A land under occupation. A legendary sword. A young man’s journey to find his destiny.

Aren has lived by the rules all his life. He’s never questioned it; that’s just the way things are. But then his father is executed for treason, and he and his best friend Cade are thrown into a prison mine, doomed to work until they drop. Unless they can somehow break free.

But what lies beyond the prison walls is more terrifying still. Rescued by a man who hates him yet is oath-bound to protect him, pursued by inhuman forces, Aren slowly accepts that everything he knew about his world was a lie. The rules are not there to protect him, or his people, but to enslave them. A revolution is brewing, and Aren is being drawn into it, whether he likes it or not.

The key to the revolution is the Ember Blade. The sword of kings, the Excalibur of his people. Only with the Ember Blade in hand can their people be inspired to rise up . . . but it’s locked in an impenetrable vault in the most heavily guarded fortress in the land. All they have to do now is steal it. . .

The Krodan Empire has occupied Ossia for decades. The native people have been forced to accept the outsider’s rule, or suffer swift and often violent retribution. There are few, however, who refuse to believe that their country is lost. They seek a symbol that will act as a rallying call to all of Ossia. Can a legendary sword, the Ember Blade, be used to free a nation from its captors?

Aren and Cade live in the small coastal town of Shoal Point. They have never known anything other than Krodan regime. Aren is the son of a merchant, well-educated and, for an Ossian, quite well off. Cade is a carpenter’s son. Though opposites, the two have been firm friends from a young age. Aren is the thinker while Cade is more demonstrative. Aren makes plans and is prone to introspection, while Cade is impulsive and outgoing. They complement one another perfectly.

When Aren suffers a family tragedy, the two young friends are forced to leave their old lives behind. They are drawn into a desperate plan that will decide not only the fate of nations, but of humanity as a whole.

Aren and Cade meet a whole host of characters on their journey. The Ember Blade is a true ensemble piece. When it came to the characterisation, I was reminded of vintage David Eddings. There is a gruff warrior who is about as secretive as you can get, a straight-laced honour-bound knight, a mystical (and often enigmatic) druid, a talented bard and a highly skilled ranger. All pretty standard fantasy fare, but Wooding executes each character flawlessly. I was able to picture each of them easily thanks to the evocative writing. My personal favourite was a self-absorbed, heavily tattooed thief called Grub. Crude and totally lacking anything close to subtly, it is quite clear that in his own mind Grub is the hero of the adventure. Makes sense, he comes from a culture where mighty deeds denote standing. The more ink he has, the more heroic feats he has accomplished. Grub’s character could easily have been two dimensional, but Wooding makes him far more intriguing than that. Grub is a little bit sleazy and wonderfully ill-mannered. He also talks about himself constantly in the third person, a clear sign of an over inflated ego. Needless to say, I warmed to him immediately. The author has real skill when it comes to making his characters memorable.

The Ember Blade is epic fantasy with capital E. The story explores the politics of occupation at ground level. Aren and Cade are thrust into a plot that is bubbling over with revolution and insurrection. Ossia has been under the yoke of its tyrannical neighbour for too long. The country is a powder keg that just needs one single act of defiance to awake a sleeping giant*. It makes The Ember Blade quite the immersive experience. I got so caught up in the relentless action, the writing even managed me to make me exclaim out loud “Oh no!” after reading one of the more dramatic scenes. I should stress that very rarely happens. I think the author deserves additional credit for this achievement. If you like your fantasy on a grand scale, then I can guarantee The Ember Blade is the novel for you.

One thing, there is no getting around the fact that The Ember Blade is an enormous book. Goodreads tells me it clocks in at approximately eight hundred pages long. There are one hundred and eight chapters for goodness sake! I’m fortunate, I was lucky enough to read an electronic copy. Those not wishing to suffer a potential wrist injury may wish to pursue this option if possible. I’m sorry that the rest of you are going to end up with forearms like Popeye.

My soundtrack recommendation to accompany The Ember Blade is Morrowind by Jeremy Soule. Its suitably stirring fantasy fare that compliments a suitably stirring fantasy novel. Simple really.

The Ember Blade is published on 20th September by Gollancz. I’m looking forward to book two in The Darkwater Legacy already. Book one was an absolute blinder. Highly recommended.

*Not a literal giant, a metaphorical one. Just wanted to clarify, it is a fantasy novel after all. Who knows, perhaps there will be actual giants in book two?

