Rise of Fire (Reign of Shadows, #2)

by Sophie Jordan

New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan's romantic, sweeping fantasy Reign of Shadows continues in this suspenseful sequel, Rise of Fire. Luna and Fowler have escaped the kingdom of Relhok, but they haven't escaped the darkness. When a battle against the dark dwellers mortally injures Fowler, Luna is faced with a choice: put their fate in the hands of mysterious strangers or risk losing Fowler forever. Desperate to keep the one bright part of her life alive, Luna accepts the help of soldiers from a nearby kingdom. Lagonia's castle offers reprieve from the dangerous outside world-until the King discovers both Fowler and Luna's true ties to Relhok and their influence over the throne. Now pawns in each kingdom's political game, Luna and Fowler are more determined than ever to escape and build the life they've been dreaming of. But their own pasts have a tight hold on their hearts and their destinies. Luna must embrace the darkness and fire within her before she loses not only Fowler but the power she was destined to inherit.

• ISBN10: 0062377671
• ISBN13: 9780062377678
• Publish Date: 9 March 2017 (first published 7 February 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 October 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperTeen
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I have a serious case of the mixed feelings here, friends. I really liked Reign of Shadows.  Found it interesting. Wanted to see where the story went, since it ended on quite the cliffhanger. So yeah, I was excited to dive back in!

But things... they didn't go as I had hoped? Okay. Look. It wasn't all bad. So let's start with the things I liked!

• I did get more Fowler and Luna, yay! I shipped them so much in the first book, so I was happy that there is more shipping to be had.


• It's quite a fast read. I was done in no time, and it was really readable- I wanted to get to the end to know what happened. So for sheer entertainment value, it gets points from me. 

There were... problems though. Things like...

• The dialogue felt a mess. It was... stunted, if that makes sense. Robotic, perhaps. And Fowler kept talking about Luna's "taste", and I started to get pretty freaked out. Once, twice, even three times, I could handle. But dude was talking about "tasting her" every three seconds. And like, they were disgusting- had been fighting for their lives and stuff? She even talked about being covered in slime and such. So this was not an appealing visual. At all.
  
  And for just so long, they both kept saying the same thing over. And over. And over. Like, okay, I got it the first forty-seven times you declared that emotion. It was exhausting.


• A lot of the things that happened were quite predictable throughout the book. Especially once it got going, and you could see where the plot was headed.


• The ending was such an anticlimactic, out of left field disaster. Look, I didn't even dislike it, per se. But it was... random. And incredibly easy. Too easy. And if we had taken like, 1/100th of the time that Fowler spent "tasting" Luna on a better ending... well I think it could have been much more believable and reasonable.

Bottom Line: This is hard, because it really was not the best sequel. And if I were being wholly objective, it is probably a disaster. However, I tend to rate with my heart, as we know, and I did find enjoyability in it. So it wasn't all bad. Just... mostly.

*Copy provided for review

[tweetybugshouse]

I totally gulped this book down and did not look back but of course book one left us on a cliff hanger with Fowler heading into the darkness with the dwellers to save Luna. I love how the author has given us a herione that is blind and that she yes suffer from being disabled but she never lets it be who she is. Heck the girl able to shot a target with a bow and arrow i am might impressed by that. The twist and turns just keep you flipping the pages. This ends on the best kind of ending a happy one.

[Leah]

In took me just one day to complete the Reign of Shadows duology, it was that good. I said in my Reign of Shadows review that there was a lot of build-up (that I loved, it set the scene perfectly) and that in Rise of Fire I expected more action, more pace, and since fire was in the title: some fire! And Rise of Fire was a pretty good sequel! It kept me reading long past my bedtime and I’ll really miss Luna and Fowler, because their story really made an impression on me. I mean just when it was all looking okay (ish), it just kept going wrong for those two and part of me was like, “Sophie Jordan you’re killing me here”.

Rise of Fire definitely had more action – and the whole Lagonia plotline had me tearing my hair out in frustration – happy because Fowler was getting help but frustrating because Fowler was betrothed to Maris and Luna was betrothed to Casan and the King was keeping them apart and I just wanted to scream! But the pace was definitely there and once again, Fowler and Luna’s voices were so strong and clear that I could imagine the scenes in my mind and for someone with no imagination whatsoever, that was a glorious feeling. I wanted to hide Luna and Fowler and keep them safe and shield my eyes from all the goings on and Sophie Jordan is a master at manipulating my emotions, I swear!

This was a great duology, and it was quite a relief to get to a definitive end, and the way it all came together was pretty intense but pretty spectacular. The whole dweller thing was insane. I just loved every page! These two books were so captivating, so intense, so emotional and it kept me enthralled throughout! Rise of Fire was a worthy, worthy sequel and these two books will be on my keepers shelf for sure.