Arcady faces their greatest heist yet: posing as a noble student at the arcane University of Vatra. When the University announces the reinstatement of archaic trials of magic, the ever-penniless Arcady seizes the chance. If they win, they not only prove their worth, but the scholarship will give them more time to unlock secrets and reveal, once and for all, that their grandsire was not the Plaguebringer. Yet grief still leaves Arcady broken, and when they close their eyes, they dream of a certain dragon.
Everen, once the hope of dragons, is now hated by his kind. When he is eventually released from his prison, the Queen is clear: while he may help protect the island from wraith attacks, he is no longer a prince of the realm. As he struggles to find his place in Vere Celene, visions of the past, the future, and tantalizing glimpses of Arcady still haunt him. If he steers the wrong path through fate’s storm, he may never be able to create a future where both humans and dragons live in harmony.
Arcady soon realizes that to survive the rising threats from both their old life and their new one, they must use every trick at their disposal—even magic stolen from a dragon they thought dead. And as time runs out before an ancient danger awakens, Everen must fight his way back to Arcady, earn their forgiveness, and learn what it truly means to be an Emberclaw.
"Humans always attack what they fear."
L.R. Lam's Emberclaw concludes the duology that started with the excellent Dragonfall (click here to read my review), but unfortunately it doesn't quite stick the landing, losing everything that made the first installment so unique in favor of a generic magical academia/trials plot. This is to the absolute detriment of the series, which started off so strong, with a packed heist plot and interesting things to say about gender and the weight of expectations.
The core duo spends half of the book apart, each of them dealing with issues that seem to just be there in order to make the book long. The academia/trials part is the most meandering, with no clear sense of direction and new characters we feel no connection to, but Evemer's slow plot doesn't do him any favors either. Things start picking up speed and some semblance of form once the book hits the halfway point, but by that point it's too late and the existential threat feels more like an afterthought. The relationship between Evemer and Arkady, too, feels shallow and unearned after the fireworks of the first novel.
One good narrative thread that gets explored more, and has an interesting development, is Sorin. She takes center stage as she develops doubts and more agency and is, in general, a more well-rounded character.
Emberclaw is not a strong finish.
✨ 3.5 stars
🐲📚 So you want to read about dragons and academia?
Here's my review of Moniquill Blackgoose's To Shape a Dragon's Breath
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