Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - A Fire Endless

Spice Rating: 🌶️ / 5

Rebecca Ross writes a gorgeous finale to the Elements of Cadence duology in A Fire Endless.

We pick up a couple of weeks where we left off at the end of A River Enchanted. Adaira is struggling to find her place in the West with her birth parents, wondering if she would ever fit in. Jack, Torin, and Sidra are left to pick up the pieces in the East and try to lead the clan in Adaira's absence. One day, Torin discovers a blight in an orchard in the East that has somehow spread to the people, and he and Sidra work together to find a cure for their clan. Jack feels lost without Adaira until he finds purpose in a mission from a fire spirit named Ash. Adaira, Jack, Sidra, and Torin are all pushed to their limits as they come together with the spirits to try and finally stop the northern wind spirit, Bane, who is tyrannically ruling over the spirits. Unknown history will be discovered, and sacrifices will need to be made by everyone in order to stop Bane and unite the isle of Cadence once again.

Rebecca Ross has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Her writing style captures lyrical prose, atmospheric settings, and multi-dimensional characters. One thing I love about her female characters is that they don't fall into the typical popular "strong FMC" umbrella; they are, instead, quietly strong and sacrifice and fight in their own unconventional ways. This novel especially captures the resilience of women as well as the importance of connection to the Earth, understanding amongst each other, and constantly learning from history to avoid making the same mistakes. Ross paints a beautiful picture of what life can look like when we work together, forgive, and simply communicate with one another.

Readers who love Ross' Letters of Enchantment duology or anything by Stephanie Garber would be remiss to ignore this series.

I was so concerned that this was going to end with Jack remaining in the spirit realm and was so pleasantly surprised when he was able to return as a mortal. I would've been okay with the bittersweet ending, but after all he and Adaira had gone through, I was really happy to see their happy ending.

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kbowles24's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

ddammeyer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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linneak's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

camilleemcl's review against another edition

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cassiealexandra's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

I gave A River Enchanted 4.5 stars, feeling a little dissatisfied with a few minor items. I said in that review that I hoped my feeling of floating would come to a resolution with book 2, and it did. Even though the difference between my ratings is only .25, I loved this book so much more than its predecessor.

As was the case with River, the writing in Fire was atmospheric and beautiful. My desire for more time spent on magic was fulfilled tenfold. I loved seeing the crossover between the mortal and spirit realms. I got my wish for more interaction with the Folk, spirit portals, and enchanted libraries. I also appreciated that in addition to continuing to look at married love as book one did, this one had a focus on familial love and a deeper exploration of parent-child relationships. The ideas of clan and family are such huge themes in this duology. I felt like characters really grew in this one and were each given opportunities to come into their call and place in the world.

Again, there were a couple minor items that I struggled with, but they hardly affected my enjoyment of this book. 1. The switching point of view sometimes felt abrupt and left me wanting more from the previous storyline. When the storyline picked back up, it sometimes involved a slight time hop instead of going back to the original moment. 2. The pace sometimes moved a tiny bit slowly, which sounds funny coming from someone who isn’t usually bothered by that. I think the real issue was that I either wanted more action or more character development. Those two elements felt just a tiny bit off balance and it affected the pacing for me.

The bottom line: I loved this and was satisfied with the conclusion. Jack, Adaira, Sidra, Torin, and Frae will stay in my memory for a long time to come.

— NOTES —

Genres: fantasy

POV: third-person, multiple

Content: death, violence

Romance: 5 vaguely descriptive, nearly fade-to-black scenes

— MY RATING CONSIDERATIONS —

(all out of 5)

Pace: 4

Enjoyment: 5

Craft: 5

My Gut Feeling: 5

Total Stars: 4.75