I absolutely LOVED this book. The world was so fascinating and I totally binged it in a day. So unique, the writing was smooth and it held my attention. Highly recommend!!!

‘Ebony Gate’ is a good story with a slow start and long ending. This is a case where I liked the first one just fine but I think the second one will be much better and allow the authors to hit their stride.

This is marketed as a female John Wick series, and while I do see that, I think my number one comparison for ‘Ebony Gate’ is the Witcher Series. Though definitely urban fantasy instead of ‘high’ fantasy, there’s similar themes and tropes, if you’re a fan of those books you will definitely like this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ebony Gate is a ride that borders on Young Adult, New Adult. I found it a touch too violent at times, but I couldn't tell if that was what actually bothered me or the constant recycling of inner monologues. Blade, Butcher, Sentinel etc I'm pretty sure I had gotten that Emiko had left the life and was in SanFran by the 3rd time she has whole pages of reflection on it.

I love how Emiko is a strong female character. She is AMAZING. What's not so amazing is that we have 3-4 possible love interests in just the first book. I felt like I was getting whiplash from all the emotions Emiko was doing whenever Adam, Freddie, or Kamon were in the vicinity. I also felt that when we are introduced to the twins, Emiko is far to quick to be impressed with Freddie. It's weak characterization if we are going to develop the male twin, while the female twin is still referred to at the end as pristine, fashionable, and immaculate. It felt a little gross, if I'm honest.

The pacing was also wonky. I must've missed it - I couldn't seem to understand why there was no urgency happening. Where parts were fast and exciting, others dragged. As such, while I enjoyed how unique the story was, I just am not a fan of other things. A solid 4 stars for a read I wanted to love and just ended up liking.

Thank you to the publisher, the authors and Netgalley for allowing me to preview an ARC of Ebony Gate. The above are my honest thoughts.

Thank you NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Tor for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ebony Gate is marketed as a female version John Wick story.

There are eight premier magical families in the world and our main character Emiko Soong belongs to one of them. She was once upon the Blade of the Soong Clan and never needed any magic, but that all changes when she finds herself drenched in blood, surrounded by bodies, and the scent of blood as well as human waste while she is in the middle of a market located in China. Now, she is living in San Francisco living a quiet life and is trading antiques. But that quiet life she has been living ends up being uprooted by a Shinigami, which is a god of death and it calls upon Emiko for a family blood debt. Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate, which just happens to hold back the lovely, hungry ghosts of the Yomi Underworld and if she does not recover it, then life will suck because she will have to forfeit her soul to be the anchor. Oh, and the catch: she has about a day to complete the task.

It really has been a while since I have delved into an amazing and unique fantasy world that brims with intrigue and some awesome magic. While yes, this is a contemporary fantasy world, I still really enjoyed exploring it and for real it has been a while since I have been in a contemporary world...now, I just need to get back into the epic/high fantasy worlds as well, but baby steps.

For a side note: I do not know anything about John Wick so I cannot comment about the comparisons.

I am going to start off with what did not work for me:
My biggest issue with Ebony Gate was that it suffered from pacing issues. The beginning had somewhat of a slow start, but it quickly picked up and I became very intrigued with what the Ebony Gate was, the Yomi Underworld, the magic system, and the Shinigami. But, during the last quarter of the book, I felt it struggled from pacing issues once again and I was to the point where I was ready to be done with this book because that portion of it was dragging. This why I gave Ebony Gate a 4 star rating.

What worked for me:
I loved that Emiko feels like a real person with flaws and being exhausted like most of us adults are. She is really fleshed out as a character and has great character development as the story progresses. I love seeing her reluctant about having to go about this task and being pretty annoyed that this has been dealt to her, but even more annoyed about there being a deadline attached to the task.
The magic system was definitely unique, and I loved learning about the families with their magical abilities/being descendant from the Eight Sons of the Dragon.
Also, I enjoyed the immersion of Asian culture due to it highly influencing the world building.

You will love this book if you love these tropes:
-Reluctant Hero
-The Quest

When reading Ebony Gate, I kept thinking of Jade City by Fonda Lee because of the politics, magic, and then the Asian culture. I am just going to say if you loved Jade City, then I think you'll enjoy this book.

