From the Publisher
This highly readable middle grade fantasy adventure wins with its likable heroine and ecological angle.” — School Library Journal
“Fawcett’s story is full of original details that add depth… But it is the richly nuanced primary and secondary characters, as well as the evenhanded inclusion of females as intelligent scientists, that give the story its richness… Fresh and original.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Stunning descriptions and well-rounded characters are woven into a story that hums with excitement and adventure.” — ALA Booklist
“A n interesting twist on the typical dragon novel…. Bookworm readers will relate to Ember’s solitude-loving character in spite of her different species, and astute readers will see real-life parallels to the ethics of dragon hunting.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Smart, funny and full of wonder. Part gripping Arctic adventure, part richly woven fantasy, this is the rare type of story that readers will want to visit again and again.” — Kim Ventrella, author of Skeleton Tree and Bone Hollow
“Full of intrigue and adventure, magic and science, Ember and the Ice Dragons will keep you reading all the way to the last icy, breathless page.” — Ruth Lauren, author of Prisoner of Ice and Snow
“A hugely inventive and enjoyable fantasy. Pure magic.” — Claire Fayers, author of The Voyage to Magical North
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “An utterly inventive and wholly original debut.” — Booklist
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “With a dash of romantic entanglement, a rich original mythology, and a sizzler of a twist at the end, this duology opener will appeal to fans of femalecentric fantasy by such authors as Leigh Bardugo and Sarah Maas.” — Kirkus Reviews
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “Brilliantly rendering aspects of mountaineering, debut novelist fawcett makes readers feel the constant danger and bitter cold.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “Fawcett brings snow-capped mountains—and their baleful secrets—alive in this magical, atmospheric debut.” — Evelyn Skye, New York Times bestselling author of The Crown’s Game and The Crown’s Fate
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “Cinematically vivid…immersive and absorbing.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “A lush adventure filled with magic, myth, and monsters. Even the Darkest Stars will sweep you off your feet, steal your heart somewhere between the mountains and sky, and leave you breathless.” — Sarah Glenn Marsh, author of Fear the Drowning Deep and Reign of the Fallen
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “Brilliantly rendering aspects of mountaineering, debut novelist fawcett makes readers feel the constant danger and bitter cold.
Ruth Lauren
Full of intrigue and adventure, magic and science, Ember and the Ice Dragons will keep you reading all the way to the last icy, breathless page.
Booklist
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “An utterly inventive and wholly original debut.
Claire Fayers
A hugely inventive and enjoyable fantasy. Pure magic.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
A n interesting twist on the typical dragon novel…. Bookworm readers will relate to Ember’s solitude-loving character in spite of her different species, and astute readers will see real-life parallels to the ethics of dragon hunting.
ALA Booklist
Stunning descriptions and well-rounded characters are woven into a story that hums with excitement and adventure.
Kim Ventrella
Smart, funny and full of wonder. Part gripping Arctic adventure, part richly woven fantasy, this is the rare type of story that readers will want to visit again and again.
Booklist
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “An utterly inventive and wholly original debut.
Sarah Glenn Marsh
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “A lush adventure filled with magic, myth, and monsters. Even the Darkest Stars will sweep you off your feet, steal your heart somewhere between the mountains and sky, and leave you breathless.
Evelyn Skye
Praise for EVEN THE DARKEST STARS: “Fawcett brings snow-capped mountains—and their baleful secrets—alive in this magical, atmospheric debut.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
A n interesting twist on the typical dragon novel…. Bookworm readers will relate to Ember’s solitude-loving character in spite of her different species, and astute readers will see real-life parallels to the ethics of dragon hunting.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“A n interesting twist on the typical dragon novel…. Bookworm readers will relate to Ember’s solitude-loving character in spite of her different species, and astute readers will see real-life parallels to the ethics of dragon hunting.”
School Library Journal
10/07/2019
Gr 4–7-In this Victorian fantasy, Ember, an orphaned baby dragon, is rescued by magician Lionel St. George and enchanted to look human so she isn't hunted down like her parents. The jewel-like scales of dragons are an expensive commodity in England and fire dragons like Ember are thought to be extinct. Lionel raises her as his own and all is well until the summer Ember turns 12. The spell that conceals her true identity is wearing thin, and Ember is spontaneously combusting at random moments. To keep safe she decides to visit her Aunt Myra in Antarctica. Ember discovers that Antarctica is not immune to dragon hunters either and now the local ice dragons are near extinction. With two newfound friends, Ember joins the annual Winterglass Hunt in order to covertly sabotage it from the inside. The hunt forces Ember to embrace both sides of her identity and to stop keeping others at a distance. She learns the value of friendship and reconnects with her past in powerful ways. While Ember's redemptive journey to save others from the fate her parents suffered is the main focus, this well-paced adventure also succeeds as an allegory on wildlife conservation. VERDICT This highly readable middle grade fantasy adventure wins with its likable heroine and ecological angle.-Sophie Kenney, Delray Beach Public Library, FL
Kirkus Reviews
2019-06-23
Twelve-year-old Ember tries to save ice dragons and learns her own strength along the way.
Infant fire dragon Ember is discovered in Wales by Lionel St. George, a brilliant but error-prone Stormancer and Magician, near the bodies of her slain, fire-dragon parents, hunted down for their valuable scales. To protect her, Lionel casts a spell to disguise Ember as a human child, and she grows up at Chesterfield University, where Lionel teaches. In human form, Ember has the fire dragon's ability to create fire, but she can't control it. Distraught after she burns Lionel's office, Ember decides to live in Antarctica at the research station Lionel's sister runs. Fawcett's story starts out slowly, with a tad too much explanation, but the plot picks up intriguingly as Ember, homesick in Antarctica, is befriended by Nisha, the child of one of the station's scientists, and the mysterious orphan Moss. When Ember learns that there is to be a Winterglass Hunt to kill ice dragons for their scales, she is horrified and determines to sabotage it. Neatly sidestepping tropes and templates, Fawcett's story is full of original details that add depth to the fairly straightforward plot (Montgomery, the enchanted, cantankerous doorknob, is a hoot). But it is the richly nuanced primary and secondary characters, as well as the evenhanded inclusion of females as intelligent scientists, that give the story its richness. The cast is racially varied; Ember, her adoptive family, and Moss read as white while Nisha has brown skin.
Fresh and original. (Fantasy. 9-12)
