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A review by theeuphoriczat
Fireborn by Aisling Fowler
5.0
Before I gush about how much I loved this book let me give you a little teaser. Children from different clans decide to join the Hunter's lodge for different reasons. Some because they are not wanted by their families or their clans or they are seeking the power that the Lodge offers, but every child in the Lodge is there for a reason. In this book, we follow four of those children. Children who have given up their names, and clan identities to serve as a single body at the Lodge. Now named, Five, Six, Seven and Twelve. After a fight in the yard, Five and Twelve are sent to the dungeons as punishment but they got more than a sleepless night.
The Hunter's Lodge train fighter and people who honour their sacred pledge to serving all seven clans equally, to protect the people of said clans from the darkness and tyranny of the wild (mostly magical creatures that are rising again after the dark war - as always humans are the most terrifying of the creatures). The clans are known to fight each other but the hunters ensure that everyone remains at peace.
So at night when the enemy breaks through the impenetrable walls of the Lodge and kidnaps a student (Seven), everyone is at their wits end. Twelve who seems to have finally found a 'friend' in Seven decides to go after the Goblins and get her friend back. This takes her on an adventure of friendship, family, self-realization, danger and most importantly self-love! Twelve learns that no man is an island and she cannot do everything by herself.
I mean I could go on and on but I think the most important part of this book is both self-forgiveness and friendship. Twelve has always in some way hated herself for the death of her sister and her whole village. The poor girl had to dig holes to bury the bodies, you can understand that she is broken and that it would shape itself into anger and vengeance. But when she finds out that the clan she has hated for so long as produced people she now calls her friends, she is immediately disgusted and angry. I am happy that she realized that it was not their fault.
Five was such a fascinating character. I wished he was explored a bit more. One thing we do know is that he is queer, he likes Six and he is a very witty person. The Oakhammer really did them dirty with letting him spill his feelings for Six. I thought it was sad but it was cute to see how they related to each other later. I was happy that Six did not have any internalized homophobia or anything like that. I just wished they had a conversation about it. Hopefully in the next book.
The Hunter's Lodge train fighter and people who honour their sacred pledge to serving all seven clans equally, to protect the people of said clans from the darkness and tyranny of the wild (mostly magical creatures that are rising again after the dark war - as always humans are the most terrifying of the creatures). The clans are known to fight each other but the hunters ensure that everyone remains at peace.
So at night when the enemy breaks through the impenetrable walls of the Lodge and kidnaps a student (Seven), everyone is at their wits end. Twelve who seems to have finally found a 'friend' in Seven decides to go after the Goblins and get her friend back. This takes her on an adventure of friendship, family, self-realization, danger and most importantly self-love! Twelve learns that no man is an island and she cannot do everything by herself.
I mean I could go on and on but I think the most important part of this book is both self-forgiveness and friendship. Twelve has always in some way hated herself for the death of her sister and her whole village. The poor girl had to dig holes to bury the bodies, you can understand that she is broken and that it would shape itself into anger and vengeance. But when she finds out that the clan she has hated for so long as produced people she now calls her friends, she is immediately disgusted and angry. I am happy that she realized that it was not their fault.
Five was such a fascinating character. I wished he was explored a bit more. One thing we do know is that he is queer, he likes Six and he is a very witty person. The Oakhammer really did them dirty with letting him spill his feelings for Six. I thought it was sad but it was cute to see how they related to each other later. I was happy that Six did not have any internalized homophobia or anything like that. I just wished they had a conversation about it. Hopefully in the next book.