Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
House of Embers by KA Linde Narrator: Amy McFadden
Series: Royal Houses #5
Published by Tantor Audio on October 14, 2025
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy Romance
Length: 13 hours, 53 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble
Kerrigan Argon fell home from the land of the gods with nothing but her mate and her mother's bangle. Now she has to save the world.
Half-Fae and humans are relegated to third class citizens. They're disappearing en masse. And the Red Masks—a terrorist organization now running the dragon Society—are behind it all.
Only Kerrigan can stop them. She has to light the ember to forge a revolution.
In the Royal Houses series, Kerrigan is a half fae who takes up the cause of the half fae and humans who are degraded and sometimes enslaved by the fae. She managed to win the tournament and get her own dragon, and become a member of the Society. The Society is sort of a law enforcement agency of fae on dragons, to protect the different Houses and their lands. This series needs to be read in order, as most urban fantasy, or be lost missing world and character developments.
The previous book, House of Gods, Kerrigan and Ford go through portals to different worlds, not together, as she is trying to locate her mother for help. Their own world has been taken over by Red Masks who hate humans and half fae. Kerrigan had her magic stolen by the Red Masks and ends up sold as a slave in the new dimension, as does Ford.
Now they are back together in their own dimension, stronger than ever. They have learned about the world and their magics while in another dimension. Kerrigan, of course, is more than she seems. Together they plan to fight the Red Masks. They need more dragons, and more allies against the Red Masks.
Kerrigan leads a group to the Dragon’s mountain. She and her dragon have to pass tests to be heard. Kerrigna learns some difficult truths about how the bonds between dragons and fae were forged and is determined to make things better.
Alliances are formed and some are strong and capable, others are treacherous. Both sides learn some details before the attack. Luckily, Kerrigan’s new skills with portals and shadows, and her bond with Ford, and her special bond with dragons helps them. That does not mean that there are not losses.
House of Embers is a year later with the series picked up by a traditional publisher in print and two years after House of Gods. I think it was worth the wait.
Narration:
I appreciated having the same narrator continue with the series. I enjoyed the performance and rather different voices for males and females. The voices for Kerrigan and Ford are definitely easy for me to recognize. Kerrigan is the primary point of view. I was able to listen at my newer 1.75x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About KA Linde
K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of the Avoiding Series, Wrights, and more than thirty other novels. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia, was the head campaign worker for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, binge-watching Supernatural, traveling, and dancing in her spare time.
She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband and two super-adorable puppies.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 25-Audio
- 25-COYER
Glad this was worth the wait, Anne💜
It’s a great series with dragons. A dragon fantasy before the whole The Fourth Wing sensation. There are many great dragon series though.
Sounds like an exciting series! Happy that it was worth the two year wait!
I really enjoyed the series. I don’t know that I said straight out it was a satisfying conclusion but I did give it 5 hearts.
Sounds like an interesting series. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks I’ve been enjoying it for 6 or 7 years now.
You did not just 6-7 me! LOL!!
Fantastic review. I just listened to her novel The Monster and the Last Blood Match and loved it as I did the Wren and the Library. I need to try her earlier works.
I have really enjoyed these. They are one of the early dragon riders stories. Much of her other stuff is contemporary romance which I am less inclined to read the backlist.
I swear I have listened to this narrator before. Her name sounds so familiar…
She has narrated many, many audiobooks.
This is a YA series? But it seems like you are still enjoying it. It does sound good, and I love the cover! Great review!
Technically I think it is a YA series. The earlier covers are also stunning but they may be changing them as they release from a trad publisher. I started reading this series as an indie probably 6 years ago. It is has similarities to Fourth Wing but was released much earlier. I really enjoyed it. This last book was delayed 2 years because of the rerelease and then this from the trad publisher.