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andromeda_1998's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was I book I got from a bookbox, otherwise I probably would have never read it. The book is decent and I think it could be fun for a 14 year old but it didn’t suit me. I didn’t like it and I felt like all the characters where whiny and annoying. The plot is decent and the writing is okay. The book is mediocre to me. I would probably recommend it to 14/16 year old looking for a fantasy book with dragons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
corvicore's review
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Torture, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Minor: Biphobia
plumpaperbacks's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
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? Yes
3.75
While the concept of this book intrigued me, I have mixed feelings on the book itself. I liked the well-written cast of characters, complex sister dynamic, and the unique lore surrounding the dragons, slayers, and sorcerers. I especially liked the resident snarky dragon, Nox. He’s undeniably my favorite character.
What I wasn’t such a fan of, though, was the uneven pacing in the first half of the book vs the second, the rather rushed events in the last third of the story, and just how chaotic things ended up. In the last 100 pages, it felt like there was too much going on, like Soria wanted to fit too much into too few pages, and more than once I had to reread paragraphs to grasp what exactly was happening. I think the best solution here would’ve been to either add a few chapters to the book or split it into a duology. Either one would’ve allowed for a bit of breathing room between action sequences and room to further flesh out the story and characters.
ETA:One thing that seemed unrealistic to me is that Eden was so familiar with her magic as soon as she got it. The girl was a sorcerer for less than half an hour before chasing Dani and managing all of these complex attack spells. Granted, I’m a human without magical experience, but uh… I don’t think it works that way??
The ending was satisfying, I’ll give it that, but as I write this review, my brain feels muddled. I’m not sure if that’s because of the time (it’s almost 4:30 a.m.) or the book or my alarmingly small number of brain cells or all three. Whatever the case may be, even if Fire with Fire didn’t end up being the spectacular urban fantasy I’d hoped it would be, I do recommend it. Soria has a lot of potential if she can figure out her pacing, and I look forward to giving more of her books a try in the future.
Representation
What I wasn’t such a fan of, though, was the uneven pacing in the first half of the book vs the second, the rather rushed events in the last third of the story, and just how chaotic things ended up. In the last 100 pages, it felt like there was too much going on, like Soria wanted to fit too much into too few pages, and more than once I had to reread paragraphs to grasp what exactly was happening. I think the best solution here would’ve been to either add a few chapters to the book or split it into a duology. Either one would’ve allowed for a bit of breathing room between action sequences and room to further flesh out the story and characters.
ETA:
The ending was satisfying, I’ll give it that, but as I write this review, my brain feels muddled. I’m not sure if that’s because of the time (it’s almost 4:30 a.m.) or the book or my alarmingly small number of brain cells or all three. Whatever the case may be, even if Fire with Fire didn’t end up being the spectacular urban fantasy I’d hoped it would be, I do recommend it. Soria has a lot of potential if she can figure out her pacing, and I look forward to giving more of her books a try in the future.
Representation
- bisexual Mexican protagonist
- Mexican protagonist with anxiety
- side characters of color (includes Latine and Black rep)
- sapphic side character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence
The tags “animal cruelty” and “animal death” are there because of the treatment of dragons in some scenes of the book.foreverinastory's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.5
4.5/5 RTC
Rep: Half-Mexican, half-white bisexual female MC, half-Mexican half-white female MC with anxiety and panic attacks, Black male love interest, white Scottish love interest, Latine male side character, white questioning female side character, Mexican-American female side characters.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (underage and legal), animal cruelty, animal death (both towards dragons), blood, death, fire/fire injury, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping, mental illness (anxiety), panic attacks, torture, violence. Moderate: grief.
Rep: Half-Mexican, half-white bisexual female MC, half-Mexican half-white female MC with anxiety and panic attacks, Black male love interest, white Scottish love interest, Latine male side character, white questioning female side character, Mexican-American female side characters.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (underage and legal), animal cruelty, animal death (both towards dragons), blood, death, fire/fire injury, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping, mental illness (anxiety), panic attacks, torture, violence. Moderate: grief.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Grief
emily_mh's review
adventurous
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? Yes
3.75
This book was by NO MEANS bad, but unfortunately I found myself a little disappointed by it. One thing I loved about it was the dragons and how they played such a central role in plot, but also how they were characters in and of themselves. The magic system that went along with this was interesting, especially the concept of soul bonds. Another thing this book had going for it was Dani and Eden. Their character development was really strong, they provided great POVs to follow, and I also loved the sister dynamic between them. Finally, the pop culture references in this book were actually UP TO DATE!! It leant realism to the teenage perspective and was generally really refreshing.
