I simply loved Incendiary so much! In the first 90 pages I made up my mind about what I thought would happen ( and mind you I would've probably bet money on that because I was so certain) but then it all went to hell. Nothing was as it seemed and certainly not as I had imagined. Some of the plot twists really had me gaping and while a few were fairly predictable it didn't take away from the story at all.
I loved Renata as a main character and got really invested in her struggles because I felt very connected to her. I also fell deeply in love with a character that wasn't even present for most of the book and only really got in on the action at the end which is incredible and so hard??? Like how do you make readers fall in love with a character who's barely there? Zoraida Córdova really works magic! Speaking about magic; the magic system in this story was really interesting and (as far as I know) completely unique. I don't think I've ever seen a system like that and I really enjoyed it!
All in all I just really loved this book and cannot wait for the sequel!
Tropes: Magical system Forbidden magic Found family Revenge quest Single POV Cliffhanger
Loved the world building and intrigue. The magic system is so interesting but I could tell it was just scratching the surface. My heart broke and then was stitched back together but it's far from healing... I'm excited to see where the story goes. That plot twist had me gasping and running to get the next book ASAP
This review and hundreds more can be found on my blog: https://smittenforfiction.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/incendiary-hollow-crown-1-by-zoraida-cordova/
Happy summer book lovers! I'm here with a book review for Incendiary, which I received in an Owlcrate box as a gift.
in·cen·di·ary (noun) 1. a person who excites factions, quarrels, resistance or insurrection 2. a substance or weapon (such as a bomb) used to start fires 3. a person who commits arson
another "i'm a rebel (because i'm part of an oppressed race) going undercover in the palace pretending to be one of them to gather information to take them down from the inside" type of story... but it wasn't good.
world building who? the author said: "i'm just gonna slap some spanish names on people/locations and hope that makes up for the lack of explanation on the magic and character development."
also cut the bullshit with my least favourite trope: Spoiler"person who dies at the beginning isn't actually dead and it was staged, also they're the long lost person everyone has been searching for and they're super important!!!!" because i'm fucking tired
It has such a great premise. I was so excited for it! But ultimately, I was...bored. The world building was sketchy at best-I still have no idea what this world looks like, how big this kingdom is (is the eastern pass from the mountains near the capital, because they get there real fast. Is the forest they start off in near...anything?). Also, insults were thrown around that didn’t even seem like insults. Ren is mad when another character repeatedly calls her “incendiary.” What is wrong with that. It actually sounds like a compliment. But she hates it.
The political palace intrigues I was so excited for were nonexistent.
The rebel group hates Ren for no reason.
Ren herself is just annoying. Dez is also a nothing character that I’m supposed to crazy love. Castian seems really interesting but I get like 4 pages of him, total. And of course we have our classic gay sidekick *sighs*
The amount of YA one liners was just the final straw for me (things like I’m the vengeance in the night or one memorable line “that’s one in a million.” “But it’s still a shot.” *eyes roll out of head and across the floor to go read another book*).
I appreciate the Latinx culture and characters, but this book just didn’t work for me. If you want a cool book about magic that is amplified by metals by the way, go read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. The world building and characters are fantastic in that one.
This is your typical YA fantasy book that has magic, adventure, villians, and romance. I was very interested in the beginning then it kind of went in a different direction and slowed down a bit before speeding up to the ending, which infuriated me. I think I might have given in a higher rating if not for the ending. All in all if you like fantasy you will like this book.
