Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I read the first two books of Houck's Reawakened series years ago, and I remember really enjoying them, so when I saw I had an old standalone of hers I thought I'd give it a go, especially because the concept sounded refreshingly unique. The reading experience of this book lulled for me, unfortunately, as I found myself enjoying it more than I initially thought, only for my attention to waver and I started getting confused as more characters and plotlines were introduced. Although it may not have made for such an exciting story, I would've much preferred a somewhat quieter plot just following Ember, Jack and Dev and their love triangle, but instead that whole storyline got lost in the mix of the whole 'mysterious doctor, double-agent' thread. The ending left me unsatisfied, but as always the writing was solid.

I've tried to read this book a few times and just can't get through it - there's an instant love interest which is a pet peeve of mine and I hate.

It's also a little creepy that Jack, who is supposed to report any witches that come close to his portal, didn't report Ember when he encountered her as a child because he found her interesting and then is her main love interest in the story. I always hate when this comes up in books.

I found the book a bit weird from the start because of the relationship between the 2 characters and the crush the girl had on him with the age gap between them.
DNF at this book 20% because i'm not interested in it anymore

When I did pick it up again I decided to start it again as I had forgotten everything that had happened.
Original thoughts: (first 25%)

I've had a copy of this for months but by the time I had picked this up I had forgotten the synopsis and why I was interested in reading this.

It took me a good amount of chapters to get into this. But even then I struggled to stay interested. I just wasn't enthralled enough.

As you can tell not much changed from my first attempt at this book.

I don't like doing negative reviews but here we are.

I felt this had potential, but it just fell flat for me. I do think maybe an audiobook would have been better for me. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more. It seems the type of book I need audiobook version for. But sadly Audible UK don't have it.

The ending was probably my favourite part. But sadly it was a case of it being too late to change my overall opinion of the book.

I'm a little sad at how I feel about this. It could have been a great story.

I didn't really enjoy this. The premise was interesting, but substantially let down by the prose style, which felt far better suited to a MG book than YA, but in any case didn't feel as polished as it could have done. None of the emotional moments actually felt... emotional, and I didn't like the way nearly every chapter ended on some kind of dramatic statement that was then immediately recapped in the first line of the next chapter as though we might be putting the book down at the end of literally every chapter (which... I might have done if it wasn't an eARC).

Without the romance plotlines, it would have been a great MG novel, especially with the ending setting it up as a kind of Hallowe'en origin myth, although I found this kind of cheesy and unconvincing. With them... well, let's just say they weren't an improvement. Were we meant to take Dev seriously as a potential love interest? He CREEPED ME OUT, even when he was being 'gentlemanly'. There is no such thing as a functional friendship where one member of it is WAITING for the other to change their mind or be 'ready' for a romantic relationship (I learned this to my own detriment when I was about fifteen). And Jack wasn't much better; a classic example of a supernatural being who watches over a character from childhood but somehow this is meant to be romantic, not creepy. Honestly, the only one of them worth Ember's time was Finney, and of course she never even considered him as a contender.

So, yeah. This one didn't work for me.

I enjoyed the first part of this book, but was unable to read any further due to the ebook malfunctioning. I apologise for the unhelpful review!

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

I was browsing my local library one day when I came across The Lantern's Ember. I had heard a lot of hype surrounding it, and I was actually surprised that my library had a brand new release! I also had been sent a copy by the publisher, so at least I could read the physical and the e-book version. The cover was gorgeous and the premise sounded right up my alley, so I decided to take it home and dive right into it.

Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.

Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So, he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern—one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal—or not-so-mortal—soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare.

Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire—and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.

I know that I'm going to find this book so hard to review because I enjoyed the book whilst I was reading it, but when I stopped reading and was doing other things, I had no desire to pick the book back up and immerse myself again... So I liked it, but just didn't have the motivation or desire to fully engage with it so that's just really confusing.



“For a witch, you certainly don’t know much about how hauntings work.”

― Colleen Houck, The Lantern's Ember




I think that one of the things about this book that stopped me from enjoying it a lot more were the characters. I liked the book at the beginning when it was just Ember and Jack (and a couple of others), but then when Dev was introduced and everyone else, I just felt bored. One exception to this though is Delia. I absolutely loved her character and I would love to read more about her because her character really held her own.

