City in Embers Review

City in Embers
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: NetGalley (Copy from publisher)

Zoey Daniels has been tossed from foster home to foster home, where she grows up fast and tough. When she is placed in her “last-chance” home, she finds a reason to stay and turn her life around: her foster sister, Lexie, who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Zoey will do anything to keep her safe. After high school, Zoey is hired by a special government agency, the Department of Molecular Genetics (DMG), where she meets the other reason to remain: Daniel, her co-worker. The man she loves.

But there is something unique about Zoey. She can see fae. Because of this, the DMG hires her to work as a Collector: catching, researching, testing, and using the fae to save human lives. The work never registers on her sympathy radar. She was raised to think of fae as beasts that feed on humans and want to destroy them.

When devastation hits Seattle, Zoey's whole world is turned upside down. The electric storm connects her to a ruthless fae, a Wanderer named Ryker, whose dealings expose them to even more trouble and danger. They embark on a journey, running and hiding from both the government and fae, both of which threaten their lives and those they love.



City in Embers is the first installment in the Collectors series and was written by Stacey Marie Brown. I’ve not yet read the Darkness series but after finishing this book, I am desperate to read more of her books.

City in Embers is set in a world where humans live alongside Faes, and only a select few humans that are working alongside the government are aware of the Fae’s existence. There is a degree of tension between humans and Fae, as they both despise each other.

Zoey works for the government, alongside her partner Daniel, in catching Fae and bringing them back to base to be experimented on. She is led to believe the government are performing experiments to cure cancer and such.

We learn a lot about Zoey very fast. She is in love with her significantly older fighting partner, Daniel. She lives in a dysfunctional home where her foster mother is hardly hospitable and Zoey is the main carer for her foster Lexie, who is paralysed and in a wheelchair. The reader feels this is the main intention for Zoey working for the government; she is desperate for a cure for her little sister.

After (what I felt was a little rushed) an electrical Fae storm hit, Zoey’s life is left in chaos. She loses a devastating amount of her life and gains two new companions. A magical sprite monkey, called Sprig (I personally love Sprig, he gave humour to the book which I thought was much needed) and an angry Fae wanderer named Ryker. During the storm, Zoey takes something which belongs to Ryker and he will stop at nothing to get back what is his.

Zoey is a pretty bad-ass character, I have to admit. Sometimes I found her a bit too ‘tough’ which sometimes made me feel I wasn’t empathising with her as much as the author intended me too. I found myself warming to her the more I read but I found her a difficult character to love.

Ryker; now he was a different story. I loved him instantly. He was everything I’d wanted from a lead male character in this book. He was fierce and fearless and driven to his desires. (You’ll find out more about them in the book, don’t want too many spoilers in this review!)

This pairing were bound to be a disaster, so when they’re forced together, things don’t run too smoothly. Arguments, disagreements and tension start to fade out as the pair come to a mutual agreement. Although, as the duo softens toward each other, tension starts to bubble; but not the kind that either was prepared for…

This book is a cat-and-mouse scenario; Zoey and Ryker always being the mice, running from a multitude of people who are out to get them. There is a lot of chaos, death, injury and heartbreak in this book and it’s a constant struggle for the pair to stay alive. Will they make it out alive by the end of the book?

This book is fast-paced and un-put-down-able. It is action packed and the ending is a complete cliff-hanger which leaves you desperate for more. I would have liked to find out more about Lexie and Daniel but I’m hoping the second book may reveal more. Personally, I can’t wait for the second book!



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