Embers (Anya Kalinczyk #1)

Apr 14, 2010 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: good-uns, urban-fantasy

I'm fairly certain I ran across my first mention of Laura Bickle's debut urban fantasy EMBERS in one of Doug's alarmingly thorough and most excellent urban fantasy round-ups over at SciFiGuy. And, as always, I responded immediately to the Chris McGrath cover art. His style works for me and I liked the wavering title font, the torque around the woman's neck, and the burning city behind her. Little did I know how accurate the attention to detail on all of these elements was. Having read the book,...more I'm fairly certain I ran across my first mention of Laura Bickle's debut urban fantasy EMBERS in one of Doug's alarmingly thorough and most excellent urban fantasy round-ups over at SciFiGuy. And, as always, I responded immediately to the Chris McGrath cover art. His style works for me and I liked the wavering title font, the torque around the woman's neck, and the burning city behind her. Little did I know how accurate the attention to detail on all of these elements was. Having read the book, I love the cover even more. It's one of those rare things in the publishing world--a perfect fit. EMBERS came at just the right time for me as well. I've been in just the teensiest bit of a funk, mostly to do with real life stress (sick husband, sick daughter, work silliness, etc) and one day I found myself at the bookstore with my boy--the two healthy ones out for some air--and we decided we would each pick out one book to take home with us. He chose a Calvin & Hobbes. I went with EMBERS. We both of us have been extremely pleased with our purchases.

Anya Kalinczyk's life seems to be going up in smoke. As a former fire fighter and current arson investigator for the Detroit Fire Department, she's used to skirting flames. But it's her private life that's got her treading too close to danger these days. Anya is a Lantern--a very rare type of psychic medium whose primary ability is sucking up spirits. By day she tracks down your run-of-the mill arsonists, by night she prowls the city with a ragtag group of ghost hunters, locating and neutralizing malevolent spirits lurking beneath Detroit's rough exterior. But Anya's tired of it all. Every ghost she swallows takes a toll on her emotionally and physically and, after one last rather grisly job, she informs the gang that it will be her last. She's going home to curl up with her salamander familiar Sparky and wake up to a less chaotic life. Unfortunately, her friend Brian--the resident tech geek in the group--has a hard time letting go. And the thing is Anya likes Brian. She likes him a lot. But every time she's gotten close to someone in the past, it's quite literally blown up in her face. The people she loves tend to get hurt and she has no interest in that happening to the lovable iPod listening, night vision goggle toting computer lab guru who's got a crush on her. But that's before her professional and private lives collide when a supernatural arsonists begins systematically burning up buildings across the city and Anya is the only one who can put the pieces of the puzzle together. She can't do it alone. But how many of her friends and co-workers will die before the force behind the flames is destroyed?

EMBERS is exactly what I was hoping it would be--just a killer debut urban fantasy. I connected with the characters immediately, but almost as importantly, I connected with the setting. My favorite urban fantasy series feature a place that is as much of a character as the supes and beasties that call it home. And I absolutely loved Bickle's burning Detroit, a city on the verge of consuming itself. A city, as Anya bleakly observes, that no sane person would want to stay in, but that she can't help but hope some will. Someone with the vision to reinvest and rebuild in the future of both the city and the isolated residents who walk its dying streets. The narrative is dotted with very real glimpses into the gritty lives of everyday people on the streets. These are thrown into relief by the side-by-side depictions we get of those other everyday people who died and are lingering for whatever reason. The effect is at once thoughtful and haunting. As for Anya, she's my kind of heroine. She fights the good fight every single day, despite her doubts and uncertainty, despite her fragmented history, despite the very real ghosts that plague her. Luckily, she has one of the best sidekicks I've run across in awhile. A salamander protector--brilliant! Sparky solidifies into the torque she wears around her neck night and day, though he loves nothing more than to slither into corporeal form to chase ghosts with Anya and play with any electrical source he can find. Their relationship is sweet and funny as Sparky is the one being she's never without. I enjoyed all the secondary characters as well, particularly the refreshingly normal (though by no means boring Brian), her good friend and organic witch/baker Katie, and the dark man behind the recent reign of fire himself. This is a dark, serious, and intense read and I was especially satisfied with the resolution. This is the first in a series and yet Ms. Bickle happily resisted the temptation to leave a million and a half plot threads hanging. There are several directions the next book could take, of course, but I finished EMBERS satisfied and I can't thank her enough for that. A fantastic new urban fantasy and highly recommended. I can't wait for SPARKS, which is due out the end of August.(less)

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May 06, 2010 Katie(babs) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If Laura Bickle ever needed a theme song for her debut novel, Embers, it would have to be Fire Burning by Sean Kingston. That song kept running through my head as I read. There are a whole lot of fires burning due to a supernatural arsonist bent on revenge. The one person who may be the only one to stop this madman is Anya Kalinczyk, an arson investigator for the Detroit Fire Department. It's bad enough that Detroit is riddled with crime and unemployment, including a bad case of hauntings and d...more If Laura Bickle ever needed a theme song for her debut novel, Embers, it would have to be Fire Burning by Sean Kingston. That song kept running through my head as I read. There are a whole lot of fires burning due to a supernatural arsonist bent on revenge. The one person who may be the only one to stop this madman is Anya Kalinczyk, an arson investigator for the Detroit Fire Department. It's bad enough that Detroit is riddled with crime and unemployment, including a bad case of hauntings and demons who won't behave. Anya knows all about the shady, ghostly side of the city because is a volunteer working with the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers. Anya has a very special skill. She is known as a Lantern, a psychic medium who sucks up spirit's soul and destroys them, especially after they refuse to leave a house or building. Anya is pretty much done with the Ghost Hunters because she is dealing with a great amount of stress. Not only does her salamander familiar, Sparky, who she can only see, is always under foot, and has a bad habit of eating most electronics, but one of the hunters, Brian, an IT guy who works at the local university, wants to be more than just associates. Anya is not comfortable with the dating scene and tries her best to keep Brian at a distance.

Around the same time the arsons continue to grow out of control, Anya has become possessed by a nasty demon she helped exorcise from a teenage girl. The demon Mimiveh starts to haunt her dreams and talks about Sirrush, a Godzilla like demon who is compared to a force of nature that destroys anything in its path with no reason. And it looks like the arsonist wants to summon Sirrush for their own gain.