When it came to the characters, most of them were fawning after Ember which was so annoying. The romance was definitely the weakest part of this novel because it was just... love triangles everywhere. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good love triangle that I can get fully invested in, but when most of the novel is spent focusing on that rather than the troubles that the characters have to face, I get annoyed. So there's a little love triangle between Ember, Jack, Dev, and Finney (love square??), and IT WAS SO CLICHÉ! Dev came across as the "tall, dark, bad boy who you should definitely stay away from", Finney was the "friend-zoned best friend" (poor sod), and Jack was the "protective hero". There was just every trope there and I felt so sorry for Finney. He was such an interesting character with his inventions! He was much more interesting than Dev and Jack, anyway.



“Finney asked everyone to carve pumpkins and light them to mark the path from the crossroad to the town. The tradition caught on, and soon crossroads all over the world opened on that one night and the mortal realm was haunted by ghosts, goblins, witches, werewolves, and vampires.”

― Colleen Houck, The Lantern's Ember




But it wasn't all negatives! The way that Houck described the different worlds of this book was incredible (hence the 3 stars). She described Ember's village with such description that I felt like I was there, standing under a tree with its orange and yellow leaves falling around me. It felt so autumny and you know what autumn means? HALLOWEEN! Houck created amazing atmospheres both in the 'real world' and the Otherworld - which is a steampunk world which is powered by witch light and it's where all the supernatural creatures live.

I also think that one of the amusing aspects of this novel for me was the references to other horror classics such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jack O' Lantern. I'm a massive gothic nerd, so having those little references to other gothic novels was fun for me!



“In my experience, places like the oceans or the heavens, an undiscovered forest, a great underground chasm, or the mystery of a woman’s heart and mind are not the end of a journey, but a beginning. Do not let fear of the unknown prevent you from discovery, otherwise the story of your life will be a dull tale indeed.”

― Colleen Houck, The Lantern's Ember




Overall, this book wasn't as good as I was expecting. It definitely had it's good elements such as the atmospheric writing and a handful of characters, but all-in-all, the rest of the characters and the romance ruined it for me. Plus, it didn't really help that it was such a character-driven book, so the plot just fell flat.

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

This didn't entirely make sense to me, it was not what I was expecting from the synopsis. I like a good romance, even a love triangle done well, but there were far too many love interests and i would have preferred more of the worldbuilding instead.

It’s just not holding much of my attention at the moment al5ough I do like the concept.
The writing is ok and I will probably read it through at some point but right now I have shelved this book. I just wasn’t engaged enough.

I loved this book and cannot wait to read the next instalment in this series.
I think it's more of a fairy tale then a classical fantasy book, a mix of different styles and genres.
I loved how the mix works and how the plot develops at a fast pace.
The cast of characters was enchanting, I loved them and look forward to reading another book with all or some of them.
This is a book that kept me hooked till the last page and I was sad when it ended.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this ARC

I’ll admit, I was hoping for a dark, spooky story (I mean, look at that cover. It has a SKULL on it). Instead I got a steampunk adventure. I haven’t read any Colleen Houck before and I’m not sure if reading THE LANTERN’S EMBER has made me want to read any more of her work.

This novel felt kind of patchy, like lots of stories cobbled together. It’s basically an entire kitchen sink of Halloween motifs – witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, “Lanterns” (one of which, Jack, is the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow fame), Frankenstein’s monster-esque beings, invisible men…considering this is a standalone novel, it felt a bit too big in scope, like the author wanted to detail absolutely everything even if it wasn’t relevant to the story. There were a ton of supernatural beings, AND an entirely new steampunk realm. I found it hard to keep track of the details of the world.

Ember, our protagonist, is our typical YA protagonist. She’s a natural-born witch living in some vague old-timey period (I guessed about 1700s but it’s not particularly clear), and everyone is in love with her. By everyone, I mean three of the male leads. I’m not sure what the point of this was – I understood having a romance thread, but having the other two male characters be in love with her too felt kind of pointless. It didn’t really contribute anything except rub in just how “special” and desirable she was. She doesn’t really do much to make her actually seem desirable – she’s powerful (but that’s a gift she was born with) and most of her plot revolves around her not having paid attention to Jack.

