Name: A Thousand Fires
ISBN: 9781250219428

Shannon Price

10 Years. 3 Gangs. 1 Girl’s Epic Quest... Valerie Simons knows the Wars are dangerous—her little brother was killed by the Boars two years ago. But nothing will sway Valerie from joining the elite and beautiful Herons with her boyfriend Matthew to avenge her brother. But when Jax, the volatile and beyond charismatic leader of the Stags, promises her revenge, Valerie is torn between old love and new loyalty.

A Thousand Fires

Shannon Price's A Thousand Fires is a breakout contemporary debut—think The Outsiders meets The Iliad—that's perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Veronica Roth. 10 Years. 3 Gangs. 1 Girl’s Epic Quest... Valerie Simons knows the Wars are dangerous—her little brother was killed by the Boars two years ago. But nothing will sway Valerie from joining the elite and beautiful Herons with her boyfriend Matthew to avenge her brother. But when Jax, the volatile and beyond charismatic leader of the Stags, promises her revenge, Valerie is torn between old love and new loyalty. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Kath Lau

tw: depression, PTSD, self harm, suicidal ideation


Valerie's younger brother was killed by the Boars two years ago and she is determined to avenge his death. Joining the Herons, the rival gang of the Boars, is part of her plan but she finds herself taken by a mysterious gang called the Stags. Jax, their leader, promises to help her get her revenge leaving her no choice but to stay in the gang and leave her family and friends behind.

The books started really strong but it went downhill so fast. It's upsetting because I really wanted to love this book. I personally liked Valerie's character except when she's around Jax. The other members of the Stags were interesting as well but we didn't get enough of their backstories. I didn't really care about the romance. Aside from Jax is a total creep, the romance felt flat and unnecessary in my opinion. I thought the foundation of the gangs were not that strong. I was under the impression that since they're teenagers, there would be so much angst and edginess. I didn't get any of these from this book. The plot was a bit predictable and the ending felt rushed and unresolved. I did like how gentrification and privilege were discussed in this book. Overall, I was disappointed that I ended up not loving this book as much as I had hoped. I'm still willing to give her next book a try though.

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This was disappointing for me and I feel sad because the MC (and the author) is half-Filipino. Full review to come.

Shannon Price's A Thousand Fires is a breakout contemporary debut—think The Outsiders meets The Iliad—that's perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Veronica Roth. 10 Years. 3 Gangs. 1 Girl’s Epic Quest... Valerie Simons knows the Wars are dangerous—her little brother was killed by the Boars two years ago. But nothing will sway Valerie from joining the elite and beautiful Herons with her boyfriend Matthew to avenge her brother. But when Jax, the volatile and beyond charismatic leader of the Stags, promises her revenge, Valerie is torn between old love and new loyalty.

Karolina

San Francisco isn’t the safest place to live since the time the first gang called Herons appeared on its streets. The richest people of the town were leading the town, and no one was able to stop them until the new group Boars were formed just to stop them. It was their main purpose in the end but with the time they lost it and became even more dangerous to the city. They started the dangerous game Wars. 

With the years the new gang came to the city. No one knew who they are exactly and on which side they are. Some say they are the most dangerous ones, but no one knew the truth. They are called the Stags. 
On the day of the 18th birthday of the people living in the city. The gangs could recruit them to take part in the Wars for a year. If you are in, you cannot leave, that’s the main rule. The Wars are dangerous, and everyone knows the cost of taking part in it. It also gives you a house and the money that a lot of recruits need. 

Valerie for the last years planned to join Herons because of what happened to her brother. She was looking for revenge, but the police couldn’t identify the person who killed her little brother. The only way to find the guilty person was joining the Wars. When she turned eighteen one of the gangs found and recruited her. The only problem was that it wasn’t the group that she wanted to join. She wasn’t sure if she should do it but when the leader of the group promised her to reveal who murdered her brother, she didn’t hesitate any longer. She became one of the Stags. 

My thoughts:

I cannot find words to describe how much I enjoyed this book. It was brilliant. The story, characters and their history together made the book perfect. I honestly couldn’t put it down. I wanted the story to go on and never end. I wish the author will write a continuation of the story because a lot of things were not explained, and I want to know what happens to everyone in the future. 

Besides being a great read, the book was also heartbreaking. I look back to it and most of the characters were broke inside and there is nothing that can fix what happened to them. Valerie is one who will never be the same girl as she was before she lost her brother and the Wars. It’s not possible to recover after it. For some reason, she annoyed me in this book but it’s only because she was scared to lose more than she already did. She was very determined. Even if she was scared, felt alone and out of place, she still stayed and fought to reach her goal. 

Jay is a very complicated character in the book. He makes you love him and hate him at the same time. He went through a lot and I feel like a lot of people disappointed him. That’s why he wants to do everything his way so it will never happen again. He trusts only his close friends/gang members and maybe his mother, but I think it’s more complicated between them. 

I think Micah is my favorite of all. He is a friend/boyfriend everyone wishes to have. He is caring, kind and down-to-earth. He didn’t let the Wars change him. He was the one who wanted to leave it the most. He didn’t want to leave his friends and that was the reason why he wanted the Wart to finally end. I wish he could play a bigger part in this story. He deserved better than he had. 

I don’t know if you also were fans of fanfictions when you were younger, but I loved them more than books when I was 13-14. My favorite ones were the ones about gangs and dangerous love. When I read this book, it takes me back to this time. It’s very similar but ten times better and much better written. 
The last thing I would like to talk about is the short love plot. That’s the part I was a little bit disappointed. I wished it would develop more and we will get more stories about it but as fast it came the same way it was gone. I need more of them. As much as I like the ending, I want to change it. I don’t even need a change I just need a happy end for them. 

I would like to thank NetGalley, Shannon Price and Tor Books for providing me a digital copy of this book. I was more than happy to read it and review it.

Liz Griffin

10 years. 3 gangs. 1 girl’s epic quest for revenge against the person who killed her little brother. Follow Valerie into the heart of San Francisco, where she joins the youth gang, The Stags, the leader promising he’ll reveal the name of the killer and let Valerie have her vengeance. With gripping stakes, betrayal at every turn, and fiercely lovable-for-all-the-wrong-reasons characters, A Thousand Fires is the YA thriller reimagining of The Iliad that I didn’t know I needed. It was a super quick read - I binged it in one weekend. Also, I had theories about the killer AND a love interest and was proven wrong on both counts. Content warnings for gun violence and self-harm/depression (handled tastefully, IMHO.)

A Thousand Fires

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