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ariaojou 's review for:
Heart of Night and Fire
by Nisha J. Tuli
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I literally devoured this book. It was an honest mistake on my part: I got the ARC for Book 2, not realizing it was Book 2, when I hadn't even read Book 1.
Overall Plot
The beginning was great, promising. A bit heavy on the world building, but that's to be expected for the first book of a series.
The middle part was a touch too dragging, like it was struggling to get to the point, which forced the ending to become one revelation after another. I especially couldn't wrap my mind around why everyone instantly accepted Zarya into the mix, letting her learn about them, their secrets, and even train amongst them. I would understand if they become more accepting after she admitted to being Row's disciple/captive, but before? It was always bugging me at the back of my mind, which may be the main reason why I couldn't rate this higher.
One plot twist I totally did not see coming, but should have, bumped this up half a star.
Characters
I like Zarya, though for a 20-year-old, she could be naive and too trusting at times - something I could excuse due to her awfully sheltered life.
Vikram... well, he is nice, perhaps too nice, which is why I never trusted him fully.His "betrayal" was definitely something brewing waiting to be revealed, and I wasn't surprised, though of course, I couldn't get the reason right.
The other characters... I like enough. Aarav, the annoying brother characte who I come to like. Amrata... whom I wish had more time on the pages; I wanted to learn more about her.
But my most favorite character has to be Yasen; his and Zarya's friendship - and even his nickname to her - reminds me a lot of Juliette and Kenji, and I love that so much.
And last but not least, Rabin, I cannot decide yet how I feel about him, or his relationship with Zarya.
Overall Plot
The beginning was great, promising. A bit heavy on the world building, but that's to be expected for the first book of a series.
The middle part was a touch too dragging, like it was struggling to get to the point, which forced the ending to become one revelation after another. I especially couldn't wrap my mind around why everyone instantly accepted Zarya into the mix, letting her learn about them, their secrets, and even train amongst them. I would understand if they become more accepting after she admitted to being Row's disciple/captive, but before? It was always bugging me at the back of my mind, which may be the main reason why I couldn't rate this higher.
One plot twist I totally did not see coming, but should have, bumped this up half a star.
Characters
I like Zarya, though for a 20-year-old, she could be naive and too trusting at times - something I could excuse due to her awfully sheltered life.
Vikram... well, he is nice, perhaps too nice, which is why I never trusted him fully.
The other characters... I like enough. Aarav, the annoying brother characte who I come to like. Amrata... whom I wish had more time on the pages; I wanted to learn more about her.
But my most favorite character has to be Yasen; his and Zarya's friendship - and even his nickname to her - reminds me a lot of Juliette and Kenji, and I love that so much.
And last but not least, Rabin, I cannot decide yet how I feel about him, or his relationship with Zarya.