Jack, Ember’s very obviously romantic interest, is a Lantern – a guardian of the portals to the “Otherworld”. He’s supposed to report any witches he comes across on Earth to his superior, but when he comes across the child Ember, he’s struck by her and decides to watch over her instead as she grows up. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find this trope of guys coming across their future love interests as children a bit skeezy. He’s been around for hundreds of years at this point, and he doesn’t age, but it’s still a bit weird to me. If it hadn’t so obviously evolved into a romantic thread, I wouldn’t be so bothered by it – it would have been nice to see it as a sibling-type love instead, maybe. But of course Ember is so special he ends up falling head over heels for her when she’s 17.

Other characters include Finney (Ember’s childhood friend, who seems to have three distinguishing features – red hair, a fondness for tinkering, and unrequited love for Ember). There’s Dev, a vampire who agrees to take Ember to the Otherworld when Jack refuses, and he ends up falling in love with her too. To be fair, there are only two other major women in this story, and one of them is his sister, Delia (by far one of the best characters as she’s a pirate with a broken heart as well as a vampire), so it’s not like he has much choice.

Another issue I had with this story was the dialogue. Characters frequently discuss things that happened in the past in such an unrealistic fashion that I had to double check I wasn’t reading narration instead of speech. It’s stilted and clunky, and there are a few humorous lines where the effect is dampened because the dialogue around them is so awkward. It’s desperately in need of a harder edit – I found myself rewriting sentences in my head as I was reading.

The romance aspect between Ember and Jack is quite nice (if you ignore the weirdness of him having basically invaded her privacy since she was a child – it’s mentioned he’s been in her room several times while invisible, which is…yikes), but I found Dev’s weird obsession with Ember irritating, especially when it’s said that vampires don’t even feel as deeply romantic as humans do, and he’s only known her for about five minutes but he’s suddenly besotted with her for no apparent reason. Finney’s romantic interest in Ember is also a baffling narrative choice – at least he doesn’t force himself on her like Dev does (he accepts he will never have her and says he’ll always be her friend), but I don’t see what the point of that aspect of his character was. He’s the one Jack takes along with him to the Otherworld to help save Ember when she crosses over, and his motivation for coming is that he secretly loves her…but why isn’t friendship enough? They’re supposed to be childhood best friends. His romantic feelings don’t come into play at any other point in the plot, so this was a confusing inclusion to me. Love dodecahedrons are annoying enough when it’s supposed to be a fantasy story, but they should at least have a narrative function. Jack gets mildly jealous of Finney because he’s human and can be there for Ember properly, but couldn’t he just have been jealous anyway? Does Finney NEED to have romantic feelings? If I was an immortal ghost boy in love with a girl, I would still be envious of any of her mortal friends who could be around her properly, whether they were in love with her or not.

Anyway.

I liked aspects of this book (Delia being my favourite character due to her being a BOSS PIRATE VAMPIRE with a heartbreaking past), but it ultimately didn’t click with me, and I’m disappointed – I was admittedly suckered by the cover and the promise of witches and references to Sleepy Hollow (of which there were barely any, besides a throwaway line about Jack once being the Headless Horseman to scare off a warlock named Ichabod). I wasn’t even looking for a scary story, I just wanted something that felt more like dark fantasy YA than middle grade steampunk with too much unnecessary romance.

Side note: Bloody hell, I just looked at some GoodReads reviews for THE TIGER’S CURSE (Houck’s first book) out of interest and had I known the problems with that one, I would have cast THE LANTERN’S EMBER a wide berth. There aren’t any racist stereotypes (that I can identify, anyway) in this book, but that might be because literally everyone is implied to be white. And straight. Yeah, despite there being practically every popular supernatural creature you can think of in this book, there’s no diversity. Not a good look, especially in 2018.

Oh my gosh!

This book was a delight to read, thank you so much NetGalley and Hodder and, most of all, thank you to Colleen Houck for writing this gem of a book.
From the first page I was completely hooked! I immediately fell in love with Jack, he ismy newest addition to my growing collection of book boyfriends. Now, before I get in to the full review of this book, the basic synopsis is this.......

Jack, a Jack 'o' Lantern, guards the crossroads between the mortal world and the Otherworld. A place where all the 'terrible' beasties that your mother scared you with as a child dwell. Witches are a valuable resource in the Otherworld and a Lantern's job is to send any Otherworld creature found in the mortal realm back to the other side. Ember is a witch in the mortal realm. And Jack has kept an eye on her since she was a child, without reporting her back to his boss, or sending her to the Lord of the Otherworld. Witches sent to the Otherworld are never heard from again. Ember and Jack form a friendship and a bond grows out of that friendship. When Embers finds her own way into the Otherworld Jack follows her, and entertainment ensues :)

So now you have the jist of it, I'm probably not doing a great job of explaining it at all but I dont want to give away too much as the characters are really what make this book, as well as the amazing steampunk-esque descriptions of the Otherworld, but really for me it is the characters that really got me emotionally invested in seeing this book through.

