.
Altogether an excellent addition to this series.
Copy provided by author
Basically I was totally taken by surprise by a sharp turn in the ongoing plot, which change is the undergirding of this book. So little can be said, except that the world building continues to be intriguing and fun in its details. I love the dragons here, and their culture and beliefs, and it's so very much fun seeing humans through dragon eyes.
Even better, the emotional stakes are never subsumed by the world building pyrotechnics. Far from it. Emotionally this is a real roller coaster, with some meaty discussions along the way.
Altogether an excellent addition to this series.
Copy provided by author
Read
January 2, 2026I took a chance with this entry in the dragon series. Specifically, I set up expectations in the first two books that I then shattered in the third. I have no idea how readers will feel about it. I can only say that I had what happens to Lamprophyre here in mind from the very start. Don't know if that makes it better or worse.
*I* like it, obviously, or I wouldn't have written it. I like the developments Lamprophyre's character undergoes, and I like how it affects her relationship with Rokshan, which is a sideways way of pointing out I like the evolution of Rokshan's character, too. And some great things happen with Lamprophyre's clutch, including
I had my daughter read these because some aspects of Lamprophyre's character that are based on her and I wanted her opinion. She mocked me in a loving way because I keep putting library science into my books. So here is the story of why Dharan is actually me:
My mother taught me to read and write the alphabet when I was about eighteen months old. My grandmother suggested she label everything in our apartment so I could learn to read the words. It really should not have worked, but it did, and I was reading before I was three. I've always thought that was a fun story, so I gave that background to Dharan in the first book. In book three, library research is a major part of the plot (I swear the book is actually interesting despite this) and so I expanded Dharan's background to include the invention of the card catalog and having to catalog an enormous library collection basically on his own. No, I did not invent the card catalog, but as the volunteer librarian for a small private school I entered thousands of library records into their database, one at a time because they couldn't afford to pay for batch processing. And I sort of added these details to the book one at a time and didn't realize I was putting myself into the story until my daughter pointed it out.
Anyway. A lot of aspects of my personality go into my characters, but this is the first time it was so obvious.
The series concludes with the fourth book, Skies Will Burn, which is also the longest book I've ever written. I hope readers are enjoying this little side project of mine.
*I* like it, obviously, or I wouldn't have written it. I like the developments Lamprophyre's character undergoes, and I like how it affects her relationship with Rokshan, which is a sideways way of pointing out I like the evolution of Rokshan's character, too. And some great things happen with Lamprophyre's clutch, including
I had my daughter read these because some aspects of Lamprophyre's character that are based on her and I wanted her opinion. She mocked me in a loving way because I keep putting library science into my books. So here is the story of why Dharan is actually me:
My mother taught me to read and write the alphabet when I was about eighteen months old. My grandmother suggested she label everything in our apartment so I could learn to read the words. It really should not have worked, but it did, and I was reading before I was three. I've always thought that was a fun story, so I gave that background to Dharan in the first book. In book three, library research is a major part of the plot (I swear the book is actually interesting despite this) and so I expanded Dharan's background to include the invention of the card catalog and having to catalog an enormous library collection basically on his own. No, I did not invent the card catalog, but as the volunteer librarian for a small private school I entered thousands of library records into their database, one at a time because they couldn't afford to pay for batch processing. And I sort of added these details to the book one at a time and didn't realize I was putting myself into the story until my daughter pointed it out.
Anyway. A lot of aspects of my personality go into my characters, but this is the first time it was so obvious.
The series concludes with the fourth book, Skies Will Burn, which is also the longest book I've ever written. I hope readers are enjoying this little side project of mine.
December 11, 2022
This book was a wild ride for me, due to the fact that it pulls a twist that results in something that I actively avoid in dragon books - transformation. To my surprise, I didn't expect the plot regarding Lamprhoryre's transformation into a human to end up being one of the most interesting aspects of the book for me.
When it happened at the start of the book, I was at first slightly discouraged from reading further, because, obviously, the transformation took away one of the main reasons I was reading this series - the main protagonist who's a dragon. But as I read more, I couldn't help but feel immensely intrigued by the way Melissa wrote Lamprhoryre as a human. The amount of learning she had to do about humans, the way they lead their lives, their customs, how their day to day life and activities work in a human body - all of that was very fascinating to read. All of it felt very believable and realistic, unlike a lot of other books in which a transformed human or dragon felt exactly the same, no matter which form they were in. There was a huge amount of learning that Lamprhoryre had to do to adjust to literally everything in her new form, and the attention to detail in regards to all of that was really damn good.
Another thing that I wasn't expecting was the romance between Rokshan and Lamprhoryre, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it. The romantic aspect felt quite natural, with all the confusion and awkwardness you'd expect from such an unusual situation involving a human falling in love with a dragon who transformed into a human. It honestly felt like a good progression of their characters, because what happens between them in this book was developed very well in the previous two, and I was expecting some form of romance to happen sooner or later, just not in the way that it did in this book. Also, the parts involving mentions of sex, desire and lust were unusual, but also very amusing to read, and quite understandable, when you consider that sex education for dragons happened only when they became pair-bonded.
One minor critique that I have is that, yet again, the overarching plot of the series that continues with this book felt a little lacking, and not really well developed. Like before, there's a lot of mystery, but barely any good explanation or development of the plot regarding the entity, the prophecies that herald the next cataclysmic event, etc. It's mostly little bits and pieces that just don't satisfy me enough and leave me not that interested to learn more about it. I'm hoping that the bits and pieces are building up towards something grand in the final book
But that's really a minor complaint, because the characters and the events surrounding them in every book are excellent and really carry the story. All in all, I wasn't expecting this book to end up being my favorite in the series, even more so for that to happen because it used a twist that I don't like reading about in dragon literature. The author did a fantastic job writing this book that felt so dramatically different and new in comparison to the previous two. I know the twist is gonna be controversial for some and will put off some people from reading further, but damn did I end up loving it in this book.
