Another {fire} book from Evan Winter! This is the second in the series The Burning, and what a series! Winter originally self-published Rage of Dragons, before it was picked up by @Orbit_US. Initially only intended to be a trilogy, this series will actually have four books, with the next coming out early 2022. 

I can see why an extra book is needed. I think Fires of Vengeance, 400 pages long, only truly covered a couple weeks. The country is at civil war, they are losing their position in the two-century war against the indigenous people, and a third enemy lurks in their fears. Tau, our hero from Rage of Dragons, has been made Champion to Queen Tsiora, fighting for her with his trusted sword-brothers against rebels who would have her sister hold the throne. 

While only covering a couple weeks, too much is in this book to truly summarize. From the first page to the very, very last, action is non-stop. Nobody -- Tau and his sword-brothers, Tsiora, her advisers and allies, or the reader -- get any rest through this read. Like Rage of Dragons, the action is non-stop, but like the first book of this series, it is so well written. Winter masterfully crafts each fight scene so the words disappear from the page and all you see are Tau’s twin dragon scale sword blades against his opponent’s bronze.

Also, continuing from the first book, the “big bad” isn’t so much a “pure evil” character like Sauron or the Wheel of Time Forsaken, but instead classism, racism, and colonialism, and this rhetoric persists through this book. Because so little time passes, I found there wasn’t enough time to really develop the ideas further, but I didn’t think that was really an issue.

If you liked Rage of Dragons be sure to continue on with Fires of Vengeance! And if you’re a fan of action fantasy, be sure to check The Burning out. You won’t regret it!