So starting at the beginning, The first few chapters in this book, which have amazing sub-titles btw and I really hope they stay for the final proof, you can tell that a definite tension is building between Jack and Ember. The introduction of Jack is almost idyllic in a way, he sits at his crossroads guarding his barrier and contemplating his pumpkin. Like all good Jack 'o' Lanterns, he of course has a pumpkin, which happens to be his soul. The first chapter definitely grabs you by the imagination and the heartstrings because you immediately feel an empathy for this lonely foot soldier guarding the mortal realm from things that go bump in the night. Ironic that he is one of those things.
20% of the way in the book and we have already met a troll, Jack's Boss, Rune - another Lantern, Ember - the witchy heroine of the book and Dev, a debonair Vampire. The vividness of the world building and the characters is so entertaining and imaginative that I felt that I was there and dreaming it, almost an outer body experience! I know that probably sounds lame but it's been a while since I've felt this excited about finishing a book. I could not put this down.

This book really deserves alliteration - entertaining, enthralling and enchanting! That is precisely how I would describe this book. There are all kinds of supernatural creatures interspersed with clockwork automatons, skyships and skypirates, flashy sky captains, creatures straight out of Dr. Frankenstein's lab, my heart literally raced through certain passages of this book, just like Jack's lantern, it floated through my chest and experienced ever word.
Love, betrayal, adventure, a love rekindled, a mystery to unravel, a crazy scientist on a hidden island, ghost storms, burgeoning power, a whole lot of sass. I want to visit the Otherworld to meet these larger than life characters.

The Lantern's Ember really kept me gripped and there was a theme I picked up on that made me pause and think for a minute. Dr. Farragut is a crazy scientist on the run from the Lord of the Otherworld and lives on a hidden island with his strange inventions and creations. And with him comes the question of ethics and morality, He talks of his need to create, to invent and when questioned on whether he should he replied that just because others might use the result in nefarious ways does not mean that he should not. He is there to question if it could.. The ethics and morality of creation and invention is something that many will continue to question, Should we play God, so to speak. I liked this serious side to Dr. Farragut who showed quite brutal honesty at times and other times kept his cards close to his chest.

SPOILER ALERT - There's a Boogeyman in this book.

This book has everything I could ever want, there's a blossoming romance, a witch just coming into her powers (come on we all want to be Hermione), a beautiful cast of gorgeous supernatural guys, a whole host of interesting characters - Jack's Lantern being the most adorable one, oh and an amorous Loch Ness Monster! And there's a rather lovely way in which this author describes the way loved ones bond through auras around hearts! I adore it.

I cannot recommend this book enough, my only criticism would be that the ending felt rushed. The entire book was leading up to a big reveal and a fight but it really never reached that peak, and the scene where Jack does his thing for the world? Well I think that should have been more heartbreaking and emotional. I wanted to all out sob at that part but it just fell short, I needed more emotion and drama. Other than that this book ends with a HEA and I still adore it.

I urge everyone to go out and get this book when it releases! You need to experience the awesomeness this book exudes!


I'm not sure if I can do this but I'm going to leave a quote because it was this passage that almost broke my heart, it really got me in the feels.

"Jack took comfort in the idea that even after the fabric became moth-eaten and threadbare, the buttons would survive the passage of time. It would be the only sign of his having lived, of what had become of the erstwhile mortal boy called Jack, consigned to a life of roaming the countryside with his pumpkin". - The Lantern's Ember, Colleen Houck.

Jack has made a really bad deal with a Demon. It's been 500 years since then, and he has been a Lantern ever since. Obligated to guard crossroads that lead to the Otherworld, he takes his job very seriously. That is, until seventeen-year-old Ember tries to cross his path.

Lively and intelligent, Ember is a witch with unique and strong powers. An uncanny attraction draws her to cross the path to the Otherworld. But it's a dangerous place for a witch, and Jack is too attached to her to let her go. When a charming vampire appears to accompany her to the Otherworld, Jack will do everything in his powers to get to her before it's too late.

