Embers in the Ash

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Four ordinary young people from four corners of the Earth wake up on a hill in another world. Here, their very presence is a crime against the Gods. On the fringes of civilization, life is often brief and always violent, but in the Empire's Heartland, implacable hunters seek to rectify their blasphemous existence with Blade and Fire.

To return home, they will need to adapt to a place where their life will be earned in steel. But what will they be ready to sacrifice for their goal? Will their flame flicker out like so many others before them?

Or will they thrive as Embers in the Ash?

Hello, and welcome to my first fiction on this site! Embers in the Ash is an epic fantasy adventure story that aims to span quite a few chapters (I hope!). To set expectations, this isn't going to be a LitRPG or power fantasy-style story. I'm aiming for a fairly grounded story set in a fairly high-fantasy world. I hope you enjoy it!

For this first month of publication, my aim is to give you, the reader, something to really bite into. I will be releasing a chapterevery day at9:15 AM EST (13:15 GMT), as well as the occasional double chapter (which will always be announced by a post-chapter author blurb). Check in fifteen minutes after the first chapter's release! After this first month of publication, the aim is to go for either a weekly or bi-weekly release schedule, depending on the sort of time I can reliably dedicate to writing.

Either way, settle in for the long haul, and welcome to the story!

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Dale the Dabbler

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 8
Views: 4,685

Chapters(17 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(2)

MrBRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Overall: Embers in the Ash gets off to a great start. While only time will tell what direction the story will take, all of the necessary elements are there to make this a stand-out fantasy action/adventure tale.
Style: The story is written in the third person, and thus far centers mostly on the core cast of characters introduced at the beginning. The author has already made use of a shift in character perspective where the same event was relayed from different points of view to great effect. The writing is straightforward but deliberate, the author's confidence and research showing in satisfyingly realistic fight scenes. Dialogue and character interactions feel natural.
Story: The only reason why I'm giving four stars here and not more is because the story is still in its early days, so it's still not clear where exactly it's going to go. The plot is set in motion literally from the first sentence of chapter one, when we're introduced to four characters who have suddenly and inexplicably found themselves in an unknown world. It's admittedly not the most original premise, but it's handled very well. The hints of the character's pasts and the inner workings of the world are just that at this point, but all of it is interesting and makes me want to find out more.
Grammar: Small mistakes that are easily forgivable. Nothing much to gripe about here.
Characters: At this early point in the story, it's the characters that truly make this series for me. Our four protagonists are all immediately distinguishable even after a brief introduction, coming from different backgrounds and having easily recognizable personalities. The plot doesn't rely on any of them being idiots or doing something stupid just so they can get in trouble, which I appreciate greatly, and their warm interactions are one of the nighlights of the story so far. The last two chapters introduce two more interesting characters that we'll probably get to know better as the series progresses, which I'm looking f
scostRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Embers in the ash is a shaping up to be a really engaging fantasy story. The groundwork is laid out with strong characters and very solid writing fundementals.
Style: Told in close third person, the narration takes advantage of strong character voice. The main POV character thus far, Sam, weaves backstory, character and ultilty together when describing events in a very engaging way. The biggest strength is how natural the background of characters and setting is presented. The author hits that balance between introducing names, places and details to the reader through character narration, but limits the details to how the speaker would realistically think about their own history. It leaves a great air of mystery to the setting and character history.
Story: While in early days, the story thus far is very engaging. It is very fast paced and economical, everything seems to be primed to deliver strong character voices and introductions before any true plot is engaged with. The groundwork is in place and looks set to deliver a well told, classical fantasy story.
Grammar: No grammatical or spelling errors that in any way interrupted the flow of the story. For this platform especially, the grammar, and command of language, was very well polished and much more professional in quality.
Character: While we've been mainly treated to Sam's POV, the other three main characters are also well delivered. It's too early to judge the complexity of their characters and how well they play off one another, but so far they all have their own distinct character voice. Sam especially has his character delivered in a very organic manner. For criticism, the character dialogue could be made less utilitarian, and deliver a few more innocuous details. Sam's talk of his sister - while a little cliche - adds some more depth and I would like to see this replicated in others. This may of course be due to how early in the story we are, Camille's smoking is a nice piece of character detail.
Overall, t