Review of Death’s Embrace Series by H.L. Moore
Blurb“Doran had a problem, and it wasn’t that he’d been stabbed.”
Iole City is in turmoil. Doran Ó Seanáin, leader of the Black Lung Gang, is determined to bring the Lord Archon – Iole’s tyrannical ruler – down for his brutal treatment of the miners. But Doran has more to deal with than getting stabbed, a stalemate and city-wide lockdown that’s seeing his gang of ex-miners being slowly starved out of their base – his daughter Grace has turned against him, and the weight of his wife’s death two years prior haunts them both.
Things start to look up when he’s inexplicably drawn to Nathaniel Morgenstern, the apotheker with a mysterious past he owes his life to, but Doran is in way over his head. The fate of the mines hangs in the balance; the clock is ticking and the Archon is closing in. Doran’s plan to break the cycle may very well be his last.
This was my first book by this author, and I had no idea what to expect.
But my heart being ripped from my chest wasn’t it.
Doran is the leader of the Black Lung Gang, an association of miners who are striking against the policies of the Archon of Iole City. He’s also a man grieving the death of his wife three years ago, and the subsequent estrangement from his daughter, Grace.
Doran had slipped to alcoholism in the wake of his wife’s murder, which not only estranged Grace, but also some of his closest friends. Rhian, his deceased wife, was a privileged member of the noble class, but who left that life behind for Doran, founded the Miners’ Liberation Association and was working for the rights of the miners to safer, regulated working conditions and better pay. After her death, the Archon undid everything she was working for and Doran changed the association to the Black Lung Gang and has been trying to carry on her work, albeit in a more violent way.
The miners’ strike has been going on for two years and a demonstration turns violent. Doran is stabbed and he kills the guard who stabs him before escaping. He ends up in an apothecary by Nathaniel Morgenstern who takes care of his injuries, stitches him up, and sends him on his way.
Doran has been pulled out of his grief and alcohol induced spiral by Tsa Lien, his second in command, who isn’t even a miner. She is the Broker who has a network of informants spread throughout the city.
For some reason, Lien doesn’t like his association with Morgenstern, but Doran finds himself seeking the apothekar more and more. His attempts to reconcile with his daughter falls flat and Grace is betrothed to the Archon now.
In desperation, Doran forms the idea to blow up the mines. The mines are the lifeblood of the city and the only item of trade they have. It also has religious significance to the Arajoni, who treat it as a gift from their goddess Sionnan.
In the midst of the chaos of his life, Doran’s only refuge is Nathaniel’s shop and his presence, but Nathaniel is hiding secrets of his own. Addicted to a toxic drug called Death’s Embrace made from a poisonous plant, his days are numbered, but that isn’t the worst thing about him.
From the beginning, this book grabbed me and refused to let me go. Doran, Nathaniel, and Lien are all extremely relatable characters who felt real. There are no chunky blocks of text to describe the past, the world, the religion, and yet, all of it is brought to life vividly.
The prose is evocative and made me feel everything that much more intensely.
There aren’t many fantasy elements in this, no magic or anything and the world that Doran inhabits is very grim and stained with coal dust.
I was able to guess the main plot twist about Nathaniel, so good was the author’s foreshadowing.
On a side note, I was reading this while waiting for my daughter’s medical appointment at the hospital.
Immediately on finishing it, I started the next book.
If you love character driven fantasy with complex characters, well developed worlds, and fast paced plots, you will find this right up your alley.
You can find Heart of Dust here and here.
Book 2: Soul of Ash
Blurb‘You can run, but you will never be free.’
Half a year after the events of Heart Of Dust, Doran Ó Seanáin now finds himself trapped between two worlds while belonging to neither. Held in contempt by the upper class for the turmoil he caused during Archon Bryson’s reign and resented by the miners for selling out, Leonora Darkwater’s bid to purchase the mines from the crown may be his salvation. But the offer is far more complicated than it appears, and the only person Doran trusts is the same man who threw his life into chaos.
Haunted by his past, held hostage by his debt to the Archon, and a slave to the poison that keeps him alive, atonement feels perpetually out of reach for Nathaniel Morgenstern. Too much damage has been done and too much has gone unsaid for time alone to heal the wounds between him and Doran.
Unfortunately, time is the one thing they don’t have as their lives collide once more. There are vipers in Arajon; the mines aren’t finished with Doran, and the sand in Nathaniel’s hourglass is running out.
This one continues the story. The Archon is dead, and Grace, as his widow has taken charge of Iole City. She ends the strike by acceding to the miners’ demands, but Doran, as her father, lives with her in the Archon’s palace now. He is not trusted by the miners and is out of place among the nobles.
This one also has Nathaniel’s POV, and he is struggling. Grace spares his life, but he is now indentured to the mines, and required to pay back the money the Nameless took, even though he wasn’t the recipient of the full amount. Aside from finances, and a guilty conscience, he is also struggling with his feelings for Doran and his addiction to Death’s Embrace.
Grace has to find a way to appease the nobles without making the lower classes suffer, and she is increasingly struggling to keep up with the demands of being the Dowager Archon and the ruler of the city. She has been trying to reach out to the Valley, to seek the High Druid’s help, but the High Druid has refused every one of her invitations.
Doran is also struggling with reconciling his feelings for Nathaniel with guilt over Rhian, and when Lenora Darkwater, one of the nobles whose roots, like Doran’s, are in the Valley, wants to buy the mines, he is beginning to consider it positively.
But Lenora is hiding something, and her secrets may destroy more than the mines and the miners’ dreams.
Once again, fast paced but with enough room for the characters to grow, to find themselves, to deal with their own inner monsters while having to survive a world that seems determined to trample them underfoot. I loved that Nathaniel got his own PoV in this because he is such an intriguing character.