I really enjoyed the world of this book! In fact, that might be the strongest part of the book for me - the San Francisco created and the magic underbelly felt very planned and realistic, and is something the authors have clearly spent time in developing. The different Clans and how they interact with each other, as well as the overarching impact of the different family branches and the rich histories they had were fun to dive into and read about and gave the book an extra flavour. There was a lot of world building thrown at you in the book - start to end really - but particularly at the start it was hard going to get my mindset into the histories and politics. It’s not dumbed down and explained in great detail, so the book expects you to catch up and update your understanding as you go rather than have a rock solid understanding of the plot and mythology from the beginning. Similarly, there is a lot of characters and background information given to you at nearly all points in the story, and it is keep up or drown really. The book felt Ilona Andrews like in its reading - there was very little overly flowery prose and read fairly straight to the point. The Japanese inspiration and mythology included in the book was very interesting and fun to read about, and I enjoyed that it was dumbed down or overly explained for an audience that might not be as familiar with it.
I enjoyed Emiko as a main character and enjoyed her perspective. She was slightly harder to connect to at the beginnng of the book, but this fit into her character at that point and how she is traumatised and closed off after the actions she took that led her to being the Butcher of Beijing. The world she comes from is cut-throat and unsentimental and we feel that in her character until she is forced to open up to others, and she then realised she has been making friends and allies despite herself. The only thing that frustrated me about Emiko was her inability to evaluate her own power objectively - it was fairly obvious where the story was going in terms of her power and role, and I hate being that far ahead of my protagonist! I do like the mystery of her mother and the talon, and I do want to see where the family history and secrets bring the story once she returns for her brother’s tourney.
For me, the biggest issues with the book was the pacing and timeline. We are given a fairly tight deadline and throughout the book it didn’t feel real or pressing - Emiko takes multiple side tracks and all these different side plots are introduced and the time spend on these means that the deadline loses all meaning for the story. In the same vein, it feels like Kamon and Adam are added in a ‘she must have multiple love interests and choices’ tick the box exercise rather than as organic characters that can stand alone. I’m hoping throughout the rest of the series we see these characters fleshed out into more than ex or potential love interest.
Overall this was a good read with some minor issues with pacing and some writting choices, but I’m very interested in reading the next in the series and will be adding it to my list!

It is a fun and enjoyable read. The Asian vibe fantasy inspired is good. Though I somewhat little dislike the futuristic vibe more than the classical vibe of the setting of the story is but otherwise, the characters and world-building are good.

This book was everything I wanted it to be! From the setting to the magic system and the characters, I loved it all.

In “Ebony Gate” we follow Emiko, the retired Butcher of Beijing and descendent of one of the eight dragons exiled from their Realm a long time ago. As one of these descendants, most have inherited substantial dragon powers. However, not our heroine Emiko. With no significant dragon powers to speak of and being done with all the blood shedding, she breaks her blade and leaves Asia behind to start a new life in San Francisco, a relatively new city when it comes to magic. While avoiding being drawn back into magic for quite some time, when a Shinigami calls in a family blood dept, Emiko is forced to find the Ebony Gate such that the ghosts of the underworld would not infest her San Francisco.

The magic system in this book was amazing. I really enjoyed the incorporation of aspects of Asian mythology, such as qi and auras. The setting was also really cool. San Francisco + magic feels like a recipe for success. Additionally, I also liked that the story was really descriptive. While reading this book, I could really imagine myself following the daily routine of Emiko as well as wandering through the streets of the magical part of San Francisco.

The fact that Emiko was uncertain about herself and her abilities regardless of her badass past was really relatable, and I love that she felt so human (even though she technically isn’t :)).

The only thing in the book which bothered me a little was when the main character listed the languages which she spoke, naming a list of Asian languages (three dialects of Chinese, Japanese) but forgetting to mention English. As a non-native English speaker, I don’t think English would be Emiko’s mother tongue, and it felt like it should have been mentioned.

I would for sure recommend this book to everyone who loves Asian inspired fantasy, urban fantasy, or just loves to read about the streets of San Francisco, and there better be a second book soon!

