A review by meganmreads
Fire with Fire by Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian
5.0
Review originally published at Love, Literature, Art, and Reason Book Review Blog
I absolutely loved Fire With Fire. After reading the first book, Burn For Burn, I tried really hard not to pick up my manuscript of Fire With Fire because the release date is so far away. But I couldn't resist. There's something about the plot and characters that had me so completely hooked. And after a day of waiting for vehicle inspections and sitting at the DMV, I basically devoured the entire book.
Fire With Fire picked up exactly where Burn For Burn ended, which was great because Burn For Burn totally ended in the kind of way where you just want to rip your hair out because you can't find out what will happen next.
WARNING *If you haven't read Burn For Burn, my review will contain slight spoilers about it. Please don't continue unless you don't mind having the ending of book one possibly ruined.*
Despite the fact that the three girls do terrible things in the name of revenge, they aren't terrible people at all. In fact, I liked all of them in different ways. I felt like the revenge was relatively minor. Well, besides what happened to Reeve. Which wasn't on purpose. But I still thought that the revenge plot actually made things better. Like Lillia, I thought the revenge on Alex actually made him a better person. It made Kat, Lillia, and Mary a little stronger. And besides Reeve, they didn't do all that much harm. However, Fire With Fire changed some of that dynamic. The stakes were a little higher and I felt like the girls were no longer committing acts of revenge that didn't have an impact on themselves. Even though they all took risks and could've gotten into trouble in book one, none of their schemes were really impacting them as people or messing with their minds. Lillia had to do the most outward pretending, but she still didn't seem to be affected by the schemes to a large degree. The revenge scheme in Fire With Fire wasn't quite so easy for Lillia to accomplish without affecting her emotions, so that added a level of conflict not seen in Burn For Burn.
Fire With Fire dealt with a lot of growing up and figuring out what you want. It wasn't the beginning of senior year where tiny high school games mattered as much as figuring out your future. The shift in attitude is normal at that stage in life and I thought it affected the girls in the book, making the plot a little more interesting. It was as if the idea that these were all people was starting to sink in. These people have pasts, futures, hopes, aspirations, limitations, decisions, etc. And the dynamics between everyone and all of the pretending and the secrets started to matter a little more in the grand scheme of things. Stripped of petty high school titles, each person is a little more vulnerable and different and they start to behave differently as they figure it out. The biggest example is Reeve. Figuring out he might not get a chance to prove himself and get a football scholarship due to his accident really changed him. I loved this level of complexity. I swear, the authors know what they are doing in terms of creating characters. The level of depth and character growth and building and relationship dynamics is amazing. The characters are still immature and petty, as teenagers often are, but they are also growing up a little bit at the same time.
Throughout most of the book, I thought I was going to go crazy with anticipation. Something was going on (and I won't spoil it) that made me think, "I wonder if..." and then for the rest of the book I kept going back and forth. There wasn't enough information to know if I was right. I wasn't sure if the book would even go there. And I wanted to just KNOW the authors and be able to ask them if I was crazy for even thinking that or if it was going to happen. I loved it because I was paying close attention, trying to look for any sign that I might be right or wrong, going back and forth with myself. Also, eventually I did get my answer. Although it left me with a million more questions.
I definitely recommend this trilogy and I can’t wait for the next installment. As I said in my review of book 1, it's fun and entertaining, but it's a lot more complex and deep than I originally expected. It's less Mean Girls than the synopsis would have you believe. It is a series that I couldn't put down or get out of my head. I want so much more!
I absolutely loved Fire With Fire. After reading the first book, Burn For Burn, I tried really hard not to pick up my manuscript of Fire With Fire because the release date is so far away. But I couldn't resist. There's something about the plot and characters that had me so completely hooked. And after a day of waiting for vehicle inspections and sitting at the DMV, I basically devoured the entire book.
Fire With Fire picked up exactly where Burn For Burn ended, which was great because Burn For Burn totally ended in the kind of way where you just want to rip your hair out because you can't find out what will happen next.
WARNING *If you haven't read Burn For Burn, my review will contain slight spoilers about it. Please don't continue unless you don't mind having the ending of book one possibly ruined.*
Despite the fact that the three girls do terrible things in the name of revenge, they aren't terrible people at all. In fact, I liked all of them in different ways. I felt like the revenge was relatively minor. Well, besides what happened to Reeve. Which wasn't on purpose. But I still thought that the revenge plot actually made things better. Like Lillia, I thought the revenge on Alex actually made him a better person. It made Kat, Lillia, and Mary a little stronger. And besides Reeve, they didn't do all that much harm. However, Fire With Fire changed some of that dynamic. The stakes were a little higher and I felt like the girls were no longer committing acts of revenge that didn't have an impact on themselves. Even though they all took risks and could've gotten into trouble in book one, none of their schemes were really impacting them as people or messing with their minds. Lillia had to do the most outward pretending, but she still didn't seem to be affected by the schemes to a large degree. The revenge scheme in Fire With Fire wasn't quite so easy for Lillia to accomplish without affecting her emotions, so that added a level of conflict not seen in Burn For Burn.
Fire With Fire dealt with a lot of growing up and figuring out what you want. It wasn't the beginning of senior year where tiny high school games mattered as much as figuring out your future. The shift in attitude is normal at that stage in life and I thought it affected the girls in the book, making the plot a little more interesting. It was as if the idea that these were all people was starting to sink in. These people have pasts, futures, hopes, aspirations, limitations, decisions, etc. And the dynamics between everyone and all of the pretending and the secrets started to matter a little more in the grand scheme of things. Stripped of petty high school titles, each person is a little more vulnerable and different and they start to behave differently as they figure it out. The biggest example is Reeve. Figuring out he might not get a chance to prove himself and get a football scholarship due to his accident really changed him. I loved this level of complexity. I swear, the authors know what they are doing in terms of creating characters. The level of depth and character growth and building and relationship dynamics is amazing. The characters are still immature and petty, as teenagers often are, but they are also growing up a little bit at the same time.
Throughout most of the book, I thought I was going to go crazy with anticipation. Something was going on (and I won't spoil it) that made me think, "I wonder if..." and then for the rest of the book I kept going back and forth. There wasn't enough information to know if I was right. I wasn't sure if the book would even go there. And I wanted to just KNOW the authors and be able to ask them if I was crazy for even thinking that or if it was going to happen. I loved it because I was paying close attention, trying to look for any sign that I might be right or wrong, going back and forth with myself. Also, eventually I did get my answer. Although it left me with a million more questions.
I definitely recommend this trilogy and I can’t wait for the next installment. As I said in my review of book 1, it's fun and entertaining, but it's a lot more complex and deep than I originally expected. It's less Mean Girls than the synopsis would have you believe. It is a series that I couldn't put down or get out of my head. I want so much more!