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breabooks 's review for:
Of Flame and Fury
by Mikayla Bridge
I’m struggling with this one. For a romantic fantasy ya, it’s good. But it’s also lacking in a lot of things that are hard for me to overlook even with it being young adult. The negatives I highlight may be a little spoiler-y, so read at your own risk.
The good: The world building is fantastic. The phoenix races, the phoenixes themselves, and the landscapes are all wonderfully constructed. The characters had depth and acted appropriately for their age. The tension between the love interests was fun. The twists toward the end were absolutely insane!
The bad: I can’t overlook the holes in the world building. Yes, it’s fantasy and not real, but good grief that much heat and certain unfortunate events would not take a minuscule amount of time to heal. Tech isn’t incredibly advanced in the world (no cars), so the idea that one guy can suddenly heal people from near death in weeks is a stretch. The endings of chapters tended to be really melodramatic. Some transitions within chapters were choppy or didn’t make sense. Where did a certain character go when they were saying goodbye? The character was just not there anymore.
BUT, with all that said, I did enjoy the book. It’s fun and fast paced. I would suggest it to anyone who loves YA and would like to dip their toes into fantasy.
Thank you Macmillan for the gifted eARC!
The good: The world building is fantastic. The phoenix races, the phoenixes themselves, and the landscapes are all wonderfully constructed. The characters had depth and acted appropriately for their age. The tension between the love interests was fun. The twists toward the end were absolutely insane!
The bad: I can’t overlook the holes in the world building. Yes, it’s fantasy and not real, but good grief that much heat and certain unfortunate events would not take a minuscule amount of time to heal. Tech isn’t incredibly advanced in the world (no cars), so the idea that one guy can suddenly heal people from near death in weeks is a stretch. The endings of chapters tended to be really melodramatic. Some transitions within chapters were choppy or didn’t make sense. Where did a certain character go when they were saying goodbye? The character was just not there anymore.
BUT, with all that said, I did enjoy the book. It’s fun and fast paced. I would suggest it to anyone who loves YA and would like to dip their toes into fantasy.
Thank you Macmillan for the gifted eARC!