roseybot's review
2.0
This book started out so well -- there were no annoying flashbacks, an interesting world to be playing around in, magic that seemed to have logic and rules. Even up to about 50%, I was on board, though the story had slowed down considerably from the fast paced beginning.
Then Jenna and Ash met and all logic and meaning went out the window for them. Lila grabbed the idiot ball and Dustin... vanished? Did he die? I honestly don't know cause at about 90% I just started skimming. I couldn't stomach it.
The romance was so ridiculously bad -- Jenna and Ash are in love in SECONDS, and willing to die for one another way too fast. Then Chima took the only character I even remotely liked and made her dumber than rocks ("What's this thing that I have experienced over and over again in my life?").
The ending didn't have any relation to the beginning of this book, and it felt so phoned in. I know that Chima has had success before and am assuming now that she just was like "readers know what happen next I don't need to write it". At least, that's what I feel like must be happening, because otherwise she's being MALICIOUSLY BAD.
This has to be the fastest turn from "Yeah, I'll get the second one" to "Oh... oh no, never mind. I can barely finish this one."
I skimmed the end, after the Dragon shows up because Jenna being a dragon was telegraphed WAY too much (and it wasn't confirmed but what kind of dumbass character doesn't make that connection WHEN HER HANDS TURN INTO CLAWS?).
Just... bad. It was so bad.
Two stars because the beginning was alright.
Then Jenna and Ash met and all logic and meaning went out the window for them. Lila grabbed the idiot ball and Dustin... vanished? Did he die? I honestly don't know cause at about 90% I just started skimming. I couldn't stomach it.
The romance was so ridiculously bad -- Jenna and Ash are in love in SECONDS, and willing to die for one another way too fast. Then Chima took the only character I even remotely liked and made her dumber than rocks ("What's this thing that I have experienced over and over again in my life?").
The ending didn't have any relation to the beginning of this book, and it felt so phoned in. I know that Chima has had success before and am assuming now that she just was like "readers know what happen next I don't need to write it". At least, that's what I feel like must be happening, because otherwise she's being MALICIOUSLY BAD.
This has to be the fastest turn from "Yeah, I'll get the second one" to "Oh... oh no, never mind. I can barely finish this one."
I skimmed the end, after the Dragon shows up because Jenna being a dragon was telegraphed WAY too much (and it wasn't confirmed but what kind of dumbass character doesn't make that connection WHEN HER HANDS TURN INTO CLAWS?).
Just... bad. It was so bad.
Two stars because the beginning was alright.
idsh's review
to much moving from character to character without a clear connection and not enough time to connect.
lycheecha's review
3.0
25 years after The Crimson Crown, this follows a whole new set of characters. Adrian sul'Han, one of Raisa and Han's children, is a healer. Certain events lead him to heading to Oden's Ford while being presumed dead, much like his father did early on in the Seven Realms series. Adrian goes by a number of names in the course of this book, they all start with 'A'- I assume he'll also go by Arthur at some point in the future. Gerard Montaigne is still very much alive and still butthurt over Raisa not wanting to marry him; he's made it his life's goal to conquer the Fells and just be a nasty old man. Jenna is a new character with no connections to anyone in the previous series, and she's got a magemark- I don't really know what that is yet. But she Knows Things. Closer to the end we meet who will be the big bad of this series; no idea yet if someone else will pop up, but this person is out to kill Jenna so you know that's big stuff. This wasn't bad by any means; I still think the Seven Realms, and by extension the Shattered Realms (since it's a sequel/spinoff of sorts) has some of her best worldbuilding. But her issue from the Heir Chronicles shows itself here pretty early on, everyone is revealed to be someone else, they're secretly this and not just that. There's just a whole lot of stuff being introduced early on that I'm feeling like she's not going to properly wrap up by the 4th book because she's done that with pretty much everything else I've read of hers.
erinarkin20's review
4.0
Don’t judge me but Flamecaster is the first book I have read by Cinda Williams Chima. I have other books by her but for some reason have put off actually reading them. Regardless, Flamecaster has motivated me to pick all of them up in the near future and begin working through them. I do have to say, I do kind of wish I had read the Seven Realms series before starting this one but I have a feeling that it might have been a good thing that I didn’t. This book had everything I love about the fantasy genre in it. There are strong, well-developed characters, magic, some swoon, and a fantastic story.
The book dives right into the action and immediately we are introduced to the major players. There is Ash, a healer with a gift for magic who also happens to be the son of someone important to the overall story (there is more to say here but I’m trying to be a little vague). Ash is on a mission for most of the book because the king of Arden has created a lot of pain for the people he loves. I have to say I loved seeing how much Ash cared about his parents and sister and the catalyst that puts him in the situation he is in for most of the book just made me want to hug him.
The other main character is Jenna and she has not had an easy life. Working as a coal miner in a small village, Jenna experiences something that makes the decision to join the rebels standing up to the king super easy. Despite her role within the rebels, Jenna has flown under the radar but now the king is looking for someone who bears something called a magemark…just like she has and when one of the king’s best spies comes to town and locks everyone down, things become very dangerous for Jenna. I liked Jenna. She stands up for herself and is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect the people she loves.
When Ash and Jenna finally cross paths, the friendship/relationship that develops is one that I wanted more of. I love the swoony bits and loved seeing how these two went from being strangers to eventually trusting one another to help get them out of the situation they are currently in.
