Wow! What a great debut! I loved the world-building and magic system, I can’t wait to get to know more in the next 2 books!

────── ✧ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ♡ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ✧ ──────

Air and Ashes is an engaging, well-written, fast-paced fantasy story with a gripping premise that blends suspense, adventure, and a touch of romance.

Emma’s life takes a drastic turn when, while investigating her mother’s death, she accidentally disables a firewall—an action that triggers a cascade of events she never saw coming. Suddenly, she and her aunt are on the run from a shadowy organization called the Clinic, which hunts Elementums—people with elemental abilities. As Emma is thrown into this hidden world, she learns she is a halfbreed, born to a mother with powers and a father without, making her unique among Elementums. I enjoyed uncovering secrets alongside Emma as the story progressed, which added suspense!! I was sooo here for that!!

The magic system was one of my favourite parts of this; divided into fire, water, earth, and air abilities. I also loved the immersive atmosphere. Margaret Mantor’s writing pulls you into each moment, whether it’s a tense chase scene or a quiet, emotionally charged exchange. The world feels lived-in, and the pacing keeps the mystery unfolding alongside Emma’s own discoveries. The idea of Elementums was so unique, especially with Emma’s status as a “halfbreed,” inheriting a blend of abilities from her parents.

I did find myself wanting more depth in some areas, particularly the romance but also this is only book one so I’m sure we’ll get more Emma and Kaden moments! I didn like the dynamic with Kaden—the classic scarred, brooding love interest—is immediate, leaning into insta-attraction but fitting well with the story’s pacing.

The book also introduces many characters, I felt like some of them weren’t as developed as others/they kind of blended into each other in a way.

Overall, this was so refreshing! It was well-written and entertaining. If you enjoy elemental magic, fast-paced adventure, and characters uncovering hidden truths about themselves, this is a series worth diving into. I loved that the ending sets up the sequel well, leaving plenty of room for deeper exploration of the characters and their relationships, which I’m so excited to learn more about in the next one!

────── ✧ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ♡ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ✧ ──────

⊹ 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽 ⊹

❥Trilogy (book 1 of 3)
❥Fantasy with a splash of Sci-Fi
❥Genetically Engineered Super Soldiers that Control the Elements
❥Slow Burn Romance
❥Will They or Won’t They
❥Fight for Survival
❥Dark Family Secrets
❥Hidden World Within Our Own
❥Found Family & Band of Misfits
❥Strong but Vulnerable Female Lead
❥Secret War
❥Avatar the Last Airbender x Shadow and Bone x Hanna
❥unOrdinary (webtoon) vibes

Thank you for the ARC, Margaret Mantor, and NetGalley!

This book kept me one my toes👣. Very captivating and suspenseful. Kaden is my favourite name as well. Lol. I realised that I forgot to review this and all the points I noted are gone😑😭. But I do definitely recommend this book.

Thanks for the ARC!!

I start reading this without any expectations and the book didn't disappointed, I loved it.. It gave me huge The last airbender vibes withe elements vibes and Elara story was actually an amazing one.
The FMC lost her mom and right away she founds out that everything she thought she knew actually wasn't the truth and that can mess with our minds but still I loved it.. A girl becoming a woman and finding more from her life and who she is. I loved it everything the story the characters the magic the mysteries and secrets

First things first, I think the world building and magic system made perfect sense. That's the most important thing for me in a fantasy / sci fi novel. The characters were balanced and the chemistry were fine. But there were some weird moments, like Kaden, why push her away and say you are OK with being an escape afterwards? I'm hoping this would be solved in the second book, which I am quite interested in reading.
The girl was a bit too not confident though. OK you just a half breed, can't do anything, mess up everything, the worst of the worst and don't belong and bla bla bla. Obviously you'll have at least some abilities.
But overall I really enjoyed the book am looking forward to reading the second book aswell, when it releases.
Thank you Netgalley & the author / publisher for the eArc.

The narrative is rich with true-to-life storytelling that combines practical advice with the experiences of leaders who have faced crises. It provides insights into how these leaders navigated through turbulent waters, reflecting on their struggles and the lessons learned along the way. The book serves as a resource for those moments when everything seems to be falling apart, offering wisdom that can be applied in real-world situations.The narrative follows the protagonist, a young girl named Elara, who discovers her unique ability to manipulate the elements of air and fire. As she navigates her newfound powers, she becomes embroiled in a conflict between two powerful factions: one that seeks to control elemental magic for their own gain and another that aims to protect it from misuse.

Elara’s journey is not just about mastering her abilities; it also involves deep personal growth as she grapples with her identity and the responsibilities that come with her powers. Alongside her best friend, who harbors secrets of his own, Elara embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind her lineage and the ancient prophecy that ties her fate to the elemental forces.

