Cover Image: Ebony Gate

Ebony Gate

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I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

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So I did end up DNF-ing this title, however!! That's because it turns out that urban fantasy may not be the right genre for me. That's not at all because there is anything about this book that's not to love. Quite the contrary! It's got fantastic worldbuilding, I loved Vee's integration of mythology into said worldbuilding and the prose is beautiful and engaging. I just wasn't personally vibing with it. But if urban fantasy inspired by mythology is your jam, I 100% recommend checking out EBONY GATE!

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

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3.5 stars

The Ebony Gate is an action-packed urban fantasy that weaves Chinese mythology into modern San Francisco. The world-building was fascinating and Emiko is an engaging main character. However, the pacing in this book is a mess, especially in the second half.

After fleeing from her role as the Blade of her prominent magical family, Emiko has found a new life in San Francisco. Burdened by actions in her past she is a bit of a lone wolf. Emiko is a snarky and engaging main character. She is knowledgeable about the world around her but has little personal experience with magic. I did find her motivations and behaviors a bit inconsistent. She repeatedly claims that she is trying to move beyond her reputation as the Butcher. And yet she is quick to lean into the notoriety the title brings her.

It was nice to see Emiko forced to trust other people after doing her best to keep people at a distance. There are quite a few entertaining side characters. However, the story doesn't always balance her relationship with different groups of people well. There are long periods where some characters are completely irrelevant and not even mentioned. Though the plot threads were mostly returned to, it left the story feeling a bit jumbled and disconnected at times.

I was really engaged with the frantic search for the Ebony Gate and I appreciated how it took the story across many different parts of the city. However, the resolution of the plot is ridiculously drawn out. There are so many random obstacles that pop up right before Emiko is about to find the gate. They aren't even plot twists. In fact, the mystery of who stole the gate is barely even a mystery because Emiko suspects them immediately. The last quarter of the book is just filled with annoying delays that add little to the plot. This dragged-out conclusion killed my enjoyment of the book and left me desperate for it to finally wrap up. I blame a lot of the pacing issues on the decision to set a two-day time limit for the task. It creates tension but also feels unrealistic.

The Ebony Gate is an excellent example of urban fantasy. I loved how the rich history of the clans intertwined with modern society. I am curious about the next books in the series but the flat conclusion of this opening installment was a disappointment.

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It's been a while since I read this--got caught up in studying for the bar exam and took me a while to come back to this--so this review is a mini-review in bullet format!
Things I loved
- Incorporation of various East Asian mythologies
- Eight clans and individuals with various Talents, ranging from elemental abilities to mind manipulation (seriously a cool magic system)
- Urban fantasy with some portal fantasy elements, as some clan dealings take place in a separate realm
- Emiko's deadpan sarcasm and the fact that she is simultaneously exhausted and a badass. She's got a traumatic past and honestly just needs a break, but that doesn't mean she can't gut a bad guy if needed
- Fun side characters, including an amusing death god, the fashionable and competent Fiona, and the surprisingly-deeper-than-he-seems Freddy
- Recurring themes of destiny, loyalty, and choice
- Bao, a magical foo lion! I am always here for animal companions, and he is a Very Good Boy

Things I wasn't as keen on:
- Something weird happened with the pacing here--the book full of action, and yet was also incredibly slow for the mere two days it spanned? It was like time had no real meaning. I can't explain what it was exactly, but it didn’t quite work, and it hurt my experience of the book a lot.
- Some kind of weird romance elements (pushing close to a love triangle at points) that weren't *bad* per se, but felt out of place among the rest of the narrative

All told, this book faltered on its pacing, but its cool magic and kickass heroine redeemed it--and given how beautiful the cover for book 2 is, I will definitely need to check out the sequel.

Note: the blog link attached below will go live on January 25, 2024.

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Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!~

When I initially requested this ARC, I was intoxicated by the concept. Shinigami in a modern day world? Sign me up! Unfortunately, I don't feel like this book delivered on what I was expecting. I will still be recommending this as we do have some badass characters and plot lines, but I felt like the pacing just didn't work for me. Far too slow of a beginning and I left with a lot of questions. I would definitely pick-up another book from this author though.