Soon Anya's life is spinning out of control. If it's not bad enough that she has a demon trying to take over her body, the arsonist makes contact with her and believes they have a connection because he also is a Lantern. Because Anya has always felt alone and doesn't know many others like her, she walks a fine line, and is slowly being seduced, over come with need for this man who wants to know everything about her. He will try his best to make her understand why he must continue to hurt innocent people. But when someone close to Anya almost dies because of the Lantern arsonist, she is no longer sympathetic to his cause and will walk through the fires of hell to stop him

Embers is a very unique, not your typical run of the mill urban fantasy. Laura Bickle's writing reminds me a bit of Diana Rowland's demon series. Anya is somewhat comparable to Rowland's heroine, Kara Gillian. I think this is because both women are in some sort of law enforcement, have special powers and surround themselves with many caring individuals. Anya is more of a loner, and at times confused and scared. Her relationship with her familiar Sparky is really wonderful and made me smile. I especially enjoyed Anya friendship with the baker/witch Katie who is a therapist of sort to Anya and gives her advice and a shoulder to lean on.

The first part of Embers is really wonderful with a great deal of action and suspense. It falters toward the middle and end where Anya is grappling with two issues. Whereas I enjoyed the arson investigation and preferred more a focus on that, the whole demon possession of Anya becomes more of a nuisance. I really felt it wasn't needed and took away from the primary storyline regarding the Lantern villain who Anya almost succumbs to. The arsonist is revealed early on and isn't the hard-core villain everyone makes him out to be. He has been wronged and feels he has no other choice with his decisions. Anya has a very touchy relationship with him that's written in a very interesting way. Their relationship goes past a certain point that most urban fantasy type heroines don't fall into. I wanted more interaction between these two, but unfortunately, the whole demon storyline overtook everything in such a way that ruined the overall effect I was expecting.

As debuts go, I would say Embers is a pretty solid read and the start of a series that I wouldn't mind continue reading. Other then too much of an emphasis on the annoying Linda Blair Exorcist type drama, I would say that Laura Bickle is one to pay attention to, especially if you are looking for a new unique Urban Fantasy series to read.(less)

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Jun 13, 2010 The Holy Terror rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: color-orange, urban-fantasy, detroit, bought-04-10, owned, ghosts, special-powers, demons, dragons, 2010

*3.25 Stars*

This is sort of a tough one to review. I've lived south of Detroit for the better part of 25 years. This novel is set in and around Detroit so I knew I had to read it just for that fact alone. I think that I let the fascination of reading about somewhere that I'm familiar with overshadow some of the book's faults. By the last page though, it became clear that this was a less-than-perfect book.

Anya Kalincyzk is a fire investigator in Detroit, but she's also a Lantern - she has the abi...more *3.25 Stars*

This is sort of a tough one to review. I've lived south of Detroit for the better part of 25 years. This novel is set in and around Detroit so I knew I had to read it just for that fact alone. I think that I let the fascination of reading about somewhere that I'm familiar with overshadow some of the book's faults. By the last page though, it became clear that this was a less-than-perfect book.

Anya Kalincyzk is a fire investigator in Detroit, but she's also a Lantern - she has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, and also devour them and send their spirits ... somewhere. Anya teams up with a group of ghost hunters every now and then when they need her help getting rid of some of the more malevolent ghosts. She even helps them out when a girl gets possessed by a demon, and unfortunately that demon proves to cause Anya a bit of indigestion.

Anya's job is getting tougher when someone starts setting fires around the city, and leaving their calling card for her to find: a symbol melted into concrete, a feat that would take a considerable amount of heat. Anya starts to investigate and what she finds is a little closer to home than she anticipated. There's someone else like her in Detroit, but he has his own twisted plan for renovating the city.

Anya's abilities are really different and interesting. Her personality though, was sort of lacking, and I unfortunately found that to be the case with most of the characters. On the other hand though, her elemental familiar Sparky, is fantastic. He really stole the show and made this book a lot more enjoyable. I think I might have even deducted a whole star if he hadn't be included. It probably helps that I've had a pet newt since I was little (I think he's immortal, he's pushing 19 years old!) but Sparky the salamander with his Gloworm toy really warmed my heart.

The hook-up Anya has near the end of the book was strange. I wasn't expecting any sex, and I especially didn't expect it to be with the person she chose. It really seemed out of character, although it was sort of sexy.

The ending fizzled. The build-up to the "final fight" was fantastic, but then it's almost like the author ran out of steam at the end. This was the most disappointing part of the whole book, and I don't really understand what happened. I also don't like what happened to one of the characters, even though if you were paying any attention you'd see it coming. It seemed kind of a waste of time to create a relationship between him and Anya, and then end things the way they did. Anya's relationship with him seemed kind of pointless and also questioned her integrity, making her seem wishy-washy.

I think even if this had been a 1-star book I'd still read the next just because it's set in Detroit. This book had it's shining moments but it also had it's share of low points, although it wasn't a terrible story. The author has a lot of good ideas, her execution is just a bit off. I'm going to chalk that up to "first book syndrome" and hope this series only gets better.(less)

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May 11, 2010 All Things Urban Fantasy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-by-abigail

Review courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

EMBERS has a fantastically gritty cover from the talented Chris McGrath, a paranormally enhanced version of Detroit, and a unique supernatural concept for its main character. With so much going for it, I feel like I should have liked this book more. The blurb sounded exactly like the kind of urban fantasy stories I love…but I struggled almost from the beginning to connect with both the characters and plot.

By day, Anya is an arson investigator...more Review courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

EMBERS has a fantastically gritty cover from the talented Chris McGrath, a paranormally enhanced version of Detroit, and a unique supernatural concept for its main character. With so much going for it, I feel like I should have liked this book more. The blurb sounded exactly like the kind of urban fantasy stories I love…but I struggled almost from the beginning to connect with both the characters and plot.

By day, Anya is an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department. After hours, she's a member of the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers. As a Lantern, Anya has the ability to consume ghosts like a supernatural vacuum cleaner. Her formidable skill comes with a nasty side effect: acid like burns left on her chest after each ghost she “eats.” She and the hodgepodge crew of D.A.G.R members (including a wedding cake designer/witch and an elderly demonologist that reminded me of Professor Xavier from X-Men) bust ghosts, exorcise demons, and keep the city safe from the seedy supernatural elements that lurk in the shadows.

