This was a solid read! I did have the feeling that I should've read the prequel books before delving into this one, as there were a lot of references that flew over my head. But I really enjoyed the plot, and the couple together are blazing hot 🔥🔥

welcome to the midrealms, a world filled with renowned, god-gifted warriors known as warswords and the associated warrior guild of thezmarr; strong magic-users and brilliant alchemists; adventurous quests and riveting conspiracies, and the most delicious enemies to lovers and delectable bodyguard romance, all wrapped up within a tension-filled fantasy setting of dark academia and high stakes trials. this book is a solid five stars, one of my favourite romances of 2025, and is one of the few books to have held my undivided attention and at the same time, made me want to not finish reading it, in a very long time. helen scheuerer has found herself at the top of my auto-buy and favourite authors lists!

iron & embers is an amazing introduction to helen scheuerer’s newest series, ashes of thezmarr and the engaging world-building and captivating story-telling she delivers. her other series, the legends of thezmarr has been well-received and recommended a lot on social media, so naturally the high sung praises left me feeling excited for this series. before delving further into this review, i want to note a disclaimer: it’s encouraged however not essential that you read the legends of thezmarr series first, but your reading experience will be enriched if you do as ashes of thezmarr is set half a decade after the shadow war. full disclosure, i haven’t read the legends of thezmarr (it is on my ever growing list of romances to devour) but this didn’t affect my reading experience or overall enjoyment of this book. setting aside recurring characters and references to the events of the other series, the information imparted to us isn’t so niche or specific that you’re left feeling lost and confused. at the start, we have a brief history of the shadow war and throughout the course of reading, we have various flashbacks which provide context.

helen scheuerer’s writing is simplistic and not excessively complex—it doesn’t have that convoluted haunting air, or poetic tone that some romantasy stories have—but the way she writes remains wholly engaging and, without doubt, wonderfully captivating. between the detailed world-building and unfolding war in the background; the incredible, strong emotionally fuelled scenes; the sexual tension within the budding romance between our leading characters; and the absorbing dialogues and entertaining exchanges, it’s hard to not fall in love with iron & embers. i love the ease of reading this book, that i devoured all that i read, and appreciate that despite the overall writing simplicity it remains a coherent, interesting narrative that is showcased in descriptive detail. the drevenor academy and the fortress of thezmarr both reminded me of kaer morhen (the witcher) and other well loved settings from fantasy stories, as we visited sections of the academy and its grounds. it was hard to not love the setting of this book—it was magically enchanting, all rolled into one area with finesse. all of the details and elements were captured with clarity; it was seamless imaging yourself walking alongside the characters with vividness.

♡ elwren embervale
wren is such a complex, multi-faceted character with numerous intricacies and she’s one of my favourite characters because of it. her focus on vengeance for the atrocities she encountered in the shadow war has moulded wren into a formidable weapon of destruction; her grief for her lost family members and closest friends has turned her cold and aloof. despite everything she’s lost however, wren is warm and loving towards those she still has in her inner circle. she’s such a brilliant character with a bright, intelligent mind whose experiences and knowledge around plants and poisons was refreshing! it was new and different following a prolific alchemist turned assassin who specialises in poisons, rather than having a trained warrior or magic-wielder lead character who possesses too much power. while smart, the moment wren enters drevenor academy she’s no longer the most intelligent in the room and her knowledge and experiences are challenged, but this only makes her stronger and her determination is showcased so beautifully and wonderfully as she embraces the challenges of her trials and lessons.

♡ torj elderbrock
in short, torj elderbrock is the epitome of overprotectiveness with a hint of cinnamon roll—what a classic combination. the renowned silver-haired bear slayer is one of the broodiest and grumpiest, but appealing male lead characters that i have encountered in such a long time. it didn’t matter how frustrated he became with wren, the care and love he had for her remained and was demonstrated in ways that made my heart flutter and legs kick in absolute giddiness. he was hard, but sweet; stubborn, but loving and however much this exasperating man challenged wren, it was to assist in her growth and learning. alongside wren, we discovered some information that moulded torj into the kind of man that he is and his painfully sad backstory made me love and appreciate him moreso.