A young hero emerging into adulthood, a band of plucky adventurers uniting against an oppressive Empire, a talismanic weapon, an enormous page count....Chris Wooding's latest is a throwback to the classic fantasy I devoured in the 80s, your Belgariads and your Riftwars. But that's not to say it's deaf to the changes in the genre since then. There's an element of grimdark fierceness and a willingness to embrace shades of grey rather than a straightahead good/evil divide, but at its core this is good old fashioned epic fantasy. It's not difficult to spot the influences and antecedents (one lengthy scene is almost a rewrite of Moria), but Wooding makes it work with energy and brio, and his story is engaging and engrossing. It's a big book that doesn't feel like a big book, and it makes for great comfort reading. It's not challenging or groundbreaking, but it is a lot of fun.

(I am docking it a star for being too eager to use the woman as nagging shrew trope, mind you. We can do better than that these days)

This was a good book, but something just didn't quite work for me personally. Although the characters are well written, I wasn't invested in them and found the main character to be quite frustrating at times. The world building was good and the plot was well thought out. It was perhaps a little bit longer than it could have been though. Overall it was good but maybe not for me at this time. It's very much a case of it's not you, it's me. I would recommend checking this book out if you are a big fantasy reader, especially coming of age fantasy stories.

I’ll cut to the quick: Chris Wooding’s “The Ember Blade” is one of the best starts to an epic fantasy series that I’ve ever read. This book is a massive 800-page tome, yet it stays economical in its scope. It is a story filled with thoughtful insights, rousing battles, tense chase scenes, richly drawn characters, and tender moments of friendship and loss. It is a coming of age story, a desperate act of revolution, a struggling morality play, and a meditation on family and loyalty. And above all, it is a story of hope and determination, and the sacrifices made to change the course of a nation.

After the first half of the book focuses on outward conflict, the story shifts focus towards the interpersonal relationships amongst the group. This is really when the book begins to shine: the friendships feel natural and lifelike, but Wooding really excels at depicting broken relationships within the group. There is pure hatred and strife between several of the characters, yet all sides of these relationships feel justified. Each character's journey is given ample time to breathe and grow, and it was incredibly satisfying to see how far our group has come over the course of the story. There are no less than 11 protagonists in our group of heroes, plus some additional side characters that help give depth to other side of the conflict, and no one is neglected from their time in the spotlight. One of the more satisfying decisions I encountered was how Wooding sometimes chose to tell a chapter's story through the eyes of a secondary character, instead of the person who's is the central figure at the moment. We're able to still view the major events of the chapter, but we also learn how the actions affect others in the group, and what emotions and reactions their decisions have influenced.

In most of my book reviews, I like to share some semblance of the plot: describing the main characters, or the overall conflict that's driving the story forward. I will not do that here. I think it will be most rewarding if you go into this book completely blind and let the author piece together this world in your mind. Wooding has woven a tale that perfectly balances a wide cast of engaging, lifelike characters, set inside a richly-developed world that you experience through the characters' eyes.

This is an all-ages fantasy tale with more than a few instances of adult themes. There are traumatic moments that are gleaned from scenes of emotional turmoil as much as character deaths. I audibly gasped several times during the Misson Impossible-style finale that covered the final 200 pages of the story. And when I turned the final page, wiping a curious amount of wetness around my eyes, I felt a deep sense satisfaction and gratification of a story brilliantly told. This is only the first volume of a planned trilogy, but it also functions as an incredible standalone work of fantasy. In short, "The Ember Blade" is everything I could possibly want in an epic fantasy novel, and so much more. Buy this book as soon as it is available.

9.5 / 10

A story of a legendary sword and a country forced to accept the doctrines of another country that has tried to obliterate their society’s religion and culture. A recipe for bloodshed and revolution. Aren is from a privileged backround and Cade iwho is from a more impoverish life are fast friends. The two friends find themselves incarcerated and forced to work in a mine after the execution of Aren’s father.. Aren begins to see what Cade has known all of his life that the occupiers believe if you are not one of them, noble family or not you are worthless.
Aren doesn’t know what to believe anymore. The two friends escape from the prison compound and are forced to bring with them the abominable Grub whom they would rather have left behind. The escape seems to be rather like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. We are gradually introduced to other characters some good and some decidedly evil. Lies deceit and revenge loom on the horizon leaving Aren unsure who to trust or what to believe is true.
Followed by dark forces Aren is convinced that the only course is for him and his companions to at least attempt to retrieve the legendary Ember Blade which is the symbol of his country and would unite his people in an effort to oust the invaders. A diverse collection of characters which interact well and excellent worldbuilding. Having read previous novels by Chris Wooding which I enjoyed immensely I feel this is written in a slightly different style. It is not written from one point of view but from several. What seems as the usual plot line of a country under occupation , a legendary sword and a fight for freedom is given life and pace. Looking forward to more of the same.

