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A review by romantasyandtea
The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle
4.25
There's no way this is YA 😂 There is NO WAY this is YA, there are f-bombs left and right, and as graphic a smut scene as you can get without mentioning two specific adult words, and I have no idea why botm's blurb calls Sera seventeen when you find out she's around nineteen in the first freaking chapter. No, this is definitely more NA. I really enjoyed this book, I feel like, contrary to how I started this review, it has restored my faith in YA. There are quite a few repeated scenes, a lot of side characters disappearing, and a lot of telling vs showing. To go into detail, I'll start with the things I didn't love, and end it on the good notes. Spoilers ahead:
- This story feels very plot-centered. By the halfway point, I could tell you more about the history of the Saints and the Cloaks and the Daggers than I could about the characters. Most of their conversations felt like nothing more but worldbuilding and plot progression. They said things, not to help us get to know them as individuals, but to keep things going. Which brings me to my second problem...
- So much telling about the main character and her friendships instead of showing. Of all the side characters, Theo was my favorite, but that's because we got to spend time with him and get to know his personality. Dare I say, even more than we end up knowing about Sera! We're TOLD she's so good and kind, but on her first interaction with a monster, when the monster goes to attack someone else, she thinks, "Better them than me." And this is supposed to be the super kind girl the bad guy falls for? It'd make sense if she was the ruthless type who did anything to survive so she could get her revenge, but the story goes out of its way to try to convince us she's such a good person, and yet??
- Also, maybe the reason we couldn't get to know the side characters was because they kept vanishing?? The number of times Bibi was with Sera, and then the second Ransom shows up, Bibi just disappears and then we find out later that she was looking all over for her?? It just made this character feel like an afterthought, like there was no way to get rid of her during a crucial romantic banter moment, so the characters just ignore her presence until it gets weird that she's suddenly not there anymore. We got names for characters we never meet, so they mean nothing, and the only characters who DO get a line or two of introduction are only given that introduction to be killed off a chapter later. There's like ONE page for Bibi's character and ONE page for Val's, and that's about it, we never really find out anything about them but the two or so passages of history they give Sera. I suppose it got me to know them a little, but not enough that I would've really cared if anything had happened to any of them. Again though, excluding Theo.
- I kind of... don't get the romance? I say kind of because I get the idea behind Ransom's obsession. He's fundamentally good, he's just trapped, and when he realizes there's a way out he fixates on it, but... I just don't get what it is about Seraphine specifically, her personality, that got him hooked on her? I mean, yes, she gets a little more defined by the end, but why he fell for her in the beginning just doesn't make sense. I love enemies-to-lovers, but it feels lately like there's no gradual "to lovers" part. They just hate each other on one page and are suddenly in love on the next. I'm saying it again, if Seraphine had been ruthless to survive, that would've been some defining part of her character. As it is, it felt like she just kind of acted like any generic romantasy fmc, and there was nothing special about her for me to name, let alone for a dedicated killer to fall for.
- I swear, if I have to read about one more freaking fmc that tries to pretend being "dainty" and "small" is a flaw, I will lose my mind.
- The fight scenes were bad. I mean... people had magic and they kept swinging fists, I ??
That's really it on the not-so-great. The great?
- The writing in this may not have been awesome, but it was very easy to read. It flowed really well, it was interesting, it was bright and colorful and fun, and I just really enjoyed the tone of the book.
- If I had to choose, I'm much more of a character-based kind of person, but even as this story focused more on plot, it definitely had just enough character and friendship moments that had me loving it.
- I saw the big "plot twist" coming before Dufort's appearance was even described (genuinely, was anyone surprised by it? I'm honestly curious), but I knew that it wouldn't matter IF the story relayed it in an interesting way, and you know what? It did. I think the scene was interesting and heartbreaking, and it made the interactions between her and Dufort sooo interesting to read through. Those dynamics were done really well, I really enjoyed them.
- The last ten chapters. I can't even... I don't even know where to start. I was ready to roll my eyes and drop the rating when I thought Ransom was going to believe in Nadia's anger, or when I thought Seraphine would believe his lies in the end and they would end up hating each other. But no! Everyone is so mature and smart in their decisions, and it was SUCH a breath of fresh air! The fight scenes were fun, the entire confrontation between Seraphine and Dufort was awesome, the tower scene was great, and in the end, when everyone joins her? I loathed Nadia and Lark, I thought they were both awful for people who claimed to be Ransom's friends, but the story made up for it with Theo, Bibi, and Val's decision to join Seraphine, and then with them forming the Order of the Flames. It was sooo good, and everything I didn't know I needed.
