Of Fire and Ash: Volume 1 (The Fireborn Epic, #1)

by Gillian Bronte Adams

She rides a fireborn, a steed of fire and ash, trained for destruction.

Ceridwen tal Desmond dreams of ruling like her father over the nation of Soldonia, where warriors ride to battle on magical steeds—soaring on storm winds, vanishing in shadow, quaking the earth, and summoning the sea. After a tragic accident claims her twin brother, she is exiled and sworn to atonement by spending her life—or death—for her people.

But when invaders spill onto Soldonia’s shores and traitors seize upon the chaos to murder her father, Ceridwen claims the crown to keep the nation from splintering. Combatting overwhelming odds and looming civil war, she begins to wonder if the greatest threat to the kingdom may, in fact, be her.

With fire before her and ash in her wake, how can she hope to unite instead of destroy?

Flames rage and oceans rise in this explosive first installment of The Fireborn Epic as the exiled heir, a novice priest, and a reluctant rebel wage war against a hidden power that threatens to shake the world.

• ISBN10: 1621842037
• ISBN13: 9781621842033
• Publish Date: 7 December 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Enclave Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

So, I didn't DNF this because it's a bad book. It's not at all. The magical horses are cool (if somewhat under developed) and a decent fantasy world. I was reading it one night and when I woke up the next morning realized I didn't need to keep reading it. I'm ok not knowing what happens next, or what happens to the characters (though I have some idea of what's going to happen to Jakim). The characters simply didn't draw me in enough, plus it's the first book in a series I don't have any impetus to continue in so finishing the first book isn't that big of a deal.

I will say it's a book that takes time to get into. The prologue and first chapters are overwritten. When you're introducing readers to a fantasy world, with a lot of names and labels for things, it's not a good idea to also make the language heavy.  Like you don’t need adjectives for everything in every single sentence. And you long sentences aren't doing you any favors either.

The world building is all telling in labels and foreign words and descriptions of landscapes or clothing. There's no depth, no history or substance to it. Which is fine for a lot of books but this one felt dense, like it wanted to be more but wasn't quite pulling it off. Slowing the action down some to develop the characters and integrate the world building into the character's experiences would have gone a long way to keep me reading.

Also, I can't help it, the prologue wreaked of The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (which I love) and it wasn't helped by using her labels with the Sol. I know that term doesn't belong to McKinley in any way but when you're talking about extraordinary horses and a scorched landscape and then you have the solborn and Sol-Donair it's too close to the sol and sola of Damar.