ARC copy provided by Netgalley. All opinions are my own
The Ember Blade is a very ambitious novel and that is both a good and a bad thing. It is trying to be an epic fantasy novel in the vein of Tolkien and it does have a retro feel when viewed alongside more contemporary fantasy novels, which feels strange and refreshing at the same time. The plot is very simple: it’s an adventure story at its heart. It’s about a young man coming of age, realising the world is not all that it seems and joining a gang of rebellious men and women who want to change the world. It’s simple yet effective.

The two main strengths of The Ember Blade are its characters and its world building. Aren is a good protagonist and Wooding takes his time to introduce him and allows the reader to get to know him before the plot kicks off. He also does this with Cade, Aren’s best friend. This makes both characters incredibly sympathetic as their worlds are torn apart and Aren realises that his entire upbringing has been a lie. Of all the characters, Aren is my favourite. He undergoes so much in the first hundred pages that I found myself bonding with him quite quickly. Aren was born to an Ossian but raised a Krodan after his father “sold out” so to speak and accepted Krodan rule. The journey Aren goes though is the heart of the story and he was the most likeable character. As for the others, most of them were also enjoyable and, if not completely likeable, interesting. Vika, a druidess, was a very intriguing character, mysterious and fascinating. The members of Garric’s gang were also well written and I especially liked the insight into Keel’s family life. The only character I wasn’t overly fond of was Garric. His pig headed insistence that Aren was somehow responsible for what happened with Garric and Aren’s father was really annoying to me for quite a lot of the book. The other characters kept saying how honourable he was but his treatment of Aren was anything but. Also, Garric is the epitome of honour before reason which is what gets them into a lot of trouble in the first place. He does improve later in the books once you find out his backstory but I still didn’t like his attitude early on in the novel. On the whole, though, the characters were well written, well realised and felt realistic.

The world building is the other aspect of The Ember Blade that I really enjoyed. Wooding has created a very rich world with a deep back story and a huge vein of discontent. I will be the first to admit that I love a story where a revolution is brewing and this is what drew me to this story. I like reading about how the Krodan invaders subjugated the Ossians and how they have treated them over the last thirty years. There has obviously been a lot of thought put into he creation of this world. I loved that aspect of the story.

The thing that surprised me most about The Ember Blade was the length. I was not expecting it to be so long and, in some ways, that works to its detriment. I can see what Wooding was trying to do, he wanted to write something epic in the vein of Tolkien but there were too many parts of this book that felt fillerish. Scenes go on far too long and they don’t feel like that they add anything to the overall story. At over 700 pages, it is simply too long. It would have been better to have been a shorter story and concentrated more on the quest rather than padding out the page count with overly long filler scenes. It starts very well and from page 500 onwards, I was absolutely hooked and didn’t want to put it down once the pace picked up; it is just the middle section that could have used trimming down. If The Ember Blade had been a couple of hundred pages shorter then it would have been an excellent read rather than just a good one.

On the whole, I enjoyed most of The Ember Blade. The characters were well realised and the story was an interesting concept. The execution of the novel, however, was not perfect. It was too long and the pacing was sometimes a little off. I did enjoy the plot, though, and it ends in a way that makes me want to keep reading what happens next.

Having read The Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding I couldn't wait to read The Ember Blade. It's an epic fantasy that has an old school vibe to it. It's fast paced, action packed with lots of twists and turns - I forgot to breathe on more than one occasion.
I loved the characters and look forward to catching up with them in the next adventure.

Wooding strikes a magnificently fine balance between classic epic fantasy and grimdark fantasy and is a magnificent start to a new trilogy.

To be honest, I feel like the love for classic fantasy has started to dwindle these days and has been replaced with a thirst for grimdark or fantasy with darker tones; most likely due to the fame garnered by the Game of Thrones TV show. This isn’t actually a bad thing, and I have to say that I kind of feel the same. The reason behind this is that classic fantasy is starting to feel too familiar with the majority of books following the same kind of good versus evil structure that’s getting more and more predictable. Reading classic fantasy now is in my opinion like coming home to something incredibly well known; it’s always comfy and you’re highly familiar with it. Readers want new adventures, something unpredictable and fresh, not the same kind of adventures they’ve already experienced time and time again. This is where The Ember Blade will come in and change your mind. Rooted heavily in classic epic fantasy but imbued with the element of the morally grey character found in grimdark Wooding has created a hybrid in this book and the result was amazing. Imagine coming home and there are pleasant surprises to be found; you open your fridge, crack open an egg and you get two yolks instead of one. That’s how it felt reading this book.

