Isles Of The Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson (book review)
Some of the more prolific SF authors have, almost as an afterthought, tried to fit their novels and short stories into a timeline of the universe they have created. Sometimes this works and they have gone back and written the fiction to fill in the gaps. In fantasy, there is more of a tendency to have a well thought out setting first and books appear as part of a series which may include prequels. Over the course of writing his novels, Brandon Sanderson has developed a framework called the Cosmere. He considers this a fantasy device but many of the novels sit on the cusp between SF and fantasy. ‘Isles Of The Emberdark’ is set within the Cosmere.
This particular novel began as a novella, ‘Sixth Of The Dusk’, which is incorporated within the first part of this novel. The central character, Dusk, is a trapper and a survivor. He has spent much of his adult life trapping on the island of Patji, where almost anything could kill you. Dusk as the experience of survival, knowing what the dangers are, and two Aviar. These are birds and what he has spent his life trapping. One of them is able to block his mental presence from the creatures that want to kill him, the other shows him visions of his dead body which allows him to avoid the dangers. On of his trips, he rescues Vathi. Since then, the world has changed. Aliens have arrived in spaceships and offered his people technology. Patji is tamed and trapper’s skills are not needed.
The aliens are trying to persuade Dusk’s people, the Eelakin, to trade with them for the Aviar. Vathi thinks they also have other motives. In the centre of Patji, protected by the dangers of the forest is a pool. This is a perpendicularity, a passage into the Emberdark. This is a kind of void that connects parts of the Cosmere. Knowing how to navigate between the islands in the Emberdark is to find shortcuts to planets without having to traverse the vast distances of space.
In the years since first meeting Vathi, Dusk has become uncomfortable with the changes that have taken away his profession while accepting that change is inevitable. Vathi is currently the leader of the government and is resisting capitulation to the advantages the aliens appear to offer. Dusk, though, remembers the legends of how the Eelakin arrived by crossing the Emberdark. If he can prove the legends true, Vathi should be able to resist the demands for Aviar.
Elsewhere in the Cosmere, politics between other worlds is more complex because of the different alien races that inhabit it. Starling belongs to a very long-lived race of dragons. She has been exiled from her homeworld and in manacled to prevent her changing into a dragon. She captains a spaceship crewed by a mixture of aliens including a ghost and Chrysalis, who is a group intelligence made up from hundreds of ‘bugs’. All of her crew have some beef with the authorities. It would improve their reputation if Starling could find a new perpendicularity. She has acquired an ancient map which might give them clues. Also searching for the perpendicularity is Colonel Dajer, commanding a Scandrian military unit. His future depends on finding it. He believes he has but cannot access it.
Dusk, Starling and Dajer end up in the same island. At the centre is a lagoon, guarded by a monster. Dusk recognises it as the Dakwara, a mythical creature that his ancestor Cakoban defeated. Dajer has found a tunnel that he believes will lead him past the Dakwara and to the perpendicularity but those he has sent down it have died. Under the threat of harming her crew and his birds, Starling and Dusk are sent to explore. Dusk realises that the dangers are all those has encountered on Patji and in the same order as when he rescued Vathi when they first met.
A deceptively simple story is riddled with politics and a mixture of motives. The first part of the novel involving Dusk and his birds is delightful and innovative and the Aviar are the stars of this book. The characters have real dilemmas, especially with the almost bullying demands of the aliens. It also looks at the way change affects a society. With the new developments, Dusk is out of a job but has a strong belief in his world’s legends and is willing to prove they have truth in order to get leverage against the aliens.
There will be some who will recognise the trope of having a battered ship crewed by a bunch of misfits as it has been used by a number of authors. In this case, it is redeemed by the characters of the crew themselves. There are tensions amongst them and, in some cases, mistrust due to the way the different races are perceived by others. The weakest part is that played by Dajer and his thugs, placed there to provide obstacles the others have to overcome. He has no redeeming features. Because of strength of Dusk’s and Starling’s characters, this can almost be overlooked. The prose flows and overall, is an enjoyable read.
Pauline Morgan
June 2026
(pub: Gollancz, 2026. 396 page hardback. Price: £25.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-3996-3452-6)
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