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A review by booklover160
Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift
2.0
Oh man, I was so excited for this one too.
'Cast in Firelight' is an Indian myth-inspired 'rivals to lovers' with an arranged marriage with magic. Sounds awesome, right? It really fell short for me.
As a note; this is not an #OwnVoices and as someone who is not South Asian or a person of color, I cannot comment on if it was done properly or not. I recommend bookwormbullet's review found here.
So getting started, I didn't much care for any of the characters. Adraa and Jatin were bland and everyone else is woefully underdeveloped. Adraa and Jatin are portrayed at 'top of their class' smart yet can't put 2 and 2 together to figure out their real identities.
I have a huge issue with the fact that those two idiots didn't know who the other really was until 50% through for one and 80% through the WHOLE BOOK for the other. It started kinda cute but just kept going... How are they supposed to trust one another??? Oh, because they're just sooooo in love? For what was supposed to be a slow burn, it felt like an insta-love.
The plot is also frustratingly slow. And kinda confusing. There's a lot going on and a fair amount of what felt like misdirection. There was a whole plot point introduced then abandoned. It dragged a lot and the whole magic system... while interesting, I didn't care for it. It was complicated and the spells were... weird. Like the Gods' names are their powers backward... not exactly the most original idea. I think it could have been simplified, but it wasn't bad.
Anyway, I am intrigued by the slight cliffhangers this book ends off on. It's a nice ending that will lead nicely to a book two. But I'm not going to have super high hopes for it.
PS- It's petty I know, but the map design was so frustrating. Azure Palace is in Naupure... but Belwar is written on the map DIRECTLY BELOW IT. If it isn't in Belwar (it isn't), then add like lines that show the countries boundaries!!! I was so confused where we were!!!! AND Belwar's MAIN CITY DOESN'T HAVE A CITY ICON ON IT! I was like 'okay so this isn't a city anymore?' but no, it's the MAIN LOCATION OF THE NOVEL.
'Cast in Firelight' is an Indian myth-inspired 'rivals to lovers' with an arranged marriage with magic. Sounds awesome, right? It really fell short for me.
As a note; this is not an #OwnVoices and as someone who is not South Asian or a person of color, I cannot comment on if it was done properly or not. I recommend bookwormbullet's review found here.
So getting started, I didn't much care for any of the characters. Adraa and Jatin were bland and everyone else is woefully underdeveloped. Adraa and Jatin are portrayed at 'top of their class' smart yet can't put 2 and 2 together to figure out their real identities.
I have a huge issue with the fact that those two idiots didn't know who the other really was until 50% through for one and 80% through the WHOLE BOOK for the other. It started kinda cute but just kept going... How are they supposed to trust one another??? Oh, because they're just sooooo in love? For what was supposed to be a slow burn, it felt like an insta-love.
The plot is also frustratingly slow. And kinda confusing. There's a lot going on and a fair amount of what felt like misdirection. There was a whole plot point introduced then abandoned
Spoiler
the idea that it was actually Jatin's father rather than Moolek. It supported the idea also; he first thought it was Moolek, he sent Jatin after Adraa, and there's no evidence for ANYONE being behind the plot. I thought that would have made a waaaay better plot twist.Anyway, I am intrigued by the slight cliffhangers this book ends off on. It's a nice ending that will lead nicely to a book two. But I'm not going to have super high hopes for it.
PS- It's petty I know, but the map design was so frustrating. Azure Palace is in Naupure... but Belwar is written on the map DIRECTLY BELOW IT. If it isn't in Belwar (it isn't), then add like lines that show the countries boundaries!!! I was so confused where we were!!!! AND Belwar's MAIN CITY DOESN'T HAVE A CITY ICON ON IT! I was like 'okay so this isn't a city anymore?' but no, it's the MAIN LOCATION OF THE NOVEL.