The Lantern’s Ember by Colleen Houck
I was browsing my local library one day when I came across The Lantern’s Ember. I had heard a lot of hype surrounding it, and I was actually surprised that my library had a brand new release! I also had been sent a copy by the publisher, so at least I could read the physical and the e-book version. The cover was gorgeous and the premise sounded right up my alley, so I decided to take it home and dive right into it.
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 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.
I know that I’m going to find this book so hard to review because I enjoyed the book whilst I was reading it, but when I stopped reading and was doing other things, I had no desire to pick the book back up and immerse myself again… So I liked it, but just didn’t have the motivation or desire to fully engage with it so that’s just really confusing.
“For a witch, you certainly don’t know much about how hauntings work.”
― The Lantern’s Ember
I think that one of the things about this book that stopped me from enjoying it a lot more were the characters. I liked the book at the beginning when it was just Ember and Jack (and a couple of others), but then when Dev was introduced and everyone else, I just felt bored. One exception to this though is Delia. I absolutely loved her character and I would love to read more about her because her character really held her own.
When it came to the characters, most of them were fawning after Ember which was so annoying. The romance was definitely the weakest part of this novel because it was just… love triangles everywhere. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good love triangle that I can get fully invested in, but when most of the novel is spent focusing on that rather than the troubles that the characters have to face, I get annoyed. So there’s a little love triangle between Ember, Jack, Dev, and Finney (love square??), and IT WAS SO CLICHÉ! Dev came across as the “tall, dark, bad boy who you should definitely stay away from”, Finney was the “friend-zoned best friend” (poor sod), and Jack was the “protective hero”. There was just every trope there and I felt so sorry for Finney. He was such an interesting character with his inventions! He was much more interesting than Dev and Jack, anyway.
“Finney asked everyone to carve pumpkins and light them to mark the path from the crossroad to the town. The tradition caught on, and soon crossroads all over the world opened on that one night and the mortal realm was haunted by ghosts, goblins, witches, werewolves, and vampires.”
― The Lantern’s Ember
But it wasn’t all negatives! The way that Houck described the different worlds of this book was incredible (hence the 3 stars). She described Ember’s village with such description that I felt like I was there, standing under a tree with its orange and yellow leaves falling around me. It felt so autumny and you know what autumn means? HALLOWEEN! Houck created amazing atmospheres both in the ‘real world’ and the Otherworld – which is a steampunk world which is powered by witch light and it’s where all the supernatural creatures live.
I also think that one of the amusing aspects of this novel for me was the references to other horror classics such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jack O’ Lantern. I’m a massive gothic nerd, so having those little references to other gothic novels was fun for me!
“In my experience, places like the oceans or the heavens, an undiscovered forest, a great underground chasm, or the mystery of a woman’s heart and mind are not the end of a journey, but a beginning. Do not let fear of the unknown prevent you from discovery, otherwise the story of your life will be a dull tale indeed.”
― The Lantern’s Ember
Overall, this book wasn’t as good as I was expecting. It definitely had it’s good elements such as the atmospheric writing and a handful of characters, but all-in-all, the rest of the characters and the romance ruined it for me. Plus, it didn’t really help that it was such a character-driven book, so the plot just fell flat.
Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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