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James Bennett (17)

Auteur de Chasing Embers

Pour les autres auteurs qui s'appellent James Bennett, voyez la page de désambigüisation.

3+ oeuvres 174 utilisateurs 16 critiques

Séries

Œuvres de James Bennett

Chasing Embers (2016) 125 exemplaires
Raising Fire (2017) 28 exemplaires
Burning Ashes (2018) 21 exemplaires

Oeuvres associées

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African Monsters: Volume 2 (2015) — Contributeur — 14 exemplaires
European Monsters (Fox Spirit Books of Monsters) (Volume 1) (1705) — Contributeur — 12 exemplaires
Winter Tales (2016) — Contributeur — 8 exemplaires
Noir Carnival (2013) — Contributeur — 6 exemplaires
Drag Noir (2014) — Contributeur — 5 exemplaires
You Left Your Biscuit Behind (2016) — Contributeur — 3 exemplaires
Girl at the End of the World Vol 1 (alternate cover) (2014) — Contributeur — 3 exemplaires
Tales of the Mouse and Minotaur (2017) — Contributeur — 2 exemplaires
Tales of the Fox and Fae (2013) — Contributeur — 2 exemplaires
Occult Detective Magazine Mythos Special #1 — Contributeur — 2 exemplaires
Something Wicked: Volume Two - Anthology of Speculative Fiction (2013) — Contributeur — 1 exemplaire
Brute: Stories of Dark Desire, Masculinity, & Rough Trade (2023) — Contributeur — 1 exemplaire

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I came across this in a charity shop, not realising it was book 2 of a series though that soon became evident from the various mentions of things that had happened 'last year' especially the protagonist's relationship with Rose from whom he is now estranged. It sounded intriguing as it seemed to be about dragons, which I love usually, but when I began to read past the first few chapters I wasn't so taken with it.

The main character, Ben, is a dragon with the power to shift to human shape. There is a lot of world building about a pact set up at the behest of King John of Magna Carta fame whereby the vast majority of magical creatures in the world were put into a deep sleep to prevent further conflict with humanity, using a fabled harp which was reforged into one (it had been broken into 3 pieces by King Arthur when the Queen of Fays had offered it as a way of winning the battle against his evil son/nephew Mordred). Said harp was subsequently broken into 3 pieces again and each piece kept by a different party as a precaution against its being used again. The parties concerned were the last Fay left on Earth (the rest had left in protest after the harp was broken the first time), and two organisations which consisted of a sort of Knights of St John outfit and the religious maniacs who wanted to destroy the magical creatures but were overruled. Only one representative of each type of magical creature has been left awake as a sort of guardian and to police any problems with their own kind. The sleep of the creatures was meant to last only until the Fay should return at some stage when all would be sweetness and harmony between humankind and the others.

My problem with the book, apart from niggles such as why would a pact be referred to as Lore interchangeably when lore means knowledge, and why would the creatures agree to this in the first place, was firstly that the style of the book is very distancing. The characters, even the protagonist, are repeatedly described externally in a way that a person cannot possibly view themselves - whereas these days most fantasy etc is written in close third person or actual first person. I found the constant descriptions of haircuts, dirt on faces and other such details distracting and they put me at arms length from the characters.

The second problem was that there is so much nonstop wham bam action with huge fights and mass destruction that there is no room for real character development. I liked the flashbacks to medieval China focusing on Jia, the female character who is the sole representative of her kind, her feelings about how she misses her parents, and her tuition at the hands of the last Fay, because they were quiet scenes which allowed insight into her character. So I wasn't very happy with the way she is treated in the parts of the book where she appears in the present day, especially with the final denouement. I also got so bored with the frenetic action that I had to put down the book and start reading something else for a couple of hours, before I could face reading the last hundred pages or so.

Ben isn't a sympathetic character despite his constantly feeling sorry for himself and being maltreated by various parties, and I also found the big reveal at the end rather over elaborate (view spoiler). Anyway, with these problems I can only grant this an OK 2 stars.
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Signalé
kitsune_reader | 2 autres critiques | Dec 22, 2023 |
I honestly wanted to like this book but it really ultimately didn't work for me. The writing was fine but I just didn't care. Maybe my urban fantasy cup has filled up. I will not be reading the next one.
 
Signalé
cdaley | 11 autres critiques | Nov 2, 2023 |

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Dragons? Who doesn’t love dragons? Then, you add in dragons in the modern world? I couldn’t get my hands on this fast enough! Sadly, Chasing Embers by James Bennett didn’t live up to the hype I had built up in my head. It’s good, definitely worth three stars, but not as exciting or fun as I expected. It took perhaps a good 50% before it got to the point where I was like okay, I need to know what happens next and cannot put it down!

One of the biggest flaws I had with Chasing Embers, was also one of the things that I came to really enjoy: Ben’s constant introspection. His narration is one filled with self pity, and it’s understandable with everything he has had to endure in his life. It is also one of the easiest ways to get information out to the readers. But, it’s still so droll having it go on for pages instead of simply seeing action happen. I understand he doesn’t want to take action, but a story needs action to compel the plot forward and I think this one had a bit too slow of a pace for the casual reader. As I said earlier, it wasn’t until I was nearly halfway through the novel that the pacing finally picked up and I was sucked in. Most readers will not have that same patience, I’m afraid.

However, thanks to the introspective narrative, Bennett gives us incredible details about how this modern world works alongside the world of myths. He has a strong world built and it’s one I’d love to explore further. I think since this was the first book in the series, that is the reason for the absolute complete influx of overwhelming information that makes the narrative dull at the start. He needs to get his world built and make the reader feel as though they have their feet firmly planted in it. Hopefully, book two of the series will bypass the need to give all this extreme backstory and be much more active.

Something I absolutely LOVED though, was Rose. She was the shining star and character of this entire novel, which is a shame because we hardly see her. I desperately hope we get more of her in the second novel in the series. It was so incredibly refreshing to see a female love interest actually stand up for herself and essentially say f**k you to the hero. To walk away because she deserves better and won’t accept someone who cannot be honest with them, who hurts them on purpose. She was amazing and I wish more authors would write women like Rose.

Chasing Embers by James Bennett had a slow start but definitely laid down strong foundations for a compelling series. With the heavy world building out of the way in book one, the next one is sure to offer a better paced story that will be able to focus more on the already interesting characters introduced in book one.

// I received this title for free in exchange for an honest review //
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Signalé
heylu | 11 autres critiques | Jan 8, 2020 |
Well that was an end to the series. Interesting to read shortly after returning from Barcelona! While most of the events happen around London and England there are a few jaunts outside of that. Ben is trying very hard to "do the right thing"; something he has worked with all the time and people have used him to exploit this. Now his best friend has betrayed him and there are mythic creatures wandering around England and he's trying hard to stop chaos from destroying the world he loves and during this realises he loves and wants to continue.

That end, wow, it's a good ending but harsh.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
wyvernfriend | May 3, 2019 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
3
Aussi par
14
Membres
174
Évaluation
3.2
Critiques
16
ISBN
72

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