Ember and Ash – Review

I received Ember and Ash as a publisher's ARC through netgalley. I chose Pamela Freeman's Ember and Ash because of the world-building elements suggested in the overview. I was not cheated here at all and was introduced to a rich work with eleven domains, each with its own environmental attributes as well as spiritual beliefs. But each Domain is under the influence of the Powers--main elements of nature--even when the people don't recognize this.

The story develops when the Power, Fire, suddenly denies fire to several Domains, beginning with the Last Dominion, where Ember and her family reside. To have the all-important element returned, Ember must travel to Fire Mountain to placate Fire. Her entourage includes Ash and Cedar, brothers who become vital to a successful quest. Ember refers to them as her cousins, but she isn't truly blood related.

Especially dominant are the characters of Ember and her parents, Martine and Arvid. Ember starts as a privileged girl who gains maturity as the story progresses. This transformation influences her decision-making in a well paced logical way. Her mother Martine is from an old line of seers; her strengths and that of her lineage come through well. Arvid, Ember's father, is conflicted by his position as Warlord of Last Domain and his love for his wife, who it appears has been deceitful with him. The emotional interactions between the two, and the events that caused them, are some of the most powerful in the book.

Many of the early chapters that detail the travels of Ember's group are also used to elucidate the beliefs and magic associated with the various regions of this World: The Great Forest, Starkling, and Ice King's Country are all vividly presented. (Although a map is provided, the ARC version didn't mark all the places mentioned in the book, such as The Great Forest and The Deep--the site of the book's first chapter).

The lifestyles of the various places are well defined, but the attempt to explain the interrelated histories of each gets a bit muddled. Several chapters are told from the view points of women who travel throughout Last Domain to prepare people for the hard times ahead without fire. While these were interesting, I felt distracted from the events involving the main protagonists. By the end of the book, I felt Freeman included too much information—some of which prompted my puzzlement about the story's ending.

I also found the official overview to be quite misleading. Ember doesn't strike out for retribution, but is following the orders of Fire—orders necessary to restore fire to her people. Fire's reasons become convoluted from Chapter 2 to the end, where a new elemental power is introduced; that's one of the puzzlements I had at with the ending.

But overall, Ember and Ash is a story of quest and transformation with lyrical writing and strong characters. It provides an interesting trip into an intriguing and well-thought-out world.