3.5 stars (rounded up)
I received this book from BookishFirst in exchange for a fair review.
Currently in the YA Fantasy scene, books about humans riding mythical creatures are incredibly popular. Some achieve these really well (A Crown of Feathers is an excellent one) and others not so much. This book falls squarely in the middle.
To begin, I’ll start with what the book executes well. The story of Fireborn surrounds the aftermath of a revolution that overthrew the dragon-riding leaders of the regime before it. Lee and Annie, both dragon riders competing to become the leader of their fleet, have been directly impacted by the revolution, the horrors the leaders before them enacted on the population, and the bloody massacre of the previous rulers and their families. The story switches between their points of view frequently, sometimes several times in a single chapter. One of the biggest accomplishments in this book is the evolution of Annie, from beginning to the end. Munda does an excellent job portraying her, her difficulties, and how she overcame them. Annie had to put in the work to achieve the leader she becomes, she didn’t magically change for no reason or suddenly become capable, which is very common these days in Young Adult books. I also must commend Munda on the political tones in this book and the comparison of regimes. The political gray areas and the lack of cut and dry morality are difficult topics and I feel like they’re explored well, especially through the last half of the book.
Now for the negatives. I struggled getting into this book until it was almost halfway done. Things moved slowly, and my biggest complaint didn’t help. The writing in the book, told in first person, frequently gets way too into the character’s heads. What I mean by that is that the writing is circular, often thinking the same things in different ways or obsessively centered on a detail or fact. I feel that it makes some of the writing excessive and really difficult to push through at times. I was also disappointed with the dragons, especially compared to many of the other Young Adult books featuring the same kind of mythical creature bond. The dragons had zero personality and seemed as bonded with their owners as I am with my neighbor’s dogs. I felt that was something that deserved more exploration and it really would help enhance the future sequels. Because of these details, I found the book to be average for me.
I think that Munda has managed to create a solid foundation for her future books in this series, and will have more room to work with in the future. It wouldn’t take much to push these books from average to great, so I will probably check out the sequel and see where she goes. I do recommend this book though, it was entertaining for me and did hold my attention after the action picked up and certain things clicked in place.