A bold and ghostly stand-alone from New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck, with all the moodiness of Sleepy Hollow and all the romance her fans love. Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It’s difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern–one … he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern–one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal–or not-so-mortal–soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O’Dare.
Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack’s warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire–and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.
Colleen Houck, the New York Times bestselling author of the Tigers Curse series and Reawakened series, breathes new life into classic folklore in this wild, twisting adventure propelled by the spirit of Halloween.
“[Houck] offers a fresh spin on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow…with some genuine surprises in store.”–Kirkus
“A wild and seductive adventure…a must-have for YA collections.”–SLJ
more
i really enjoyed this book. lots of different kinds of characters. the author has a great imagination. Give it a try!!!!
The minute I saw that The Lantern’s Ember had Sleepy Hollow vibes I was hooked. But as someone who adores everything Sleepy Hollow, Halloween, and things that go bump in the night, I had high expectations. This book did not disappoint and from the first page’s gripping descriptions of the setting it put the book on track to be one of my favorites this year. Jack is a 500-year-old lantern who is stationed in a sleepy little town guarding the entrance to Otherworld from anything going in or out. All is going well until the Witch Wind blows and Jack’s existence gets turned upside down. Ember, the girl he is watching, crosses through the gate and monsters threaten to tear the Otherworld apart. The story is fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. I read it in two sittings. This book was entertaining and certainly got me in the mood for all things fall and spooky. Overall, I adored this story, and can’t wait to pick up Colleen Houck’s other books. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
The Lantern’s Ember by Colleen Houck is a standalone YA fantasy novel that will get you in the mood for October and Halloween! With characters inspired by Halloween favorites like the headless horseman (Lanterns), witches, vampires, and more, this novel takes you on an adventure to the Otherworld where all the nightmarish creatures live.
A quick and easy read, The Lantern’s Ember is more fantasy, fairy-tale like than scary or spooky. It also has a love quadrangle amongst Ember and the three suitors vying for her affection, which you may or may not like depending on how you fee about them. I would have preferred it to only have one couple (Ember and Jack) instead of adding additional love interests.
Other than that, the adventure and getting to know Ember, Jack, and why witches didn’t go to the Otherwold was worth the read.
Overall, The Lantern’s Ember by Colleen Houck is a fun, light read and I would recommend it especially if you want to find books that will get you in the spirit of Halloween.
(I voluntarily reviewed an advance review copy of this book I received for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my open and honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)
This book was one of my unicorn ARCs to hopefully get when I attended ALA in New Orleans this past June, because I really enjoyed her other book that I’d read in the past. Getting a hold of this one made my day. And when I finally picked it up to read, I was not disappointed! Houck has created a beautiful world, or should I say, “Otherworld”, with this story. I loved how she wove in details of well-known fairy tales and legends, along with creating new background stories or even giving more life to characters only touched on with our modern day recountings of these legends and tales. Not only did we get legends and fairy tales and monsters, but actual historical events were sprinkled throughout. I always have been intrigued by the whole Roanoke Colony mystery, and we got a unique new story for that. And then there was a trip into the Salem witch trials that also got its own retelling.
I mentioned that it was a beautiful world, and that was so much from the descriptions of this place, as well as the thought out mythology and unique takes on the creatures. At times it was very much like a kind of Alice in Wonderland world, but with witches and vampires and the boogeyman. Then there was Jack, a Lantern, as in Jack-o-Lantern, or even might call him the Headless Horseman. While I’ve read other tales that may have given you a bit of sympathy for this person, I fell in love with Jack in this book, and wished that he could actually be with his Ember, the witch who everyone seemed to be after. Another point in the book I felt as if it was reminiscent of Wizard of Oz, and I was on the edge of my seat as I read, waiting to find out who was this “man behind the curtain” going to really turn out to be. There were little clues sprinkled throughout the story, but it all went in a pretty unique way that I was kept hanging on and wondering until it was all wrapped up very neatly.
A great new paranormal, fantastical fairy tale retelling that I will be recommending to customers at the store where I work, and purchasing for the students at my library.