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nicholemurphy's review
4.0
The book is really a 3.75. This book took me a long time to finish. I will say in the beginning I lost interest and forced myself to read it. I felt the first half of the book was extremely slow and repetitive, and the main character was so meek, you just wanted her to get a backbone! However, the last 150 pages or so was very captivating. I read it all in one setting. I still don’t know who to trust in the book which makes me excited to pick up the next book in this series.
ambeesbookishpages's review
2.0
The full review + more can be found at The Book Bratz
First off the cover of this book is gorgeous. It has dragons in it. The narrator has horrible anxiety. I honestly don't now how I didn't pick this book up sooner. I want to say how badly I loved this book and that it was everything I was expecting. But that would be a lie. It fell short on a lot of things, and a book that was told to have lots of dragons had only very few dragons.
The one thing I loved about this book was Mira and her journey with anxiety. Anxiety and panic attacks are some of the most scariest experiences you would ever feel, and as someone who has the very same condition as Mira it was easy to relate with her and her struggles. I saw so much of myself in Mira, how she thinks and how she acts and how she copes with her anxieties. Mira obsessively counts to help deal with her anxieties, it had become something that was a comfort to her. This is a behavior that is so normalized with anxiety but something that Mira takes a large amount of shame in. I loved the flashbacks when Mira would talk about dragons, it is her happy place that helps her. I really appreciated Mira's character and the way that Meadows betrayed her.
Now......
I expected a lot of dragons but Mira spends a majority of the book in a dark prison where there are no dragons. I feel like there wasn't much plot, it was more of they day by day life of Mira's imprisonment and her desire to make friends with her silent neighbor rather then a novel about a girl who was imprisoned because of illegal Dragon trafficking. I felt like I knew nothing about the other characters other then Mira and to be completely honest I skimmed the last 150 pages of this book.
As much as I love Meadows's writing in the past, Before She Ignites wasn't one that I can have a lot of love for and I sadly don't plan on continuing the series.
First off the cover of this book is gorgeous. It has dragons in it. The narrator has horrible anxiety. I honestly don't now how I didn't pick this book up sooner. I want to say how badly I loved this book and that it was everything I was expecting. But that would be a lie. It fell short on a lot of things, and a book that was told to have lots of dragons had only very few dragons.
The one thing I loved about this book was Mira and her journey with anxiety. Anxiety and panic attacks are some of the most scariest experiences you would ever feel, and as someone who has the very same condition as Mira it was easy to relate with her and her struggles. I saw so much of myself in Mira, how she thinks and how she acts and how she copes with her anxieties. Mira obsessively counts to help deal with her anxieties, it had become something that was a comfort to her. This is a behavior that is so normalized with anxiety but something that Mira takes a large amount of shame in. I loved the flashbacks when Mira would talk about dragons, it is her happy place that helps her. I really appreciated Mira's character and the way that Meadows betrayed her.
Now......
I expected a lot of dragons but Mira spends a majority of the book in a dark prison where there are no dragons. I feel like there wasn't much plot, it was more of they day by day life of Mira's imprisonment and her desire to make friends with her silent neighbor rather then a novel about a girl who was imprisoned because of illegal Dragon trafficking. I felt like I knew nothing about the other characters other then Mira and to be completely honest I skimmed the last 150 pages of this book.
As much as I love Meadows's writing in the past, Before She Ignites wasn't one that I can have a lot of love for and I sadly don't plan on continuing the series.
lielos99's review
5.0
AMAZING. I love books with dragons, and this world and people are so incredible.
I also loved Mira. Her fear, anxiety, panic attacks. I could relate and they were all realistic in her thought process and want to help people. I cant wait for the next book.
I also loved Mira. Her fear, anxiety, panic attacks. I could relate and they were all realistic in her thought process and want to help people. I cant wait for the next book.
khaleesirose's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
marril's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bookish_mrs_w's review against another edition
3.0
Can I say 2 stars for the first 1/2 and 5 for the last? I’m not going to lie, I STRUGGLED to read this book through the first half of this book. I almost didn’t want to finish. I couldn’t stand the main character. She was weak and whiney and so insecure. Blah. Blah. Blah. But then I hit the halfway mark and all that work from the first part of the book started clicking into place and by 60% of the way, I couldn’t put it down. The ending was incredible, the main character found her spark and took control of her life and BAM. I’m so glad I stuck this book out and I can’t wait to see what book 2 brings! I have so many questions that I can’t wait to be answered and I’m really excited to see how the main character continues to grow in her strength.
amybraunauthor's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great story filled with emotion and human endurance. It was a looong book that focused more on character development than a traditional plot, but I'm not about to complain about that. I really liked the world building and the twists that the story offered. Most of the book revolved around Mira, a young woman torn from grace and trapped in a wretched prison. She's a deeply flawed heroine, mentally and emotionally, and it's been a while since I've read a book where the "damsel in distress" was the main character. I liked her a lot, understanding that she was completely unprepared for being alone and literally trapped in a prison of darkness. At times, her constant sabotaging was hard to read through, and I wished she would be a little stronger. But the ending chapter definitely made up for all my well placed hopes. I'm actually really excited for the openings the ending provides. The relationships are fantastic and I have plenty of questions regarding the magic of the world. A great story with a very flawed heroine who I can sympathize with and ultimately cheer for. Check it out!
books4susie's review against another edition
4.0
I’ll be honest. It took me awhile to get into this book. The story flips between the present and the past as the reader tries to figure out why Mira has been arrested and thrown into the Pit. The author slowly reveals what Mira knows but plenty of surprises occur and mysteries continue. This is a good start to this trilogy as the story will continue in book two, expected in 2018.
nicolemhewitt's review
5.0
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
This book grabbed me in the beginning but sort of lost me in the middle. Luckily, it picked up again at the end, so my overall impression was definitely positive. The book features an incredibly unique world with several societies that I found intriguing (I was even interested in the political machinations of those societies, which is unusual for me). I also appreciated the diversity and the fact that Mira, the MC, suffers from pretty extreme anxiety, which she feels the need to hide because of her station in the world. Oh, and there are dragons! Who doesn’t love dragons? (I hope there’s even more of them in future books.)
I did think the book stalled a bit in the middle—there was a whole section of the book where not much happened at all because Mira was in prison, but at least I really loved her company there. And things definitely picked up again at the end of the book. Enough so that I felt like this book deserved a solid 4/5 Stars and I’m eager to find out what will happen next!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
This book grabbed me in the beginning but sort of lost me in the middle. Luckily, it picked up again at the end, so my overall impression was definitely positive. The book features an incredibly unique world with several societies that I found intriguing (I was even interested in the political machinations of those societies, which is unusual for me). I also appreciated the diversity and the fact that Mira, the MC, suffers from pretty extreme anxiety, which she feels the need to hide because of her station in the world. Oh, and there are dragons! Who doesn’t love dragons? (I hope there’s even more of them in future books.)
I did think the book stalled a bit in the middle—there was a whole section of the book where not much happened at all because Mira was in prison, but at least I really loved her company there. And things definitely picked up again at the end of the book. Enough so that I felt like this book deserved a solid 4/5 Stars and I’m eager to find out what will happen next!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
jengilbert's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-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
2.5