A Shadow in the Ember is the first book in the Flesh and Fire series, followed by A Light in the Flame (2022), A Fire in the Flesh (2023), and Born of Blood and Ash (2024). This series serves as a prequel to Jennifer Armentrout’s Blood and Ash series. A Shadow in the Ember takes place hundreds of years before From Blood and Ash (2020) and establishes the origin of many events and characters in the shared timeline.

In A Shadow in the Ember, Armentrout glosses over explaining the world, as it is described in greater detail in the Blood and Ash series. This is especially true for the Chosen (children born with eather, a divine essence) and Rite of Ascension (during which the Chosen are Ascended, made immortal). While these terms only surface in Chapters 14-17 in this novel, they play a significant role in Blood and Ash because the protagonist, Penellaphe “Poppy” Belfour, is one of the Chosen. However, A Shadow in the Ember explains the origin of other entities that inhabit the world. For example, the deal that created the draken, the dragon-like shapeshifters who protect Primals, stemmed from

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