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Thanks so much to NetGalley for the advanced copy! I was very excited to get to read this book.

I think the concept is so intriguing, and I went into the book with high hopes. However, I unfortunately had to DNF this because I didn't personally enjoy the writing and it got in the way of the world building/lore for me. The fight scenes felt repetitive to me, and I didn't see much variation in the descriptive language used throughout the portion of the book I read.

I might revisit this in the future and try it again, but at the moment it just isn't for me.

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ok but if my mother signs me up to answer a Blood Debt with a damn Shinigami without telling I'd be pissed asf. Especially since she don't even be talking to me like that??

Firstly this cover is gorgeous and I just saw the one for Book 2 and I can't wait to read that one as well. Ebony Gate was a delightful surprise, I loved Emiko from the minute I discovered she was sword wielder and she was funny too ! You know who was also very funny, the Shinigami like I live for an immortal being who casually creates chaos because they can.

I can't wait to see how the world is expanded upon in book 2 and I hope we get more about the families and their powers <spoiler> and also more of whatever Emiko and the blond had going on </spoiler>

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Emiko has escaped her life as the clan blade/assassin and is trying to find a new life away from clan politics and drama in San Francisco. But when an old debt comes calling, she is dragged back into the her former life and find herself fighting to find her new place in the world.

This took me a while to get into, but I ended up really enjoying it. It is action filled and has a characteristic but fun cast of characters. The world building slowly comes together pulling elements of a spectrum of Asian mythology and the fight to stay hidden within a non-magical society. There are pieces that could have been revealed sooner to help move the story along, specifically the city magic seemed to come out of nowhere. I loved Emiko's grumpy energy contrasted with some of the more fun and silly characters. The characters are all versions of well known archetypes so I can easily see this being adapted into a TV show or a movie. I'm looking forward to the next book and seeing Emiko come into herself even more.

Thank you to Tor Books and the authors for the gifted copy.

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<i>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

These are the times I wish GR let us do half a star, because this is firmly 2 & 1/2 stars for me.

<b>The Good</b>
*By the end, I was intrigued by the world-building
*There were some very fun action sequences

<b>The Bad</b>
*I didn’t really come to care about any of the characters - in fact, the most likable character, for me, was the lion (he’s not a dog!)
*A lot of the action was a little unbelievable in that superhero movie sort of way, which like - I guess that essentially these are “Superhero-esque” people - so this gripe might be a case of me not being the target audience for this book
*But if this was really just an action book, it went on for WAY TOO LONG - it’s like, you either gotta give me some plot and character development to tide me over, or you just need to be all action all the time, y’know?

<b>The Ugly</b>
*The first 10% of the book or so was just entire lore-dumping into my brain. No really example or “showing” instead of telling, just straight lore dump - it was so much, all at once, that it was really hard for me to keep everything straight or for me to even know what the hell was really going on
*To me, Emiko was not really a relatable main character, and she had the suspicious air of being a woman MC written by a man - I could be entirely wrong, there are two authors to this book, but… It just got my spidey senses going… iykyk

I hate to say it, but I could probably be suckered in to reading the second book. And maybe some of the complaints I have above would get better with a second installment, especially if most of the lore-dumping is now done and out of the way. Overall it’s one of those cases where I don’t think I could recommend it, per se, but it wasn’t a wholly terrible book.

In fact, I like it enough that I rounded up and not down, so that’s gotta count for something, right?

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Desde que terminé con la saga de los Huesos Verdes ha quedado un hueco en mi corazón que solo se puede ir rellenando con nuevas historias de Fonda Lee, pero sigo a la búsqueda de otra fantasía urbana que pueda encantarme. Ebony Gate, sin llegar al nivel de lo anterior, me ha hecho pasar un rato divertido y trepidante y tiene mimbres para ser algo más, ya veremos cómo lo acaban desarrollando Julia Vee y Ken Bebelle.


