Beginning a new series always evokes a special joy, and as nice as it is when all of the books have been published and can be read back-to-back, there is a certain thrill that comes with following each book as it first releases. This feeling is augmented when the author is new, either to the writing world itself or to the individual reader. Such proved to be the case with “Out of the Embers” by Amanda Cabot, whose work I have hitherto not had the opportunity to read. What immediately appealed to me, even before knowing any details about the synopsis, was the cover. The young woman (Evelyn) stands with her head to the left, facing a light breeze and gazing into the distance with both hope and a degree of wariness. Below a title banner made of a wooden plank, a dirt road stretches on through fields of bluebonnets. As I read, the significance and aptness became clear.

A captivating mixture of genres, “Out of the Embers” offers a tenderhearted, tragic, mysterious journey through the lives of Evelyn Radcliffe (later Radner when she changes her name) and Polly, the little girl she has vowed to keep safe. I did not read the plot summary prior to picking up this book, and this enhanced the reading experience for me because I did not expect the pivotal event at the beginning of the novel. Throughout the story, Cabot interjects a few chapters that interrupt the flow of the narrative; their significance does not become fully apparent until the final chapters, but they add to the aura of mystery. As for the romance, it is tender and gradual and does not overwhelm the other aspects of the story, which I appreciated, and the secondary characters are likewise well-developed. Dorothy and Isolde, in particular, blossomed in this book, and I am interested in seeing what the future has in store for Sam and especially for Caleb, the latter of whom seems to have faded into the background by the last third of the novel. I love Cabot’s resolution of Evelyn’s story, and I find it particularly fitting for Easter, although its significance never goes out of season.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell and was under no obligation to post a positive review. All opinions are my own.

This was initially irritating and disappointing because it felt like nothing more than a blend of Iain Banks and Alastair Reynolds pastiche. As it went on, it became at least a compelling story, but the characters suffered from being more defined by exposition than actions. Nod, the actually somewhat alien seeming alien was the best and yet most under-utilised character.

It's taken me a while to get in to this book but over the last couple of days I've made a real effort to stick with it and it has paid off (I'm going through another phase of picking up books and putting them down again about half-way through). I can't say it has that wow factor that Neal Stephenson's Seveneves or Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time had for me but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. My favourite character so far has to be the sentient spaceship 'Trouble Dog'. She is a war ship at heart and although she is flying around the galaxy on peaceful missions she is only really happy when she can embrace her true nature and having both canine and human DNA that nature is fierce and loyal. It's good to see a strong female representation in the main roles, both good and bad, although I'm not really a fan of being pc for pcs sake. Generally I think you can tell when an author is trying too hard and in those cases I would much rather the author stuck to genders they can write about convincingly. Happily, in this case, I feel the author has made the characters convincing. So far there hasn't been a wealth of new ideas but I'm liking it enough have ordered the second book in the series. I hope the ending doesn't let me down.

 
Broken Destiny, Book 3

I Picked Up This Book Because: Finish the series

The Characters:

Ivy:
Adrian:
Jasmine, Costa, Demon daddy bad buy (I can’t remember his name right now)

The Story:

This was a good ending for the series. There were tons of final challenges to overcome. Some I didn’t think Ivy and Adrian would overcome. There was family drama too but how could their not be when your dad is a demon? (view spoiler)


The Random Thoughts:

Brutus proved to be my favorite character in this installment.

The Score Card:

I love the way Trouble Dog, the intelligent ship, now fifteen years old and already with a long history of combat, analyses humans as if they were another puzzle offered by the universe and then delivers her conclusions with a dry humour that takes some of the sting out of her accuracy.

At one point, after a frustrating exchange with a crew member, Captain Konstanz asks Trouble Dog's avatar why people are so difficult to manage. Trouble Dog raises an eyebrow and says:

"That's a question I've been pondering since my inception."

 

"And your conclusion?"

 

"I think you're all broken in some fundamental way but you're not all broken in the same place and it's the ways you find to work around those breaks that make you who you are."

 

Now there's an idea to chew on.