The secondary characters are also very well done and Chima mixes a variety into this story. Lila was fantastic and I hope we get to see more of her in the next book. As odd as it sounds, there are also some blood drinking priests that make things very difficult for Ash along the way and I found this piece of the story very interesting.
I have to say that Chima did a wonderful job of developing this world. Even though I haven’t read the other series, it didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I got just enough backstory to make the connection between the characters and worlds but this book definitely stands well on its own. Add to that, the dialog, the character development and the overall story of the war between the realms and this is a story that had me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.
So, that’s about all I can say without completely giving the story away. You know me, I hate to spoil it for anyone so just trust me when I tell you that you should try to get your hands on this. If you enjoy fantasy stories at all - I have a feeling you will find that you are unable to put this book down once you begin and to be perfectly honest, once you hit the end, if you are anything like me you will want the next book immediately. If you are looking for a new fantasy series, definitely consider checking this one out. I enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait to see where Chima takes the story, and these characters, in the next book.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
The book dives right into the action and immediately we are introduced to the major players. There is Ash, a healer with a gift for magic who also happens to be the son of someone important to the overall story (there is more to say here but I’m trying to be a little vague). Ash is on a mission for most of the book because the king of Arden has created a lot of pain for the people he loves. I have to say I loved seeing how much Ash cared about his parents and sister and the catalyst that puts him in the situation he is in for most of the book just made me want to hug him.
The other main character is Jenna and she has not had an easy life. Working as a coal miner in a small village, Jenna experiences something that makes the decision to join the rebels standing up to the king super easy. Despite her role within the rebels, Jenna has flown under the radar but now the king is looking for someone who bears something called a magemark…just like she has and when one of the king’s best spies comes to town and locks everyone down, things become very dangerous for Jenna. I liked Jenna. She stands up for herself and is willing to do whatever she needs to in order to protect the people she loves.
When Ash and Jenna finally cross paths, the friendship/relationship that develops is one that I wanted more of. I love the swoony bits and loved seeing how these two went from being strangers to eventually trusting one another to help get them out of the situation they are currently in.
The secondary characters are also very well done and Chima mixes a variety into this story. Lila was fantastic and I hope we get to see more of her in the next book. As odd as it sounds, there are also some blood drinking priests that make things very difficult for Ash along the way and I found this piece of the story very interesting.
I have to say that Chima did a wonderful job of developing this world. Even though I haven’t read the other series, it didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I got just enough backstory to make the connection between the characters and worlds but this book definitely stands well on its own. Add to that, the dialog, the character development and the overall story of the war between the realms and this is a story that had me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.
So, that’s about all I can say without completely giving the story away. You know me, I hate to spoil it for anyone so just trust me when I tell you that you should try to get your hands on this. If you enjoy fantasy stories at all - I have a feeling you will find that you are unable to put this book down once you begin and to be perfectly honest, once you hit the end, if you are anything like me you will want the next book immediately. If you are looking for a new fantasy series, definitely consider checking this one out. I enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait to see where Chima takes the story, and these characters, in the next book.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
hdwoodyard's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
caffeinatedmix's review against another edition
3.0
An almost 4*
While this has been a book that's gotten me all excited, the romance aspect of it just killed all the vibe for me. As it was I didn't like Jenna much to begin with and then the 'romance' angle just exhausted me to a point where I wanted to read about any of the other characters instead of her POV. (yelled at my Kindle to "put Lila back on". Wtf, woman)
That said, the story is well paced, language is simple, characters are interesting (minus that sense of romance. Just no). And there are DRAGONS and PIRATES! Much excitement!
In short: It's the premium version of [b:An Ember in the Ashes|27774758|An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)|Sabaa Tahir|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519425615s/27774758.jpg|39113604] series + dragons and pirates.
P.S. If Jenna ends up being as annoying as Laia, I swear to god someone's gonna get punched.
While this has been a book that's gotten me all excited, the romance aspect of it just killed all the vibe for me. As it was I didn't like Jenna much to begin with and then the 'romance' angle just exhausted me to a point where I wanted to read about any of the other characters instead of her POV. (yelled at my Kindle to "put Lila back on". Wtf, woman)
That said, the story is well paced, language is simple, characters are interesting (minus that sense of romance. Just no). And there are DRAGONS and PIRATES! Much excitement!
In short: It's the premium version of [b:An Ember in the Ashes|27774758|An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)|Sabaa Tahir|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1519425615s/27774758.jpg|39113604] series + dragons and pirates.
P.S. If Jenna ends up being as annoying as Laia, I swear to god someone's gonna get punched.
ari_dev's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
tiana_king's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Romance Rushed But Otherwise Good
This series seems a lot more fast paced than the one that preceded it. Which is fine but the romantic sub plot pretty much poofed into existence for (probably) later convince. Only other hang up is this author now has 3 different versions of poker face. I always wondered why she had two in the last series and now she has another 😂. Otherwise this book had lovely surprises and is well written.
This series seems a lot more fast paced than the one that preceded it. Which is fine but the romantic sub plot pretty much poofed into existence for (probably) later convince. Only other hang up is this author now has 3 different versions of poker face. I always wondered why she had two in the last series and now she has another 😂. Otherwise this book had lovely surprises and is well written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts
kerrisbooks13's review
3.0
3.75 stars! A bit of a slow start but definitely picked up! I love CWC’s fantasy writing so I’m excited to get into this series. It’s cool to be able to dive back into the Seven Realms with a new generation!