Review & Giveaway - - Blood and Ember

Blood and Ember

by Isabel Cooper

Stormbringer - Book 3

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Release Date: July 27, 2021

Reviewed by Nancy

A century ago, the Traitor God's fury left the world broken by violent storms and twisted monsters born of darkness and death. Now those storms are sweeping across the continent again and it will take everything the armies of man can muster to survive. As a sworn knight, Olvir is prepared to do his part—even if that means journeying deep into the magic-tainted Battlefield to face the enemy alone.

Sentinel Vivian Bathari has lost too much to allow her closest friend to make such a sacrifice on his own. Besides, there are whispers that Olvir's strange new powers are somehow connected to the Traitor God, and she'd rather be by his side should the worst occur. But as they travel deep into the heart of danger, their growing attraction burns into mutual desire, and the true depth of Olvir's connection to the evil haunting their world is made clear. In the end, Vivian will have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice to save their world...and the man she loves.

Nancy Says: 

A century ago, the Traitor God's fury left the world broken by violent storms and twisted monsters born of darkness and death. Now those storms are sweeping across the continent again and it will take everything the armies of man can muster to survive. As a sworn knight, Olvir is prepared to do his part—even if that means journeying deep into the magic-tainted Battlefield to face the enemy alone.

Sentinel Vivian Bathari has lost too much to allow her closest friend to make such a sacrifice on his own. Besides, there are whispers that Olvir's strange new powers are somehow connected to the Traitor God, and she'd rather be by his side should the worst occur. But as they travel deep into the heart of danger, their growing attraction burns into mutual desire, and the true depth of Olvir's connection to the evil haunting their world is made clear. In the end, Vivian will have to decide what she's willing to sacrifice to save their world...and the man she loves.

Isabel Cooper’s Blood and Ember offers a detailed, distinct fantasy world. The world’s mythology and the backstory for this book are intricate, interesting, and obviously well thought through, with logical distinctions among magic users. Some are Knights. Others are Sentinels, and some are Mourners. Each set has ties to a different god and possesses different magical gifts.

The characters are brave, determined to succeed against terrible odds, and loyal to each other. They’re easy to root for. The hero, a Knight named Olvir, carries within him a shard of the betrayer’s soul, which has been manifesting in disturbing dreams for a couple of months. No one knows what this means. Is he gaining new powers that will help them against the betrayer’s heir? Or will he become another foe his comrades must destroy?

A magical spider’s message sends him to the heart of The Battlefield, where one god betrayed and killed another long ago. No one knows why he’s supposed to go or what he’s supposed to do there, but with the land crumbling under the weight of the betrayer’s heir’s forces, Olvir and his comrades desperately need something that will help.

With him goes Vivian, a Sentinel, ostensibly to help him along the way. But she has another mission, a secret one. If reaching the Battlefield’s heart allows the soul shard within him to gain ascendancy and turn him evil, she must kill him before he can use any power he gains against their people. The story builds to a suspenseful, action-packed climax that works well.

Unfortunately, the romance didn’t work as well for me. Vivian and Olvir are longtime comrades and friends. They trust each other and soon realize they love each other. We don’t really know why they love each other, though. Why does Vivian love Olvir and not one of the other Knights? Why does he love her and not one of the other Sentinels? We don’t really know.

Blood and Ember is marketed as “a fantasy romance with a touch of heat.” The romance, however, does not drive the plot. The quest to reach the Battlefield does. The romantic moments are done well, even beautifully in the intimate scenes, but the main story could proceed unaltered if Olvir and Vivian remain friends with no interest in being more to each other. The main romantic conflict is the pair’s fear that Vivian may have to kill Olvir at the end of their quest. He quickly figures this out and, as a soldier, understands it. So it isn’t a source of conflict as much as it is a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

While the love scenes are detailed and moving, they don’t seem particularly hot to me. Of course, heat may be in the eye of the beholder, so other readers may see this differently. While there’s plenty of emotional tension, mainly spurred by dread of what’s to come, moments of sexual tension are rare.

Marketing descriptions should promise what the book will deliver, and Blood and Ember does not deliver a romance. It’s a superb fantasy with romantic elements. If the book were marketed as such, I would give it five stars. Since it’s marketed as a romance, however, I can’t rate it higher than three stars, so I’m compromising between the elements of the story and giving it four stars.

Readers who want a central romance set against a fantasy adventure backdrop won’t find what they’re looking for here. Those who enjoy fantasy action-adventure with a romance woven into it, however, will enjoy this book immensely. While Blood and Ember is the third book in the series, everything in it is sufficiently clear to make a good entry point.

Do you enjoy fantasy/adventure stories?

Have you read Isabel Cooper?

Are there books or authors in this genre you would recommend?

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