Yall !!!! I am giddy after reading this book! I loved it ! I need more!

If you like sci fi fantasy, distopian world feel, magical elements, family secrets, and will they won't they vibes then get this book TOMORROW!

Thank you netgalley and Margaret Mantor for this amazing ARC !

I love this book! I need book two asap! This brought me back to the glory days of YA thriller/romance/fantasy. I read this book in one sitting, and it went by too fast; Margaret Mantor's writing is superb. The pacing of the characters, the twists, the turns, the slow-burn romance, the found family I NEED MORE! Do yourself a favour and read this book!

Overall I thought this book was a fun read, and I am looking forward to the next book.

There were definitely some very common tropes in this book, but I tend to like those types of tropes, so I am hoping they will be explored deeper in the following books (Plus I love a good avatar type story). I did truly enjoy the book and it was a fun read! I think the end perfectly sets up the second book and you can see who the two male love interests will be. I think the idea of her being in her head a lot was completely fair considering her life very quickly became upended, and I love some of the small moments like "Trade?" that were so heart warming to read. Additionally, I think the world building was done well as you get a very good sense of what everyone is doing and the kind of people the book is going to have and the places you are going to see the characters go next.

I just wish she didn't have the "everything is my fault but I am going to continue to ruin it and do things wrong anyway" vibe, as this type of main character can get hard to read. I wish the back story behind many of the characters were given or given more time, as I feel it became harder to connect with them since it was either just a character inputted into the story or it was a brief flash of the background of them and then continued on. There just did not seem to be as much connection in that part, which albeit in some books can get a little boring with too much, I think this book could've definitely benefited from more. I also wish there had been more time to explore the relationships with the characters, as there were so many that each got just a small piece and I wanted more.

Looking forward to book 2, and thank you so much to Margaret Mantor and Netgalley for this book!!

Air and Ashes is the debut novel of Margaret Mantor in which there are Elementums, genetically engineered people that can control the elements who mostly belong on 2 sides of a conflict - the Clinic or the Arc. We learn about the world at the same pace as the main character, Emma, learns about it.

Emma was kept in the dark about what is going on in her world her whole life. Emma is a typical YA main character and fulfills a few common tropes.
She's living a normal life until one day she disables a firewall and looks for something on the Internet. That action has consequences and her whole life is turned around. She's instantly falling for the dark haired love interest. All of her relationships seem very superficial written to me with not much depth. The only relationship I was intrigued by was the one with her aunt but I feel like that also had way more potential than was used.

For the next books I'd wish for the author to develop the relationships more, to give us a reason to root for characters because I felt nothing for them. What annoyed me most were all the nicknames that tried to be funny but just...weren't.

It was good for a debut novel, well edited and the writing style really was pleasant to read but there is a lot of potential for the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Margaret Mantor for the ARC of this book.

This book was a fun read. The premise centers around Emma, a seemingly ordinary girl whose life takes ... a BIG turn. When researching her mother's death, she disabled a firewall, inadvertently setting off a momentous chain of events. She's uprooted from her life and everything she knew to be true. She and her aunt are forced to go on the run from the Clinic, a group who target Elementums (who were created via genetic engineering? I was a bit confused by this part. Her aunt takes her to the Arc, which is essentially made up of several safe havens for Elementums.

Emma is a halfbreed, born to a mother with abilities and a father without. The Elementum ability system is comprised of 4 categories, and each person has control over their respective elements. These are igniter (fire), terra (earth), hydro (water), aero (air).

Readers are kept in the dark at the beginning, learning more about the world of Elementums as Emma herself discovers kt.

I thought the story lacked a bit of depth. I had a slightly hard time connecting with any of the characters, and the relationships between them felt forced. There is Kaden, a classic scarred and brooding male love interest. It was an insta lust situation, but I didn't necessarily mind it in this case. I think for me, the book is just missing that "spark" -- a sense of chemistry. There were a lot of common tropes used as well, which is inevitable in most books, but I felt that this book didn't necessarily bring anything new or inspired to it.

Although this book fell flat for me in some areas, it is undeniably well-written with a captivating premise, and it was overall a very enjoyable read!

I decided to DNF this at around 25%.

The writing and writing style was great and I enjoyed what I got of the magic system. It was well edited too, it felt very professional. For the most part, the book really had begun to deliver on the promises made by the description.

My primary gripe was with the main character. She really <i>felt</i> like a YA protagonist but not in a good way. She had a lot of the classic markers of a very whiny teenager whose whole life was going to be turned upside down by the special power and finally got to find herself like her too-pretty best friend that she was subconsciously jealous of.

In short, it's well done, just a little bit tropey. Which doesn't have to be a bad thing either, I just don't really like all of the tropes in this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Margaret Mantor for an ARC of this novel.