Lastly, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really think I would have liked the book better if everything was more established and explained. The potential is there for a great read, the execution just could have been done a bit better.

The main issue I had with this book was that I was hoping for more of everything. By that I mean, there was a really interesting magic system introduced but very little explanation into how it worked, the world building needed more time to be established and I wish there was more time taken with the side characters.

The main character seemed to distance herself from everyone and there was a reason for that but it created a disconnect because we didn’t get to learn much about the side characters who seemed interesting. It was a very one sided narrative where it was kind of only perceived as one way because the main character believed it to be so even though as the reader, you know that they should be picking up on very obvious clues for what is really happening. Another note about the characters is that they were all referred to by many different names be it titles, nicknames, clan names, first names etc. It made it pretty difficult to keep track of who was who. These characters would also be addressed by different names at different times so that made it even harder, especially at the start of the book.

With the direction of the ending, it seems like her relationships with the side characters and family as well as the world and magic will be explored more in the sequel. The ending makes me think the sequel will be better.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for an honest review.

This was an exciting fast paced contemporary fantasy. I loved the representation and the inclusion of many East Asian inspired myths, monsters and magic. Also any book that includes a cool mythical animal companion for the main character gets extra points.

The beginning started off a little slower with us readers getting into the world building and background information on the main character Emiko. It’s not just a fantasy story it also has heartwarming and funny moments. I really connected to Emiko. She is a strong willed character who doesn’t like to ask for help and Isn’t accustomed to showing any weakness. She just wants to be retired and left alone. We as readers slowly see her growth and watch her form new connections, life long friends and find her place in the world.

I loved the overall story and the pacing picked up quickly into what has to be the most intense 48 hours for Emiko. The subtle hints at what’s happening and unraveling the larger plot was fun to piece together. The characters were all unique but the story never felt overcrowded to where I couldn’t keep up with who was who like I do in some longer fantasy novels. The dragon mythology and clans talents/magic were fascinating and I loved the clan history. This book was definitely a great set up for what’s to come in the next two books.

This was a super fun contemporary fantasy story and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

This book has an awesome premise-- dragon magic, feuding families, death gods, and one girl in the middle of it all trying to save her soul from guard duty. All very cool things!

Unfortunately this book fell a bit flat for me. For the entire storyline, our main character Emiko Soong is trying to steal back the gate to the underworld from unknown enemies all to pay back the talon call-- a favor her mother traded with a Japanese death god. This should be high risk, high tension, but that emotional tension is lacking. Emiko is constantly going on side missions, and time seems to bend and shape itself to whatever she needs. I also just didn't love Emiko as our main character. She is a hardened and well trained--though retired-- assassin, having earned the title the Butcher of Beijing, but at times she's alarmingly naive. The characters that surround her, though, are all amazingly done. The denizens of San Fransico are interesting and intense, and I would love to read books about them-- especially the scary librarian! The idea of the city being alive and almost sentient in its own way was also really different from other stories I've read, and I thought it was a very cool concept.

My other issues with this story are more because of what I like and don't like in the books I read. For example, I absolutely hate reading descriptions of what people are wearing, and that happens throughout this book. Constantly. One character, Fiona, changed outfits three times in one chapter, and we got descriptions of each one. There are also characters that just disappear from the storyline, and Emiko doesn't think about them again until they're important to the plot.

Overall, this is a fun read, but it was slow for me between the slow pacing and the constant clothing descriptions. It has some really cool moments (I would read whole books about the librarian), and the family-centric dragon magic is cleverly done and ties in themes of the Asian diaspora that show up throughout the book. As it stands right now, I would be interested in picking up the second book to see where the authors take these characters and the living magical city of San Fransisco.

*Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reader copy of this book

Ebony Gate is an action packed adventure following Emiko, who has moved to San Francisco to separate herself from her past. However, escaping her past is not quite as easy as moving a continent away. The magic system itself is spellbinding, eight (or nine) dragons were exiled from their realm long ago, and their human descendants have hoard talents and magical artifacts that still connect them to the lost realm. Emiko is drawn back into the world of magic that she tried to escape when a Shinigami shows up and requires her help. This was an engaging story that is clearly an introduction to something much larger. My only critique is that sometimes Emiko's internal narrative can be a little much sometimes, though the only time this really happened was during action sequences. Many of these internal monologues provide important information to the reader. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the opportunity to listen to the audiobook as well. The narration was engaging, clear, and truly brought Emiko's voice to life.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Net Galley for this e-arc

I love a fearless strong woman and Emiko portrays that she’s a complicated character and all she wants is peace but with the name like “the butcher of Beijing” that’s hard to come by.

I thought the magic system, the different clans and the different powers they have were extremely interesting there is a lot of world building and Info dumping that I felt could have been more fluid and fell flat at times but I definitely think this book has so much potential and I hope the second book is better. I overall enjoyed it I just wish it wasn’t so slow in the first half of the book.

Ahoy there me mateys!  This was a hard book to wrap me noggin around.  For one thing, I thought it was a standalone.  It is, apparently, the first in the series with two other books currently listed.  It felt like a book two.  I felt like I was dumped into the world and was missing a ton of backstory and world building that I should already know.  The buildup was meandering.  There were lots of introduced side characters that were not explored at all.  Also way too many descriptions of clothes, objects, etc.  The book was better than okay but less than good.

The main character, Emiko, is given a quest with a tight deadline but the pacing and plot lead to very little suspense.  Forty-eight hours seemed to take several weeks.  Emiko is also in the dark about her own talents and, given the non-subtle hints everywhere, she should not be so obtuse.  The cover-ups are blatant and the overall feeling when I finished was that the plot was a tease and rather dissatisfying.  The ending was drawn out unnecessarily.  And there is a love-triangle being set-up.  It felt like this book could have used a lot of trimming.

That said, I did like Emiko and enjoyed her character overall.  I also liked the death god.  The magic was fun and I would like to see more of sentient San Francisco.  And the foo lion was awesome and could have been used at lot more.  I also loved the librarian and the library itself.  I do want more answers about Emiko's talents and about her mother.  I am not adverse to reading the next book.  I just hope it has better editing.  Arrrr!

I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I initially thought I was going to. I thought this was going to be a DNF but, the story to recover the Ebony Gate and the magical world were compelling enough for me to stick it out.

This book introduces us to Emiko Soong, the former Butcher of Beijing, as tries to leave her dark past behind and build a new life in San Francisco. All this flies out the window when a shinigami calls in a family blood debt and tasks Emiko with helping seal the gate of the underworld.

I really enjoyed the cultural details and folklore that was woven in throughout the story. The magical system and the talents of different clans/characters were compelling but, I wish we had gotten a bit more background on some talents. I also would have liked to see more explanation or details on Emiko’s talent in this first book so that she could really explore what it means and how to use it in future books.

I don’t know how I feel about the love triangle that the authors seem to be establishing here.. At times, the romantic relationships felt forced and it feels like they were added just for the sake of Emiko having a romantic partner. I didn’t really see her being interested in Adam, and I don’t think we received enough background about her past with Kamon to really care.

Additionally, the pacing also felt a bit off. It took us a lot of pages to get through the first 18-24 hours of the story. Then the story kind of rushed through the resolutions, and I was left wanting more information. In the first half, we could have used more information on Emiko’s past (since it influences the story heavily) instead of the detailed descriptions of relatively unimportant details.

It’s a good start to a series that has a lot of potential and, an overall fun read. There’s a lot that can be built on here and I look forward to seeing where Emiko’s story takes us.

Many thanks to Tor and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

Thank you to NetGalley, authors Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle, and Tor Publishing Group for this advance review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I'm so excited to immerse myself in a new urban fantasy read, Phoenix Hoard, with the first installment, Ebony Gate. The MC, Emiko Soong, is the self-exiled Blade of the Song Clan, the daughter of one of the premier magical families in the world. She is trying her best to live a quiet life away from all the family politics in San Franciso, California. It isn't going so well.