The Ember Blade storyline started as highly inspired by typical classic fantasy tropes, with two teenage boys—Aren and Cade—encountering an event that would soon change their lives forever. However, I can guarantee you that 10% in, you’ll soon realize that the story starts to differ from the norm and keeps on getting better. It was gripping, well-paced, and unpredictable. The first half was full of dangers for the main characters and honestly speaking, I’m usually not a fan of this kind of storytelling structure; I prefer characterizations first and dangers later. I don’t mind how slow-paced the book is, because I need to care about the characters first and foremost. This is another great example of why Wooding’s storytelling was surprisingly wonderful to read for me. Despite all the dangers in which he placed the characters in the first half, he made sure to not neglect any characterizations here and there that made me truly care about the characters’ predicament. Where the first half focused majorly on Aren and Cade, the second half of the book slowed down the pacing by introducing a more detailed and well-executed multi-perspectives narration; this made EVERY single character compelling to read. I have to admit that some parts in the first half, where the characters were in Skavengard, went a bit too long for me due to the lack of familiarity and characterizations with the new set of characters that were introduced there, but the second half of the book made up for this minor issue masterfully.

I haven’t read any of Wooding’s work before this, but if his characterizations are as good as those in this book, then I’ll have to make sure to get his preceding series; characterizations always make or break any book, and those I found here definitely made the book shine for me. The characters’ fluctuating emotions and motivations could truly be felt; they were realistic, nuanced, and complex. What made it even better was that the grimdark element ensured that none of the characters were truly what they seemed at first. These characters, and I mean ALL characters with perspectives, were incredibly complex. As good or bad as they may seem, they have their own problems and agendas to deal with. The morally grey characters resulted in a very gripping narrative because it was difficult to predict what the characters would do. The execution of the situation where we as the readers know their backgrounds, thoughts, and secrets while the other characters didn’t was, in a word: greatness.

“To speak from the heart required more bravery than any physical risk. To heal a wound was so much harder than to cause one.”

Although the characters at times were morally grey, this doesn’t mean that it was hard to love them; it was actually very easy to love these characters. The way I perceived it, Wooding placed the heaviest value in this book on friendship and honor. Aren and Cade’s brotherhood for one became one of the strongest driving factors of the book for me. Wooding really knows how to create a situation that will keep the reader coming back to the questions: “will they come back from this?” or “will he/she do it?” and I couldn’t be happier with it.

“A friendship of half a lifetime shouldn’t be broken by a few harsh words.”

Let me say once again that this isn’t a grimdark book. It’s a classic epic fantasy told in a modern narrative to which was added some of the aspects of the morally grey character from the grimdark genre; the tone of the book itself was never bleak. The characters do live in a grim and oppressive world but the themes of hope, kindness, and grand adventure contained in your beloved classic fantasy were always there to balance things out.

“In her lessons, as in life, they’d often find themselves dealt a hand that was less than fair. She’d teach them to overcome a disadvantage any way they could.”

From the excellent characterizations to the relentless chase, from breathtaking set pieces to the intricate world-building, everything was written with finesse. It seriously doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan of classic, epic, or grimdark fantasy (even better if all three), there’s a place for you here. The Ember Blade is a book every fantasy fan will feel right at home with, and yet will find new adventures in it. It's a book that fantasy readers will love to revisit and inhabit longer and longer with every visit. The Ember Blade has been forged to stand the test of time and I sincerely hope you'll wield the blade yourself.

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

I really wanted to love this one as the premise sounded awesome, but for some reason I just couldn’t get on with it at all. The characters and the story just didn’t hook me, and I’m gutted because I had such high hopes for it!

This was the massive tome of epic fantasy that I didn’t know was missing from life. To be honest the blurb was a little unprepossessing but I was in the mood for a big world and boy did Wooding deliver. To make my cup of happiness spilleth over, The Ember Blade is not a straight forward ‘Ordinary Boy gets handed a sword and a destiny, goes on quest to find himself with ragtag bag of loveable misfits’ narrative either. Aren, our young protagonist, starts his character journey when the Empire that stands for everything he believes in betrays him. Directionless and full of rage, Aren is offered a way out of the prison camp he finds himself in, a way to strike back and get revenge. A way to retrieve the Ember Blade. At its heart, the book is a tale of moral ambiguity and how choices are not so neatly packaged into good and bad choices, merely choices which must be made and then lived with. Wooding has managed to get back to the roots of epic fantasy and yet delivered it in a refreshingly skewed fashion – you can clearly see influences of the grandfather of fantasy, Tolkien himself, here, as well as a number of other fantasy influences, but this very definitely its own thing. At just shy of 800 pages this is not a short, light read but a fully immersive fantasy extravaganza. It’s a first book in a series too so expect a certain amount of frustration upon completion because there will be a wait for the second book even if the author has already written it – nature of the beast with big 5 publishing and huge fantasy epics unfortunately. However this is a self-contained story and one not to be missed. Highly recommend.