A Vision of Fire (Earthend Saga, #1)

by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin

[leahrosereads]

3.5 Stars

Guys, I wanted to give this a full 5 stars. Going into this book, I assumed that being an The X-Files fan, I’d fangirl all over this novel, because it was written by Scully. Not the case.


A VISION OF FIRE follows Caitlin O’Hara, a prominent child psychologist, who is asked by a long-time friend (Ben - a translator that works for the UN) to meet the Indian Ambassador’s daughter, Maanik. Maanik has just faced a trauma (having seen an assassination attempt on her father), and seems to be experiencing some major personality changes because of that trauma. Caitlin meets with her and her family, and quickly realizes that what Maanik is going through isn’t typical, and it’s up to Caitlin to discover what is causing Maanik’s violent dreams/visions, and why she’s speaking a completely new language.

For Caitlin to discover those answers, she travels to both Haiti and Iran to meet with two other teenagers who have exhibited very similar symptoms.


Overall, I really liked reading about Caitlin unraveling this mystery, and I loved her interactions with most of the other characters, including her deaf son, Jacob and Ben.


My issue with the story is that it seems like Gillian Anderson tried to incorporate too much in too few of pages. I understand that this is going to be a series, but if you’re going to info dump, I want it all at once. I don’t feel like she gave enough, especially about The Group, to put it in this story. I would rather have known more about that secret organization and the artifacts they were discovering, or to just omit it, because for me, it confused the story.

The artifacts seem alien, but everything else in the story didn’t to me. It felt supernatural-y or the possibility of another universe within our own. Or both. This may have been a mis-read on my part, but with the different religions and the talking of souls and the connection of souls and past lives, none of that felt alien. And honestly, I’m hoping that I’m right about the story being more about lost civilizations being sucked into another dimension or realm versus aliens. I think it’ll make for an interesting story...but I just don’t know, because of the freaking artifacts.


I’m definitely going to try the next book in the series, because I’m intrigued. And, I love being genuinely interested in what happens next in a story, like I am here. So, even though I rated this a little low, it was because of my own issues with what I felt was missing.

I think the writing is solid, and the plot, while crazy as heck and disjointed, it worked. I loved the characters, and I’m definitely hoping to see Maanik and Gaelle, and others who had gone through similar experiences as major players going forward.


And I’d love to see more Caitlin and Ben, because I have a romantic side about me, and I’m already hoping for a happy ending for them.


To those who’ve read this (either PM me or put your thoughts in spoiler tags, because I’m honestly curious about your answers...I’m very lost in my own opinion):

Do you think Jacob may end up getting sucked into these visions in the later books? Or do you think he would just close himself off because he’s 10 and his mother kept leaving? I didn’t think it was just Caitlin’s connection to the visions that was part of the issue. I think Jacob may be connected as well. I don’t know, what do you think?