I had a big problem with Anya’s two love interests in EMBERS: Brian the ‘nice’ tech guy from D.A.G.R who has been interested in her for ages. And then there’s Drake, the serial arsonist who is plotting to incinerate Detroit. Neither the ‘nice’ guy or the psycho appealed to me as romantic leads. Brian was fairly innocuous and about as romantically compelling as cardboard, but Drake was a mass murderer with major creep factor. There are other factors in the story that propelled Anya’s relationship with Drake which I won’t divulge, but I still found the attraction between them to be very forced and unrealistic.

I did like Anya's familiar, a fire elemental salamander named Sparky. He’s more like an invisible magical Saint Bernard who gets jealous when guys hit on Anya, sleeps with a glowworm, and has a mischievous addiction to electricity. The writing itself is also good, I just didn’t find the story to be especially interesting. Every chapter started off with a great opening sentence that devolved into a generic chapter plot wise.

Plenty of other reviewers loved this book. I envy them for it, but I just couldn’t get into it. I did like Laura’s writing style, which is why I’m looking forward to her other series debut Dark Oracle written as Alayna Williams later this summer. I’ll probably pass on the next Anya Kalinczyk book, Sparks when it comes out August 31, 2010.

Sexual Content: References to sex. A brief, mildly graphic sex scene.(less)

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Apr 15, 2010 Lexie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: review-blog, genre-urban-fantasy, books-owned

Originally I had no intention of reading Embers. I'm a little burned out from Urban Fantasies, at least starting new series, and had resolved to take a break. Best laid plans and such found me buying Embers and then reading it in relatively quick order.

The tone of the novel was much darker than I expected, exploring several deeper emotions such as lust, guilt and personal responsibility in slightly uncomfortable ways (for me at least). Anya is a conflicted young woman with deeply rooted guilt i...more Originally I had no intention of reading Embers. I'm a little burned out from Urban Fantasies, at least starting new series, and had resolved to take a break. Best laid plans and such found me buying Embers and then reading it in relatively quick order.

The tone of the novel was much darker than I expected, exploring several deeper emotions such as lust, guilt and personal responsibility in slightly uncomfortable ways (for me at least). Anya is a conflicted young woman with deeply rooted guilt issues and a problem with forming personal connections, not particularly uncommon in today's UF heroines, but Bickle takes it a step forward with Anya's growing fear that one unwary step will burn her life down. Uncertain about the exact nature of her power as a Lantern (spirits are attracted to her like a moth to flame and she has the power to devour them, burning them to nothingness), Anya fights her nature. Meeting the firebug with an oddly do-gooder mentality, confirms her worst fears, but also opens her up to exploring who and what she could be.

The cast surrounding Anya, both supernatural and otherwise, all have distinct personalities. Sparky, her 'hellbender' elemental protectors; Brian, tech geek who cares for her; Katie, organic baker by day, witch by night; Ciro, demonologist and one tough old man; Jules, group leader and fond of slapping Mike upside the head; Mike, the newbie on the crew with a whole lot of enthusiasm and then Captain Marsh, her boss at the Fire department. The firebug, who becomes more important for a variety of reasons as the story goes on, was oddly appealing. He was doing bad things, but I couldn't tell if he was a sociopath, warped from his experiences or genuinely believed he was doing the right thing for the city.

I had a growing fear, as the way to stop Sirrush from rising became more and more clear, about what would happen in the end. And it came true. And despite everything that had happened I got misty-eyed and sad. It seemed appropriate, but still.

Book 2, Sparks, is due out at the end of August though there isn't a whole lot out about what it will be about and the end of Embers gives nothing away to give us clues. I am however looking forward to it and have great anticipation for Laura Bickle's alter-ego, Alayna Williams's debut UF Dark Oracle due out in June! (less)

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Apr 11, 2011 Michele Lee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, urban-fantasy, reviewed

Anya is an arson investigator in Detroit who has just discovered a ritual symbol and a countdown on the floor of a burned warehouse. She's also a Lantern, charged with elemental fire magic and a devourer of wandering spirits (a gift she reluctantly puts to use in her off time work as a ghost hunter). Her private and professional lives are about to collide when she finds out her firebug might be a Lantern too.
Embers is different in a number of ways. Detroit and its decay play a very important ro...more

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May 14, 2010 Angela James rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, urban-fantasy, dnf

I just couldn't warm up to this heroine (there's irony in those words, since she's an arson investigator). I actually got to chapter fourteen and finally just flipped to the end to see what happened. The book had some intriguing elements, and the writing was serviceable, but it lacked that spark that I needed to really draw me into the story (sorry, unintentional play on the whole fire angle, again). The heroine was just too...depressed. For her, everything about her life was hard, she didn't ev...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Nightfall rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-and-own

