An Ember in the Ashes meets Mask of Shadows in Emily Victoria's #ownvoices debut YA fantasy, This Golden Flame, in which asexual Karis, a servant to the mysterious Scriptorium, accidentally awakens long-dormant automaton Alix, initiating an epic adventure full of magic, rebellion, and finding where you truly belong.
Set in a world of automatons and magic, Karis has been living her life at the Scriptorium for years after being separated from her brother, where scribes seek to awaken the now dormant automaton army their country was once known for.
All she wants is to find a way out of the place and be reunited with her brother, and she jumps at the opportunity when she accidentally wakes up an automaton named Alix, who was created by someone she’s been taught to be a traitor, and finds herself on the run from the Scriptorium with Alix and her best friend, Dane.
I adored Alix the moment Karis stumbles upon and awakens him by accident, finding out that he’s very much not like the other automatons, and I loved how well Emily Victoria depicted his human-like feelings and thoughts on the page.