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A review by thefussyreader
The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding
5.0
The Fussy Reader
TLDR
Characters - 5/5
Plot - 4/5
Setting - 5/5
Writing - 4.5/5
Final Impression - 5/5
Superb. More than worthy of a five star rating. Some of the finest character development I've ever read, with deep, detailed world-building steeped in history and lore. Don't let the size of this book put you off, it's a fast read and very well-paced.
(the only reason this took me so long to read was because I put it on hold for a few months after only just starting it, but I breezed through the rest of it in just a few weeks.)
-
Full Review
Characters
This is a huge cast of characters and unexpectedly, I loved them all. There were about ten POV characters, and though I love multi-POV stories, there are inevitably a few POVs that I don't like. However, in The Ember Blade, I really enjoyed them all. Everyone was so easy to connect to, even Klyssen, the bad guy. Once I read that chapter of him with his family, I started to develop an understanding towards the guy.
I loved Aren and Cade, they had a very Frodo&Sam/Locke&Jean kind of friendship. Utterly, unwaveringly loyal. I love seeing this kind of devoted platonic love in books. We don't see it nearly enough. They'll definitely be on my list of top friendships.
Garric, Keel, Fen, Vika, Orica, Harod, and Mara. Each one of them felt like a real and individual person. They all stood out impeccably well, each with their own backstory, goals, fears, conflicts. They all had a story and a reason for being there.
And honourable mention for Grub. I'm proud of Grub. I initially hated him, then I liked him, then I loved him. The man experiences some excellent character growth. He gets the award for most self-improvement.
From the travelling group as a whole, I got such Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time vibes. Vika felt one part Gandalf, one part Moiraine, while Aren and Cade are definitely Frodo and Sam, and Osman was Legolas. I don't say this as a gripe, I actually love when characters remind me of other characters. There's a safe familiarity to it, and it helps me connect quicker to them.
I thought the Dreadknights, Ruin, Plague and Sorrow were a really cool idea, and they definitely gave me Four Horsemen vibes. As I read about them, I remember initially thinking of them as War, Death and Famine. Love how mysterious and ominous their presence always felt.
Plot
This book feels like the perfect blend of classic fantasy and modern fantasy. There are many aspects that give me such fond vibes of Lord of the Rings, but then the awesomely cool heist direction the story takes in the second half of the book reminded me of Lies of Locke Lamora. When I bought this book, I just thought it was a big old epic quest fantasy and had no idea it was also a heist book. I love heists. Adore them. So when I learned this, my interest in the book doubled.
The Skavengard arc reminded me a lot of the Fellowship running through the Mines of Moria. Both an empty, dead civilisation they were chased into by monsters, only to discover there's another monster lurking within. I feel the Skavengard arc went on a little too long. Though at no point boring, there's only so many chapters of the group running through empty hallways and rooms I could read before I started to get itchy feet, hoping the story would move onto the next exciting adventure.
Setting
This is a big world and it really shows. Chris Wooding has mastered world-building. The differing cultures are so well realised they could be real. Not just the Krodan and Ossian cultures, but Vika's own culture as a druidess. It was fascinating and fantastic to read. Everything was depicted so well that I was able to imagine every place and everything happening.
Writing Style
Major shout out to the author for being one of the few authors out there who writes an animal companion and doesn't kill it off as a plot device. This is a pet peeve of mine and I read it all too often. I loved Ruck as a character. She was such a good dog and I hope nothing happens to her in the sequel.
Chris Wooding also writes excellent women. Some male authors struggle to write women as real people, but Wooding suffers no such struggle. Complex, ambitious, motivated, the women in this book are as well developed as the men and it's always so refreshing.
The pacing in The Ember Blade is perfect. Even in the scenes that probably aren't all that important to the rest of the book, I never felt bored. Nothing ever felt pointless. Normally I take some issue with books of this size, cause I feel a very concise story can be told in 400-500 pages. This book is over 800. Going in, I had concerns that at least half of the book would be filler and I'd be bored to tears with a lot of it, but I was delightedly surprised to discover that despite the mammoth page count, none of the book felt like filler. Even the slower, quieter chapters still added something, whether that was character growth, world-building, or plot development, there was always something happening that felt relevant to the story as a whole.
The writing was very easy to read with great flow. Wasn't overly prosaic, and I do like a nice piece of prose now and again, but the writing, in general, was really grounding. It has a way of really making you feel like your there with the characters.
Final Impression
Loved it. One of the best books I've read all year. This will certainly be making my top 5 books of 2021, and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.