Will he be able to save her from the grave danger she's in?

The Lantern's Ember is a smart, Halloween-style fantasy story with a very interesting concept. Filled with intelligent dialogue and generous doses of humor, it is a pleasant read with a very promising start. Although its plot is unique, it felt like some depth was missing. This is a concept that could have been more in-depth. The writing style felt a little lacking, and a lot of things that could have been dramatized were simply narrated instead; in simpler terms, there were a lot of chances for the author to turn this book to an epic fantasy saga, but they, sadly, didn't take advantage of them.

However, the point remains that it was a very entertaining story, with lovable characters and many chances to laugh. All in all it was a very good effort, and a book I would certainly suggest to fans of the genre.

3 stars

*Thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This was a surprisingly enjoyable journey, and in that way, it exceeded my expectations based on what I took away from the description. It was fun to see all the different mythical characters, such as Jack the Lantern, and it's no surprise that I especially liked the antagonist of the story, Dev the vampire. I can't think of anything negative to say apart from that I think it was overload to give the MC three love interests. Come on!

It's tagged as a YA story, but while reading the book it came across more middle grade with some YA elements, and I feel like this is another one of those books that I would have enjoyed even more if I was younger.

Within the first few chapters, I knew this would be a fun whimsical read, and I was there for it!

Let’s clear something up first: It’s not a scary or spooky novel! I feel a lot of people are disappointed because they are expecting a spooky story and this is not it. It’s a fun journey filled with whimsicalness and exploration. It had a middle grade feel about it, but certain events made it more a YA novel.

It’s not a perfect book, but I enjoyed it.

The Story

The story follows Jack and Ember’s journey into the Otherworld as Ember follows that tug in her belly. Ember is a witch living in the US just after the time of the witchhunts but before the technological advances of the modern age. Jack is the Lantern guarding the crossroad near her village. For her entire life, Jack and his pumpkin have been guarding her too.

The story contains a lot of explanations for why we have certain traditions for Halloween like the fire in a carved pumpkin, flying witches, and skeleton men. It all makes sense in the end.

World Building

It’s a typical portal style story. As mention in the synopsis, Ember crosses over into the Otherworld and goes on an adventure in an unknown place with a vampire who knows the place well. We learn about the Otherworld and about the different creatures along with Ember which was great.

Magic System

It starts off with being the whimsical 50s tv show style magic. You know the type. Wiggling one’s noses and pointing fingers, but also carving words onto wood. Then it moves more onto magic through thoughts and by spells and witchlight. My favourite was when they made potions into small vials and used them in a specialised gun! It was great and so inventive!

The Characters

Jack Lantern is the guardian protecting Ember’s village from creatures of the Otherworld. He has been a lantern for over 500 years and is a very interesting character. I like the fact that he isn’t entirely living nor dead. And the fact that he is not entirely solid either.

Ember O’Dare is the village witch and very naive but strong and independent too. She always wants to see the good in all creatures. She is also very clever and inventive. I liked her as a character but she wasn’t my favourite.

My favourite character was Delia the pirate captain! I loved her badassery. This strong and fierce vampire pirate is all I need in my life.

There are a lot of other characters too. It’s a whole cast.

LGBT+?

None

Romance

When the story first starts it’s obvious who the love interest is for all parties. Then I started to get worried it might get a bit trophy, but fear not! It didn’t. There were a lot of guys, in the end, all fighting over her. But it was all done in a very gentlemanlike way; fully respecting each other and dealing with their jealousy in different ways. I loved it and it was very fascinating. I’ve never read anything like it. Let me know in the comments if you have.

I definitely needed this type of romance where all parties respect each other after all the negative romances I’ve read recently.

Writing

I’ve always enjoyed Colleens writing and this book is the same. It’s easy to read and to understand the characters. It did feel a bit middle grade in comparison with her other YA work, but it didn’t affect my feeling for the book.

The book could have been shorter as I felt there were some slow patches, but overall a very entertaining book.

Summary

Very entertaining read for a fun and whimsical Halloween book

Recommended if you like middle grade and would like something light and entertaining but still Halloween-themed.

