The Lantern's Ember
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4.7 • 6 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
A bold and ghostly stand-alone from New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck, with all the moodiness of Sleepy Hollow and all the romance her fans love.
Welcome to a world where nightmarish creatures reign supreme.
Five hundred years ago, Jack made a deal with the devil. It's difficult for him to remember much about his mortal days. So he focuses on fulfilling his sentence as a Lantern--one of the watchmen who guard the portals to the Otherworld, a realm crawling with every nightmarish creature imaginable. Jack has spent centuries jumping from town to town, ensuring that nary a mortal--or not-so-mortal--soul slips past him. That is, until he meets beautiful Ember O'Dare.
Seventeen, stubborn, and a natural-born witch, Ember feels a strong pull to the Otherworld. Undeterred by Jack's warnings, she crosses into the forbidden plane with the help of a mysterious and debonair vampire--and the chase through a dazzling, dangerous world is on. Jack must do everything in his power to get Ember back where she belongs before both the earthly and unearthly worlds descend into chaos.
Colleen Houck, the New York Times bestselling author of the Tigers Curse series and Reawakened series, breathes new life into classic folklore in this wild, twisting adventure propelled by the spirit of Halloween.
"[Houck] offers a fresh spin on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow...with some genuine surprises in store."--Kirkus
"A wild and seductive adventure...a must-have for YA collections."--SLJ
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This standalone fantasy from Houck (the Tiger's Curse series) focuses on 17-year-old witch Ember O'Dare and Jack, an immortal "lantern" whose soul resides inside a pumpkin and whose job it is to guard the crossroads linking the Otherworld to Ember's sleepy village of Hallowell. Lanterns mustn't leave their posts, but when roguish vampire Dev sneaks into the mortal realm and charms the witch into returning home with him, Jack follows less to punish Dev for trespassing than to protect Ember, for whom he's developed feelings from afar. Jack and Dev aren't the only ones with designs on Ember: the Otherworld runs on energy derived from witches, making the powerful girl a priceless commodity. Houck's adventure, a take on the legend of Sleepy Hollow, suggests alternate origin stories for Halloween and various monsters. Regrettably, capable female characters are forced to share the page with moody, macho suitors and over-the-top villains and the book's strengths (elaborate costumes, swoony romance, and a sumptuous, steampunk-inspired backdrop) fail to compensate for leaden pacing and murky stakes. Ages 14 up.)
Customer Reviews
For those in need of a good Halloween tale.
Wonderful. This novel expresses the true spirit of Halloween as well as a lighthearted love story.