Kindling by Angel Blackwood
Review by: Michael Baker
One of the best books I’ve read this year. I went into this curious into the world-building and the story, and both blew me away. Not once was I deceived or overwhelmed, and the little tidbits it gave me into the world and it’s lore makes me want to keep reading.
With a diverse and powerful set of characters, Kindling explores a foreigner getting dragged into a magical/religious war with the deeply feminist and fanatical magical order, the Obsidian Embers and their quest to purge male magic. It sounds gory, and it sure as hell is, but it’s so believable that it drew me right in. The fact that the book gives you a deep insight into each faction made me understand each side, and not once does it give off the “This is the evil side, hate them!” feel you get with other fantasy novels. Everyone is well-created, written with love and shows that the author really loves her world, and her story. This is hard to do from the onset, and it really shows. I started off despising the Embers, then feeling sorry for them, then rooting for them as I see how much of an asshole the King can be, right back to disliking them again. But there really isn’t a weak point in this book, it’s that well rounded.
I am fully invested into this series now, and cannot wait for the second book. Highly recommended.