I promise this will be my forelast post about the “Lady of Darkness” series, but I’ve read the last three books back-to-back. After the cliffhanger in Lady of Ashes, I needed to know what would happen next. The only way to find out was to dive straight into Lady of Embers and that’s exactly what I did. This review contains spoilers for the previous books in this series.

About the book

Lady of Embers by Melissa K. Roehrich
Series: Lady of Darkness #4
Published by Independently published on September 27, 2022
Pages: 646
ISBN: 9798985299120
Genres: Fantasy, New adult, Romantasy

There was no preparing for her storm.

Wrath.
When they met her, she was a whirlwind of shadows and darkness. Standing among the ashes of betrayal and grief, now she is a tempest of rage and malice. Queen Scarlett Aditya will hunt them all down, one by one, and make them pay. Starting with the one who took her brightest star from her.
Acceptance.
She knows she will come for her. Her betrayal was too great. She deserves the storm of fury that will end her, but until then Queen Talwyn Semiria will protect a secret that could turn the tides in the coming war. But when the time comes to pay for her sins, will she be able to give up everything? And will it even be enough?
Hope.
A kingdom wrapped in mystery, locked away behind wards to protect its secrets. That is where the last hope of King Callan Solgard lies to get his throne back. But does he even want it any more? Will it cost him more than what he’s already lost? Or will new nightmares draw him from the light and into the darkness?
It’s time to start a fire and let it burn.
Lady of Embers is book 4 of 5 in the Lady of Darkness series. It is a new adult, dark fantasy romance novel. It features slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, fated mates tropes and may have triggers of love-hate themes, sexual scenes (both consensual), references to abuse (sexual), violence, and jealous/possessive themes. It is part of a series and does end on a cliffhanger.

My review

Expectations beforehand

After reading the first three books in this series, I already knew what to expect and that said expectations would be quite high. The cliffhanger at the end of every book is irritating, because I really need to know what’s going to happen next. I expected to find more puzzle pieces and also the world to be expended even more.

Synopsis

Scarlett and the others don’t know how to act after Sorin has been brutally killed by Talwyn’s power. They lost their prince, their best friend and their husband. Together they need to navigate through this trauma, but war is lingering on their doorstep. Are they able to accomplish their mission amidst their grief and find an entrance to Avanlea, the missing keys and the lock?

Characters

Every single book, the cast of characters gets expended. This book is of course focused on Scarlett, but Roehrich also shifts to Cyrus and Cassius. Cyrus gets his own POV now and this way we learn more of his trauma and struggles. He and Cassius might be a big part of the bigger picture somehow. Furthermore, we also learn more about Talwyn and how she deals with the aftermath of the events in the throne room. She struggles too, which wasn’t really clear in the earlier books. Even though the cast of characters is rich, they all get the time and space they need. They are written well and no one is there to fill up space without contributing something.

Atmosphere

Because of the looming battles and threats of Alaric, the atmosphere is tense and dark most of the time. There are several battles to be fought and also several losses to be grieved. However, there still is room for light banter between the characters, but this book focuses more on the dark side of battle. Therefore it’s such an emotional installment, just like the rest of the series.

Writing and plot

Again, the writing was indulging. This time however, Roehrich put some flashback in which is necessary for the progression of the plot, but I was a bit confused at first. Maybe I was still too shocked by what went down before. The multiple POV narration again is necessary, especially as the group embarks on seperate missions at some point. Everyone fits the puzzle somehow and the POV switching only makes this more clear. The plot is therefore intriguing as well, I wanted to continue reading to find out what would happen next. Even though this book is more focused on the characters and their emotions, there is enough room for more world building and more questions and revalations. This book again ends on a cliffhanger, but I think this one was less bad than the previous ones. This series deals with such serious themes which are discovered in depth. This applies especially to trauma and how to navigate that.

Final thoughts

Lady of Embers by Melissa K. Roehrich is yet another great read. The world is expended by each book, as are the characters and their growth. The atmosphere is pretty tense and dark for the most part of this book, because there are some serious themes woven into the plot. However, there is still room for lighter banter. The cliffhanger is huge, but for me it was not as agonizing as the previous ones. That ddidn’t hold me back from diving straight into Lady of Starfire though.