ergaich's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
hayley07's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood and Death
kirstenf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
dlrosebyh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
though i did enjoy the sisters’ adventure, i found eden’s character quite intolerable. the bad guys were stereotypical, and it felt like everything was rushed. i also felt like that the pov’s switch too frequently which makes it for me to understand the story better. i did love the world building, though— with the dragons and fantasy elements.
overall, it was an alright read. i wouldn’t probably continue to the next book in the series.
Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Animal death
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Ableism
Minor: Biphobia, Sexism, and Bullying
lennie_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"I made a mistake, trusting you, but having anxiety doesn't make me a coward. It doesn't make me weak."
This book is a standalone urban fantasy featuring two sisters who have been secretly raised as Dragon Slayers their whole lives, whilst also trying to live as normal teenagers. The two often feel in competition with each other and have a bit of a strained relationship because of it.
One day Dani is attacked by a Dragon, who then becomes her bond mate, and everything the sisters thought they knew about dragons, slayers, sorcerers and family is put to the test.
The book explores identity in a lot of different forms. The sisters are mixed latinx but feel a bit separated from the latinx side of the family, they can't be fully open with their friends because of being slayers, Dani is bisexual & Eden suffers with severe anxiety.
Dani was arguably more likeable but I feel like Eden was probably more relatable (for me anyway!)
She was a flawed character, never felt good enough, didn't always make the right choices and had a lot of things to deal with.
I fell that this book deals with anxiety very well & shows the prejudice that can come with it. Eden's anxiety was a big part of her story but she comes to realise that it doesn't need to stop her from doing the things she wants doesn't make her weaker & it doesn't have to push people away.
There's some romance, lots of character development, interesting world building and lots of action.
The book was a good standalone but I do feel like there could've been a bit more to it and some parts felt a bit rushed.
CW: Biphobia, anxiety, panic attacks, death, violence, blood
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Biphobia and Mental illness
corvicore's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Torture, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Minor: Biphobia
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
What I wasn’t such a fan of, though, was the uneven pacing in the first half of the book vs the second, the rather rushed events in the last third of the story, and just how chaotic things ended up. In the last 100 pages, it felt like there was too much going on, like Soria wanted to fit too much into too few pages, and more than once I had to reread paragraphs to grasp what exactly was happening. I think the best solution here would’ve been to either add a few chapters to the book or split it into a duology. Either one would’ve allowed for a bit of breathing room between action sequences and room to further flesh out the story and characters.
ETA:
The ending was satisfying, I’ll give it that, but as I write this review, my brain feels muddled. I’m not sure if that’s because of the time (it’s almost 4:30 a.m.) or the book or my alarmingly small number of brain cells or all three. Whatever the case may be, even if Fire with Fire didn’t end up being the spectacular urban fantasy I’d hoped it would be, I do recommend it. Soria has a lot of potential if she can figure out her pacing, and I look forward to giving more of her books a try in the future.
Representation
- bisexual Mexican protagonist
- Mexican protagonist with anxiety
- side characters of color (includes Latine and Black rep)
- sapphic side character
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence
The tags “animal cruelty” and “animal death” are there because of the treatment of dragons in some scenes of the book.foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Rep: Half-Mexican, half-white bisexual female MC, half-Mexican half-white female MC with anxiety and panic attacks, Black male love interest, white Scottish love interest, Latine male side character, white questioning female side character, Mexican-American female side characters.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (underage and legal), animal cruelty, animal death (both towards dragons), blood, death, fire/fire injury, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping, mental illness (anxiety), panic attacks, torture, violence. Moderate: grief.
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Grief
emily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
However, this is where my cons start to come in. The first one being the romance.
Another thing I didn't like was the execution of the plot. The pacing was really strange, and I feel like
Finally, I thought the side characters were underused. Frankie, Tomás and Sadie were all so interesting and could have added some real colour to Dani's activities. Overall, these significant cons meant that although it was a pretty enjoyable book, I couldn't give it more than 3.75 stars.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, and War
alixe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Special mention to Sophie, the cat who inspired my favorite character aka Nox and makes me love this book even more!
The ending still felt a little to much like a cliffhanger and
I also want more of these characters so I wouldn’t mind reading a sequel now :))
Graphic: Blood and Torture
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders