Embers

Originally I had no intention of reading Embers. I'm a little burned out from Urban Fantasies, at least starting new series, and had resolved to take a break. Best laid plans and such found me buying Embers and then reading it in relatively quick order.

The tone of the novel was much darker than I expected, exploring several deeper emotions such as lust, guilt and personal responsibility in slightly uncomfortable ways (for me at least). Anya is a conflicted young woman with deeply rooted guilt issues and a problem with forming personal connections, not particularly uncommon in today's UF heroines, but Bickle takes it a step forward with Anya's growing fear that one unwary step will burn her life down. Uncertain about the exact nature of show more her power as a Lantern (spirits are attracted to her like a moth to flame and she has the power to devour them, burning them to nothingness), Anya fights her nature. Meeting the firebug with an oddly do-gooder mentality, confirms her worst fears, but also opens her up to exploring who and what she could be.

The cast surrounding Anya, both supernatural and otherwise, all have distinct personalities. Sparky, her 'hellbender' elemental protectors; Brian, tech geek who cares for her; Katie, organic baker by day, witch by night; Ciro, demonologist and one tough old man; Jules, group leader and fond of slapping Mike upside the head; Mike, the newbie on the crew with a whole lot of enthusiasm and then Captain Marsh, her boss at the Fire department. The firebug, who becomes more important for a variety of reasons as the story goes on, was oddly appealing. He was doing bad things, but I couldn't tell if he was a sociopath, warped from his experiences or genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for the city.

I had a growing fear, as the way to stop Sirrush from rising became more and more clear, about what would happen in the end. And it came true. And despite everything that had happened I got misty-eyed and sad. It seemed appropriate, but still.

Book 2, Sparks, is due out at the end of August though there isn't a whole lot out about what it will be about and the end of Embers gives nothing away to give us clues. I am however looking forward to it and have great anticipation for Laura Bickle's alter-ego, Alayna Williams's debut UF Dark Oracle due out in June! show less

I felt this was a bit different from the usual urban fantasy fare and I really enjoyed it. The protagonist was practical and fairly normal. She has a day job that she loves and it's one that it's hard for women to break into (though that's not mentioned) but she's moved up in the ranks. The descriptions of what it was like to be a firefighter were very good.

The plot was interesting. Though it was clear where it was going from about a third of the way in, the book was still entertaining. The action was mostly good and the beautiful thing was that she kept saving the guys or they got in the way when they tried to help. Once a man jumped in to save her from the baddie when she had the situation under control and as a result said bad guy show more got away. The last battle was terrific. I just prefer more almost dying on the heroine's part and another character being terrified for her. It probably means I'm sick in the head or something. She was never in enough p

The characterization was so good, that I figured out one guy was Hispanic and several other were African American simply by how she portrayed them. She didn't once tell us the color of anyone's skin. I really liked that because it really bothers me that most writers only mention what color someone's skin is if the person isn't white. And to write a character so well that not mentioning it still puts a clear picture in my head of what the person looks like, including race, is quite a skill.

The character herself wears normal everyday clothing. When she has to dress up she hates it and finally stalks out. At that late hour the only place she can find open is a fetish shop and even then she chose really practical clothes including heels you could dance in. She may not be able to describe a torque (how can a torque that looks like a salamander draped around her neck then have the tail in the salamander's mouth? That would make a loop which is not a torque.

The salamander character however is wonderful and different from the usual familiar/companion of UF protagonists. It's funny and the descriptions are excellent and very believable as an animal as well as her helper.

There were a few awkward things, like in the beginning she assumes the arsonist didn't take anything or look around because the elevator was on the top floor. Then at some point she says he takes his time. He could have looked around and taken small expensive things that he didn't need an elevator for.

Another time is when she has a doctor wearing nurses scrubs. I have never ever seen a doctor in a hospital wear a scrub top with fairies on it and without the white coat no less and I worked in a hospital for a while. Albeit, I worked in IT but still. The hierarchy in medicine is incredibly indelible. Doctors are referred to by last name, nurses by first for starters. And FYI, Circe was not a demon she was a sorceress and somewhat justified in her actions because of how she was treated as a powerful woman (this was just said in passing so it's not a spoiler).