Despite having been an assassin for most of his adult life, and a killer since fourteen, he comes across as a good person, with a capacity for kindness that is astounding.
Incredible character work, a compelling plot, and evocative writing all combine to form yet another unforgettable book.
I’m off to read the next book.
You can find Soul of Ash here and here
Book 3: Throne of Lies
BlurbThere are vipers in Arajon, from the Valley to the Bronze.
Grace Harrington, the Dowager Archon of Arajon, is approaching her first anniversary on the throne she claimed following the death of her husband, slain at her own hands.
But her position is so precarious that even the unwelcome presence of the former assassin Nathaniel Morgenstern, watching over her at her father’s behest, cannot protect her from her enemies. The city’s press has turned against her, the Bronze is rallying behind Odessa White, and her last hope of support from the Druids has gone up in smoke.
The lies are adding up. A coup is coming for Grace, and she is running out of people in the city to trust…
Grace’s precarious throne is on the verge of being usurped by Odessa White, who is married to Bianca, who has a blood tie to the previous Archons. Doran and Nathaniel are exploring their newfound feelings, Lien and Nathaniel has found a balance in their relationship, and nothing is heard from Lenora, so things are both peaceful and not.
When Grace’s envoy to the valley is found dead in a way that suggests ritual execution by the druids, her captain of the guards wants to take an army to the valley, which Grace refuses. A shooting at a public protest has already caused a cull in the ranks of the guards, but when the dismissed guards are all hired by nobles as bodyguards, Doran fears a coup in the making with the new private army of the nobles.
When the former captain of guards confirm his fears, Doran, Nathaniel, and Lien has to find a way to protect Grace. Nathaniel acts as her bodyguard, while ostensibly being her herbalist, but Grace’s hatred of him hasn’t lessened an iota.
When Grace’s grandmother is poisoned on the eve of an important event, they fear that a coup is closer than ever.
This one was as fast paced as the rest. I love Grace and how her struggles and her emotions are both brought to life so vividly. She is such a mature character that it’s hard to remember she’s only eighteen and already dealing with so much. Even Doran has to be reminded by Nathaniel that his daughter is only eighteen.
The end of this book has my heart in complete tatters and therefore, I have to read the next book IMMEDIATELY.
You can find Throne of Lies here and here
Book 4: Valley of Secrets
BlurbThis city of fools will be brought to order!
Deposed, her father presumed dead, her friends slaughtered and the cavern in chaos, Grace Harrington is on the run and entirely alone. The only ally she has left is the man she hates most in the world: Nathaniel Morgenstern, the assassin who murdered her mother and seduced her father.
Grace’s only hope of reclaiming the throne and saving her people is to seek the aid of Éamon Tadhg, the High Druid of Arajon. But she needs to survive the hostile streets of Iole City before she can even think about fleeing to the Violet Valley.
Nathaniel made a vow to Doran to protect Grace, but he could never have imagined how quickly and horrifically their lives would fall apart.
Grieving the dual losses of the man he loved and his new friend Tsa Lien, Nathaniel devotes himself to the service of the overthrown Lady Archon who despises him – even if it costs him everything he is.
This is the longest book in the series, and no wonder, it has a lot of things to tie up. It’s not the last book of the series, but does offer some kind of closure, so readers can wait for the next book with some modicum of peace.
The coup has Grace and Nathaniel hiding out in the immigrant quarter of the Sīzhèn District, where he, Doran, and Tsa Lien had their weekly Mahjong game. Grieving Tsa Lien and Doran, both of them have no one but each other, even though Grace still hates Nathaniel.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Except Tsa Lien isn’t dead. She isn’t even human or even a she. It’s a Shadow Eater, just as Nathaniel had said when they first met. The shadow eater had possessed the dying twelve year old Tsa Lien, had made her identity its own, and had forgotten its own origins. Despite its propensity to consume souls, the worse the better, the memory of Tsa Lien refuses to let go.
The Nameless were originally made to counter the Shadow Eaters, the ones without names, souls, with poison running in their veins, and armed with the only weapon capable of harming the Shadow Eater. But it’s Nathaniel who finally brings the Shadow Eater back, forcing it into becoming Tsa Lien once again.
Though Lenora Darkwater has agreed to help Grace, and has helped in spreading the word of her survival and in cobbling together a resistance, her motives are still suspect.
Doran is also not dead, having been saved by a wisteria growing between the rocks. He manages to climb to the fall cells, to rescue Gertrude and make his way out. He manages to make his way to Sīzhèn District, and has a brief reunion with Nathaniel and Tsa Lien.
Because Grace has decided to go to the Valley, to seek the blessings and support from the Druids, and Doran is going with her.
But the Druids of the Valley are not going to be impressed by an obvious Southerner who hasn’t appeared to accept her Valley heritage, who hasn’t made the pilgrimage to the Valley despite having been the ruler of Iole City for a year.
What is worse, Nathaniel and Tsa Lien are contacted by the Helvetic Ambassador who informs them that an army of Wardens is on their way, and whether they come as an invader or a support to Grace depends on their choices. The wardens are the very ones whose destruction of their homeland left Nathaniel an orphan and his people homeless and unmoored. But unless they ally themselves, Iole city would be the next Haderach.
As I said at the beginning, there is a closure at the end, and a tinge of hope in the horizon despite all the challenges that come with it. A Warden Sanctum is in Iole city now, and Lenora is missing. The Silent Sisters are watching, and the Helvetic Empire is not going to be content with being a silent spectator anymore.
All the same, there is hope, for Iole City, for Grace, Doran, for Nathaniel, for Lien and I’m content with it for now.
If you love well developed fantasy worlds with fast paced, compelling plot lines, complex, flawed, and well rounded characters who feels real, you should give this book and this series a try.
