Of Elves and Embers

   by Elle Madison & Robin D. Mahle

Brush up your Greek Mythology…and jump into the tale of Ember a princess who gave her life for her people, and prince who lives with shadows and bitter regrets.

Ember had grown up as a human, in the world of hard knocks, but had finally found her art and love in the tattoo shop she owned. Her uniquely beautiful art decorated her own skin, even more so when she was brought to the realm of the elves. Held in the strange world of winter cold, surrounded by fantastical beasties, seemingly unwanted, except for the use of her isos, told she could never return to the human world , could she deal with the realization that she was one of them. They were wrong, they had to be. Her human mother had traumatized  Ember as a young child by loving shared the video of her birth. They’d highjacked the wrong girl!

Now facing, Hadeon, the Shadow King, who had been responsible for bringing her to Aelvaria his presence raised feelings of “hatred, panic and desperation.” Ember couldn’t understand her reactions, since she had no memory of him or this land. It appeared the Hadeon wasn’t any happier to see her either, but they needed her. She was told that she was the reincarnation of Princess Phaedra who had given her life, along with seven other princesses, to return the lost magic to the land, destroyed in the great war, and to save her people.

Though her isos, magic, she was told she had wasn’t in any hurry to reappear, within a short time Ember found that her ears morphed to a point, in her anger at one point her flame colored hair erupted into flames. She may not want to believe in reincarnation, but even her dreams started to prove her wrong. In bits and pieces, she dreamed of a life she had no memory of in her waking hours. She would train with the Hadeon and his cousins, Celani and her brother Kallius, since she had known them in her other life. The hopes were that her isos would come to life, when she could learn to control it. Dark creatures called wraiths, fed on the souls of the people. So far Hadeon and his soldiers were able to hold them at bay, but they were coming ever closer and they need Ember to gain her magic in order to join the fight to destroy them.

Besides the dangers that face Ember, her dreams begin to bring the realization that as the Princess Phaedra, she and Hadeon had been very close. What had changed his feelings to the hatred, he appeared to have for her now?  While at times she saw a longing in his eyes when he looked at her, it that disappeared quickly. Fantastical, creatures from Greek Mythology roam the pages with their own personalities on show. I laughed, stewed over Hadeon’s stubborn refusal to admit that he cared for Ember, enjoyed the banner, intrigued by the situations and trials they all faced not only with the wraiths but their search for the means to restore The Never Court whose land was now uninhabitable. I found my self wrapped up in the lives both past and present of the characters, my heartbreaking for what had transpired in the past. I loved the creatures, some I hadn’t seen outside of mythology.

This is fourth book in "Forgotten Kingdom" series and the authors have blended their story beautifully with the others before it. As the story spins out, characters feelings and memories slowly evolve, dangers step up, friendships once again bloom and though Hadeon and Ember’s trials and battles come to completion in this book I enjoyed to cameos of Ivy, Aria and Kage that tie them into the previous tales. The story is never dull, while I kept waiting for Hadeon to take his head out of his butt, Ember struggled valiantly to control her isos, make sense of her memories, deal with her feelings for Hadeon in the face of his determination to not allow his feelings for Ember to surface. And here is the slight discord I found with the tale. I understood his reluctance, in part, but felt he over played his anger and hurt feelings.

I loved the story and both authors brought a new perspective to the series while making it a seamless transition on to the next storyline. Although, each book is penned by a different author, each giving the story at the core their own twist, they flow beautifully into each other.  I highly recommend all the books that have come so far, and look forward the upcoming story….so I can start at the beginning and read them all again.