It’s hard to describe exactly how much I enjoyed Witch Ember by John Lawson. I don’t even know if “enjoy” is the right word to use, but it was an amazing book. I’ve been struggling with how to write this review and how to sort out my feelings and do the book justice. I certainly wouldn’t call this a cheerful book (it’s full of despair), but it’s a book of fighting for what’s right and never giving up despite seemingly never ending tumultuous struggles. It’s a book about standing up for what you believe in, fighting for those less fortunate, overcoming injustice, and it’s all set in one of the most intricate dark fantasy worlds that I’ve read.
Witch Ember is the story of Esmeree, a girl who is born with a large ember in her chest and is destined for great things, but also destined to be proclaimed a witch and a heretic in achieving those great things. An ember is a stone…a magical stone that is said to be a fragment of the gods. Some are born with them, though most are small. Esmeree’s is large and with it comes great power. She doesn’t achieve this power immediately though and doesn’t realize what she has when she is young.
In her town there is great poverty except for a choice few and most of the children are parentless. They are left to the streets to fend for themselves and make their living as thiefs and prostitutes. I have to admit that I had a serious problem with this and almost put the book aside at first, but I’m glad I didn’t. There are no graphic sex scenes with children, but the language is explicit and a lot is inferred. As I continued reading though, I saw where he was going with it. Esmeree remembers her childhood and wants something better for herself and her friends. She wants something better for the world. That disgust we feel as a reader is surely multiplied a thousand-fold by Esmeree.
She takes what she knows and becomes a Sellaria, a woman who is studied in the fine arts of love-making and courting. With this title, she gains a little more power but in doing so is secretly thrown into a scheme to betray other “witches” with her own powers. She slowly begins to realize the extent of her powers and sees that she must fight for her cause and fight for what is right, while all along trying to balance her belief in God, her own powers, and the label of heretic that comes with those powers as the Medianists seek her out for her acts of heresy so that they can conduct an inquisition and hopefully bring her to her demise.
There’s so much more to this book than just that, but this is the very basic plot. Lawson has created some of the most amazing and inventive dark fantasy creatures that I’ve read including the Fee, a species of creatures made of twigs, branches, wicker, and leaves; the Rrakks, a truly terrifying group of creatures with no eyes that collect children as a source of power; and my favorite was the Asp who is a man covered in blue tattoos wearing different masks to show his emotions with a wonderful personality.
His writing is absolutely superb and I’m curious to know if he’s written more than just these two books. He seems like an extremely well seasoned writer and I’m surprised he’s not with a bigger publishing company. Throughout the book there are some poems, songs, and myths that seem like they could be taken from ancient folklore. They’re so well written. I never lost interest in this book, he held me in suspense or kept me so connected to the characters that I continued to feel connected to their journey. Here’s a favorite passage taken from when Esmeree tells the Asp that she is planning for the future, thinking of what is to come…
...”A soul questing for perfection, Esmeree, is a soul in pain. You must follow the whims of your spirit. Live in the moment, and follow your heart. Live not in fear but in love.”
“Love?”
“Love is a mirror of the divine, Esmeree. Fear not the future, for it will come whether you prepare for it or not.”
Great passage, huh? How true!
This is certainly an adult book which is something that some may want to keep in mind before reading this one. There’s quite a bit of disturbing scenes in here, a good many of them involving children, and there are many sexual scenes though not many actual sex scenes if that makes any sense at all. But it really didn’t bother me aside from the beginning like I mentioned earlier, and as I got further into the book and saw his reasoning in including that it made the book that much more powerful. So if you tend to read the same types of books as me, I don’t think this is something that you can’t handle.
Overall this was an absolutely amazing book and I’m bumping it up to favorite read of 2008 so far. I have his second book also which I’ll be reviewing a little later. Highly, highly recommended.
Edit to add: You can find out more about Mr. Lawson’s books, read a chapter from the book, and buy autographed copies through his website at www.witchember.com .
Filed under: book review, fantasy | Tagged: book review, fantasy, john lawson, witch ember
I haven’t heard of this before but it certainly does sound interesting. The fact that it is pretty adult in content doesn’t put me off. I look forward to reading your review of his other book and seeing if you liked it as much.
“It’s a book about standing up for what you believe in, fighting for those less fortunate, overcoming injustice, and it’s all set in one of the most intricate dark fantasy worlds that I’ve read.”
Sold!
