Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Fire Endless

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

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theratchetfairy_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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jg34's review

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adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

5.0

It has been awhile since a book (series) has made me feel so much. I loved all the characters and felt their triumph and their struggles through the pages (or through the headphone??). Each character had personality, the world and all the fantastical elements were beautifully described, and of course the romance!! So much more romance in book two since I feel like book one was all about establishing the love story, now we get to live it. And it was done perfectly in my opinion. No spice and any love scenes were done beautifully, not crudely. I could definitely see myself rereading in the future.

One part I didn’t totally understand -which could just be a me thing maybe I didn’t pay close enough attention- was

why Jack didn’t come back to the mortal world right away? If he knew he could I felt like he would have right away. If giving up music was the hold up I don’t get that bc he already agreed to do so by going to the west. I know time is different there so maybe he only stayed in the fairy realm for like 3 days but still I would have expected it to be much sooner.

anyway if anyone has any insight on that pls fill me in I think that was the only not perfect part of this book but it didn’t feel like enough to drop the rating especially bc I still liked the drama it caused I just don’t understand the why.

Please read this series!! The audiobooks are wonderful too if you love a good Scottish accent

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fanchera's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

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intertidalkendy's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

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warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5

A Fire Endless was a beautiful conclusion to this duology. I loved getting to see how the characters and the world was developed. I loved that we got to see Jack and Adaira’s relationship explored, I adored them so much. They’re honestly one of my new favorite book couples, like Jack and Adaira are the blueprint. It was also great to see Adaira’s personality really fleshed out. In the first book I knew there was more of her and I loved her determination and strength so much.

I also really loved Torin’s character in this book, he really came into his own as both a leader and a husband and I loved seeing him fight for that. Jack’s entire journey with uniting the two clans and dealing with the spirits was so well-written and I definitely cried multiple times in the last 100 pages when he sang for the spirits and the aftermath. Rebecca Ross’s writing is beautiful and I love how she explores themes of love, loyalty, family and faith. This duology was brilliant and the characters will be with me for a long time.

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jessiereads98's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-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? Yes

3.75

A Fire Endless follows Jack, Adaira, Torin, and Sidra across the Isle of Cadence as they handle the fall out of Adaira going west. It’s a solid sequel, and Rebecca Ross expands the world beautifully. This story was unexpectedly darker and heavier than the A River Enchanted, but it still maintains its atmospheric charm through lush and lyrical prose. A Fire Endless was more plot heavy than A River Enchanted, and I felt this was to its detriment.

This story had almost too
much going on for a final book of a duology. Adaira is learning the culture and politics of the West, Torin is adjusting to his role as laird of the East, Jack, Sidra, and Torin must save the Isle of Cadence from a mysterious plague affecting both the land and people. With this much ground to cover things felt rushed and choppy at times. The character development and main relationships which shone in the first book remain, but to a lesser degree. I felt the relationships were the biggest strength of the first book, and putting them to the side to focus on too many plot elements made this a weaker story. I especially didn’t like

the separation of Torin and Sidra. I expected to see them working on their relationship together, however we instead only got individual character development (mostly Torin) and their relationship was just healed through that at the very end seemingly. I also just didn’t care for the pregnancy plot. It felt unnecessary given everything else going on.

While the main relationships between Jack and Adaira, and Torin and Sidra remain we unfortunately don’t get to continue exploring the familial relationships from A River Enchanted in A Fire Endless. Mirin, Fraeda, and Maisie who played a prominent role in the first book are all but absent here. There was an attempt to explore the fraught relationship between Adaira and her biological parents here, but it ultimately gets lost and falls flat amongst everything else happening. Jack interacts with his paternal relatives 2 or 3 times total in 500 pages despite not having known his father being central to his character. I was disappointed by the lack of connections outside of the two main romantic relationships.

While there seemed to be more magic overall in A Fire Endless, there was less bardic magic. I loved the uniqueness of Jack’s powers as a bard in A River Enchanted and the way it was written. In A Fire Endless the interactions with the spirits are more direct, and initiated by the spirits. This made the magic seem more mundane, and like a plot device that Ross used to get us from one point to another.

Finally, I was disappointed by the ending. It felt rushed to make sure every loose end was tied up neatly, rather than those endings having been earned and making sense. I also didn’t like how

Jack became king of the spirits then gave up his powers entirely. There was very little build up for this ending to make sense with either the world or his character. I don’t think it was necessary to strip him of his bard magic entirely to prove the point that he loves Adaira.

Overall, this was a fine conclusion to the duology despite being a little disappointing.

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