The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy, #1)

The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy, #1)

Chris Wooding

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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. . . Designed to return to classic fantasy adventures and values, from a modern perspective, this is a fast-moving coming-of-age trilogy featuring a strong cast of diverse characters, brilliant set-pieces and a powerful character and plot driven story.


From the Forum

No posts yet

Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update

Recent Reviews

Your rating:

  • jasmaurelia
    Jan 17, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    I had high hopes for this book, but found it incredibly boring, bland, and nothing new. I had to switch to an audiobook to get myself through this story. Would've given it 3 stars if it was more like 300-400 pages long. It dragged on so much and only got a little better towards the last 30%. I didn't care for any of the characters and found them pretty annoying. None of the women in this book felt interesting and the one of the few women mcs was of course a love interest. And not a good romance plot at that! I appreciate the author not being scared to kill off 'loved' characters, but that death felt so unnecessary and that it was just confirming the love triangle thing.
    I was confused on a lot of the ways the men in this book were interacting with women and their wives. Some awful thoughts were laid out and it wasn't always clear to me that the author was confirming this is not how you should think about women or just projecting.... IDK.
    I can see how people like this book, it's very traditional/classic plot line with great fantasy tropes. But didn't offer anything new so hence boredom

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • reliures
    Mar 10, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    4.5 While the plot is kind of classic and old school, I actually devoured this thanks to the interesting world building, nice twists, complex characters and great writing.

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • CaptainMoon
    Mar 11, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...