A review by raven168
Fury of Fire by Coreene Callahan
3.0
2.5 stars
This was a two star book for me...until the end. The ending was great and was the only reason I bumped up my rating.
As far as beginnings to a series go, I have read way better...but I have also read worse. This one was pretty mediocre. One thing that bugged me the most was the almost immature way it was written. While at times it made it humorous, a lot of the time it tended to be annoying. It was almost like whatever popped into the author's mind at the time was written down and kept. If I ever read the saying "slow your roll" (in any form) again, it will be too soon. Which I fear will be right away with the next book. It was said a lot. Brand names were dropped everywhere as if it would have a bigger impact than just saying "toothpaste" or whatever else it was. Sometimes I wondered if they were getting paid for advertising specific brands it was so often. Also when something needed to happen in order to either get to a certain point, or make something already done make sense, we were thrown a new magical reason to pop out and cover it. Sometimes I would be like 'whatever' but other times I had to roll my eyes.
Some things didn't make sense. When Myst is taken to Black Diamond thru the portal, she is told there is one way in and one way out. Which would be that portal. Okay, I will buy that. But later she is able to easily walk out of the mansion, go to the garage, steal a car, and simply drive home. What happened to only one way in or out? Then there's the two dragon clans at war here. Bastian is the commander of the Nightfuries and their rouge enemies are the Razorbacks. By all appearances the Razorbacks have a great number of dragons in their clan....and the Nighfuries have less than ten. Even with the devastatingly low birth rate of new dragons, one would think there should be more than just a handful of the "good guys" or just in a clan period.
Does it sound like I didn't like this book? Well, that's not really true. I didn't really find it all that great, but it wasn't all that terrible either. I like the different powers each dragon has and how some of them are born stronger than others. Like Bastian. He has skills that no other dragons have and that was pretty neat. Riker was also really cool with all his ice powers. Fight scenes were interesting and some of the characters were good. It was just the writing. I really hope that as the books go on, the writing gets more mature. Because at this point it feels like a teenager is writing parts of the story and having characters say things that people their age wouldn't be.
As for the main characters, I didn't really care for either of them. I always hate it when the chicks freak out when they first see the guy turn into a dragon and think him a monster. I like to think I would be floored with the awesomeness of it if I ever saw that and jump at the chance to be around them. Myst annoyed me more than not. And very little pisses me off more than a girl who won't talk to the guy about a problem and instead runs away. Right into trouble after she has already been told that the enemy would be out to get her. I mean, come on! Why do so many characters have to think they can just go back to their old lives after they get dragged into a new one? Overall, Bastian was a good character. I liked him, I really did (because I do love a strong leader). My problem is when warriors like him become emotional messes because of a female. Do I want him to treasure her and be sweet towards her? Definitely. But don't turn into a pansy that wants to be dominated by her. Please. Don't lose your composure to tears.
A lot of the side characters were fun. I really liked Rikar and can't wait to learn more about Forge. Another I think there is more to than we have seen would be Mac, and I think we'll get a lot more of him in the next book. The males in the Razorbacks are definitely messed up, with their leader having brains to jack up his crazy.
Myst is a nurse that likes to go out of her way to help people. Making a late night trip to check on a pregnant patient that has missed her last few appointments, Myst is unprepared for what she finds and what she must do. And by being there she ends up being dragged into the middle of a dragon war when Bastian sees her and is immediately taken with her. But it's not just his human side that wants to keep her, even his dragon side does. With a ferocity that he can't control and doesn't understand. Which makes him take Myst and the baby she just delivered back to his home.
Myst doesn't really have a choice, but she doesn't fight it as much as she wants to because of the baby. She knows she has to be there to take care of him. We end up learning about the dragons along with Myst, but even so, I still feel like a lot of things were not explained or not explained enough. One of the biggest things that she needed to learn about was how the dragons feed off of this Meridian thru females. They need the energy to survive probably more than real food (apparently energy has a taste too...who knew?). One of the most important things she needed to know though, Bastian keeps from her until it's too late out of fear. The dragon population is dwindling because every child they sire is male, and the mothers always die. With Bastian unable to control himself, Myst, not surprisingly, freaks out when he tells her what he's done. Despite fighting her growing attraction every step of the way, when she runs away he's all she can think about.
She had more than just getting away on her mind when she did that though, and tries to find out why the mothers always die. She finds what's she's looking for, at least a good lead, but she also finds herself in a lot of trouble. This is where the story really picked up for me. The Razorbacks make it to Myst before Bastian can and chaos ensues. Bastian is furious when Myst is taken and for good reason. She puts up a good fight but the Razorbacks aren't as respectful towards females as the Nightfuries are and they don't stand for her attitude. Myst's rescue comes from a surprising person and with what happens to him, I'm sure he regrets it a little bit. But he's also important to Myst's future.
Ivar is the head bad guy and he really is a bad guy. He pretty much says and does whatever he wants and he never seems to suffer any consequences. Currently he's having a new compound built where he can work on his experiments. He's determined to figure out a way to breed female offspring and will go thru as many humans as it takes. Enjoying himself along the way is just an added bonus.
