Ember and Ash

Ember and Ash

Pamela Freeman, 2011

Recent Release, copy for review provided by Netgalley.

Premise: Ember thinks she has her life planned out. She is going to marry another warlord's son, uniting his land with her father's. Unfortunately, the godlike Powers that allied with her mother's people in the old days have other ideas, and soon Ember and her cousin Ash are plunged into a dangerous journey to save their people from the will of the capricious Powers.

I feel slightly odd about this review. It was a competently written book, and each part was well done. I'm just not sure that it managed to become more than a list of interesting scenes.

I wanted to read this book because I had read the first few sample chapters and really liked them. It seemed as if the theme of the story would be these brave people fighting for the right to not be playthings of these elemental Powers. I liked that a lot. There was some of that, but it felt lost in the somewhat silly plot complications.

I also felt that all the changes Ember went through over the book caused her to grow into a character I didn't like nearly as much as I liked her at the start of the book.

I thought the climax didn't follow from how the characters had been previously acting and found it unsatisfying. In the end, I have to call this a decent book that rubbed me the wrong way and never fully came together.

2 Stars - An Okay Book