When it happened at the start of the book, I was at first slightly discouraged from reading further, because, obviously, the transformation took away one of the main reasons I was reading this series - the main protagonist who's a dragon. But as I read more, I couldn't help but feel immensely intrigued by the way Melissa wrote Lamprhoryre as a human. The amount of learning she had to do about humans, the way they lead their lives, their customs, how their day to day life and activities work in a human body - all of that was very fascinating to read. All of it felt very believable and realistic, unlike a lot of other books in which a transformed human or dragon felt exactly the same, no matter which form they were in. There was a huge amount of learning that Lamprhoryre had to do to adjust to literally everything in her new form, and the attention to detail in regards to all of that was really damn good.
Another thing that I wasn't expecting was the romance between Rokshan and Lamprhoryre, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by it. The romantic aspect felt quite natural, with all the confusion and awkwardness you'd expect from such an unusual situation involving a human falling in love with a dragon who transformed into a human. It honestly felt like a good progression of their characters, because what happens between them in this book was developed very well in the previous two, and I was expecting some form of romance to happen sooner or later, just not in the way that it did in this book. Also, the parts involving mentions of sex, desire and lust were unusual, but also very amusing to read, and quite understandable, when you consider that sex education for dragons happened only when they became pair-bonded.
One minor critique that I have is that, yet again, the overarching plot of the series that continues with this book felt a little lacking, and not really well developed. Like before, there's a lot of mystery, but barely any good explanation or development of the plot regarding the entity, the prophecies that herald the next cataclysmic event, etc. It's mostly little bits and pieces that just don't satisfy me enough and leave me not that interested to learn more about it. I'm hoping that the bits and pieces are building up towards something grand in the final book
But that's really a minor complaint, because the characters and the events surrounding them in every book are excellent and really carry the story. All in all, I wasn't expecting this book to end up being my favorite in the series, even more so for that to happen because it used a twist that I don't like reading about in dragon literature. The author did a fantastic job writing this book that felt so dramatically different and new in comparison to the previous two. I know the twist is gonna be controversial for some and will put off some people from reading further, but damn did I end up loving it in this book.
November 6, 2021
Ember in Shadow, by Melissa McShane, is the third book in her Dragons of Mother Stone series. We left Lamprophyre in the mother of all cliffhangers after book two. Often such devices do not live up to their drama in the sequels, but not so here. The dragon ambassador to humans undergoes a stunning and very unwelcome transformation at the beginning of this book. I am not going to reveal this surprise to the reader, and I hope subsequent reviewers will not, either. The reader deserves to experience the full force of Lamprophyre's experience as they read! That means I am a bit hobbled in how I review the book, so all I can really say about the plot from here is that it like the very best of McShane's writing: non-stop action that keeps the reader's heart in their mouth! This was especially welcome to me because I felt that book two was something of a let-down in comparison to her usual work. It got lost in the weeds of theological musings too often.
Not so with Ember in Shadow. It is action epitomized, but much more than that. We find our emotions rung again and again as she and her human friend Rokshan struggle to free her from an evil entity which wants to destroy the fragile new human-dragon bond and set the two against one another to the destruction of both. So much more is in the balance than just the two main characters' fate. Literally their whole world is in peril.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it and hope that any readers who may have felt a waning enthusiasm for the series after book two, will not deprive themselves of this excellent fantasy/romance adventure. I can't wait for the next in the series!
Not so with Ember in Shadow. It is action epitomized, but much more than that. We find our emotions rung again and again as she and her human friend Rokshan struggle to free her from an evil entity which wants to destroy the fragile new human-dragon bond and set the two against one another to the destruction of both. So much more is in the balance than just the two main characters' fate. Literally their whole world is in peril.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it and hope that any readers who may have felt a waning enthusiasm for the series after book two, will not deprive themselves of this excellent fantasy/romance adventure. I can't wait for the next in the series!
October 23, 2021
A very interesting continuation of this series, (and here is the spoiler, as this event happens at the very beginning of the story, and so I don’t feel I can review this book without mentioning it) with the dragon Lamprophyre being turned into a human by her enemy, and having to deal with the world in a human body. This was very well done, and I quite liked that (another spoiler, sorry!) she never actually has sex with Rokshan, despite realizing that they love each other. Too many books, in my opinion, go in for the gratuitous sex scene when it doesn’t actually progress or enhance the story, so I was happy to see this story remain true to the characters. We get to know both the characters, dragon and human, better, and gain a better understanding of both magic and history in this world. This book nicely wrapped up its individual storyline while leaving just enough mystery to make me look forward to the next installment. All around a very enjoyable read. Although I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book, my opinions and decision to leave a review were my own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2022
The story picks up pace and becomes quite enthralling with this third book. The world and characters set up in the first two volumes are brought into a turmoil of events with unexpected twists and turns and still this dark, unknown powerful entity looming over, its identity and purposes still unclear but actions carrying doom.
As much as the teaser states that this entity does something to Lamprophyre, I didn't see it coming, what this thing was. And once it is done, there is no telling of what can happen from it. Well, many different things do happen from it.
As much as the teaser states that this entity does something to Lamprophyre, I didn't see it coming, what this thing was. And once it is done, there is no telling of what can happen from it. Well, many different things do happen from it.
November 20, 2025
This one was a bit more difficult to read than the previous two due to some of the themes making me a bit uncomfortable, but I still think it's a great book, and the ending is very sweet.
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