Friday, March 3, 2017

Review: Rise of Fire by Sophie Jordan

Rise of Fire
Release Date: February 7, 2017
Publisher: Harper Teen
ISBN:   0062377671
ISBN13 9780062377678
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Edelweiss
The richly suspenseful sequel to Sophie Jordan’s romantic fantasy Reign of Shadows.

Luna and Fowler have escaped the kingdom of Relhok, but they haven’t escaped the darkness. When a battle against the dark dwellers mortally injures Fowler, Luna is faced with a choice: put their fate in the hands of mysterious strangers or risk losing Fowler forever.

Desperate to keep the one bright part of her life alive, Luna accepts the help of soldiers from a nearby kingdom. Lagonia’s castle offers reprieve from the dangerous outside world—until the king discovers both Fowler's and Luna’s true ties to Relhok and their influence over the throne.

Now pawns in each kingdom’s political game, Luna and Fowler are more determined than ever to escape and build the life they’ve been dreaming of. But their own pasts have a tight hold on their hearts and their destinies. Luna must embrace the darkness and fire within her before she loses not only Fowler, but the power she was destined to inherit.
The Reign of Shadows series is a duology and you won't want to jump into REIGN OF FIRE without first reading REIGN OF SHADOWS or nothing will make sense.

We saw Luna and Fowler get really close, then watched things blow up a a bit between them at the end of REIGN OF SHADOWS. In book two, we continue to get a lot of Luna and Fowler moments, but some new love interests are introduced which kind of throws their connection off again. Get ready for a lot of jealousy and fighting feelings.

The fact that Luna is blind didn't bother me at all in the first book, but for some reason in REIGN OF FIRE, it was just odd. You would forget that she was blind, then something would happen to make it clear she was and then you would again wonder how the heck she was doing what she was doing. I don't know why it was such a big deal for me now. It seemed to 'fit' into REIGN OF SHADOWS, but it was out of place in REIGN OF FIRE.

The story has a nice pace to it and a bit of a different feel than book one—which didn't bother me at all. I enjoyed the addition of some of the new characters and felt they really added something great to the storyline.  Although I liked the ending, it felt rushed. I would have liked to see the resolution of the story last a little longer than it did.

After all was said and done, the story was interesting, but it didn't totally blow me away.

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.