♡ torj elderbrock + wren embervale
the romance unravelled slow, but burned in irresistible fashion and the sexual tension between torj and wren was FLAWLESS. what made this romance a sheer delight is: the forced proximity because torj had been assigned bodyguard to wren; the cutting banter and witticisms exchanged were absolute perfection; and the utter hatred these two had towards each other really embodied and delivered a genuine slow burn romance. the connection between them is solidified by mutual disdain but undeniable attraction. despite all of the frustration and mutual pining from a distance, even when wren made it clear she wasn’t interested and detested him, torj still desired wren. without spoiling anything—it should be read first hand—there’s an interesting approach to one of the most used albeit well loved tropes in fantasy, it made the ending of this book all the more devastating.

♡ the side characters
the cohort of side characters we have been blessed with enhanced the overall narrative, but also enriched the main characters and created an additional element to their personalities. i adore found families in my fantasy stories and helen scheurer delivered the newest additions to my favourite list. cal and kipp offered much needed comedic relief to make this book feel less ‘doom and gloom’ at times. the banter and humour they shared amongst themselves, but with torj and wren, filled me with happiness as you could sense the friendship and camaraderie between them—i trust we will continue to see more of them in thorns & fire. thea and wilder made smaller appearances, however what moments we received leaves me excited to know more about them eventually in the legends of thezmarr series. the characters who made me the most interested are dessa and zavier, who are the newest additions to the found families of thezmarr, and supported wren’s character wonderfully. they offered a different form of comfort and encouragement, became reliable teammates and genuine friends to wren; i will manifest that this continues because nothing saddens me more than a close found family being ruined!

i could continue to gush and rave about iron & embers. it is truly one of the best, well-written and executed romantasies that i’ve read in some time. the slow burn and tension between our leading characters; the extensive world-building and riveting adventures within it; and the nail biting trials and rigorous lessons are worth first-hand experience. i have zero idea where the next book, thorns & fire will take us on journeys to however, i am interested to witness further discoveries of the people’s vanguard. so interested, i’d have no shame in begging to have an opportunity to read the second book.

Enjoyable and engrossing characters. Written well. More please. Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for the ARC. 5/5

Iron & Embers by Helen Scheuerer felt like being at Basgiath from Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing if it were for Alchemists and our heroine found herself tied to a bodyguard not dissimilar to Geralt of Rivia from Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher. Needless to say it’s a fun read and easy page turner.

I loved that this book begins a few years after the conclusion of the epic war. It made for an intriguing dynamic as we check in on our heroes as they tackle grief, consequences and paths not taken. This allowed for an excellent ‘the one that got away’ dynamic between Wren and Torj and ultimately lead to our protagonists feeling well fleshed out.

This is a dual POV story packed full of banter, sizzling romantic tension and found family. This book perhaps felt a little trope heavy at times and quite predictable but ultimately delivered an easy, fun read. It would suit a reader looking for a light romance set in a fun fantasy world.

The ending, unfortunately, felt a little rushed, forced and shocking for the sake of being shocking. I would still be open to reading the rest of the trilogy though!

I did not know this was a spin off series, but honestly I didn't need to know that. I flew through this one and enjoyed it so much. I was captivated by the story and did not want to put it down. I need to go back and read the original series now.

Iron And Embers
Helen Scheuerer

“Revenge is a precarious path to walk… It is often said that those who seek it should dig two graves.”

This is Wren’s story through and through. It’s set five years after the war and provides the perfect opportunity for the characters to have had some time to heal, but as we see, time doesn’t heal all wounds.

Wren and Torj have their own issues individually but there was so many sweet moments in this story.

Many much loved characters from Legends made appearances but you could also read this without having read Helen’s previous series.

thank you to the publisher and the author for this arc.

2 stars. (but hope to update once i read this again.)

i tried to get through this book three times and only got as far as 15% in before it put me into a slump again. i will try to read this again at a different time.

"𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤…𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐠 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬."

5/5⭐️

I started Iron&Embers right after I finished reading The Legends of Thezmarr and I honestly think this was the best decision I could have made.
My knowledge from the previous series was still fresh and cozy in my Memory, so that I had no trouble at all to find my way into Iron&Embers.
The first thing I want to mention is, that I underestimated the abilities of Alchemists, specifically in this case, Wren.
Wren is from now on my favorite character in the Thezmarr world, she has lost by far the most of them all, which reflects in her actions and feelings throughout the book.
In the book, she goes through major changes and resembles and enormous character growth.
Therefore, Wren‘s journey has so far been a very emotional one and I loved how she slowly and steadily opened up to the people around her, including Torj.
I loved that Torj has his own mission to accumulate knowledge about his injury, which made him a lot more interested than he was in the previous Thezmarr series.
The romance is a nice slow burn, just how I like it.
I also really liked the writing style of this book and all the information that Helen must have investigated beforehand and integrated so well into the book, i.e. Potions-making, all the names of the different flowers etc.
There‘s really nothing I didn‘t like about this book and I honestly can‘t wait to continue with the next one!

Wow! I loved this book. With the fact that we got to follow a couple of characters from one of Helen’s other series is amazing. Being back in this world I completely enjoyed. There was so much that happened within this book which kept me gripped to it as well as it was duo pov which made me very intrigued to see the different point of views to what was happening. It surprised me in parts of this book as I hadn’t expected it. With the way the story developed and changed the more that I read it, I was shocked by how the book ended. But this has made me excited to be able to see what is going to happen next, in the next book when that comes out.

Thank you to NetGally for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think Wren initially grated on me - what with her pathological need for independence and her no nonsense attitude towards making friends… I found it quite frustrating how I could tell she was going to need friends and allies and seemed to be saying stuff that would cause people to be the exact opposite. But it didn’t last long and she actually did make friends. Yay! Annoying trope avoided.

I have the distinct impression that (as my first book written by Helen that I’ve read) I have missed some key world building. Maybe? I’m not sure? The shadow war wasn’t well explained. And the fact that Wren was a princess was mentioned a lot but not really touched on how a future queen would join a school for alchemy.

I was also worried, on reading the blurb, that this would be a Battle Royale style plot. Or a magic school with death challenges… I enjoy stories like this but if not done well they can fall flat. That was not the case here. The plot and premise was completely on point. Very well executed.

Overall a solid read. I’m thinking I’m going to have to go back and read more of Helen’s work, because this was a really engaging read and there’s nothing I love more than being swept up by a book and transported to another world.

Iron and embers
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

EXCUSE ME BUT WHAT WAS ON THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!
I already read and loved the OG series, but THIS SPIN OFF took everything to an upper level for me.

This was a story written for me, filled with everything that I like! Wren was a character that I was interested in since the first moment she appeared, and this post war transformation from sweet and determined alchemist to a vengeance thrived poisoner was so interesting for me to read. I do love a kinda morally gray FMC.
Add that to an academic setting, with classes, high stakes threats and you got me hooked! It was also really cool to see appear again some of those characters I already knew and loved from the prior series, and having them interact with each other on a different situation and five years after, was amazing.

Now, as for the romance I wasn't ready for how freaking hard it would hit me!!! THE YEARNING, THE SLOW BURN. I was so invested. Torj and Wren had so much history together up to this point and the tension between both of them was otherworldly and what do you mean that we got, on top of that, forced proximity with a really well done bodyguard trope.

The action per se was fast paced and engaging but well elaborated and kept me constantly reading or thinking about reading the book! It was an interesting change of plot in comparison with The legends of Thezmarr series and it added to an already established world without making it repetitive.

AND THAT ENDING!!!! WHY??? No, really, why?? The author took a familiar trope (that I love BTW) and twisted it in the cruelest and most gut wrenching way, I'm still recovering and will be doing so till I have book 2 on my hands.

On another note, this new trilogy was made to stand on her own, that's true, but I strongly recommend to read the original series first, to avoid spoilers (obviously) but also, because it adds to the experience and it gives a lot of necessary background. Also, why wouldn't you want to read anything related to this universe?

This is my first Helen Scheuerer's book and I had a great time reading this one🤩🤌 as soon as I read the blurb, I knew I would love it and so I downloaded the audiobook asap and picked up my physical copy to annotate 🤭 for the first time I literally had to ditch my physical copy 'cuz annotating was making me slow and I wanted to read and know more and more about our amazing pair 😍❤️ Wren and Torj ✨🤌

After a long time, I found a fantasy book which focuses more on the magic and fantasy elements while simultaneously giving a slow burn romance which makes you giggle, blush and even scream!!!!

Wren was my favourite since chapter one!! The way she made her entry in the book, I knew she is one of the fierce and brave female protagonist that I will adore 🥰 and complementing her is the perfect grumpy, rough and tough Torj ✨🤌 their banter is epic!!

