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A review by justjeanettelee
The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig
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.