Back of Book: 

As this city burns, so does his heart...

Cas Nightbrook lives on a knife’s edge, surviving by precision, cunning, and grit. A thief in the brutal city of Analon, his only goals are protecting his younger sister and avenging his parents’ murder at the hands of the crown.

So when Cas is invited to The Emberlight Trials—a deadly initiation run by a rebel order with links to a forbidden and hunted magical race—he jumps at the chance to get justice.

What he doesn’t anticipate is Darion Thorne.

Charming, infuriating, and always one step ahead, Darion keeps showing up in places Cas doesn’t expect. He sees through Cas’s defenses and tempts him to want something more than just survival.

But Darion's secrets run deep. As the rebellion breaks into the streets and the city burns, Cas must choose between vengeance, his sister's life, and a man whose hidden past could destroy everything he's fought to protect.

Book Number: One 

Genre: Adult | Fantasy | Romance | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The start to an exciting high fantasy series that hooked me from the very first chapter. 

Cas Nightbrook is a talented thief that roams the city of Analon stealing from the rich and making a livelihood for himself. The only things he truly cares about is protecting his younger sister, Elena, and getting revenge against the man who killed his parents, Orlik "The Butcher" Leonom. Therefore, it's a no brainer when Cas is invited to partake in the elite Emberlight Trials. The Trials are run by a group of mysterious people with magic running through their veins known as Embers, and Cas knows that they hate the king and his followers as much as he does. What Cas didn't expect was Darion Thorne to stumble into his life and turn everything upside down. The charming lad is brimming with magic and always seems to be one step ahead. Cas is slow to trust, but he can't help but fall for Darion despite the many secrets the man hides. Cas and Darion must team up if they are to get the revenge they desire and protect everything that they have ever loved. 

I've seen Winters' books pop up from time to time and have applied to read several of them, so I was super happy when I was finally approved to read "Embers of Analon." I was actually shocked to learn that his books are published by an indie press because the covers fit right in with all the popular fantasy and horror books of this day and age. Anyway, I had a great time with this one, so let's get into it. 

From the beginning, I was hooked on the fact that Cas is a thief. Books with thief MCs tend to almost always be a blast, and the start had my hopes quite high. It didn't take me long to fall in love with Cas and his little sister, Elena, as they are both great people that are fighting to survive in a world that is actively trying to kill them. 

The first portion of this book mostly focuses on Cas trying to beat the Emberlight Trials. There is a ton of mystery surrounding the Trials and Embers themselves, so I was desperately flipping the pages to learn more about the magical elements of this world. As Cas goes through the Trials, he runs into a dashing fellow by the name of Darion, whom I also came to like pretty quickly. He is definitely more optimistic and trusting than Cas is, so it was nice to add a bit of sunshine to this rather dreary book. 

It doesn't take long before Cas and Darion are flirting with one another and the romance picks up. Cas isn't quick to trust, but he doesn't mind sleeping around either. It was pretty obvious that these two started their relationship off with different intentions, but they are cute together nonetheless. These two already go through a ton of conflicts with each other in this first book (mainly involving Cas not trusting Darion and Darion withholding important information), so I'm interested to see how their relationship evolves as this series progresses. 

Surprisingly for an adult romantasy book, there are actually only two explicit sex scenes in this one. The bath scene was well done, and I wasn't shocked that either of these incidents ends the way they did. Cas and Darion are constantly going at it, but their intimacy is alluded to more than it is actually displayed on the page. 

The magic system and fantasy plot are both pretty typical in this one, but I still had a great time reading it. There is a group of people with magic in their veins that are called Embers and they are being hunted by the king's men. If one is suspected of possessing magic, the king's guards can take you away, no questions asked. It was pretty obvious from the start that our main cast of characters possess such Embers, but I won't specifically go into details. I will say that Embers allow their wielders to do many different things such as manipulate time and space, possess great strength or stealth, and even shapeshift. Everyone has different abilities, so Winters keeps the reader on their toes a bit. 

I am really curious to see where the plot of book two goes. Cas and Elena definitely have something unique about their bloodline. They are completely undocumented, yet possess magic, which is very suspicious. I have a few theories already, but I obviously won't be sharing them here. The end of this book was quite urgent, though I wouldn't classify it as a cliffhanger. Regardless, I will be keeping close tabs on Winters in the hopes that I can snag a copy of book two at some point! 

Overall, "Embers of Analon" is an exciting queer romantasy following a thief as they learn to harness their unique abilities. This book reads like many other epic fantasies, but I honestly think that is a good thing. I feel if you are fan of stories like "The Hobbit" or "Eragon," you would be down for reading this book. I personally got very invested in Cas, Darion, and Elena's lives over the course of this book, so I am ready for the second one as soon as possible. I'll be watching you Winters, because I'm super stoked to read volume two!