I'm really hoping the sequel delves more into the relationships between the friends and gives us some consistent interactions and characters (especially with Seraphine). I'm so excited, I rarely get to be excited about series anymore, so to now have a new one where I'm dying to pick up the next book? What an unexpected, but all-too-welcome treat.
- This story feels very plot-centered. By the halfway point, I could tell you more about the history of the Saints and the Cloaks and the Daggers than I could about the characters. Most of their conversations felt like nothing more but worldbuilding and plot progression. They said things, not to help us get to know them as individuals, but to keep things going. Which brings me to my second problem...
- So much telling about the main character and her friendships instead of showing. Of all the side characters, Theo was my favorite, but that's because we got to spend time with him and get to know his personality. Dare I say, even more than we end up knowing about Sera! We're TOLD she's so good and kind, but on her first interaction with a monster, when the monster goes to attack someone else, she thinks, "Better them than me." And this is supposed to be the super kind girl the bad guy falls for? It'd make sense if she was the ruthless type who did anything to survive so she could get her revenge, but the story goes out of its way to try to convince us she's such a good person, and yet??
- Also, maybe the reason we couldn't get to know the side characters was because they kept vanishing?? The number of times Bibi was with Sera, and then the second Ransom shows up, Bibi just disappears and then we find out later that she was looking all over for her?? It just made this character feel like an afterthought, like there was no way to get rid of her during a crucial romantic banter moment, so the characters just ignore her presence until it gets weird that she's suddenly not there anymore. We got names for characters we never meet, so they mean nothing, and the only characters who DO get a line or two of introduction are only given that introduction to be killed off a chapter later. There's like ONE page for Bibi's character and ONE page for Val's, and that's about it, we never really find out anything about them but the two or so passages of history they give Sera. I suppose it got me to know them a little, but not enough that I would've really cared if anything had happened to any of them. Again though, excluding Theo.
- I kind of... don't get the romance? I say kind of because I get the idea behind Ransom's obsession. He's fundamentally good, he's just trapped, and when he realizes there's a way out he fixates on it, but... I just don't get what it is about Seraphine specifically, her personality, that got him hooked on her? I mean, yes, she gets a little more defined by the end, but why he fell for her in the beginning just doesn't make sense. I love enemies-to-lovers, but it feels lately like there's no gradual "to lovers" part. They just hate each other on one page and are suddenly in love on the next. I'm saying it again, if Seraphine had been ruthless to survive, that would've been some defining part of her character. As it is, it felt like she just kind of acted like any generic romantasy fmc, and there was nothing special about her for me to name, let alone for a dedicated killer to fall for.
- I swear, if I have to read about one more freaking fmc that tries to pretend being "dainty" and "small" is a flaw, I will lose my mind.
- The fight scenes were bad. I mean... people had magic and they kept swinging fists, I ??
That's really it on the not-so-great. The great?
- The writing in this may not have been awesome, but it was very easy to read. It flowed really well, it was interesting, it was bright and colorful and fun, and I just really enjoyed the tone of the book.
- If I had to choose, I'm much more of a character-based kind of person, but even as this story focused more on plot, it definitely had just enough character and friendship moments that had me loving it.
- I saw the big "plot twist" coming before Dufort's appearance was even described (genuinely, was anyone surprised by it? I'm honestly curious), but I knew that it wouldn't matter IF the story relayed it in an interesting way, and you know what? It did. I think the scene was interesting and heartbreaking, and it made the interactions between her and Dufort sooo interesting to read through. Those dynamics were done really well, I really enjoyed them.
- The last ten chapters. I can't even... I don't even know where to start. I was ready to roll my eyes and drop the rating when I thought Ransom was going to believe in Nadia's anger, or when I thought Seraphine would believe his lies in the end and they would end up hating each other. But no! Everyone is so mature and smart in their decisions, and it was SUCH a breath of fresh air! The fight scenes were fun, the entire confrontation between Seraphine and Dufort was awesome, the tower scene was great, and in the end, when everyone joins her? I loathed Nadia and Lark, I thought they were both awful for people who claimed to be Ransom's friends, but the story made up for it with Theo, Bibi, and Val's decision to join Seraphine, and then with them forming the Order of the Flames. It was sooo good, and everything I didn't know I needed.
I'm really hoping the sequel delves more into the relationships between the friends and gives us some consistent interactions and characters (especially with Seraphine). I'm so excited, I rarely get to be excited about series anymore, so to now have a new one where I'm dying to pick up the next book? What an unexpected, but all-too-welcome treat.