Ebony Gate es una fantasía urbana donde predomina la acción con una protagonista muy atractiva y un mundo que dan ganas de explorar. La definen como un John Wick femenino, pero es una comparación un tanto reduccionista, sobre todo porque obvia el mundo fantástico que cohabita con nuestra realidad habitual en el que tiene lugar la historia.

El libro se desarrolla en la ciudad de San Francisco, donde vive la gente “normal” desconocedora de la existencia de las familias “mágicas” y los miembros de estas ocho familias, cada uno con poderes diferentes. Me gustan mucho las referencias a mitologías orientales, especialmente japonesa, algo que nos enmarca en una aventura un tanto diferentes. También recuerda un poco a la obra anteriormente mencionada de Fonda Lee por la presencia de clanes mafiosos que luchan por el control de la ciudad.

La protagonista es Emiko Soong, que lleva unos años retirada de su labor como Filo de su familia, una labor que le valió el título de La Carnicera de Beijing. Pero los lazos de sangre son más fuertes que su deseo de una vida tranquila, así que se verá de nuevo arrastrada a la acción cuando un shinigami reclame su ayuda mediante un pacto de sangre.

Las escenas de acción son abundantes y están estupendamente narradas. Desde el comienzo fulgurante que nos servirá para conocer a Emiko, como el resto de sus numerosos enfrentamientos con enemigos de lo más variopinto, durante todos los capítulos veremos trepidantes luchas, descritas de una manera muy cinematográfica.

El “misterio” que ha de resolver la protagonista, por el contrario, tiene una solución bastante previsible y es quizá uno de los puntos flojos del libro. La búsqueda de la Ebony Gate del título se antoja un tanto casual y dirigida a bandazos, una excusa para exponer a Emiko a todo tipo de situaciones peliagudas. Pero también es cierto que nos servirá para conocer sus motivaciones y su pasado, su buen fondo y su deseo de mejora.

El sistema mágico también se adapta muy bien a un libro orientado hacia el combate, con 8 o 9 dragones exiliados del mundo mágico cuyos descendientes humanos son capaces de utilizar distintos tipos de magia. Es lo suficientemente completo como para dar mucho juego y a la vez se simplifica como para no maniatar a los autores.

Recomiendo Ebony Gate si buscas una fantasía urbana rápida y sin muchas pretensiones, entretenida y absorbente.

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This book was awesome, really hit a window of urban fantasy I haven't seen and I learned as much as I also enjoyed the action

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Many thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Where to start? Oh buddy, I wanted so much to enjoy this book. It has everything I usually love, like Asian mythology, dragons, lots of lore, and DUMPLINGS!! Like come on, how could I not vibe with a book that has so many tasty dumplings and had me craving them late at night?

I think my biggest issue was Emiko's characterization. She frustrated me a bit with a bit of her childishness. I believe she's supposed to be in her early twenties, but a lot of her decision-making seemed to place her as an older teen. The pacing seemed off to me and I wasn't too fond of that. The world-building was beautiful and I wanted to see more of that, but there was too much discord with the main character, her love interest, and the plot to really pull me in.

I also felt that the writing could have used a bit of a touch-up. I'm not sure, but it felt a bit stilted to me. The cadence and flow of the writing that I usually look for weren't there. This isn't to say that the author is bad, but I think working on their tone and storytelling a bit more will definitely help future works.

I won't not recommend to others, but I will sat that it was a miss for me and I'm sad about it.

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Ebony Gate felt like a movie; it's quick-paced and keeps moving. In the beginning, I enjoyed the side plots, but I was wished there was more focus on the main danger, especially towards the end. I loved Emiko; her humor was absolutely on point. I look forward to the second book!

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This book had an extremely slow start, and a lot of details that didn't immediately make sense to me. I liked Emiko as a character, but there was almost too much unnecessary information provided at times. We were introduced to characters that never made another appearance, and some parts of the story felt like filler that had just been added to draw out the page count. I think this would have been a fantastic book if it was the second in a series, something that came before it to give us all the detail it felt like we were missing, especially when it came to Emiko's backstory and history of other parts of the world. I wanted to like this so much, but I think it wasn't for me.