This is a very minor point in the book but it prickled me: A character says basically that urban renewal can't happen in poor areas, the people need plain rectangles in which to live and that the person saying otherwise is out of touch with the poor. This is clearly ridiculous as some of the poorest communities can get together and reclaim a portion of their rundown areas and create amazing parks mostly by getting volunteers and sometimes with donations. Building a new home that isn't a rectangular box isn't really any more expensive or habitat for humanity would build them. When a community has character and art and design that reflects their world view, that area has more pride in itself and it's easier to keep the area from worsening and can often help the people by boosting self esteem etc. I'm not sure if she was trying to say something else but it bothered me that she was trying to represent the poor and was in turn compartmentalizing them.

One of the best parts is that at one point, a firefighter goes into a burning building just to rescue a woman's dogs who all survive.

So despite the small points mentioned above, I wanted to give the book five stars. But...

I like it when characters are not black and white. I like when the evil doer has some pieces of humanity and the good guys make bad mistakes. The world isn't black and white no matter how much we want it to be. But the only character who has no redeeming value is one who is supposed to be a "good" character and that annoys me, especially given that the bad guy isn't completely bad. Having a complexity of good and bad doesn't mean that we as people shouldn't judge people on the majority of their actions or the ones that are particularly heinous. For example, you can have the nicest sweetest man who creates a charity and volunteers at the at-risk-youth center and has supporters and fans all over the US for the good he does as a coach. But if he then also molests and rapes boys, he is not a good guy, not at all. He is not a sympathetic character and shouldn't be.

So bringing us back to the book,
the bad guy has mostly good things he's done in the past and he's got talents to admire. He just now does really horrific things but out of revenge against people who destroyed his life. Oh yeah, that's okay, because he didn't play a part in his own destruction and it doesn't matter that he wasn't specifically targeted. (Read sarcasm here). The author implies that his evil doings now can almost be justified. Okay, I can understand that up to a (very low and small) point. But when the woman who is investigating him sees him as sympathetic I get worried. When she is attracted to him and then kisses and later has sex with him I want to vomit. Seriously, I read those passages with such a look of horror on my face that my kids asked what was wrong and if I was okay.

But the worst of it is, the character is already in love with the primary love interest, who has been hurt by this bad guy, and she has admitted to herself that she wants to be together with him more than anything. So how can she do this to him?? How can she look the good guy in the eye without shame? This character I loved and admired just became someone I don't like at all. The whole point of wanting to belong to something makes sense. But she can be attracted to that about him without sleeping with him. She also never even feels shame or disgust or remorse. She only says she shouldn't have done it in relation to the investigation. Ugh and ARGH!

But despite this thing that makes me really mad, it's a good book and the rest of the time I really like the character. She's a good person and people love her. The author is a good writer (there were a couple of awkward sentences in the beginning but not again). Because she's that good and I loved everything else so much, I'm only taking one star off for the spoiler above. I'm definitely reading the next book soon but there are only two so far. That seems to be my luck lately: books I don't like have the number of titles in the series in the double digits and the books I love have only two or three. I am so impatient. I want them now! show less

I read a lot of urban fantasy. I love the genre, but I find myself getting pickier as time goes on. There are a lot of good series and some of them are very long, requiring a major investment of time and money. That's a big reason why Embers sat in my to-read pile for over a year. "Do I really want to start yet another urban fantasy series, even if it just consists of two books?"

The short answer: yes.

Embers is a fun, modern fantasy adventure frolic that reminds me of everything I love in the genre. Anya is an arson investigator for Detroit, and is smart and efficient at her job. Her night job is being a Lantern for a paranormal investigative group; she can see spirits of all sorts, but even more, she can absorb the evil ones so they no show more longer possess or molest the ignorant human population. The conflict of the book emerges when her two livelihoods intersect.