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TLDR
Characters - 5/5
Plot - 4/5
Setting - 5/5
Writing - 4.5/5
Final Impression - 5/5
Superb. More than worthy of a five star rating. Some of the finest character development I've ever read, with deep, detailed world-building steeped in history and lore. Don't let the size of this book put you off, it's a fast read and very well-paced.
(the only reason this took me so long to read was because I put it on hold for a few months after only just starting it, but I breezed through the rest of it in just a few weeks.)
-
Full Review
Characters
This is a huge cast of characters and unexpectedly, I loved them all. There were about ten POV characters, and though I love multi-POV stories, there are inevitably a few POVs that I don't like. However, in The Ember Blade, I really enjoyed them all. Everyone was so easy to connect to, even Klyssen, the bad guy. Once I read that chapter of him with his family, I started to develop an understanding towards the guy.
I loved Aren and Cade, they had a very Frodo&Sam/Locke&Jean kind of friendship. Utterly, unwaveringly loyal. I love seeing this kind of devoted platonic love in books. We don't see it nearly enough. They'll definitely be on my list of top friendships.
Garric, Keel, Fen, Vika, Orica, Harod, and Mara. Each one of them felt like a real and individual person. They all stood out impeccably well, each with their own backstory, goals, fears, conflicts. They all had a story and a reason for being there.
And honourable mention for Grub. I'm proud of Grub. I initially hated him, then I liked him, then I loved him. The man experiences some excellent character growth. He gets the award for most self-improvement.
From the travelling group as a whole, I got such Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time vibes. Vika felt one part Gandalf, one part Moiraine, while Aren and Cade are definitely Frodo and Sam, and Osman was Legolas. I don't say this as a gripe, I actually love when characters remind me of other characters. There's a safe familiarity to it, and it helps me connect quicker to them.
I thought the Dreadknights, Ruin, Plague and Sorrow were a really cool idea, and they definitely gave me Four Horsemen vibes. As I read about them, I remember initially thinking of them as War, Death and Famine. Love how mysterious and ominous their presence always felt.
Plot
This book feels like the perfect blend of classic fantasy and modern fantasy. There are many aspects that give me such fond vibes of Lord of the Rings, but then the awesomely cool heist direction the story takes in the second half of the book reminded me of Lies of Locke Lamora. When I bought this book, I just thought it was a big old epic quest fantasy and had no idea it was also a heist book. I love heists. Adore them. So when I learned this, my interest in the book doubled.
The Skavengard arc reminded me a lot of the Fellowship running through the Mines of Moria. Both an empty, dead civilisation they were chased into by monsters, only to discover there's another monster lurking within. I feel the Skavengard arc went on a little too long. Though at no point boring, there's only so many chapters of the group running through empty hallways and rooms I could read before I started to get itchy feet, hoping the story would move onto the next exciting adventure.
Setting
This is a big world and it really shows. Chris Wooding has mastered world-building. The differing cultures are so well realised they could be real. Not just the Krodan and Ossian cultures, but Vika's own culture as a druidess. It was fascinating and fantastic to read. Everything was depicted so well that I was able to imagine every place and everything happening.
Writing Style
Major shout out to the author for being one of the few authors out there who writes an animal companion and doesn't kill it off as a plot device. This is a pet peeve of mine and I read it all too often. I loved Ruck as a character. She was such a good dog and I hope nothing happens to her in the sequel.
Chris Wooding also writes excellent women. Some male authors struggle to write women as real people, but Wooding suffers no such struggle. Complex, ambitious, motivated, the women in this book are as well developed as the men and it's always so refreshing.
The pacing in The Ember Blade is perfect. Even in the scenes that probably aren't all that important to the rest of the book, I never felt bored. Nothing ever felt pointless. Normally I take some issue with books of this size, cause I feel a very concise story can be told in 400-500 pages. This book is over 800. Going in, I had concerns that at least half of the book would be filler and I'd be bored to tears with a lot of it, but I was delightedly surprised to discover that despite the mammoth page count, none of the book felt like filler. Even the slower, quieter chapters still added something, whether that was character growth, world-building, or plot development, there was always something happening that felt relevant to the story as a whole.
The writing was very easy to read with great flow. Wasn't overly prosaic, and I do like a nice piece of prose now and again, but the writing, in general, was really grounding. It has a way of really making you feel like your there with the characters.
Final Impression
Loved it. One of the best books I've read all year. This will certainly be making my top 5 books of 2021, and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.