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zoeelizabethk 's review for:
Fireborne
by Rosaria Munda
Fireborne follows Lee and Annie, who have both faced unspeakable violence and cruelty, as they train and protect the new order that toppled the previous right-by-blood order and established a new order based on skill or potential which places people into Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold ranks. Lee and Annie are chosen dragon riders. According to the author the world is inspired by the Aeneid and the Republic, and to me there was a mix of dystopian and How to Train Your Dragon vides, with a splash of Marxism maybe. If you like political intrigue and real, nuanced character development, you will like Fireborne. It had plenty of action as well.
I’ve heard some people describe this as a grimdark setting, but I really don’t think it is. The world is dark because of the atrocities that have been committed, but the characters - and even the revolution itself - are complex in terms of their motives and what their end goals are, and what they are willing to do and sacrifice. One of the GREAT strengths of this novel is that it really makes you think about class, leadership, and power in a real way. But it doesn’t bludgeon you over with the head with it. You think about it because the characters are wrestling with power and justice, and and the desire for reconciliation and redemption.
And all of this is because of the stunning character work. Honestly, I wouldn’t describe myself as a primarily character driven reader, but the characters were written so well, you really come to care for them, and you feel their agony and their doubts. I thought the relationships were done well. There’s some romance, but even better friendship and camaraderie. There were a couple times where misunderstandings and anger could have been avoided if certain characters and just TALKED directly instead of assuming, but I suppose we do that too.
I thought the pacing was pretty good. The world was interesting, but I really didn’t feel like I got a great sense of it, and there were some weird potential continuity/anachronistic errors, but perhaps there’s a reasonable explanation and we just didn’t get it. I loved so much about this book and will definitely recommend it and read the next one, but I’m also not sure if it was quite special enough to be 5 stars. So, 4.5.
I’ve heard some people describe this as a grimdark setting, but I really don’t think it is. The world is dark because of the atrocities that have been committed, but the characters - and even the revolution itself - are complex in terms of their motives and what their end goals are, and what they are willing to do and sacrifice. One of the GREAT strengths of this novel is that it really makes you think about class, leadership, and power in a real way. But it doesn’t bludgeon you over with the head with it. You think about it because the characters are wrestling with power and justice, and and the desire for reconciliation and redemption.
And all of this is because of the stunning character work. Honestly, I wouldn’t describe myself as a primarily character driven reader, but the characters were written so well, you really come to care for them, and you feel their agony and their doubts. I thought the relationships were done well. There’s some romance, but even better friendship and camaraderie. There were a couple times where misunderstandings and anger could have been avoided if certain characters and just TALKED directly instead of assuming, but I suppose we do that too.
I thought the pacing was pretty good. The world was interesting, but I really didn’t feel like I got a great sense of it, and there were some weird potential continuity/anachronistic errors, but perhaps there’s a reasonable explanation and we just didn’t get it. I loved so much about this book and will definitely recommend it and read the next one, but I’m also not sure if it was quite special enough to be 5 stars. So, 4.5.