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A review by peculiarb
Cry Of The Firebird by Amy Kuivalainen
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Actual rating: 2.5/5
Cry of the Firebird by Amy Kuivalainen tries to do too much for a single book, and even more so for a start to a series.
When we met Anya, she's mourning the death of her grandfather and falling deeper into alcoholism before the god of death reveals himself to her and begins to activate her dormant powers. The book quickly takes off from there, with Anya freeing Yvan from his deep sleep and narrowly escaping being captured by Yvan's brother, Vassili, who seeks the power to rule the world. Now on the run, Yvan and Anya set out to build a team that can train Anya to use her powers, and successfully challenge Vassili.
Anya was a very interesting character at first. After her grandfather's death, her grief runs deep, her relations with the rest of the townsfolk become all the more frayed, and she now has to manage the farm on her own all of which proves to be too much for her and she turns to vodka. She's fully aware of being an alcoholic which impacts her first interactions with magic. It was rough to read through those chapters, especially when she decides to give it up and I thought this would be the central struggle of her character until it all but vanished. After her first decision to quit, she has a few days of side effects before she's mostly fine. The subject barely comes up past the halfway point, and certainly not in a way that impacts her which I found to be rather disappointing.
A second disappointing aspect of the book was the many romantic subplots that bloated the book. About halfway through the book, Anya starts a romantic relationship, then Katya, and finally Isabelle which took a lot of time in a book already seeking to establish an extensive fantasy world. I don't begrudge Anya the first love interest, that was expected, but Kuvalainen then added a second and a potential third love interest for her, both of which ruminate on not being able to have her more than once. Katya's romantic subplot felt rushed considering her history and then was suddenly forgotten in favour of Isabelle's which was also incredibly rushed. Given that this is the start of a series, this sort of thing could've been done in the other books in order to give both of these characters enough time for it.
The world Kuvalainen creates is fascinating though. Shes merged our own with a fairytale world that is heavily inspired by Eastern European fairytales with sprinkles of other folklore as well. There's ancient greek death spirits, nordic elves and indigenous american shamans present as well as romani-inspired peoples who travel through the two worlds. The worldbuilding was fairly well done, by the half point I had a grasp on how the fairytale world worked, which left Kuivalainen the space to show how it interacted with our world. The most interesting aspect of her world was the concept that the Illumination wasn't necessarily better than the Darkness in their methods. Anya's team of warriors are all Neutrals meaning they don't angage with either side, the dynamics of which are briefly explored towards the end of the book with hints of more in the rest of the series.
Overall, I feel ambivalent towards this book. It's not Kuivalainen's best, and I don't believe I'll be continuing with the series.
Cry of the Firebird by Amy Kuivalainen tries to do too much for a single book, and even more so for a start to a series.
When we met Anya, she's mourning the death of her grandfather and falling deeper into alcoholism before the god of death reveals himself to her and begins to activate her dormant powers. The book quickly takes off from there, with Anya freeing Yvan from his deep sleep and narrowly escaping being captured by Yvan's brother, Vassili, who seeks the power to rule the world. Now on the run, Yvan and Anya set out to build a team that can train Anya to use her powers, and successfully challenge Vassili.
Anya was a very interesting character at first. After her grandfather's death, her grief runs deep, her relations with the rest of the townsfolk become all the more frayed, and she now has to manage the farm on her own all of which proves to be too much for her and she turns to vodka. She's fully aware of being an alcoholic which impacts her first interactions with magic. It was rough to read through those chapters, especially when she decides to give it up and I thought this would be the central struggle of her character until it all but vanished. After her first decision to quit, she has a few days of side effects before she's mostly fine. The subject barely comes up past the halfway point, and certainly not in a way that impacts her which I found to be rather disappointing.
A second disappointing aspect of the book was the many romantic subplots that bloated the book. About halfway through the book, Anya starts a romantic relationship, then Katya, and finally Isabelle which took a lot of time in a book already seeking to establish an extensive fantasy world. I don't begrudge Anya the first love interest, that was expected, but Kuvalainen then added a second and a potential third love interest for her, both of which ruminate on not being able to have her more than once. Katya's romantic subplot felt rushed considering her history and then was suddenly forgotten in favour of Isabelle's which was also incredibly rushed. Given that this is the start of a series, this sort of thing could've been done in the other books in order to give both of these characters enough time for it.
The world Kuvalainen creates is fascinating though. Shes merged our own with a fairytale world that is heavily inspired by Eastern European fairytales with sprinkles of other folklore as well. There's ancient greek death spirits, nordic elves and indigenous american shamans present as well as romani-inspired peoples who travel through the two worlds. The worldbuilding was fairly well done, by the half point I had a grasp on how the fairytale world worked, which left Kuivalainen the space to show how it interacted with our world. The most interesting aspect of her world was the concept that the Illumination wasn't necessarily better than the Darkness in their methods. Anya's team of warriors are all Neutrals meaning they don't angage with either side, the dynamics of which are briefly explored towards the end of the book with hints of more in the rest of the series.
Overall, I feel ambivalent towards this book. It's not Kuivalainen's best, and I don't believe I'll be continuing with the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Violence