This sounds absolutely amazing. And I know I can’t speak without reading it first, but I dare say that your review did make it justice. You totally convinced me that this is a very powerful book that I really MUST read.
Rhinoa, It was absolutely amazing! It’s published by a really underground publisher, so it’s not very widely known, but it was so good! I know you’d love it. I say it’s adult, but it’s no more adult than say Gaiman’s American Gods…just more adult themes. Which was very welcomed for me. I hadn’t read a good adult fantasy in awhile, so I really enjoyed this one.
Nymeth, Glad I sold you! I really hope that you read this one…it’s so good and it just never lets go. Starts off good and keeps getting better. It really is a very powerful book and I could just feel all of the emotions that the characters felt. I wish I had that experience with more books.
Thank you for the kind words, Chris! I’m so glad you enjoyed the book.
You can find more information on my books at my websites:
http://www.witchember.com
http://www.myspace.com/witchember
John, No problem! You’ve written such an amazing book here and I hope that it gets a more wide read audience. It certainly deserves it. Can’t wait to read The Raven now!
wow,you’re bought me completely, I want to read this book now!unfortunately it’s not published in the UK or ireland but that’s ok. I’ll get it from our faithful american supplier:-) I’m sure our fantasy section needs this book!!
Okay, straight to the wish list this one goes! But I am glad to have read your review first…I can see how I might have been upset with the beginnings you describe. I don’t have a problem with sex or violence or profanity in a book, as long as it serves a purpose. But sometimes, I have a tough time with “bad stuff” happening to children or animals. Sounds like this is a definite winner!
Will have to look for this one. It sounds good. Let’s just hope it can be found at the local library
Valentina, Looks like he’s looking for a more mainstream publisher right now that would get him a more wide audience. He actually has 4 books written and is working on a 5th! But he’s only been able to publish 2. So yeah, the only people he’s been able to publish with so far is Publish America, so that’s a bummer for overseas publication…but it’s definitely a book that’s worth bringing overseas and it would be great to get a few copies over there!
Debi, I’m glad it’s on the wishlist!! I’m the exact same way…no problem with sex, violence, etc if it’s there for a purpose…so the beginning was a little disturbing to me because all of these kids are thrown into this life of sex and violence and I didn’t see the purpose at first, but it made sense later and it certainly couldn’t have been any other way. Definitely a winner!
Becky, It was really good! Yeah, unfortunately since it’s published through such an underground publisher, I think it drove the price of the book up a little bit :/ but I think it’s certainly worth it! But definitely check your library!
Wow!!! I love stories about people fighting valiant fights. I wonder if he could try Juno. Paranormal romance with strong women. Not sure from the review if there is any kind of a romance, though. But hey, he could send Paula a note. -C
Carole, You know…I was thinking of Juno the whole time I was reading the book! I might shoot him an email and ask him if he knows about them. There is a romance in the book and it’s quite a powerful one, but it doesn’t come in until the end…though there are some romantic elements now that I think about it throughout the entirety of it. I think I will let him know about Juno. His only concern is that his books tend to be really long and a lot of publishers tend to be turned off by new authors with long books. You think Juno would have a problem with that?
I appreciate all the great buzz Chris’s review has generated. I do hope you give my books a try, and more importantly, that you enjoy them.
Re PublishAmerica: At one point, I heard that PA began a UK printing house for Euro sales, but now that I look for it, I can’t find any evidence of it. Must have been the voices in my head again…
Re Juno: I’ve looked into Juno. (Heck, I look into nearly every small print publisher that comes to my attention.) The problem with Juno is that they are very clear on only being interested in books with strong female protagonists. That would be great for WITCH EMBER, but not so great for THE RAVEN or some of my other related projects. While I want increased visibility for WITCH EMBER, I also need to find homes for my newer projects. Ideally, that would be a publisher who could take all of my books. But… beggars can’t be choosers. When WE’s run with PublishAmerica expires, I’ll be looking around for new options. Juno might just be it. Thanks!
Definitely sounds like an interesting book. Love that passage you quoted. Nothing better than reading a book where passages leap out and grab ahold of you.
unfortunately I’ve checked our supplier and the discount is only 5%:( meaning the shop would hardly make any money out of it and the fact that it has to be shipped from the states doesn’t help!so I can’t stock it…
But I will buy of for myself, cause I really want to read it now!
Carl, Very interesting book! And that passage really did jump out. Always a good sign.
Valentina, That’s too bad! But that’s the way it goes I guess. I’m glad you’re getting one for yourself though! I hope you enjoy it
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