In a lot of ways this book is very on the nose, I mean – he’s a lantern and there’s a character called Ember, it’s right there in the title. And that was where I was a little unsure, going in, as to what the tone of this book would be. I think possibly this had something to do with the fact that you could take out a few elements of this story and you’d have quite a lovely middle-grade book. I mean, you have the feisty, adventurous witch and the Lantern who becomes besotted with her and follows her into the Otherworld where she encounters various characters and then – to say more would be a spoiler. Now I think middle-grade fiction has some of the best witchy characters out there at the moment, so I’m not bothered by those characters spilling up into YA. But, as I say, it did make it hard to discern the tone of the book. It’s not quite as heavy as some YA fantasy but it deals with more difficult ideas (and the romance is far more intense) than one might find in a book aimed at younger readers. I ended up settling somewhere in between. I think this is a book that is aware of how obviously Halloween-themed it is and sort of embraces that identity. Halloween as a holiday has, in a way, become that place where all ages can participate to whatever level they are comfortable, and this book similarly crosses those divides.

Enough pontificating! On to the story…

I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book. I think it has a lot of great ideas and details to the worldbuilding, a host of enjoyable characters and a romance that didn’t make me cross – not a mean feat. I could probably talk about each of the characters individually for a long time, but I think you’d probably click away before I was done, so instead, I’ll focus on our main characters, Jack and Ember.

Yes, he is a Lantern (in this context, a guardian of the crossroads between the Otherworld and our world) and yes, his name is Jack. That’s kind of the level we’re going for here. Jack was a lovely character to read. Given how powerful a Lantern can be, Jack is a very gentle character, you get to know him throughout the book and you very much feel like you understand his motivations.

Ember is by far my favourite of the two. At times she does fall into the trap of ‘well, of course, this went wrong for you character, you made a ridiculous decision’, but for the most part you can blame that on an overactive sense of adventure. What I particularly liked about Ember’s character was that she made her own choices, throughout the story you never really feel like she’s being pulled along by ‘fate’ or similar, even though there are a lot of other forces at work in the story. She has some truly wonderful moments and I’d gladly read another book about her.

The plot itself is not hugely new, essentially, it’s the ‘we need to get to the place’ plot with spades of mistrust and betrayal heaped on for good measure. But the world in which the story takes place is so interesting and has so many of my favourite things (I will never tire of sky ships) that I didn’t mind.

The romance is also rather sweet, there were a few moments where I thought it was turning into some kind of love triangle or a love polygon in some form, but for the most part, it was just a very sweet romance that built as the story went on. It has elements of the forbidden romance if that’s your jam, but it also has a little bit of the ‘protector and protected’ which I know some people also enjoy.

Is it a little bit silly? Probably. Did I still enjoy it? Why yes I did. I think anyone who hits October and instantly wants to start festooning their house with pumpkins will enjoy this book. If that’s you – then I think you’ll love it.

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Lantern’s Ember is available now!

The Lantern's Ember has a stunningly beautiful cover: creepy and atmospheric. However, I think this might be one case where cover has a actually worked against my initial reaction to the book itself. When I picked up The Lantern's Ember I was expecting something along the lines of Salem or Sleepy Hollow--something creepy and paranormal. Though the book does start that way, it quickly becomes far more of a portal fantasy adventure with airship pirates, darklords and mad scientists.

I actually enjoyed the story though, even if I kind of felt like there was an awful lot going on. The world Houck has created is very vivid. I really liked the settings and I thought they were easy to imagine and it was all very well described. I was particularly enamoured with the city Ember and Dev arrive at: a seedy underworld with illicit drug sales and contraband smuggling. I have liked to see more of it.

I really like the unique take Houck took on traditionally paranormal/ Halloweeny character types such as werewolves, witches, ghosts and bogeymen. Have you ever seen a vampire airship captain before? I could easily see spin-off books in this universe being really interesting if the author ever chose to write them.

There’s a big focus on the romance of the story. There’s a love square but it's really obvious from the beginning who's going to end up who, so it feels a the little pointless but it was quite interesting watching the characters interact.

I thought the ending was a little rushed, having a kind of ‘wrap up’, but overall it was a good, interesting read... Just not what the cover led me to expect.

This was so much fun! More horror by virtue of subject matter than atmosphere and tension, this was an immensely enjoyable read. It hit all the right beats, delivering tried and try YA tropes back in a fresh engaging way. I liked the characters – ok so I didn’t really get invested in the love story but I rarely do. This was a fast, undemanding read. Exactly what I was in the mood for.