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DNF @ 5%

It’s possible I didn’t give Ebony Gate enough of a chance, but it’s been three days and every time I try to read, my eyes glaze over, and I immediately forget each sentence as I read it. Most of the reviews I’ve read speak to a slow start, which I could probably overcome, but they also promise a drawn-out ending, so I’m giving up on this one.

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The most tepid, level-headed thing I can say about this book is that it’s fine. I don’t regret the time I spent with it, by any means, but I admit I was a little bit disappointed by it. That said, at face value, this is a solid urban fantasy story with plenty of action and intrigue to at least carry the plot to fruition and keep the reader engaged throughout.

Honestly, I’m surprised this wasn’t comped to “Jade City,” because to me that makes a lot more sense than “John Wick.” They’re both urban fantasy series with Asian-inspired settings and magic systems, they both revolve around feuding clans, they both have elements of political intrigue, they both heavily involve combat. That, I think, makes much more sense. But I digress.

I appreciate how the story is both action-driven and also driven by interpersonal dynamics. It’s about Emiko struggling to separate herself from her family and these clan politics but then landing right back in the middle of them without really having a choice. That inner conflict really supplies this tension between her desperately trying to be herself and live by her own standards while being sucked back into this conflict that she wants no part of. I have a lot of respect for the story’s thematic work in that sense. I think there’s a level of catharsis watching Emiko go through this journey, really trying to resist the powers that be, and in the end exercise her free will to make her own decision about how she wants to live her life.

The other main thing I enjoyed about the story is that it’s action-packed and fast-paced. There’s a very clear ticking time bomb that the story has to abide by, which definitely brings a sense of urgency that constantly keeps the story moving from one thing to the next. I don’t want to say too much about it, but there’s also some very cool “City We Became” type vibes towards the end that I enjoyed very much.

All that said, I think this really boils down to “cool idea, not so great execution.” The world-building was severely lacking for me. Not only did the majority of it come from these huge info-dumpy sections, but it almost felt like we needed a prequel to fully understand the context of this world.

There’s a lot of really important things that happen before the story begins that play a significant role in how the characters have been shaped, but that we, as the readers, never get to understand in context. And yes, maybe those flashbacks will come in later books, but for me that’s not enough. Staving off that character-building until later in the trilogy feels too little too late. If I’m not invested in the characters in book one, I’m not going to read those later books in the first place, which I fear is the case here.

Going back to that ticking time bomb element, while I really appreciated the urgency and tension that infused into the story, it made the pacing of the book so strange for some reason. I think Emiko was given maybe 48 hours to accomplish her task, but it felt like she did way more than 48-hours’ worth of things and only some of those things were actually related to tracking down the gate. She did all these weird little "side quests" that took me out of the story, because all I could think was, “Babe, you do not have time for this. You don’t even have a working lead right now.” So even though there was a very clear time restraint in the story, it caused time to balloon in ways that didn’t make a lot of sense.

I don’t have much more I want to say about this. It was a cool story with a cool premise. I don’t regret reading it, by any measure, but ultimately I was not invested in the characters or in what might come next after this. So I gave this three stars, which admittedly might be a little generous.

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This book was amazing! i loved everything about it and was sucked in right from the beginning. The writing is beautiful and the urban world building was fantastical. I really enjoyed the characters and thought that they had great development. The story line was so good. I honestly couldn't put it down. There was plenty of action scenes that i thought were done well, and i loved the magic system.

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This one took me a minute to get into, but once I got into it, I was very invested. I loved having an urban fantasy with queer presentation that is set in San Francisco with Japanese and Chinese culture/mythology. Emiko was incredibly badass, making her such a fun FMC to read about. Overall, I really enjoyed this and I'm very excited for the next book,

4/5 stars!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this title in exchange for this honest review.

Couldnt really get into this book sadly. Might give it another chance in the future, since a good friend really loved this.

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