There were also two side characters who managed to steal the show. Foremost is Anya's fire elemental. Part lizard, part dog, and all awesome. Then there's the villain, who comes across as one-note at first and then evolves into an amazingly complex and sympathetic character.

This was absolutely the perfect book to read in a single day while flying across the country, and I will gladly read the next book. show less

Embers has an enormously inventive universe, based in decaying urban Detroit, a well-plotted storyline, and an engaging heroine. I really wanted to love this first work from Laura Bickle. Ultimately, though, it’s a disappointment.
Anya, a twenty-something arson investigator and full-time medium, bears pervasive guilt that as a child, she caused the fire that killed her mother. Like the guilt, she wears her mother’s legacy – the copper collar that is home to her familiar, a fire spirit named, (pun warning) Sparky. Invisible to most, Sparky is equal parts pet, dangerous annoyance, and unwanted chaperone.
As the story opens, Anya is trying to extricate herself from a psychic investigation team. But as a “Lantern”, a psychic that show more devours ghosts, she may be irreplaceable. She’s been called in to subdue a malignant haunting - a demon - but the aftermath leaves her injured and puts a colleague that might be a love interest in the hospital.
Work isn’t any less complicated. The serial arsonist she’s investigating moves from mere property damage to murder as the city prepares for the chaos of Devil’s Night, and she’s assigned to a team with a pompous, hostile police detective. She tracks down her suspect, another Lantern, through magic and diligent investigation. But magic isn’t a reality to her co-workers. Despite what the Lantern reveals to her about his plans to revive an ancient fire deity, the police let him go. Anya is forced off the team, and turns to her friends to investigate and stop the suspect’s plot.
Anya is a fully realized character, and Bickle does an excellent job on the emotional conflict Anya feels when faced with the villain, a man whom would be, in almost all ways, her perfect lover. She does less well with her secondary characters, especially the purported love interest.
But the worst problem was the clunky, illogical sentences that dropped me right out of the story.
I’m not any kind of snob about writing. My tolerance for typos grew from a misspent youth devouring poorly edited paperbacks. Story –the characters - are far more important than arcane rules of grammar. After all, Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton, both of whom can bludgeon a riveting story with questionable prose, are New York Times bestsellers.
Ms. Bickle hasn’t made it there yet. I knew I was in trouble on the first page, when the description of a haunted house left me confused. “Cables from the beat-up panel van parked curbside snaked under the front door, but no light shined inside.” P1 Where didn’t the light shine? In the house, the van, the cables or the front door?
Could be that I’m too picky. I read on, brushing aside similar issues as the plot absorbed me.
But then, describing a church service for a murdered fireman’s funeral at which Anya is seated far away from the altar: “The archbishop, a small man in a blindingly white robe and stole, seemed to blend in with the limestone interior, cut as sharply as the stone.” P146 Eh? Blinding and blended don’t go together. I get the intent, but it took a moment.
Each of the many sentences and paragraphs that failed to make sense distanced me more and more from the story.
But this, for me, shredded any credibility: “He picked her up, setting her on the edge of the table. She wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling his tongue thrusting in her mouth and his desire pressing against her belly.” P292
I couldn’t tell Anya that men’s “desires” don’t spring from above their waist. But I wished I could.
The climax of the story is satisfying, if replete with romance tropes. I’d read more of this author’s work, and more about this character, but I sincerely hope that the next book gets a better edit. show less

