A review by stelepami
Fire with Fire, by Destiny Soria
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- 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
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy!
On the surface it's a coming-of-age, sibling-rivalry, dragon-focused magical realism story; various combinations of those tropes are not uncommon and often fun.
What makes this book extraordinary for me is the way one of the sister's anxiety is portrayed. It manifests as perfectionism and people-pleasing and panic attacks. She goes to a therapist. She uses coping skills I've learned from real-life therapy (e.g., the diving response, counting different sensations). It's beautiful to me that.
The main characters aren't white. There isn't automatic romance between best friends of different sexes. A character who is described as beautiful is also described as fat in a purely factual and non-derisive way. Biphobic misconceptions are mentioned briefly and dispelled.
I love that this is a stand-alone book in a genre full of trilogies and series. I'd like to spend more time with these characters but it's refreshing to have resolution at the end of a single volume.
Unfortunately, the narrator cannot perform the Scottish accent of the father (it mostly sounds like a strange Irish lilt). The Spanish-speaking Latinx characters sounded better to my untrained ear.
On the surface it's a coming-of-age, sibling-rivalry, dragon-focused magical realism story; various combinations of those tropes are not uncommon and often fun.
What makes this book extraordinary for me is the way one of the sister's anxiety is portrayed. It manifests as perfectionism and people-pleasing and panic attacks. She goes to a therapist. She uses coping skills I've learned from real-life therapy (e.g., the diving response, counting different sensations). It's beautiful to me that
Spoiler
she comes to understand that her anxiety disorder is not something that makes her flawed and unworthy as a person; she learns to love herself with her anxiety and explore different coping mechanisms to find what helps herThe main characters aren't white. There isn't automatic romance between best friends of different sexes. A character who is described as beautiful is also described as fat in a purely factual and non-derisive way. Biphobic misconceptions are mentioned briefly and dispelled.
I love that this is a stand-alone book in a genre full of trilogies and series. I'd like to spend more time with these characters but it's refreshing to have resolution at the end of a single volume.
Unfortunately, the narrator cannot perform the Scottish accent of the father (it mostly sounds like a strange Irish lilt). The Spanish-speaking Latinx characters sounded better to my untrained ear.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Torture
Minor: Biphobia