Ebony Gate

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ebony Gate by Julia Vee, Ken Bebelle
Narrator: Natalie Naudus
Series: Phoenix Hoard #1
Published by Macmillan Audio, Tor Books on July 11, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Urban
Length: 14 hours 7 minutes
Pages: 448
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Author, Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo | Libro.fm

Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle's Ebony Gate is a female John Wick story with dragon magic set in contemporary San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Emiko Soong belongs to one of the eight premier magical families of the world. But Emiko never needed any magic. Because she is the Blade of the Soong Clan. Or was. Until she’s drenched in blood in the middle of a market in China, surrounded by bodies and the scent of blood and human waste as a lethal perfume.

The Butcher of Beijing now lives a quiet life in San Francisco, importing antiques. But when a shinigami, a god of death itself, calls in a family blood debt, Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate that holds back the hungry ghosts of the Yomi underworld. Or forfeit her soul as the anchor.

What's a retired assassin to do but save the City by the Bay from an army of the dead?

I had a great time with this book! I am a huge fan of urban fantasy and am always looking for new books in the genre to try so I was excited to get started with this book. I thought that this was a very good start to a promising series and once I started reading, I did not want to stop. I found this book to be very exciting and I am so glad that I decided to give it a try.

Emiko is from a very powerful family but she is trying to live a quiet life importing antiques. She is known as the Butcher to many because she served as the Blade to the Soong clan. When a blood debt is called in, she is given the task of recovering the Ebony Gate and has her work cut out for her in this exciting tale. I couldn’t wait to see how she would accomplish everything in the time frame she had to work with. I thought that the world-building in this book was very well done and I was quite impressed by the colorful cast of characters, especially Emiko.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Natalie Naudus did a fantastic job with the story. I have had a lot of luck with this narrator in the past and thought that she did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. I loved the various voices that she used for the cast of characters and I thought that she was able to bring just enough excitement and emotion to her reading. I do believe that her narration added to my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was an incredibly unique and entertaining story featuring characters that were easy to cheer on. I cannot wait to see what adventures Emiko will face in the next installment.

I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and Tor Books.

Related Posts