Coming to the magical world 😍✨🤌 damn after a long time, I found a fantasy world that was indeed penned in details yet it didn't bore me as the author brilliantly wrote each conquest of our protagonists including in discription of the magical school and world of the book, which made it much easier for me to understand the concept and logic of it.

Helen Scheuerer's *Iron and Embers* is a compelling blend of fantasy and romance, set in an intricately built world that is both immersive and easy to follow. I found that this book delivers a thrilling mix of magic, alchemy, and high-stakes trials. The romance is a slow burn, brimming with tension and well-written chemistry. Torj, with his brooding, Witcher-esque energy, makes for an alluring love interest, while Wren’s sharp wit and intelligence is a dynamic and engaging female lead. Their relationship unfolds naturally, with plenty of emotional depth and intensity.

I think the although this can be read as a standalone, people who have already read Blood and Steel will understand more about the world, the characters and events.

Overall, I really enjoyed *Iron and Embers* and recommend it to fans *Blood and Steel* series and newcomers, if your willing to dive in the deep end. Either way, this book's storytelling is captivating, and this book will leave readers eager to explore more of her work.

Summary: Alchemist-turned-assassin Wren must survive deadly trials to cure a mysterious poison, all while clashing with her vengeful protector, Torj.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

Loved this book. A fantastic slow burn fantasy romance. The market is so full of romantasy at the moment it can sometimes feel oversaturated and they all blend together a bit, but this book stood out for me. Really enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC

A wonderful start of a new romantasy series! Iron & Embers is a spin off from the Helen's series The Legends of Thezmarr's. It can be read as a seperate series but if you want to read the books I recommend you start with Blood and Steel before you begin with Iron & Embers. I won't say much about the plot because of potential spoilers but I promise you fantastic characters, a delicious romance and lots of fun!

Iron and Embers was the first book in a thrilling new fantasy series. It captivated from the start with interesting well-developed characters and beautiful world building.
The female lead, Wren has turned from her dreams of being an alchemist to that of poisoner, secretly killing those who did wrong during the war. When she is finally sent to the academy on a mission to identify what the new poison is that is threatening the royals, it is more than just the poison that she must look out for.
If the writing continues to be of the standard that we were treated to in this first book, then it will be a real treat.

A slow burn, forbidden, fantasy romance! It is so beautifully written and although it is following side characters from the previous series, you pick up on the storyline effortlessly. I haven’t read the other series, but I will now! The characters are gritty and definitely not flawless, but you like them despite that. It starts slow but gives you that incredible feeling of realness as it winds around you, there are some plot twists that will have you gasping and others that will have you kicking your feet in joy.

4.25 ⭐️

thank you netgalley and pan macmillan for a review copy of this book

I read this book so quickly and could not put it down!! I found the plot really fast paced and loved the world building. Before starting this book I did not realise it followed a five book series and while the plots are separate (and i never would have noticed had i not looked it up!) you do get the first series spoiled if you start with this one!! I really liked the characters and the growth they have. I also found the alchemy really interesting and I am really excited to see how it is used in the next book which I am desperate for after the shocking ending!! Overall, this is a super first book for an incredible fantasy series and I am sure if you have read the previous series you will love this one!!

I started reading this and although it is possible to read separately to The Legends of Thezmarr series it felt like I was missing something. Paused for a moment, read the Legends series and then came back. Though the characters were secondary in the Legands series reading that first made them richer and easier to understand and I was much more invested in them. The writing started feeling a little like a repeat of some of the Legends series but the author settled into the story and the developing romance started to feel more unique to these characters..
A gripping read and a romance that is fraught with many ‘will they, won’t they’ moments. Lived the new characters of Dessa and Zavier, though it took me a bit to warm to Zavier, as I guess the author intended. Solid romantasy novel and looking forward to the sequel.

The book has left me feeling a lot. I had not read Legends of Thezzmar but had only heard good things so I was pretty excited but as soon as the FMC chapter hit I found her annoying and rude. Yes there was a war and she had been through a lot but sometimes it felt like she was needlessly cruel. Also, the book felt a bit too long... I mean 92 chapters why? The whole length of this book felt like it was laying the groundwork for the series and nothing much was happening other than romance and grief. and the connection between Wren and Torj was not there at all, no growth and just lust. Would read the next book to give the series a better shot but this one was not my cup of tea.