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A Shadow in the Ember

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Narrated by: Stina Nielsen
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Publisher's Summary

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout returns with book one of the compelling Flesh and Fire series - set in the beloved Blood and Ash world.

Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort.

However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania - she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission - one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then...end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot.

Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit - it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death.

©2021 by Jennifer L. Armentrout. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about A Shadow in the Ember

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I really want to like it more.

I loved FBAA and really enjoy Stina’s narration, so I was expecting to love this book. It’s VERY similar in story and tone to blood and ash, which is understandable, but a little frustrating. I found the dynamic and banter between Ash and Sarah predictable, we’ve already seen it all with Poppy and Hawke.
Lots of holes and lazy storytelling, like the main character keeps “forgetting” to ask the most important questions but will ask many other inane questions about “how do you age? How do you feed?” Also I found Ash to be very obviously written by a woman. At least Hawke had some character flaws to make him more meaty. Ash is this tall muscled tough guy with extreme power and lived for ages, but he’s also a virgin that finishes in his pants and lets Sarah get away with anything.

If you like JLA then buy it, but I wasn’t enthralled and struggled to like it!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love it, love it, love it!

I put off reading this because I’m still emotionally hooked to the Blood and Ash series but THIS! Can’t wait for the next one! Narrator is spectacular too! 15/10! Absolutely Recommend!

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fits in with the blood and ash series

Great value for money in length set in a fantasy world where gods, undead and vampire like creatures live among and along side mortals lots of twists a turns. A story of secrets and future generations paying for the sins of their fathers. Well worth the read

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Dull lifeless characters and a lot of repetition

I’ve really enjoyed the FBAA series so far but this spin off book fell flat for me.

Sera is just “Poppy lite” and I just found her a bit annoying. There is literally no chemistry between the characters and the cheeky banter that exists between the characters in FBAA is noticeably absent from this book.

Overall the story is a bit dull and repetitive and using the same narrator for a very similar story and characters just reinforced for me that this is not a very good book.

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1 person found this helpful

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Another JLA fave!

This book took me a little to get into because I came straight from A Crown of Gilded Bones but I ended up loving it so much!

Besides the FBAA books, this is the only other book I've read by JLA but I definitely need to change that!

The world building in this book has already been established somewhat from the companion series, Blood and Ash, but it delved so much more into the intricacies of the Gods/Primals and their realms. I really enjoyed getting to learn more about the mythology of this world and how it ties back into FBAA. Some more of the back story into the Gods we already know was a great addition too.

Sera was a excellent protagonist to follow, both simultaneously strong and soft, courageous and flawed, and I liked the similarities that played out between her character and that of Poppy.

I had several "squee" moments during this book as well as a few chest ache pains from too many feels! When everything is revealed about the deal, I was sitting on the edge of my seat!

The spice in this book is on point with Daddy Nyktos giving me a few new rent-free scenes to live in my head and I laughed out loud during the bath scene with the towel.

I was actually quite pleased I picked one of the big twists from the ending! But there was still enough intrigue and tension to carry me through the whole book and make me eagerly await A Light in the Flame!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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On my Ash ❤

I am so much more in love with this story than Blood and Ash!! I can't get enough of Ash. I think he's my new book boyfriend. Lol. I struggled to relate to Sera until towards the end of the book and I can't wait to listen to book 2!

So there are so many similarities between this book and Blood and Ash but what stands out for me is that this plot flows and I didn't feel like I had to stick with the first couple of chapters to get to the flow of the plot.

I also felt like the sex scenes were just more real. It didn't bother me about the virginal sex scene. In my opinion it was kind of cute.

I loved hearing the prophecy from Blood and Ash and the relation to Kolis.

I think Stina Nielsen does a pretty excellent job at narrating.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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buy this book!!!! you will not regret it,

loved it, more romance more grit more surprises. loved it. best ones shes written yet

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining enough

I found myself questioning whether this book went through any sort of editing process. It seems a bit lazily written, or perhaps rushed. But it was an entertaining read nonetheless.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

love it

another great book from Jennifer l armentrout. amazing narration. the cliff hangers always surprise and disappoint the heck out of me. can't wait for the next one

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1 person found this helpful

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love love love

I Loved Poppy and Casteel, and the Ash and Blood series, but oh how I love these too as well, it's tough I may even like this series better 🫣🫢

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