Ebony Gate

The Phoenix Hoard

By: Julia Vee, Ken Bebelle

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle's Ebony Gate is a female John Wick story with dragon magic set in contemporary San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Emiko Soong belongs to one of the eight premier magical families of the world. But Emiko never needed any magic. Because she is the Blade of the Soong Clan. Or was. Until she’s drenched in blood in the middle of a market in China, surrounded by bodies and the scent of blood and human waste as a lethal perfume.

The Butcher of Beijing now lives a quiet life in San Francisco, importing antiques. But when a shinigami, a god of death itself, calls in a family blood debt, Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate that holds back the hungry ghosts of the Yomi underworld. Or forfeit her soul as the anchor.

What's a retired assassin to do but save the City by the Bay from an army of the dead?

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2023 Julia Vee and Ken BeBelle (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Ebony Gate is a snarky Harry Dresden meets Shang-Chi, with a dash of Monster Hunter International.”—Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling co-author of Dune: House Atreides

“A wild, exhilarating ride through a living San Francisco populated with ghosts, magical beasts, and one tough-as-nails heroine. Adventurous and filled with heart, exploring the struggles of a bloody past and familial duty, Ebony Gate is a spectacular start to what promises to be an engrossing series.”—Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

“Ebony Gate is a bizarre and exciting thrill ride! It’s Doctor Strange meets Shang-Chi with a big dose of original characters, modern fantasy, and dynamic action. Highly recommended!”—Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of the Joe Ledger Thrillers and Kagen the Damned

Great new series

Action packed with a cool new take on magic set in present day SF. If John Wick were a woman and went to Chinatown with magic. Don’t miss.

Fun Story

Enjoyable story. Interested in how some of the more subtle foreshadowing picks up in the next book!

a new author to follow!

I discovered this book because it came up as a "because you listened too: The Moons Shadow celestial beasts book 1" recommend reading. I am so glad I took the chance! this book had even MORE Asian Mythology! it was mostly Japanese Mythology. which is super cool.
I wanted to reserch shinigami, and because of the Fu dogs mentioned in the other book...I latched onto the Fu lion in this one.

altogether a great read!!! super adventurous, life and death, a tiger shifter, and figs on pizza.
(I kinda want to try that now)

5-stars and a standing ovation!

What a fun ride!

I loved this book! I found myself getting far to many chores done just so I had an excuse to keep listening. This was an engrossing introduction to a kick ass heroine who rarely had it easy, but she didn't let setbacks get in her way. She reminded me a lot of Kate Daniels, but with Eastern Mythology. Narrator was excellent, and she really brought life to the story. I'm absolutely looking forward to the next book in the series.

cool idea ...

it was a good time. For the subject matter, it was pretty light hearted.

Very easy to read/listen

Great story, really good reader. It’s simple it’s not complicated and I wanted more. I can’t wait for the next one.

Yay! A new urban fantasy author and

This is a great book, the characters are complex enough to build on, the world is lush, and entering the story in medias res really makes it work! Great for fans of any Ilona Andrews series.

Banger of a story. Action galore

Ebony Gate, by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle delivers. Plenty of action. Fascinating characters. Deadly weapons and powers. Emiko is a “lost” protagonist, trying to find herself while dealing with her past actions, reputation, family commitments, clan expectations and blood debts. A great story narrated perfectly by Natalie Naudus.

Entertaining new series and fun introduction to Japanese mythology

I have to admit that as I started the book, the mixing of Chinese and Japanese names, weapons, phrases and vernacular threw me off. If this were written by a pair of “gaijin”, there would definitely be accusations of cultural appropriation under and decrying the inspiration as being “Asian” without and consideration for the vast cultural and historical differences between the numerous nationalities that you would find in modern day San Francisco.
That being said, I would imagine the authors consider the present day nationalities as descendants of the dragons and since the hoard families in the book trace their lineage back to the dragons, I carried on with the book.
I will say that the mythology represented leans quite heavily into Japanese mythology, specifically those related to Shintoism. Things like shinagami, yokai, ubume and Yomi are pieces of a rich mythology that many westerns have absolutely no exposure to which is a shame.
I will be excited to see where the next book takes the series and if the authors might dip a little more into some of the mythology or martial lore from China or Vietnamese or Korea

Great Read

This book is very well written and full of creatures of myths and magics. The only downside is that now I must wait for the next one. :)