Emiko finds herself called to honor a family blood debt owed to a shinigami - particularly a god of death. She needs to recover the Ebony Gate, which holds back ghosts of the Yomi underworld, or else pay for it with her soul. Her connection to the city, community, and family (found & blood) is fascinating, all while Emiko finds her calling.

Great action scenes, tension from her past, and her present connections kept me turning pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique magic system of this story built around Dragons and the Asian lore/myths incorporated into the world-building. I could not put the book down.

This is a superb lead into a larger story, and I look forward to continuing the series!

2.5 stars rounded up.

There were lots of cool ideas in this book. I saw another reviewer say that "This is a good story, sandwiched between a slow start and a drawn out ending," and I think they hit the nail on the head.

You follow Emiko, a former Blade of a Jia-ren clan and the Butcher of Beijing (we never find out how she earned this title, but nobody lets her forget that she is revered and hated for being the Butcher). She is now attempting to make a new start in San Francisco, but is foiled when a debt her mother owes drags her into doing the bidding of a death god. She has two days to help it do a seemingly impossible task.

This was a really interesting premise, and I was initially invested in Emiko's story and the magical world she inhabited. I liked some of the side characters and the multicultural aspect of San Francisco's Chinatown and little Tokyo.

For a story that focuses on events that supposedly span only two days, the pace was incredibly slow, and I often felt that there was no way all of these events were occurring within the implied time frame. There was a lot of needless detail in fight scenes that eventually went nowhere. Certain words and phrases were repeated often and didn't serve any purpose.

I do enjoy a story when the protagonist fails in order to learn and grow. This was sadly not one of them. Emiko blunders so many of her tasks (usually physical battles, which are meant to be her expertise), and only ever seems to succeed by fluke. It was frustrating, and I almost DNF'd this at the 80% mark.

In conclusion, I wish this had been put through another round or two of editing. The prose was meandering and the pacing off. Key plot points meant to be huge revelations were incredibly predictable and perhaps hinted at a bit too much. This disappointed me because there was so much in this book that could have potentially worked (cities imbuing their guardians with magic; magical, qi-based powers; a Foo lion charm animated to protect the wearer)!! But the execution felt clumsy and a chore to read. Sadly, this isn't one I'll recommend.

First off, I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an e-ARC of this book! I first picked this book up because of its very intriguing premise: urban fantasy meshed with East Asian mythology? YES! And wow there were so many great points of this book that I would like to highlight. The main character Emiko Song is born from a descendant of dragons, but does not possess any magical abilities of her own. As such, she spends most of her former life being a trained assassin for her father. But then, after moving to San Francisco to “restart” her life, she finds herself tangled with the god of death and involved in clan politics.

One of the main highlights of the book was definitely the way the author was able to take myths and legends from a variety of Asian cultures to create a somewhat new culture of its own — rich in magical elements, action and adventure. I found myself getting so engrossed whenever bits and pieces of this world was revealed throughout the story. I also loved how the author touched upon various struggles that Emiko is facing in terms of finding a place to fit in, finding a home, trying to redefine one’s identity, experiencing grief and upholding traditions. And through everything that she went through, I loved her character development and how she comes out of it stronger than before.

I do admit that the pacing of the story dragged in some parts, and I was a bit confused with the world and the various unique terms it uses, especially at the beginning. And as someone who loves seeing characters’ relationships to one another, I thought that Emiko’s friends could have played a more pivotal role in the story, but it felt as if they disappeared in the middle and conveniently reappeared at the end.

Otherwise, this was a great urban fantasy fitting for readers who love action-packed adventures! And very excited to see what happens next in Emiko’s story!

I immediately wanted to pick up this book when I heard "female John Wick story set in contemporary San Francisco." I initially loved the world building and the magic system and I think there are a lot of cool ideas to explore. I found myself wondering what sorts of things were implied about the world just from what was shown and I'm sure there are many new magical secrets lying in wait.

Another strong point for this book was the main character. I loved Emiko, especially as a representation of a strong female character. Plus her Foo Lion, Bao, was adorable and I loved their interactions. Additionally, I found her relatable in the way that she didn't quite fit in with her family and burned bridges with them. She is trying to figure out a new life for herself but is constantly pulled back to responsibility and duty with them.