I really enjoyed this book and found it completely absorbing. Which is honestly a relief, because I have read so many urban fantasy books in a row that I found slightly boring I thought maybe I was getting burned out on the genre or my attention span had started eroding or something. I tried to put my finger on why I enjoyed this book so much more than some other seemingly-similar books I've read lately and here's what I came up with:
1. Tone. This book has a melancholy sort of a tone. Our heroin...more I really enjoyed this book and found it completely absorbing. Which is honestly a relief, because I have read so many urban fantasy books in a row that I found slightly boring I thought maybe I was getting burned out on the genre or my attention span had started eroding or something. I tried to put my finger on why I enjoyed this book so much more than some other seemingly-similar books I've read lately and here's what I came up with:
1. Tone. This book has a melancholy sort of a tone. Our heroine, Anya, is kind of depressed and feeling isolated, and she's living in a depressed city (one whose heyday is lover). Ok, I'm not in a sunny mode right now perhaps myself, but this was easier to relate to and felt more real than some of the overly snarky books I've been reading. Yes, it's great when your characters have snappy dialog, but sometimes it takes away from the story if it's all just a bunch of one-liners and things played for comedic value. And a sad tone is much more suitable to a ghost story than a light tone. Which brings me to...
2. Ghosts. I am bored bored bored with vampires. It's going to be hard for any author to tell me a story about a vampire. Ghosts are still interesting to me though.
3. Sense of place. A good urban fantasy should feel urban. This one seems comfortable with its terrain, even if it doesn't namecheck dozens of actual locations or spend a lot of time telling you about local history. I don't need the place a story is set in to BE real though, I just need it to FEEL real, and this one does.
4. The treatment of the supernatural powers. Anya feels constrained by her powers more than liberated. She's not kickass, she's more quietly brave. She doesn't really fight, and even though her power is apparently unique in the world, it doesn't (at least in this book) make her automatically some sort of Chosen One. She doesn't even like her powers and if she could just stop using them, she'd be pretty comfortable in the mundane world. That makes her feel more grounded than some urban fantasy heroines I've come across lately.
5. Fire. Fire is terrifying. And Ms. Bickle seems to have done her research on firefighting. I have not done MINE, so if she screws something up somewhere, I don't know anything about it. Felt real to me, and again, that's what counts.
6. Subsidiary characters. Sparky is cute and fun without being total comic relief. Her friends seem like friends. The romance angle is probably the weakest/least developed part, but I was ok with it, possibly just because everything else was so strong, it felt natural within the story, tho I know if it had been a less strong book overall I would have objected to it. We don't learn much about her boyfriend or why she loves him.
7. Lastly, this book could've been a standalone. SOOOO many first novels in a series are all setup. Or, at least it is obvious you are going to need to read the rest of the series even from the very beginning. That's ok, I don't think all stories need to fit in one book, but it was kind of refreshing to have something more tightly bound. Now there is at least one more book in this series, and I will be interested to see where it goes. I think there's some hint of Chosen One-ness here, so I hope that doesn't mess up things too much. But I have hope it won't, because I don't even mind the "I have been pushed into the role of Savior of the World" storyline all that much, as long as it is handled well. I mean, if I wanted to read about everyday lives, I wouldn't be reading fantasy novels. I'm not sure if the story continues beyond that second book, but I really think Anya and her powers have a lot of promise for interesting stories.

It's interesting that I like this book so much more than the Greywalker series (Kat Richardson) because they have a whole lot in common - ghosts, somewhat less than (physically) kickass heroine, mild-mannered romance, weary tone, strong sense of place - but those books didn't fly as well for me. I think they just got too bogged down in all the details of the magic system and descriptions of real locations. This book kept it more simple. Still, I suspect fans of that series might like this one too. (less)

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Jan 28, 2013 Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review. I rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A woman with power she doesn't fully understand, a city on the brink of disaster and a ragtag assortment of paranormal investigators all play a part in Laura Bickle's Embers, the first book in her Anya Kalinczyk series. A fan of paranormal novels for over 4 years, Ms. Bickle's story reminded me why I love this genre so much - the intricate world building w...more I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review. I rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A woman with power she doesn't fully understand, a city on the brink of disaster and a ragtag assortment of paranormal investigators all play a part in Laura Bickle's Embers, the first book in her Anya Kalinczyk series. A fan of paranormal novels for over 4 years, Ms. Bickle's story reminded me why I love this genre so much - the intricate world building with a flawed, strong heroine determined to rise above the challenge to save someone other than herself. While the story moves a little slowly in the first few chapters; the pace, action and mythology slowly take shape and race towards the end, with the characters taking me along for a wild roller coaster ride to the finish.

Detroit Arson investigator by day, paranormal investigator by night, Anya Kalinczyk's power as a "lantern" has always kept her separate. Given a salamander (or Firedrake) named "Sparky" as a familiar by her mother, Anya has chosen only to pursue malignant, evil ghosts while leaving the benign and harmless ones alone. When a series of fires erupts across the city, Anya finds her daytime job and her nighttime vocation crossing paths - it seems she's not the only "lantern" in town and the other one wants to sacrifice her city to awaken Sirrush, a sleeping dragon god.

As Anya investigates the new fires and tries to distance herself from the paranormal, she finds herself caught between two colliding worlds. Ms. Bickle did an excellent job portraying Anya's current emotional state - she's used to being alone and it's difficult for her to trust others - while at the same time slowly giving us Anya's history so we could travel along on the road with her. Anya's fear and sense of self guilt have always played a part in keeping her distant even from those who could help.

The secondary characters, from Anya's ghost hunting associates to her co-workers all play an important part in this book. From Ciro, Katie and Brian, her ghost hunting associates who love her and are determined to help her grow both in her powers and a person, to Captain Marsh, her boss at work who values her input as an employee. While there are two villains in this story, there's only one i wanted to see come to a violent end. One of the villains, whose name I won't divulge because I don't want to give spoilers, is a sympathetic character who I felt truly sorry for at the end.

Will Anya be able to save Detroit from what's coming this Hell Night? And will she finally be able to let her friends in?
You'll need to read Embers to find out. Ms. Bickle did an excellent job creating a unique world with unique mythology and I can't wait to visit it again. I'm really looking forward to reading Sparks next. (less)

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Apr 01, 2012 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: decent-writing, urban-fantasy, not-great-but-not-bad-either, infodump, worth-a-read

This...wasn't bad. It's not mind-alteringly awesome; I'm not going to rave about it and accost people with copies of the book telling them they need to read it NOW! (Yes, I do actually do that.) It was, however, better than many of the urban fantasy books I've tried lately. I'd say it rates above a "meh" but below a "shiny" (which is itself below an "awesomesauce," just in case you're keeping track.)

The narrative stayed fairly tight, only wandering on occasion. The main characters were fairly we...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Sapphyria rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Laura Bickle's gritty urban fantasy novel based in Detroit, Michigan. I'm slightly biased since I'm from Michigan and have been to Detroit many times...thankfully I didn't have to deal with paranormal arsonists hellbent on raising an evil entity set on destroying the not only the city but the world.

Anya is a Lantern, a special form of medium that has the ability to devour spirits. They are drawn to her elemental light and then she goes through the painful process of eating them...more I really enjoyed Laura Bickle's gritty urban fantasy novel based in Detroit, Michigan. I'm slightly biased since I'm from Michigan and have been to Detroit many times...thankfully I didn't have to deal with paranormal arsonists hellbent on raising an evil entity set on destroying the not only the city but the world.

Anya is a Lantern, a special form of medium that has the ability to devour spirits. They are drawn to her elemental light and then she goes through the painful process of eating them so-to-speak. She is also an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department as well as a sort-of member of the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers (DAGR).

