A review by wardenred
Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

3.0

Ingrid didn’t want to be happy. She wanted to be important, and she wanted to be valued.

I loved Rosiee Thor's debut novel, Tarnished Are the Stars, so I fully expected to love Fire Becomes Her, as well. Especially since the gorgeous cover and the blurb made that expectation so easy to form. Unfortunately, I was left rather disappointed.

This book has a beautiful first chapter that delivers on so much of what the vibe promises. The Jazz Age speakeasy atmosphere, the free flow of magic, all the character-focused moments hinting at many exciting secrets—I think with a few tweaks and a bit of expansion, this chapter alone could make for a wonderful short story. But the rest of book falls sadly short of this dazzling first impression. The plot is rather predictable and best not examined too closely because there are plenty of plotholes. Ingrid, the MC, is pretty much the only character who feels anywhere close to developed, and even her arc is occasionally swingy and inconsistent. The magic is so important to the plot, but for the life of me I can't explain the magic system after reading the book. There is... magical stuff... and it is used to make things happen by, um, ingesting it, but also by putting it into things, and anyone can achieve the magic effects with enough stuff, but also no, not just anyone? It's confusing. The magic just seems to do whatever would be cool for the plot at any given moment.

I will say that there were a bunch of nice moments that were almost cinematic in how they were written, as well as a lot of witty banter. And I very much appreciated the overall queerness of the cast/world and the inclusion of so many types of love, attraction, and human interaction in general. I just wish all the characters involved in this beautiful web of connections were more three-dimensional.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings