Kindly note: This series is very much meant to be read in order. If you haven't yet read the first book of this series, this review may contain spoilers about how it turned out.
Matt settling into life with his pack. His parents are reunited and expanding their small family. He has a boyfriend in Rasmus and lots of love from the entire pack. His biggest challenge is learning how to control the powerful “ember” that marks him as a true alpha. At the very least he needs to figure out what the ember wants, to keep it from burning him alive. But it's not just his internal struggle Matt has to deal with. There are things outside the pack that are signalling changes that could affect all the Vargr.
This second book of The Vargr series continues to build the world of the Vargr, a race of werewolves. Along the way, we get some more clues pointing to where the series story arc is probably heading, but remains rather coy about it, leaving room to wonder if we aren't being mislead. We also get the briefest of glimpses of the Cubi although it's not clear what role, if any, they will play in this story.
Matt remains the center of the story. Like Daniel in the Cubi series, Matt is in many ways a typical young man just coming of age, yet sometimes he shows amazing maturity for someone not yet 20. It may feel unlikely, but if you can believe werewolves really exist, then Matt's unusual insight and his ember aren't that much of a stretch.
While Matt may be the main character whose journey drives the story, as in the previous series, there's a large cast of characters helping along the way. Pack Alpha Steffen seems to be the key person in Matt's life, but there's also Steffen's mate and regional Alpha Tristan, as well as Klaes, Rasmus' father.
“Awakening Ember” is available from Amazon.