After investigating a few suspected arson sights, Anya realizes that she is battling a serial pyromaniac when she continues with find his calling card--a curved, serpentine shape, smoothly etched into the center of concrete floors. It is then she realizes that there is something much more menacing going on than just an arsonist out getting his jollies.

I really like Anya's character. She flawed...not a perfect heroine by any stretch of the imagination. Her elemental familiar, Sparky, is a salamander that lives in a necklace around her neck when he's not sitting in her lap, causing electrical meltdowns, or just plain being cute. He's only visible to Anya, spirits/ghosts, and other Lanterns. He's the only thing that keeps Anya grounded as far I could tell in Book 1.

When Anya finally catches up to the arsonist, she discovers that he, too, is a Lantern. A lantern named Drake, a very popular architect from the area that was assaulted and left for dead several years ago. He is the one trying to raise the ancient Sirrush.

Anya's romantic companions, Drake and Brian, left me baffled. Drake is the serial arsonist attempting to annihilate the world by raising a really bad entity so having the two of them get close didn't really appeal to me. Brian didn't get enough face time and we were unable to really see he and Anya interact. Brian and Anya just "were."

I have to point out a particular passage in the book: A member of DAGR, Katie, Anya's witchy friend has 2 cats names Vern, after Vernors, and Fay, after Faygo, very popular Michigan-based pop companies.

I will be reviewing Book 2, "Sparks," soon....Stay Tuned!

(Book provided at no cost in exchange for an honest review).(less)

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Nov 26, 2011 Sharonda (SexxyBlogger) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not what I was expecting, but a very good story to read. This was my first time reading a story where the main character is a medium and I gotta say I enjoyed it immensely. I was immediately drawn into the story from the start of the very first line.

Anya is a fire arson investigator during the day and at night, she works for DAGR as a lantern. She works as a spiritual vacuum, drawing in lingering spirits that do not or cannot move on. She is the last one called in when there are no other options...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Monk rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: supernatural-tart, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book had a good idea behind it, and the writing was okay - but it suffered from a few issues that make it a little outside of what I usually prefer.

It's the story of a arson investigator by day and a sort of medium-exorcist by night. Anya can see the dead, and also dispel them by means of 'eating' them. This makes her status as a 'Lantern' unique - possibly the only one of her kind - until she stumbles across an arsonist who shares her abilities. She finds out that this newcomer has big pla...more This book had a good idea behind it, and the writing was okay - but it suffered from a few issues that make it a little outside of what I usually prefer.

It's the story of a arson investigator by day and a sort of medium-exorcist by night. Anya can see the dead, and also dispel them by means of 'eating' them. This makes her status as a 'Lantern' unique - possibly the only one of her kind - until she stumbles across an arsonist who shares her abilities. She finds out that this newcomer has big plans for Detroit, namely that of setting the entirety of downtown ablaze.

Somehow, she determines that the arsonist is also highly screwable, in which lies a large part of my issue with the book.

I could get it if there hadn't been someone introduced literally in the first chapter who she's attracted to and acts on before she really gets to meet the arsonist. Maybe the arsonist could have been turned into a mentor of some kind, or some sort of bargain for insight into her condition might have been struck with a dark mystique and tension running under it that changes with time - but it's also established pretty early that she hates his guts, that he kills indiscriminately and that he devours the souls of the dead with absolutely no care for what happens to them. I don't know about anyone else, but if even the sexiest of women approached me and said 'let's get it on' I would say no if I knew she was 'I-will-cut-you' crazy. And oh boy, the arsonist is 'I-will-cut-you' crazy as defined by his actions (charismatic though he may be, he's still a serial murderer). Anya, as a character, kind of loses me at that point. One could make an argument that demonic possession had something to do with her decision (she was possessed at that point - but in control), but I thought the narrative was clear enough to indicate that Anya was all up ons when it came time to jump the arsonist's bones.

Which kind of makes Anya a character I don't really identify with or particularly like. I'm all about flawed characters - but usually when I determine someone is anathema to me... I usually am not banking on sleeping with them. That she makes this jump within a few scant pages kinda bothered me and made me think less of the character.

The supporting cast is okay - I really liked Ciro - if a bit vanilla. The 'good guy' love interest, Brian, got interesting for a moment when it's revealed he does contract work for the NSA but... then things happen that more or less turn him into a cardboard prop after that. The portrayal of ghosts was a little inconsistent too. Most ghosts were intensely one dimensional (makes sense for repeating ghosts) with a few noted exceptions (Annie the bar ghost and Felicity the dead hippie librarian). The formatting for when ghosts spoke seemed to shift by either the value of the ghost's contribution to the story and random chance. Again, easy to overlook as it's a formatting thing, but half way through the book, ghosts just stop talking in italics, then start up again a quarter from the end. Gets a little inconsistent is all.

The end also seemed a little slapped together, which is common for debut novels. I can easily forgive that though.

I'm not sure I'll keep reading - if I do it'll likely be from the local library. It may turn itself around, it might not.(less)

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Apr 10, 2011 Monster added it · review of another edition

Anya is an arson investigator in Detroit who has just discovered a ritual symbol and a countdown on the floor of a burned warehouse. She's also a Lantern, charged with elemental fire magic, and a devourer of wandering spirits (a gift she reluctantly puts to use in her off time work as a ghost hunter). Her private and professional lives are about to collide when she finds out her firebug might be a Lantern too.
Embers is different in a number of ways. Detroit and its decay play a very important ro...more

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Nov 11, 2010 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Anya Kalinczyk is a medium. A very rare type of medium, in fact, a Lantern, and not only can she see ghosts and other paranormal phenomenon, she can destroy them, taking them into herself and devouring them. But the price she pays is high and she's struggled to separate herself from the paranormal investigation team that goes out nightly to catalog and remove malevolent entities. Anya is trying especially hard to permanently quit that particular night job because by day, Anya is an arson investi...more Anya Kalinczyk is a medium. A very rare type of medium, in fact, a Lantern, and not only can she see ghosts and other paranormal phenomenon, she can destroy them, taking them into herself and devouring them. But the price she pays is high and she's struggled to separate herself from the paranormal investigation team that goes out nightly to catalog and remove malevolent entities. Anya is trying especially hard to permanently quit that particular night job because by day, Anya is an arson investigator for the Detroit Fire Department and she's got a firebug on her hands, a deadly arsonist leaving an arcane symbol burned into the floors of three buildings. Tying the three fires together is one thing, solving them is something else, and as the clock ticks and tension and horror mounts, it seems her arsonist not only has a deadly deadline in mind...but his identity and motivation may be connected to that very part of herself she's trying to set aside. When the moon rises on Devil's Night - the night before Halloween - Detroit will burn unless Anya can stop it...and it's going to take a Lantern to keep the evil shadows at bay.