Things look promising going forward and I'm hoping they keep this ending pace and get better.
This was a two star book for me...until the end. The ending was great and was the only reason I bumped up my rating.
As far as beginnings to a series go, I have read way better...but I have also read worse. This one was pretty mediocre. One thing that bugged me the most was the almost immature way it was written. While at times it made it humorous, a lot of the time it tended to be annoying. It was almost like whatever popped into the author's mind at the time was written down and kept. If I ever read the saying "slow your roll" (in any form) again, it will be too soon. Which I fear will be right away with the next book. It was said a lot. Brand names were dropped everywhere as if it would have a bigger impact than just saying "toothpaste" or whatever else it was. Sometimes I wondered if they were getting paid for advertising specific brands it was so often. Also when something needed to happen in order to either get to a certain point, or make something already done make sense, we were thrown a new magical reason to pop out and cover it. Sometimes I would be like 'whatever' but other times I had to roll my eyes.
Some things didn't make sense. When Myst is taken to Black Diamond thru the portal, she is told there is one way in and one way out. Which would be that portal. Okay, I will buy that. But later she is able to easily walk out of the mansion, go to the garage, steal a car, and simply drive home. What happened to only one way in or out? Then there's the two dragon clans at war here. Bastian is the commander of the Nightfuries and their rouge enemies are the Razorbacks. By all appearances the Razorbacks have a great number of dragons in their clan....and the Nighfuries have less than ten. Even with the devastatingly low birth rate of new dragons, one would think there should be more than just a handful of the "good guys" or just in a clan period.
Does it sound like I didn't like this book? Well, that's not really true. I didn't really find it all that great, but it wasn't all that terrible either. I like the different powers each dragon has and how some of them are born stronger than others. Like Bastian. He has skills that no other dragons have and that was pretty neat. Riker was also really cool with all his ice powers. Fight scenes were interesting and some of the characters were good. It was just the writing. I really hope that as the books go on, the writing gets more mature. Because at this point it feels like a teenager is writing parts of the story and having characters say things that people their age wouldn't be.
As for the main characters, I didn't really care for either of them. I always hate it when the chicks freak out when they first see the guy turn into a dragon and think him a monster. I like to think I would be floored with the awesomeness of it if I ever saw that and jump at the chance to be around them. Myst annoyed me more than not. And very little pisses me off more than a girl who won't talk to the guy about a problem and instead runs away. Right into trouble after she has already been told that the enemy would be out to get her. I mean, come on! Why do so many characters have to think they can just go back to their old lives after they get dragged into a new one? Overall, Bastian was a good character. I liked him, I really did (because I do love a strong leader). My problem is when warriors like him become emotional messes because of a female. Do I want him to treasure her and be sweet towards her? Definitely. But don't turn into a pansy that wants to be dominated by her. Please. Don't lose your composure to tears.
A lot of the side characters were fun. I really liked Rikar and can't wait to learn more about Forge. Another I think there is more to than we have seen would be Mac, and I think we'll get a lot more of him in the next book. The males in the Razorbacks are definitely messed up, with their leader having brains to jack up his crazy.
Myst is a nurse that likes to go out of her way to help people. Making a late night trip to check on a pregnant patient that has missed her last few appointments, Myst is unprepared for what she finds and what she must do. And by being there she ends up being dragged into the middle of a dragon war when Bastian sees her and is immediately taken with her. But it's not just his human side that wants to keep her, even his dragon side does. With a ferocity that he can't control and doesn't understand. Which makes him take Myst and the baby she just delivered back to his home.
Myst doesn't really have a choice, but she doesn't fight it as much as she wants to because of the baby. She knows she has to be there to take care of him. We end up learning about the dragons along with Myst, but even so, I still feel like a lot of things were not explained or not explained enough. One of the biggest things that she needed to learn about was how the dragons feed off of this Meridian thru females. They need the energy to survive probably more than real food (apparently energy has a taste too...who knew?). One of the most important things she needed to know though, Bastian keeps from her until it's too late out of fear. The dragon population is dwindling because every child they sire is male, and the mothers always die. With Bastian unable to control himself, Myst, not surprisingly, freaks out when he tells her what he's done. Despite fighting her growing attraction every step of the way, when she runs away he's all she can think about.
She had more than just getting away on her mind when she did that though, and tries to find out why the mothers always die. She finds what's she's looking for, at least a good lead, but she also finds herself in a lot of trouble. This is where the story really picked up for me. The Razorbacks make it to Myst before Bastian can and chaos ensues. Bastian is furious when Myst is taken and for good reason. She puts up a good fight but the Razorbacks aren't as respectful towards females as the Nightfuries are and they don't stand for her attitude. Myst's rescue comes from a surprising person and with what happens to him, I'm sure he regrets it a little bit. But he's also important to Myst's future.
Ivar is the head bad guy and he really is a bad guy. He pretty much says and does whatever he wants and he never seems to suffer any consequences. Currently he's having a new compound built where he can work on his experiments. He's determined to figure out a way to breed female offspring and will go thru as many humans as it takes. Enjoying himself along the way is just an added bonus.
Things look promising going forward and I'm hoping they keep this ending pace and get better.