befsk 's review for:

Heat of the Everflame by Penn Cole

0.5

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Kicking off after the explosive (literally) cliffhanger at the end of the 2nd book in the series, we pick Diem up in book 3 being held hostage by the mortal rebellion (the Guardians) after revealing that Diem's mum is a) a member b) responsible for the attack at the end of the last book and c) keeping so many secrets that always, without fail, blindside Diem because she's absolutely stupid and continues to trust her mother despite the constant lying and hiding.

And that’s basically the biggest recurring theme in this 1000 page book. Diem is an idiot and her mum is a horrible person.

I do have to say that Diem pretending she's suddenly developed any control over her powers in the 3 hours between books 2 and 3 is kinda hilarious. As if she didn't win her big Trial at the end of the last book by the skin of her teeth, and by some stroke of dumb luck crossed with the body's reluctance to die.

Cannot believe we spent over 150 pages faffing around in a forest with the mortal rebellion. It was so dull. Plus, it seems no one’s interested in getting the Queen of their fucking realm back? Worst and slowest rescue efforts ever.

Diem continues to be the stupidest FMC I've ever read. She can't reason things through and she can't jump to any conclusions unless she's spoon-fed them as part of a ruse to trick her, and at that point she falls for it hook, line and sinker every single time without fail. Absolute moron. She can't figure out that her power keeps shifting depending on what realm she's in, she can't figure out Taran prefers men, she can't figure out what's wrong with Luther and why he's blowing hot and cold, despite many many many hints on all of the above plot points.

And everything just takes so long in this book. In a 1000 page book, dedicating 10% of a book to one thing means 100 pages, which is insane if the thing in question is basically Diem being stupid and throwing herself at enemies and seeing how badly she can get herself maimed this time. Which is a frequently repeated plot.

I realise now where Diem got her inherently shitty personality from: her mother is an atrocious hypocrite with barely two brain cells to rub together. She's apparently the leader of the rebellion and yet she doesn't know what anyone in her own organisation is doing. And even if you reason that she's been away for about 9 months and then thrown in prison, that doesn't excuse that she dismisses first hand witness accounts of her comrades' personality flaws - like Vance wanting all Descended everywhere dead at any cost - with constant excuses, self-soothingly telling her own daughter that that wouldn't happen because she's known Vance for years. We're constantly banging on about how Diem and Auralie are just stubborn but they're not stubborn, they're fucking stupid. The way that Auralie seems utterly repulsed by Diem being a Descended was especially bizarre, given that it's Auralie that's known DIem was Descended all along and has been hiding it from Diem.

Anyway, what was this book for? What were all those pages about? Diem runs from realm to realm becoming more powerful, making more enemies and getting manipulated into doing the dumbest shit by people a hell of a lot more equipped to lead countries than she is. Only to end the book trapped in the exact place that we ended the last book, in yet another plot twist betrayal cliffhanger.

At least we gave Taran a love interest though, I guess. As if that makes up for 1000 pages of drudgery and sludge.