Anya's story and the start of the Salamander's Tales series is an adept and complex book that manages to really hit all the satisfied-reader buttons. It doesn't read like a debut novel, nor the start of a series, and both aspects I particularly admire. Instead of the author dropping us down into the story at the beginning of important events and forcing a ton of world building and character development all at once, it's more like merging with the on ramp of a smooth and fluid story highway, and both Anya's character and the world in which she inhabits feels fully developed and realized from the very first page because of it. Anya has been trying to separate herself from the paranormal investigation group she's been a part of and the people in the group, secondary and ancillary characters in the novel, as well as Anya's place in the group, are narrated in such a way that all the tension and conflict Anya is dealing with from the very first page feels very organic. It's an exceptionally nice device to use, as it allows the reader to really dig into the character without a lot of meandering exposition. In fact, in this particular instance, it allows the crap to start hitting the fan from the get-go and sets up the main plot of the story with shocking, yet fully detailed, depth and consistency. With just a small lull towards the middle of the book, the pacing remained steady throughout, and the blend of plot progression and world detailing was particularly well done.

Anya is a solid, strong heroine, and while I can't say that she's my favorite heroine ever, she didn't annoy me as so many do in the genre. She's smart, independent, yet tragically flawed by a past that left her traumatic memories of childhood and a whole pallet of guilt, not to mention an almost pathological doubt that she's worth getting close to. Her one connection to love and close interpersonal relationships is her elemental familiar, Sparky. The adorable hellbender salamander has been her only friend since she was a little girl and he both protects and helps her in both her jobs...when he's not sticking his tongue into a light socket or taking a bite out of a computer board. He's sort of like a slightly deranged yet fiercely protective and...glowy...rottweiler. I loved everything about him. I was also thoroughly impressed and wowed by the choices Bickle made for her antagonist in Embers. This is no cardboard-cutout villain, and the time and attention to detail in his development is something I don't recall reading in recent memory. As three dimensional and damaged as Anya herself, I was happily amazed by his contribution to Anya's character development and their interactions. The secondary characters - the rest of Anya's paranormal group - were also nicely detailed...some more than others, but enough to be fully participatory in defining and explaining Anya's character and giving it more depth and connection to the world around her.

I don't have much to say that's not fully complimentary of this awesome debut, in fact. The only issues I had were very minor. I thought the plot bogged down a bit towards the center of the book, and I can't really say why without giving spoilers, but I'll say that there was an event that I thought was a bit too descriptive and slightly overwritten. The two major plot points that were involved in that event could've come a bit quicker, I thought, without losing the overall effect of the event. I also didn't necessarily agree with Anya's decision making at key points. There was nothing I could point to and say, "Sheesh, that's stupid" - which is a relief, as I abhor lead character stupidity...especially if it's simply a plot device to get the characters or plot to a certain point developmentally. There was however a couple of instances where I got a little annoyed with Anya for being a bit stubborn or letting pride get in the way of the big picture. Each instance was, however, resolved satisfactorily and so it wasn't even a major distraction. The only thing that really wasn't resolved for me personally was that, even as impressed as I am with the book, I didn't have a whole lot of emotional connection to what happened to the characters - except, oddly enough, the scenes with Anya and the antagonist. For the rest, I understood what Anya was feeling on a mental level, but didn't really empathize with her on an emotional one. I don't consider that a failing in the book, however, just a fact. Without a doubt, Embers is a five star read in my opinion, and I can't wait for Sparks, the second in the Salamander Tales! (less)

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Oct 13, 2010 Kavanand rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Embers is a terrific start to a new urban fantasy series. Anya Kalinczyk's day job is investigating arson for the Detroit Fire Department. By night, she works with a rag-tag group of ghost hunters. She’s a Lantern, a psychic with an affinity for fire and the ability to see and consume ghosts. She’s also got a salamander who likes to destroy appliances for a familiar (that’s a new urban fantasy twist).

Anya is investigating a series of suspicious fires for her day job, but her investigation begin...more

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Mar 31, 2010 Dark Faerie Tales rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quick & Dirty: An extraordinary tale of danger, ghosts and magic that will have you clamoring for more.

Opening Sentence: Truth burned. It always burned, even in the dark, cold hours of the morning when nearly everything slept.

The Review:

Anya has a day job as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department. When the freaks come out at night, she works with a ragtag group of ghost hunters aka the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers, fighting the good fight against malevolent spirits. Anya is...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Annette M Guerriero Nishimoto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Today's review is on Embers by Laura Bickle

Anya Kalinczyk is an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department. Not overly feminine, she is an unexpected heroine, which is a good change from the various other books I have read. Anya is a smart, hard working woman, trying to live as normal of a life as she can with her abilities.

Anya is a Lantern. She is able to consume ghosts. Though she only consumes the "bad" ones, she carries a wound in her chest from doing so. When her friends from DAGR...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Ami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy-paranormal-futuristic, 4-and-half-stars_rating

4.5 stars

Lieutenant Anya Kalinczyk is an arson investigator of the Detroit Fire Department by day and a Lantern (someone who can devour ghosts and demons) by night. Nearing Hallowe'en, a several arson cases lead to a ritual of calling an ancient spirit and Anya must battle with everything she has to save the city and the people she loves.

Oh, my, what a compelling debut of an urban fantasy series! Written in 3rd person (something rare in urban fantasy, I think), this story engages me from the beg...more 4.5 stars

Lieutenant Anya Kalinczyk is an arson investigator of the Detroit Fire Department by day and a Lantern (someone who can devour ghosts and demons) by night. Nearing Hallowe'en, a several arson cases lead to a ritual of calling an ancient spirit and Anya must battle with everything she has to save the city and the people she loves.

