6.18k reviews for:

Heat of the Everflame

Penn Cole

4.21 AVERAGE

adventurous slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Diverse cast of characters: No
adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

When I was reading the first and second book so many people were telling me how much they hate the FMC, Diem. At first, I didn’t get it. I mean she was never going to make my list of favorites, but I couldn’t understand the hatred for her. That is, until I started this book. Honestly, I started to get a better understanding in the second book, but it took no time at all reading this book for me to understand EXACTLY why she’s so hated. 

Diem is BY FAR the DUMBEST FMC I have ever read. Her savior complex is over the top annoying. In one book, she ruined this entire series for me. Is it bad that she wants to make things better for the mortals and right some of the injustices they face - no absolutely not. But she has put the mortals up on some morally superior pedestal. She has zero problem killing the descended that she deems worthy to die, but the bad mortals who quite literally have been in the midst of trying to kill her friends/family/people she loves and she’s begging them not to the hurt the mortals because “they’re just angry.” Like WHAT??? Not to mention, like every single bad thing that happened was literally her own doing because she’s dumb and makes stupid choices and Luther blindly follows with his tail wagging and his tongue hanging out.  I also just love (please read the sarcasm in that) how she just keeps getting stronger and stronger she had a couple of “training” sessions which she acted like a child and gave up and quit on, went two and a half books with absolutely no control over her magic but now all a sudden she can rival kings and queens that have been in power for centuries. 

What the author did to Luther’s character was beyond shameful. First he was a badass shadow wielder, feared by just about everyone because nobody came close to rivaling his power, but then Zalaric was close and it also said the Umbra Queen came close to his power. I like a good slow burn, but this was just pathetic. It’s pretty much been Luther pining after Diem and her being all indecisive and pulling him around on a leash and he just let her. She wouldn’t even claim him in front of her mother, who also turned out to be a shit person, at first. 

There was no reason this book should have been over 1000 pages. It was beyond repetitive and the FMC is the most annoying person ever. I like the idea of the story of this series, but I do not think I’ll be reading the fourth book. I absolutely cannot even begin to imagine trying to read another book over 1000 pages from Diem’s POV. I won’t make it.
challenging emotional tense slow-paced
adventurous medium-paced

Wow. 

I almost DNF'd this so many times. I would really struggle through sections and then get really into other parts. The FMC is horrible, she's like a toddler having a tantrum. I'm not someone that looks for loopholes or tries to figure out the twists but I could see the twists coming from a mile away. They were so obvious that I literally yelled at the book multiple times and so many eye rolls when they happened and it was a huge deal. I normally listen to an audiobook in 3ish days, it took me 18 days to get through this one. I had to stop listening so many times because I was so annoyed. There are so many things wrong with this book but the storyline is decent so I really wish I could get over the issues and continue the series but I will not be. 
adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No