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darkskybooks's review
4.0
Apocalyptic dystopian fiction has long been a favourite of mine, and The Fire Sermon fits very much into that mold with some interesting and unique twists. The main conceit of the novel is that after some incident in the past (The Before, in the books parlance) everyone is born with a twin. One of the twins is born perfect, the other with some form of deformity (the alpha and the omega). The perfect Alpha's use this to suppress the Omega's, but due to some feature of the twinning process each of the twins is linked such that if one dies the other dies as well. It is an interesting concept, the idea of an oppression, but one where genocide is not an option.
This oppression based on differences has strong echoes of todays protests about racial inequality and a system fixed against someone lending the books some extra power. The methods the Alpha's have built into controlling their siblings are dark and impressive. The systematic oppression and stacking of the systems against the Omegas gradually take a darker and darker dimension as the novel unfolds.
This was a bleak story, but the messages are powerful, and the parallels to the real world are all to easy to draw. I look forward to seeing where this tale goes...
This oppression based on differences has strong echoes of todays protests about racial inequality and a system fixed against someone lending the books some extra power. The methods the Alpha's have built into controlling their siblings are dark and impressive. The systematic oppression and stacking of the systems against the Omegas gradually take a darker and darker dimension as the novel unfolds.
This was a bleak story, but the messages are powerful, and the parallels to the real world are all to easy to draw. I look forward to seeing where this tale goes...
jessicad90's review against another edition
3.0
Ik kwam moeilijk in het verhaal en het duurde heel lang voordat ik het echt leuk vond om verder te lezen. Het concept vind ik overigens juist wel erg interessant. Allereerst omdat ik tweelingen sowieso al leuk vind, maar ook het verhaal om deze tweelingen heen en hoe ze aan elkaar gelinkt zijn. Het gehele verhaal zit goed in elkaar, maar wordt voor mijn gevoel teveel gerekt en er is een lang stuk waarin voor mijn gevoel vrij weinig gebeurt. Het duurde ook ontzettend lang voordat ik binding kreeg met de personages. Desalniettemin is het verhaal dusdanig op mij ingewerkt dat ik wel benieuwd ben naar het vervolg en deze ook zal gaan lezen. Voornamelijk omdat het boek vanaf iets over de helft leuker werd. Ik hoop alleen wel dat het volgende boek in vertelling wat minder traag gaat en meer actie bevat.
Lees de complete recensie op Reviews & Roses
(www.reviewsandroses.nl)
Lees de complete recensie op Reviews & Roses
(www.reviewsandroses.nl)
teary1312's review against another edition
4.0
For me one of the best fantasy books with just the right amount of romance. I liked the not too lengthy descriptions of the environment. Action was for me very well paced and all the plot twists were very nice and not too obvious. The ending was just not something I expected because of all the different potential outcomes. Sometimes I felt like the characters could be less flat but it wasn't as bothering for me.
blackthorn38's review against another edition
DNR'd. Premise was good just fell flat.
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This wasn't bad, but altogether it fell short of being something that I would recommend. Even though the main characters were on the run, and it should have felt very suspenseful, I didn't ever feel a whole lot of urgency. The characters and the story just kind of ambled along until the end.
Kip, the love interest, wasn't appealing to me at all. The love story itself wasn't great, actually. To have your hero have amnesia, and no personality whatsoever, is not a good way to draw your readers in and make them root for the couple.
Overall this book felt very blah to me, and while I may read the next book in the series, it's not something I'm really anticipating.
Kip, the love interest, wasn't appealing to me at all. The love story itself wasn't great, actually. To have your hero have amnesia, and no personality whatsoever, is not a good way to draw your readers in and make them root for the couple.
Overall this book felt very blah to me, and while I may read the next book in the series, it's not something I'm really anticipating.
kirs0693's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sunscour's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting take on a dystopia, will read the second one in this series.
stitchkid's review
4.0
An entrancing dystopian tale which raises more questions than answers while dragging us across a desolate landscape twisted by pride, greed and purity.
The Fire Sermon is set in a dystopian world where everyone has twins, a boy and a girl. This serves as a reminder of the Before and the Blast which devastated the world and made it the way it is now.
Full review here: https://bookwormbirds.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/the-fire-sermon-francesca-haig/
The Fire Sermon is set in a dystopian world where everyone has twins, a boy and a girl. This serves as a reminder of the Before and the Blast which devastated the world and made it the way it is now.
Full review here: https://bookwormbirds.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/the-fire-sermon-francesca-haig/
justjeanettelee's review against another edition
2.0
It's not very often that I give a low review to a book. Normally, a 3 star rating will be my lowest, because somehow it managed to redeem itself entirely. . . "The Fire Sermon" didn't do that.
It took me just under 200 pages to actually believe in this book. That was 200 pages of absolute nightmarishly boring narrating, world building, character and plot development, to get through, before I could even marginally enjoy this story. What came after those 200 pages was enough to redeem "The Fire Sermon" from a 1 star rating. The foundation of this story is an interesting premise, but its execution was terrible to say the least. Firstly, let's start with my first problem, an almost overused cliche: a seer/prophet/Sybil/whatever whose name is Cassandra. Problem number two: Cassandra as a character - EXTREMELY one dimensional. She cares only for her selfish desires to remain with Zach, unsplit and with her family, avoiding the Omega brand at all costs. Even after she's taken to the Keeping Rooms, Cass just wants to be with Zach. I get twins are supposed to be close, but this level of dependency is bullshit. Add to the fact that she is the WORST narrator I have ever come across (I hate to say it but, at times, she's worse than Bella Swan from "Twilight"). Then Kip comes into the picture. Right from the beginning I had this undeniable feeling that something wasn't right about him, and when his true identity and history was revealed, it wasn't that much of a shock to me: what surprised me was who his twin was. To be perfectly honestly, I felt no emotional investment in this book whatsoever - didn't even feel anything at the suicide/murder at the end.
This story had such promise, such potential, yet bad execution and God-awful narration murdered this brilliant concept.
It took me just under 200 pages to actually believe in this book. That was 200 pages of absolute nightmarishly boring narrating, world building, character and plot development, to get through, before I could even marginally enjoy this story. What came after those 200 pages was enough to redeem "The Fire Sermon" from a 1 star rating. The foundation of this story is an interesting premise, but its execution was terrible to say the least. Firstly, let's start with my first problem, an almost overused cliche: a seer/prophet/Sybil/whatever whose name is Cassandra. Problem number two: Cassandra as a character - EXTREMELY one dimensional. She cares only for her selfish desires to remain with Zach, unsplit and with her family, avoiding the Omega brand at all costs. Even after she's taken to the Keeping Rooms, Cass just wants to be with Zach. I get twins are supposed to be close, but this level of dependency is bullshit. Add to the fact that she is the WORST narrator I have ever come across (I hate to say it but, at times, she's worse than Bella Swan from "Twilight"). Then Kip comes into the picture. Right from the beginning I had this undeniable feeling that something wasn't right about him, and when his true identity and history was revealed, it wasn't that much of a shock to me: what surprised me was who his twin was. To be perfectly honestly, I felt no emotional investment in this book whatsoever - didn't even feel anything at the suicide/murder at the end.
This story had such promise, such potential, yet bad execution and God-awful narration murdered this brilliant concept.
mulby's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
It was well written but almost unrelenting grim, and for a significant portion the main characters were on the run barely eking out an existence which got a bit tedious. The pace picked up a lot towards the end but the ending was so set up for a sequel that it didn't feel satisfying.