Oh, my, what a compelling debut of an urban fantasy series! Written in 3rd person (something rare in urban fantasy, I think), this story engages me from the beginning to end, mainly because the heroine, Anya is a bit different than the other heroines I have encountered. She is not snarky, or mouthy, or brassy and sassy, or anything ends with the letter "y". Instead, Anya is a bit stoic and there is sadness in her, mainly because of the guilt she carries from a tragedy happens in her childhood which leads to her Mother's death. Although she still has that deep determination to right things that are wrong but she is more quiet. I guess that makes Anya more down-to-earth ..

Luckily, her "pet" fire spirit, a salamander named Sparky, adds the humor / entertaining element in her life ... the only thing that stays with her all these years -- by the way, Sparky is probably one of my MOST FAVORITE non-human beings in urban fantasy series, he is just so cuddly. I think Anya's occupation as an arson investigator as well as a Lantern also adds to her charm.

Another winning element to this story is the added plot that relates to ancient myth going back to ancient Babylon -- of gods, goddesses, and dragons. I love reading about the description of Ishtar and Sirrush ... In addition to that, this story also has a tragic villain, where I feel more of deep sympathy towards him rather than hate. It's a beautiful ending actually, what happens to him.

The supporting characters, including Anya's friends at the DAGR (Detroit Area Ghost Researchers), her captain at the arson investigative division at DFD, as well as several ghosts that help Anya throughout the investigation are interesting as well. I do hope that Anya and Brian, the DAGR tech specialist who seems to held Anya's heart in his palm, will somehow get a better story next time because the emotion that is there is so deep and tender.

This story is edgy but at the same time sentimental. I am just in love with the characters and the sort of nostalgic nuance of Detroit. I cannot wait to read the sequel. In fact, I will probably put that on top of my reading list(less)

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Dec 31, 2011 Karen Ireland-Phillips rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Embers has an enormously inventive universe, based in decaying urban Detroit, a well-plotted storyline, and an engaging heroine. I really wanted to love this first work from Laura Bickle. Ultimately, though, it’s a disappointment.[return]Anya, a twenty-something arson investigator and full-time medium, bears pervasive guilt that as a child, she caused the fire that killed her mother. Like the guilt, she wears her mother’s legacy – the copper collar that is home to her familiar, a fire spirit nam...more Embers has an enormously inventive universe, based in decaying urban Detroit, a well-plotted storyline, and an engaging heroine. I really wanted to love this first work from Laura Bickle. Ultimately, though, it’s a disappointment.[return]Anya, a twenty-something arson investigator and full-time medium, bears pervasive guilt that as a child, she caused the fire that killed her mother. Like the guilt, she wears her mother’s legacy – the copper collar that is home to her familiar, a fire spirit named, (pun warning) Sparky. Invisible to most, Sparky is equal parts pet, dangerous annoyance, and unwanted chaperone.[return]As the story opens, Anya is trying to extricate herself from a psychic investigation team. But as a “Lantern”, a psychic that devours ghosts, she may be irreplaceable. She’s been called in to subdue a malignant haunting - a demon - but the aftermath leaves her injured and puts a colleague that might be a love interest in the hospital. [return]Work isn’t any less complicated. The serial arsonist she’s investigating moves from mere property damage to murder as the city prepares for the chaos of Devil’s Night, and she’s assigned to a team with a pompous, hostile police detective. She tracks down her suspect, another Lantern, through magic and diligent investigation. But magic isn’t a reality to her co-workers. Despite what the Lantern reveals to her about his plans to revive an ancient fire deity, the police let him go. Anya is forced off the team, and turns to her friends to investigate and stop the suspect’s plot.[return]Anya is a fully realized character, and Bickle does an excellent job on the emotional conflict Anya feels when faced with the villain, a man whom would be, in almost all ways, her perfect lover. She does less well with her secondary characters, especially the purported love interest.[return]But the worst problem was the clunky, illogical sentences that dropped me right out of the story. [return]I’m not any kind of snob about writing. My tolerance for typos grew from a misspent youth devouring poorly edited paperbacks. Story –the characters - are far more important than arcane rules of grammar. After all, Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton, both of whom can bludgeon a riveting story with questionable prose, are New York Times bestsellers. [return]Ms. Bickle hasn’t made it there yet. I knew I was in trouble on the first page, when the description of a haunted house left me confused. “Cables from the beat-up panel van parked curbside snaked under the front door, but no light shined inside.” P1 Where didn’t the light shine? In the house, the van, the cables or the front door? [return]Could be that I’m too picky. I read on, brushing aside similar issues as the plot absorbed me. [return]But then, describing a church service for a murdered fireman’s funeral at which Anya is seated far away from the altar: “The archbishop, a small man in a blindingly white robe and stole, seemed to blend in with the limestone interior, cut as sharply as the stone.” P146 Eh? Blinding and blended don’t go together. I get the intent, but it took a moment. [return]Each of the many sentences and paragraphs that failed to make sense distanced me more and more from the story. [return]But this, for me, shredded any credibility: “He picked her up, setting her on the edge of the table. She wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling his tongue thrusting in her mouth and his desire pressing against her belly.” P292[return]I couldn’t tell Anya that men’s “desires” don’t spring from above their waist. But I wished I could. [return]The climax of the story is satisfying, if replete with romance tropes. I’d read more of this author’s work, and more about this character, but I sincerely hope that the next book gets a better edit.(less)

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Aug 15, 2011 Jessica Bronder rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anya is a Lantern. Basically she can see ghosts, absorb them, and destroy them. Her general philosophy is that she ignores the ghosts unless she has to remove their presence. She is also protected by an elemental, Sparky a salamander that resides in a torc around her neck. She helps out the local ghost hunter team, DAGR, and works with the Detroit Fire Department as an investigator.

We start the story with seemingly random fires being set but a strange symbol being carved in the ground by the fi...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Beth Cato rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, urban

I read a lot of urban fantasy. I love the genre, but I find myself getting pickier as time goes on. There are a lot of good series and some of them are very long, requiring a major investment of time and money. That's a big reason why Embers sat in my to-read pile for over a year. "Do I really want to start yet another urban fantasy series, even if it just consists of two books?"

The short answer: yes.