What ultimately made the book fall flat to me was the length of the book, and the lack of feeling like the stories premises had an impact on the decisions Emiko makes. Specifically, Emiko is given a very short time to recover the Ebony Gate but she often made choices that seemed to obviously waste that time. That didn't seem true to the situation and premises in the story, and took away from my immersion.

When starting this book I thought that with the time pressures that were laid out, this would be a fast paced action filled story. Overall, for a book that relies so heavily on action sequences, I was bored. The story in between action felt so slowly paced and when the action did pick up, those scenes felt entirely too long. I could definitely see this book working more on screen, where the action can be more attention grabbing and focusing, whether it be a movie or TV series.

All in all, this was a fine book to me, not particularly strong, definitely not bad. I think there is a lot of potential in the world and characters so I would give a sequel a try.

I want to thank NetGalley, and Tor Books for allowing me access to an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ebony Gate is the story of a girl, her sword, her spirit lion, a death god, some bao, a secret society of magically gifted families, and a race against time to save San Francisco from the hordes of the undead.

Ok, but seriously. I loved this book. Our main character is Emiko. Emiko moved to San Francisco to get away from her former life as a trained assassin for her father. She is pulled from her new life of relative anonymity when she is called on to fulfill a promise her family made to one of the Shinigami, a god of death. She must find the Ebony Gate and its source of power. The gate locked one of the portals to the underworld and if it is not replaced then the hordes of the undead will overrun San Francisco and destroy the life she’s made for herself.

If that little bit isn’t enough to catch your attention, then let me say that there are so many great things going on in this book. The lore behind Emiko and the clans that make up her hidden world is amazing and so in depth. The story pulls in elements of myth and legend from all across the Asian diaspora and blends them into a tapestry of faith, magic and martial talent. Emiko struggles with her past and with the demands of her family and community. Her determination and will are infectious and leap off the page. There is also an abundance of action in this book, and I just kept coming back for more.

My biggest critical issues with the book revolve around Emiko and her non-clan friends. Her business partner and a sword collector who are not among the clans make a few appearances throughout the book, but then fade off into the background as they aren’t allowed to get involved in the clans business. I felt that there was a lot left on the table in regard to her relationships with these friends who appear to be pretty crucial to her new life in San Francisco, but they don’t make much of an impact and only resurface again at the very end of the novel. I’m not sure if this falls into a criticism of this novel, or perhaps an intentional bit of unresolved tension for another book in this story. I, for one, would not be upset to see some more stories from Emiko in the future.

If you enjoy any of the things that I mentioned in the beginning of this review, then go get this book. You won’t regret it.

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It’s incredibly rare for me to find an Urban Fantasy that’s solid and does not fall into the trap being more on the Romance than the Fantasy side. If that’s you and you want that great Urban fantasy feeling - pick up Ebony Gate.

The story follows Emiko Soong who, after giving up a coveted and rare position in her family, moves to San Francisco and attempts to make her own way and her own life. Emiko is part of a race of humans descended from Dragons who all manifest different powers at different levels. Emiko seems to have little to no magic and as such as fulfilled the role of assassin and earned the nickname “The Butcher of Beijing”. Because of that we see her move through a society that doesn’t quite accept her on the whole but begrudgingly respects her. The magic is fascinating and fun, and the teases about Emiko and her ‘abilities’ through the book have me very ready for another installment.

The characters themselves are fun, and even San Francisco as a city takes on a character role as the city is manifesting itself as a sentient force that requires a guiding hand, something it has seemed to pick Emiko for. She struggles against that throughout the book (we all know how it’s going to end) but I always love a sentient magic city idea.

On the whole I really enjoyed this. The beginning dragged a bit, and it was also fairly overwhelming with the new setting and ideas so it may take some getting used to. I loved the lack of romance, but the beginning also managed to somehow feel like it was setting something up that I’m not crazy about for future books, a plot line that really didn’t feel needed. There was some repetition to the writing, but on the whole this is definitely a book and series I’ll be looking forward to.

A solid new urban fantasy - for fans of the genre I’d definitely recommend this one. 4 out 5 paper lanterns.