Review: Fireborn

Fireborn
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Bree and Kael Skyborn have seen their island invaded, their Seraphim disbanded, and their royal family imprisoned.

A rebellion grows from the ashes, demanding Bree to be their Phoenix, their symbol against Center's tyranny, and for Kael to find the doomsday prophet Johan and sway his cult to their side.

Should they fail, the hope of their rebellion fails with them. 

Okay, I was intrigued by both Skyborn and Fireborn, the synopsis for the first book wasn't much, same as the synopsis for Fireborn, they both hint at things; So I had no real idea of what to expect when I went in to the book but it blew me away...but not as much as Fireborn did with its killer ending and the way it built up the world even more, and added to the plot! 

Skyborn sucked you in, introducing you to this original and imaginative world unlike anything you'd entered before. Dalglish skilfully built the world up around you, the settings taking form around you. He added some politics here, and some history there. Enough to keep you informed, and leave you wanting to know more. He introduced you to the characters, the politics and how it all worked with threads of mystery woven throughout about characters, the past and the world, not to mention the plot itself. He brought us the shadowy figure of Johan. But all the while there was the sense of something deeper woven throughout, just out of reach, piquing your curiosity. Then it came to a crescendo with its grand finale, of Titanic proportions and I mean the ship not the size. The ending was truly incredible and cinematic and left you wanting more. 

Fireborn hooks you from the first page, and you're straight in with the action from the start. I loved getting Jay's point of view at the beginning and I loved how that entire scene was done. It was genuinely like I'd cracked open the book and a movie started to play across the pages. So damn cinematic and atmospheric. The plot grabs you even more in this book, you get answers sure, but you also get questions. 

Dalglish brings the character of Johan out of the shadows and in to the light. But you spend most of the book not being entirely sure if he's a good guy or a bad guy, and the same can be said for the Speaker. I loved the sense of being on edge, not sure who to trust. Not sure who's the one telling the truth, because it's what the characters where feeling throughout as they discovered lies and tried to work out who to trust. I will admit, I was so glad they weren't stupid enough to reveal all their secrets to certain people! 

The author adds more layers to the world of the book. In Skyborn we got the world, and we thought we knew how it worked and what this or that was. In Fireborn the author turns it all on its head with some amazing reveals. Everything that was added to the world and how it works, the politics and history completely changed the way I thought this story was going and took it in a different and pleasantly surprising direction. There are genuinely so many game changing revelations in this book about the world and the characters, book three is going to be intense! 

I continue to love Kael and Bree both individually, and together as a team. I understand 100% how Kael feels, Bree is The Phoenix, and he's just Kael. I think we can all feel for him and get where he's coming from, but what surprised me in the best way was that rather than start to resent her for it and go all dark side, or just start to be a bit of an arse.....he still fully supported Bree, he was still there for her and damn. I love the two of them. Their loyalty to each other, their determination and how human they are. They're so relatable and so authentic, you can truly understand them and where they're coming from and their reactions, I think, are very like what you or I might have in their situation. I've loved watching them grow and change over the course of the two books, and I'm intrigued to see what's going to happen to them in the third book. I'm hoping they'll keep a united front, I'll be disappointed if they turn on each other! And I'm excited to see what else they discover about themselves. I think they've both changed so much since Skyborn, and I think they have the potential to develop even more with what they can do! 

I have to say, I was really glad to see Saul being redeemed in this book! I didn't really like him all that much in Skyborn, but in this book I was rooting for him along with everyone else. I also kind of low key ship him and Bree, I'm not going to lie. I feel like both of them changed a lot from the place they where at in Skyborn and it'd be interesting to see the two of them together. But you know, romance isn't the sole focus of this book, it's in the background or casually thrown in. Kael and Clara are still going strong, and I do love the two of them together as well, I'm incredibly intrigued to see where Clara's going to go as a character after the end of Fireborn and what it means for her! 

There's plenty of other characters in this book that we get to see more of, and get to know more. Plus there's a tonne of new characters, although in order to make room for them we had to say goodbye to some of the old ones and I'm still devastated about some of them. Brutally realistic, and everything...but still. It's always the characters I love the most! 

Fireborn is a brilliant sequel and I have to say, for me it surpassed the first book because it really changed the game. I fell completely in to the world of the book, it was vivid and atmospheric, the writing was brilliant. The book is just so imaginative and original, I knew I was going to like it, and I have to say I haven't read anything quite like it that I can recall. There's a fast pace and so much action, there's so many plot twists and revelations that'll leave you gasping and the ending. I can't even. The ending completely threw everything on it's head. I had been so convinced I'd worked out who was good and who was bad and then the ending happened and I was like "DAMNIT". I feel like the twins have come a long way and they really come in to their own in this book. I have to say, that I am incredibly excited for the third book, and I have to thank Nazia at Orbit hugely for introducing me to this series, because I might never have discovered it otherwise! 

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