Hi, Ember hater here. Did she ever get verbally called out for being such a cruel, self-involved hosebeast? Not only did she let Benjamin think his wife was dead, she made him experience the loss TWICE because she wanted a minute to still be his friend. Not to mention she took Reid’s virginity and then dumped him for not becoming enslaved to her thoughts and opinions. If they had been gender reversed we’d be calling for her head on a stick for that last part,

emeralddodge:

Hi Ember hater! 

I’ve been waiting for this message. I didn’t know who was going to send it, but I knew it was coming. Frankly, I’m surprised it took as long as it did. This might surprise you, but I completely agree. Ember is kind of a jerk. Her trick in the helicopter to hurt Benjamin was nothing more than cruelty. It fell in line with the main theme of Mercury–the horrible, foolish things people do when they’re in pain.

Gonna be blunt: Ember is selfish. Ember is emotional, manipulative, and her morality is deeply Ember-centered. I’d hinted at this in the first two books, but Jill’s narrative filter always explained away Ember’s choices. Jill is love-starved and responds to kindness; watch carefully how she describes people. If she perceives someone as a friend/force for good, she’ll describe them as attractive. Benjamin, however, did not worship Ember the way Jill does, and what we see of Ember is a much more neutral depiction. Ember is at the end of her rope in Mercury, and what we see of her is truly her worst side. But it’s definitely her.

As for Ember dumping Reid, I’ll say that I’m kind of on both sides with that. For one thing, the Sentinels were an extraordinarily violent and unpredictable group of men, and I’d be deeply concerned if Mr. Dodge were to suddenly join them and start gunning people down, no matter the reason. Ember’s goal from book one, page one was to keep herself safe. She had to wonder if Reid would even turn against her for some reason. After all, he’d turned against his upbringing at the drop of a hat, and the Sentinels were openly hostile to superheroes. 

As for the gender reversal, I’d argue that the pain of his personality transformation was underlined by the fact that he’d taken her virginity days before. She’d given herself completely to him, believing that they’d always be the same, and that he’d keep his promises to her. And he was being a hypocrite–he’d been so anti-criminal for so long, and he had been against Benjamin joining the team merely on those grounds, despite the extenuating circumstances. There was no way around the fact that he should’ve been against the Sentinels on the same grounds.

On the other hand, Reid at least apologized. He tried to understand where Ember was coming from. He tried to protect her even after the breakup, never once choosing the easier path of letting Ember handle her own affairs. 

So, what’s the verdict on Ember? I say: very, very flawed. Far more gray than white. She never did get the verbal dressing-down she needed, but the reason for that is explained by the arc words I chose for Mercury: we don’t always get what we deserve.