★ 3.25 // 5
TW: misgendering (side character), genocide (off page but discussed a lot), poison, knife violence, gore, blood, body horror (ripping a heart out grotesquely), war themes, and death
My first YA Tessa Gratton book and my first EVER Justina Ireland book! Needless to say, I was VERY excited about this new fantasy duology, and while I did have some issues with the story overall—and I'll get to those points later—Chaos and Flame has some of the most unique concepts and world building that I have ever seen without YA and even Adult fantasy. I truly cannot wait for the sequel because that cliffhanger came out of nowhere to smack me upside the head. I need to know what happens next! *cries*
Now's my time to shower Justina and Tessa with praise. For starters, the opening prologue of Caspian and his abilities? TOOK ME OUT. It solidified my inkling to read this ARC, and I couldn't hold back from delving immediately between the pages. Caspian is actually not one of the dual POVs, but he is a significant character because he is the older brother to Talon, one of the POVs, and is the prince Regent of their kingdom. Buttttt rumors are swirling around him that he's going mad, and his boon power and its secrecy don't help those rumors at all. He has a prophecy boon, and it manifests through his artwork, specifically his preferred medium of painting. We actually meet the other lead Darling through his paintings because ever since his boon manifested he cannot stop painting her. Like his room is deadass covered in images of Darling, and to our knowledge, he's never met her prior. Isn't this fascinating? I loved every minute of his boon experiences, and they truly made this novel standout. Not to mention the other books are just as exciting—Darlings insane healing abilities that saved her from her family's annihilation and Talon's tracking abilities that expand even to someone who has a boon for invisibility. Literally insane how unique these boons are and I'm really hoping within the sequel to Chaos and Flame, we can learn more about the technicalities of boons. At this point, we just know they're at an all time low in this world when they used to be extremely common.
Switching gears a bit, I do think my favorite character is Caspian. He's an enigma throughout the book, but as a reader you question if he's as crazy as everyone makes him out to be, particularly when he shows a bit of his true self. We don't even get a good look at his true, open self, and it made him by far the best character.
Now that's not to say I didn't enjoy Talon and Darling—the leads. Their best moments were actually with one another, in my opinion, double points if they were alone together. They have great chemistry as enemies to lovers too, and their relationship is insta-love besides that initial enemies meeting/ fight. I would've liked their romance to be drawn out further, so the slow build from hating one another to loving appears more natural. It felt very cut and dry at first, and I got whiplash. To be honest, both leads are wildly curious, searching for so many answers throughout the novel, and to see their different approaches was a nice distinction. For character specifics, Darling's eyes are affected by chaos (the magic system of this world), so she has to wear special goggles to help with light sensitivity. I think in the sequel we're going to learn more about how her eyes got to that point because I get the feeling there's more to them than meets the eye. On the plus side though, she's great with night vision and that appears to be the extent to their perks. Then, in terms of Talon, he's just a big softie haha. He gives off golden retriever vibes to his loved ones, and as soon as he shifts that onto Darling, I was hooked!
Ultimately, what drew me most to Talon and Darling were their deeply ingrained loyalties to their loved ones. At first I wrote "sides" inside of "loved ones:, but I deleted that and replaced it because over the course of the novel, we see how Darling and Talon just want what's best for the people they love. I liked watching their loyalties to their political affiliations crack over time in favor of peace, and while it made them appear younger to have all that optimism and hope for peace, it reminded me of just HOW young they are. Talon may be a war general and Darling a rebel in this war, but they're children too. They didn't choose to follow this path but were led to it by adults.
Finally, it is time to talk about my biggest gripe with this book—pacing. This realization shocked me because Tessa Gratton's adult books have always been slow paced, so it was a bit of a shock to see them write incredibly fast. The pacing didn't allow for the relationships and time jumps to feel as realistic as they could've been. I mentioned Darling and Talon's insta-love earlier, but we go to multiple nobility Houses over the course of the book, and I felt robbed of those weeks worth of travel in one page. When we get to the Houses even, some of those chapters felt WAY TOO QUICK. I wanted to get to know these people, but I couldn't, so their names went in and out of my brain like the span of a breath. This world is too complex to be roughly 350 pages, and I think it should've been at least 100 more. Plus, when major deaths happened within this installment, I felt nothing for the character and their relationship to the lead because I felt as if I barely knew them. I really hope the sequel is much much longer because this world deserves the lush descriptions, hallway conversations, and slow build to the climax.
Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for a review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
TW: misgendering (side character), genocide (off page but discussed a lot), poison, knife violence, gore, blood, body horror (ripping a heart out grotesquely), war themes, and death
My first YA Tessa Gratton book and my first EVER Justina Ireland book! Needless to say, I was VERY excited about this new fantasy duology, and while I did have some issues with the story overall—and I'll get to those points later—Chaos and Flame has some of the most unique concepts and world building that I have ever seen without YA and even Adult fantasy. I truly cannot wait for the sequel because that cliffhanger came out of nowhere to smack me upside the head. I need to know what happens next! *cries*
Now's my time to shower Justina and Tessa with praise. For starters, the opening prologue of Caspian and his abilities? TOOK ME OUT. It solidified my inkling to read this ARC, and I couldn't hold back from delving immediately between the pages. Caspian is actually not one of the dual POVs, but he is a significant character because he is the older brother to Talon, one of the POVs, and is the prince Regent of their kingdom. Buttttt rumors are swirling around him that he's going mad, and his boon power and its secrecy don't help those rumors at all. He has a prophecy boon, and it manifests through his artwork, specifically his preferred medium of painting. We actually meet the other lead Darling through his paintings because ever since his boon manifested he cannot stop painting her. Like his room is deadass covered in images of Darling, and to our knowledge, he's never met her prior. Isn't this fascinating? I loved every minute of his boon experiences, and they truly made this novel standout. Not to mention the other books are just as exciting—Darlings insane healing abilities that saved her from her family's annihilation and Talon's tracking abilities that expand even to someone who has a boon for invisibility. Literally insane how unique these boons are and I'm really hoping within the sequel to Chaos and Flame, we can learn more about the technicalities of boons. At this point, we just know they're at an all time low in this world when they used to be extremely common.
Switching gears a bit, I do think my favorite character is Caspian. He's an enigma throughout the book, but as a reader you question if he's as crazy as everyone makes him out to be, particularly when he shows a bit of his true self. We don't even get a good look at his true, open self, and it made him by far the best character.
Now that's not to say I didn't enjoy Talon and Darling—the leads. Their best moments were actually with one another, in my opinion, double points if they were alone together. They have great chemistry as enemies to lovers too, and their relationship is insta-love besides that initial enemies meeting/ fight. I would've liked their romance to be drawn out further, so the slow build from hating one another to loving appears more natural. It felt very cut and dry at first, and I got whiplash. To be honest, both leads are wildly curious, searching for so many answers throughout the novel, and to see their different approaches was a nice distinction. For character specifics, Darling's eyes are affected by chaos (the magic system of this world), so she has to wear special goggles to help with light sensitivity. I think in the sequel we're going to learn more about how her eyes got to that point because I get the feeling there's more to them than meets the eye. On the plus side though, she's great with night vision and that appears to be the extent to their perks. Then, in terms of Talon, he's just a big softie haha. He gives off golden retriever vibes to his loved ones, and as soon as he shifts that onto Darling, I was hooked!
Ultimately, what drew me most to Talon and Darling were their deeply ingrained loyalties to their loved ones. At first I wrote "sides" inside of "loved ones:, but I deleted that and replaced it because over the course of the novel, we see how Darling and Talon just want what's best for the people they love. I liked watching their loyalties to their political affiliations crack over time in favor of peace, and while it made them appear younger to have all that optimism and hope for peace, it reminded me of just HOW young they are. Talon may be a war general and Darling a rebel in this war, but they're children too. They didn't choose to follow this path but were led to it by adults.
Finally, it is time to talk about my biggest gripe with this book—pacing. This realization shocked me because Tessa Gratton's adult books have always been slow paced, so it was a bit of a shock to see them write incredibly fast. The pacing didn't allow for the relationships and time jumps to feel as realistic as they could've been. I mentioned Darling and Talon's insta-love earlier, but we go to multiple nobility Houses over the course of the book, and I felt robbed of those weeks worth of travel in one page. When we get to the Houses even, some of those chapters felt WAY TOO QUICK. I wanted to get to know these people, but I couldn't, so their names went in and out of my brain like the span of a breath. This world is too complex to be roughly 350 pages, and I think it should've been at least 100 more. Plus, when major deaths happened within this installment, I felt nothing for the character and their relationship to the lead because I felt as if I barely knew them. I really hope the sequel is much much longer because this world deserves the lush descriptions, hallway conversations, and slow build to the climax.
Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for a review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.