Embers is a fun, modern fantasy adventure frolic that reminds me of everything I love in the gen...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Lorinda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books

Anya Kalinczyk is a rare psychic medium called a lantern, who spends her free time working with a group of ghost hunters and her professional life as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department. She is currently investigating a series of fires that enclude a ritualistic symbol that leads her to the the main suspect who also happens to be a lantern. After Anya participates in an exorcism of a demon possesed young girl, she finds herself possesed by the same demon who is very old and ve...more

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Oct 10, 2010 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, demons

It took longer than I prefer to feel attached to this book and the start was very slow yet I was hooked by the end. Urban fantasy is best in my opinion when the supporting cast is strong and I loved the secondary characters in this book. First books are always the most difficult for me but the setting felt real, I loved how myth was intertwined so well with the plot, and I love the world the writer has created.

There are no werewolves or vampires here so this might be a breath of fresh air for U...more

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Jun 14, 2010 Catherine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-paranormal-sci-fi, series, contemporary, crime-police-mystery-private-invest, demons, read-2010, ghosts, sucked

When I first saw the description for this book I was intrigued. I hadn't read anything like it before, so, yay, unique setting! The world of Lanterns, ghosts, and elemental spirits was an interesting one. I liked the thought of the DAGR group, but the thought was much more exciting than the execution. I'll get to that though.

I appreciated the fact that Anya questioned what she did as a Lantern. She did it, yes, but not without questioning the morality of it. Who was she to interfere with the aft...more When I first saw the description for this book I was intrigued. I hadn't read anything like it before, so, yay, unique setting! The world of Lanterns, ghosts, and elemental spirits was an interesting one. I liked the thought of the DAGR group, but the thought was much more exciting than the execution. I'll get to that though.

I appreciated the fact that Anya questioned what she did as a Lantern. She did it, yes, but not without questioning the morality of it. Who was she to interfere with the afterlife? Where did they go after she finished with them? As those were the very same questions running through my mind I liked that she had them too. Anya's elemental, Sparky, was my favorite character. The description of him was so cute. He had a glow worm toy and didn't like to sleep alone.

I liked how the ghosts were presented in this story. In most of the books I've read ghosts are presented one of two ways. They're either crazy and malicious or they're living life as normal, except for the dead part. Here we saw the malicious ones and the interactive ones (the library ghost) but we also saw another side of them. So many of the ghosts in this book were stuck in an endless loop. They didn't seem to know they were dead and they just kept endlessly repeating the last hours of their lives. It was sad.

So, if I liked all that why is this graded so low? Well, it wasn't the idea of the story that I had a problem with. It was the execution. This book read in a kind of monotone for me. The characters, even Anya, all seemed flat and bland to me. The events also seemed to unfold in a plodding, uneventful manner. It's hard to describe exactly what I mean. Everything seemed so surface, there was no real depth to anything. It was easy for the events to blur because there were no highs or lows. It just... plodded to the end.

The group DAGR had the potential to be interesting, but we never really got to know any of them. We almost got some depth to Katie, the witch, but her whole role was to be there when Anya needed something. We never got any insight into her actual character. Also, the fact that DAGR couldn't accomplish anything without Anya made them seem bumbling and foolish. It was hard to take them seriously.

Brian, one of Anya's love interests, was also a member of DAGR. Because we were presented with Anya and Brian's non-relationship when it was already established it was hard to see why they were so interested in each other. When Anya longs for Brian but can't risk him getting close it was not interesting to me as a reader. I don't know him further beyond his name and his job. Why would I care?

Anya's other love interest had more depth and was much more interesting, but their attraction made no sense. I thought it was highly unintelligent that she would risk her job for that. The sex scene in the book came out of nowhere too. All of a sudden they were doing it and I felt I missed something. Also, what happened with her job? She got suspended, but then she was back... why? Nothing was resolved in a legal sense. Why was she back at work? That made no sense.

The whole situation with Mimi was rather weak too. Anya felt she couldn't impose on Katie since she cut her ties with DAGR. Why exactly? Weren't you friends? You're an idiot. Your procrastinating made the situation almost impossible to fix. It was only by luck it was fixed at all. Also, what exactly was Mimi's plan? Anya's a gift, I get that, but why? The book was just frustrating to read. (less)

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Jun 05, 2010 Bookaholics rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Embers by Laura Bickle
Urban Fantasy- March 30th, 2010
4 1/2 to 5 stars

Anya Kalincyzk is a arson investigator with Detroit Fire Department in the daytime and a medium that specializes in difficult ghosts and demons at night. After work, she works with Detroit Area Ghost Researchers (DAGR), a group made up of a witch, demonologist, and techie among others. Together with her pet elemental, Sparky, Anya is racing against time to stop a mysterious arsonist who may be a Lantern - a powerful medium that...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Melissa Caldwell rated it 5 of 5 stars

So this is a book that starts off very good and ends VERY good. I cannot tell you how much of a kick @$$ heroine Anya is. She's sharp witty, funny, and strong. I like that. The writing is superb and fun. The action is knock your socks off (and probably your teeth too) amazing. Anya isn't your, "let's fight in high heels and a bustier", kind of chick; but she does have a soft side. There's a balance to her personality that I think Laura Bickle captures very well. You see she's got vulnerable spot...more

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May 14, 2012 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I may be the lone she-wolf here but I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I had no trouble finishing the entire novel and yes, it was interesting and different but on the other hand, it was missing a sought of "piazzas" and had an air of predictability about it. This book didn't thrill me or excite me; there isn't anything that the author did wrong per se, it was just ok.

I will recommend this book to fellow dark urban fantasy readers, just because it's something different and it's not...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Stacy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reviewed by http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blo...

This book had such mixed reviews it took me almost a year to finally read it. Ive read Laura's other series under the name of Alayna Williams and really enjoyed it, I also saw a review of this series from a reviewer I trust the opinion of and finally decided to give it a try. Laura has a wonderful way of bringing unique situations to her books, her writing style is also very engaging. Anya was easy to like and easy to follow, she is very troubl...more

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May 22, 2010 Larissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Rating: 3 & 1/2 stars out of 5!

I absolutely love the Urban Fantasy (UF) genre, along with Paranormal Romance, it definitely gets the top spot in my heart as for my taste in reading. It is specially amazing when a new book or series comes along with a new take on an old theme or deals with a subject that hasn’t been written about before.

Embers is all about fire and fire creatures, it tells the story of Anya, a Arson Investigator for the Detroit Fire department that is also a Lantern. She...more

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Embers (Anya Kalinczyk #1)

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