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abby_ace_of_books 's review for:
Firerend
by Emma Kennedy
Sometimes what you need in life is a snappy fantasy heist novella to break up the mundane.
Firerend is a fantasy novella with one of my favorite plot types: a heist. I'm going to try not to rate it based on its form, but I really do think this would have been better as a full-length novel. There isn't really time to develop subplots with the length of this story as it is, meaning connections to characters are a bit weaker than they could be, and most of the world-building has to occur through a glossary. It's not often that I say I wish a story was longer, but I would totally have enjoyed another 200 pages or so with these characters if it meant gaining a better understanding of them.
As it stands, this novella is only about 166 pages. The first 65% or so is prep for the main action sequence, so the pacing is pretty quick. While this worked to keep my attention, I do think some descriptions felt a bit rushed and didn't allow for the reader to properly connect with the characters, which impacted my opinions on certain scenes later on. I didn't guess any of the main plot twists, but again, I think they would have hit harder if they had enough time for more foreshadowing or connection to characters. That being said, I did really like the plot, and I think the world-building is enticing. I'm interested to see how this will tie in with other parts of the series, and I'm hoping we'll see some of these characters again in the future because, otherwise, this ending is a bit unsatisfying.
Like I said, there wasn't a ton of time to get to know the characters. I really liked Allara because I'm always a fan of sister relationships, so her protectiveness over Daia immediately gained her points in my mind. I liked Auren a lot as well, though I'm not sure why. I found Nymm intriguing, but personally, she was the hardest of the main characters to connect to for some reason. I think it would have been nice to see the tensions between these characters play out a little more, but overall, I didn't mind seeing them all individually.
Firerend is an exciting start to a new fantasy series that revolves around a magical heist and characters willing to do anything to survive.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!
3.5/5
Firerend is a fantasy novella with one of my favorite plot types: a heist. I'm going to try not to rate it based on its form, but I really do think this would have been better as a full-length novel. There isn't really time to develop subplots with the length of this story as it is, meaning connections to characters are a bit weaker than they could be, and most of the world-building has to occur through a glossary. It's not often that I say I wish a story was longer, but I would totally have enjoyed another 200 pages or so with these characters if it meant gaining a better understanding of them.
As it stands, this novella is only about 166 pages. The first 65% or so is prep for the main action sequence, so the pacing is pretty quick. While this worked to keep my attention, I do think some descriptions felt a bit rushed and didn't allow for the reader to properly connect with the characters, which impacted my opinions on certain scenes later on. I didn't guess any of the main plot twists, but again, I think they would have hit harder if they had enough time for more foreshadowing or connection to characters. That being said, I did really like the plot, and I think the world-building is enticing. I'm interested to see how this will tie in with other parts of the series, and I'm hoping we'll see some of these characters again in the future because, otherwise, this ending is a bit unsatisfying.
Like I said, there wasn't a ton of time to get to know the characters. I really liked Allara because I'm always a fan of sister relationships, so her protectiveness over Daia immediately gained her points in my mind. I liked Auren a lot as well, though I'm not sure why. I found Nymm intriguing, but personally, she was the hardest of the main characters to connect to for some reason. I think it would have been nice to see the tensions between these characters play out a little more, but overall, I didn't mind seeing them all individually.
Firerend is an exciting start to a new fantasy series that revolves around a magical heist and characters willing to do anything to survive.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!
3.5/5