Jamie Foley

Kira's life was pretty good until her neighbor's ranch burned to the ground. She always knew that living on the border was a bad idea. It's really all Ryon's fault. She didn't mean to shoot him, but he shouldn't have been spying on their land. And he's probably the one who started the fire, anyway-those bright eyes mean he's from that tribe of wild fire-mages.But now he's her only chance of getting back home before war breaks out... and she becomes lost behind enemy lines.

Emberhawk Manuscript Proof

Manon van Heumen

3.5 stars. I absolutely adored this story! The world-building was great, and I often could relate to the characters. Sometimes, however, they acted out of character to me.

Katerina Thorson

3/5 
Bookstagram
**Thank you to the author and Fayette Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a hard one for me to rate. I even had to sit for a few days and stew on it. I mean there were many parts that I absolutely loved about this book...and there were many parts that I absolutely hated. There was no middle ground for me...no grey area. There was just black and white. Which is very unusual for me. So it makes it difficult to write this review! UGH the problems of a book worm. 

This book was definitely action packed with a sort of badass - or wannabe - female character. I loved how the book flowed through the action flawlessly and how it had me at the grip of my seat. 

The Loves:
1. The action
This book truly was action packed from the very first page. Which, for me, makes it easy to delve into. I am not one for beating around the bush or taking forever to get to the main point of the book. I like my action at the forefront. 

2. The magic system
The magic in this book is unique and original...which for a YA fantasy book is hard to come by now of days. Most magic system in books are based off an already pre-existing magic system in another book. Actually most YA books feel the same in this category. Jamie Foley definitely does an amazing job at creating a unique magic system. I mean who doesn't love the idea of elemental gods!

3. The main character actually has both sets of parents!
I don't know about you, but I am getting so sick of YA Fantasy books killing off one parent, or both at the very beginning of the story. It's literally one of the most annoying tropes out there to me. So this was a huge win for me. Even if the parents only got a full 5 pages (or less) of actually being in the story. 

So yup, there you go my positives that I have for this book. These were really big things for me and I was super excited about the both parents thing - I know it's weird to like that but seriously...sick of the whole "my dad died because of this" or "i lost both my parents when I was younger" trope that has plagued the YA Fantasy world for a LONG ass time. 

The cons that in the end decided my rating:

1. I hated the characters
Yup, every single one. I mean Ryon was okay but oh my f*cking god Kira was an annoying little b*tch. Literally this girl did nothing but complain the whole time crying "poor me" "poor me". Or even better yet how many times from literally page 5 to page 200 I counted her saying "I'm going to kill you" "look at me weird I am going to kill you" "why aren't you looking at me" "don't touch me". This girl drove me insane and I hated her. The only redeeming quality Kira had was that she didn't have special snow-flake syndrome

As for Ryon...there was really nothing special about him. He was a very weird character. Almost morally grey. He wasn't your typical YA Fantasy male - brooding, sad past, bad guy on the outside. No he just existed, which made me dislike him more.

Vylia's POV was pointless. The girl had three chapter's to herself and they did nothing for the plot. Yes, it was convenient for what was going on. Almost like a loop hole to have her in there to get more background. Other than that she truly was a useless character. 

2. The lack of world building
So there is not much, if any, world building in this book. We aren't even given a background story or hints of one at all. All you know is that Empire is hated (who would have thunk), there might be a rebellion (lovely), and that there are islands. I mean there really was not much and I am really disappointed in it because I think this could have so much potential. 

3. F*cking Insta-Love
...It literally happened 10 pages into the book...I am not even joking. I wish I was. I don't know what to say besides HELL NO and WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AUTHOR! 

4. Too much action
You probably are thinking "Kat you are such a hypocrite, you just said you liked the action." Absolutely I did...but there is also a thing as too much action. From page one until the end it was just action. No wonder the author couldn't put much into the world building. If you took out all the action you would probably be left with 100 pages or less. 

For a YA fantasy book - it wasn't bad. However, it did fall into the traps that other YA novels tend to fall into. Not enough plot build, world build is non-existent, character issues, insta-love and so forth. I think this book definitely has potential to grow and become more. So hopefully the next book will build off of this book, but do better when it comes to the YA tropes and pitfalls we all dislike.

Emberhawk Manuscript Proof

Reviews