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A review by kblincoln
Daughter of the Flames by Zoë Marriott
3.0
Daughter of Flames is the story of Zira/Zahira, a princess of Rua who was raised as a commoner with no memory of her true past.
When the current, foriegn king (of Sedborne) who has taken over Rua, sends men to destroy the House of God where she lives, a series of events in set into motion forcing Zira/Zahira to retrieve her memories and start an unlikely alliance with a Sedborne Lord.
This book is a case of "I think I would have totally liked this if I were 16." As I am not...er...16, I didn't find very much in this book that hasn't been done before. It was all done well, and the characters believable and sympathetic, but it didn't have that thread of uniqueness or sense of a twist on an old theme I would look for in fantasy worlds.
There are cool fighting/training scenes for Zira, a believable, tasteful romance with the Sedborne Lord, moral quandries, and startling revelations.
The single thread of interest/newness that I wish had been developed further was when Zira/Zahira was trying to integrate her old memories of her life before her family was destroyed with the sense of herself as she was raised. I liked how she had to struggle with running her own feelings through two filters, and as this part was interesting to me, I wished there had been more of that, and less a "deus ex machina" moment where in the book she suddenly feels a sense of completeness with the help of her goddess.
Despite what I said above, the book was good and Zira/Zahira totally a strong heroine many would enjoy identifying with.
This book's food designation: plain Madeleines (the cookies) for the story being well-done and the heroine sweet, but just a tad too ordinary for my taste.
When the current, foriegn king (of Sedborne) who has taken over Rua, sends men to destroy the House of God where she lives, a series of events in set into motion forcing Zira/Zahira to retrieve her memories and start an unlikely alliance with a Sedborne Lord.
This book is a case of "I think I would have totally liked this if I were 16." As I am not...er...16, I didn't find very much in this book that hasn't been done before. It was all done well, and the characters believable and sympathetic, but it didn't have that thread of uniqueness or sense of a twist on an old theme I would look for in fantasy worlds.
There are cool fighting/training scenes for Zira, a believable, tasteful romance with the Sedborne Lord, moral quandries, and startling revelations.
The single thread of interest/newness that I wish had been developed further was when Zira/Zahira was trying to integrate her old memories of her life before her family was destroyed with the sense of herself as she was raised. I liked how she had to struggle with running her own feelings through two filters, and as this part was interesting to me, I wished there had been more of that, and less a "deus ex machina" moment where in the book she suddenly feels a sense of completeness with the help of her goddess.
Despite what I said above, the book was good and Zira/Zahira totally a strong heroine many would enjoy identifying with.
This book's food designation: plain Madeleines (the cookies) for the story being well-done and the heroine sweet, but just a tad too ordinary for my taste.