Review by torileila - Firebird

torileila 's review for:

Firebird by Juliette Cross

2.5

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I really enjoyed the premise of this story because the world building is so beautiful, as was the backstory of the coin, but the relationship between the two main characters was giving hardcore Stockholm Syndrome by the middle and was pretty disappointing. There wasn’t nearly enough non-sexual emotional development between them that would possibly validate her loving Julian back. Julian’s dad freed his mom from slavery so they could marry and it seemingly never even crossed Julian’s mind to simply free Malina. This was bizarre and would’ve solved the entire conflict with the protagonist Ciprian as well as balanced out their power dynamic to make their relationship more believable. It felt like the FMC sometimes forgot she had powers and was a supposed badass because there was too much focus on HIS power and HIS dragon. Also the spice was sooo cringey. Saw a review that said the dragon narration was giving Gollum and I unfortunately have to agree. At one point I literally rolled my eyes and skipped the scene. Ick. I’m pretty disappointed because the physical book itself is so stunning, but I’m not eager to read the next one whenever it comes out.

Content Warnings