However, this is where my cons start to come in. The first one being the romance.The first half of the book is spent setting up a logical, chemistry-filled second-chance romance with Sadie, but then this is ditched for one with Kieran. Dani and Kieran had nooooo chemistry, and he isn't even in the book until halfway through. It was just so jarring, especially when you have the added factor of viewing Sadie and Tomás as just friends for the first half, and now have to wrap your head around them being into each other. ALSO, Kieran is 200+ years old. It's annoying to me that we still have adult/minor relationships in YA in 2021 masked by the defense that "they look like a teenager."
Another thing I didn't like was the execution of the plot. The pacing was really strange, and I feel likethe original issue of hatching the eggs fell to the wayside in favour of the sorcerer Eden plotline. But then THAT plotline was conveniently resolved because Eden ended up being sorcerer AND human. Therefore half the book felt kind of redundant.
Finally, I thought the side characters were underused. Frankie, Tomás and Sadie were all so interesting and could have added some real colour to Dani's activities. Overall, these significant cons meant that although it was a pretty enjoyable book, I couldn't give it more than 3.75 stars.
However, this is where my cons start to come in. The first one being the romance.
Another thing I didn't like was the execution of the plot. The pacing was really strange, and I feel like
Finally, I thought the side characters were underused. Frankie, Tomás and Sadie were all so interesting and could have added some real colour to Dani's activities. Overall, these significant cons meant that although it was a pretty enjoyable book, I couldn't give it more than 3.75 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, and War
spinesinaline's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
4.25
A contender for my favourite reads of the year! I love a sibling story and this one comes with Buffy-esque drama, dragons, and anxiety representation so there’s much to love. Big thanks to Clarion Books for the review copy!
I loved the humour in this one, which started right from the first page. But along with the constant humour and sarcasm in the dialogue, it’s also quite a serious story as it looks at the dangers of fighting dragons, but also the struggles of and coping methods for people with mental illnesses and handling others’ perceptions and demands of you, as well as the beautiful and honest depiction of the relationship of these two sisters.
It’s a quick read despite its length (over 400 pages!) so I don’t want to give too much away beyond what the blurb offers (and you’d be fine following along by skipping the blurb altogether). I will say that I felt the representation the author offers felt very real, and while I can’t speak from an own voices perspective, it felt true. Dani, the youngest sister, is proudly bisexual and directly combats biphobic assumptions and stereotypes. The eldest, Eden, deals with anxiety and panic attacks and there are very detailed descriptions of these attacks and their impact on her life.
The characters are endearing and funny and still have their (sometimes significant) flaws, the story moves quickly and easily so you get sucked in, and it’s a creative modern take on dragon stories that incorporates Mexican mythology.
I loved the humour in this one, which started right from the first page. But along with the constant humour and sarcasm in the dialogue, it’s also quite a serious story as it looks at the dangers of fighting dragons, but also the struggles of and coping methods for people with mental illnesses and handling others’ perceptions and demands of you, as well as the beautiful and honest depiction of the relationship of these two sisters.
It’s a quick read despite its length (over 400 pages!) so I don’t want to give too much away beyond what the blurb offers (and you’d be fine following along by skipping the blurb altogether). I will say that I felt the representation the author offers felt very real, and while I can’t speak from an own voices perspective, it felt true. Dani, the youngest sister, is proudly bisexual and directly combats biphobic assumptions and stereotypes. The eldest, Eden, deals with anxiety and panic attacks and there are very detailed descriptions of these attacks and their impact on her life.
The characters are endearing and funny and still have their (sometimes significant) flaws, the story moves quickly and easily so you get sucked in, and it’s a creative modern take on dragon stories that incorporates Mexican mythology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Grief, and Murder
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