I grew in Detroit. I remember Devil's night. As a kid I thought it was fun being scared of what could possibly happen on the night before Halloween. As a teenager, while watching my neighbor's house burn down, the night had a new horrifying meaning.When I heard about this book, I pre-ordered it. I didn't know the author and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. All I knew was Devil's night was a great premise for a potentially great story.Boy was I right. Laura Bickle did such a great job that I was completely and utterly sucked right into the story. Her style of writing was effortless and the flow was perfect. Ms. Bickle obviously has a background in police procedure and it was evident in the story.Anya Kalinczyk is an arson show more investigator, and more importantly, a rare type of psychic called a "Lantern". She is on a case involving multiple deadly fires and she suspects another supernatural for setting the blazes. What she doesn't suspect is her reaction to the suspect- another possible Lantern. While Anya is good at her job, she isn't good at being close to anyone. She knows she is different and it is her special abilities that has caused her to keep others away. One of my favorite characters in the book is Sparky. You will have to read the book to understand my love for this character but he will grow on you and you'll want your own "Sparky"! show less

Quick & Dirty: An extraordinary tale of danger, ghosts and magic that will have you clamoring for more.

Opening Sentence: Truth burned. It always burned, even in the dark, cold hours of the morning when nearly everything slept.

Anya has a day job as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department. When the freaks come out at night, she works with a ragtag group of ghost hunters aka the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers, fighting the good fight against malevolent spirits. Anya is far from the run of the mill medium that communicates with the dead. She’s a Lantern, which is a rare medium that has the ability to devour spirits. It’s up to Anya, her loveable familiar Sparky and her ghost hunting crew to stop the supernatural arsonist show more before Devil’s Night or the Motor City will become the city of ashes.

Ms. Bickle pens a dynamite urban fantasy debut complete with fascinating characters, a great action filled plot, set in a very atmospheric, eerie and dark Detroit. Her characters are rich and captivating, fitting nicely into the backdrop of Detroit’s gritty and deadly supernatural scene. The plot is fast-paced and the magic is thoroughly integrated into the story, making Embers a real page-turner.

What sets this novel apart from the plethora of “tough as nails” female leads is the great work Ms. Bickle does with characterization. Embers’ protagonist, Anya, is a hero, but the nature of her work means Anya also has a dark side. Anya is one of the most multi-dimensional characters in the urban fantasy genre. She’s powerful, and tears through the spiritual underworld of Detroit, but it takes a personal toll on her. It was tough to see Anya struggle with isolation and her feelings of being torn between the spirit world and our world. She’s also trying to navigate the rocky road of intimate relationships. I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that devouring souls is not without risk. That’s not to say Anya is squeamish about devouring spirits. In the end, she’s willing to do what it takes to get the job done. She’s fiercely loyal to the few people in her life that she really cares about and considers her friends.

Embers’ supporting cast of characters round out an already great tale. Anya has an amazing familiar, a five-foot fire salamander named Sparky. What’s not to love about Sparky? He has many endearing attributes. He’s quirky, loyal and needy to a fault, but he’s also Anya’s protector. He loves her very much and has a hard time sharing her. Sparky doesn’t speak and can only be seen by Anya and ghosts, but nonetheless his presence is felt. Sparky is the one constant in Anya’s life and he annoys her as much as he comforts her. It’s actually quite touching.

Overall, Embers is an impressive debut. Think Ghost Hunters meets Supernatural and that’s just a fraction of the good times you will get out of reading this book. Ms. Bickle delivers great storytelling, compelling characters, and top-notch worldbuilding. Embers is well written with a fresh and unique mythology. Danger, demons and Devil’s Night abound, making this book hard to put down. I’m really looking forward to visiting this gritty and dark world again in the sequel, Sparks.

The Anya Kalinczyk Series:

1. Embers

2. Sparks – August 31, 2010 show less

I will start off saying that I want a salamander familiar like Sparky. He's a sweetie and is ornery, I like that in a pet. Anya has had Sparky to help her out since she was small and they keep each other company, Anya's been pretty sure Sparky is all she needs. She's a Lantern, ingesting spirits who are basically evil, which makes being a loner a better option. Until she finds out there is another Lantern....one who is causing havoc and ingesting spirits who are not causing problems, ingesting them because he can. Oh, and he's trying to bring about the end of the world with an ancient being.
Anya kicks major ass and I want a Sparky of my own, please.
Five smokin' spirit ingestin' beans.....