Without spoiling too much of the story, I had the pleasure of reading and advanced reading copy (ARC) of Fireborne by Rosaria Munda which had me hooked from page one, both as an avid reader of fantasy and romance and as a teacher. I highly recommend the book if you enjoyed reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman or Eragon by Christopher Paolini.
As someone who appreciates character growth in the story, it was a pleasure to watch two unlikely friends, Annie and Lee, work through their past, their goals for the future, people's expectations, and the war that threatens to destroy their worlds all while dealing with the emotional upheaval of being a teen without parents and training to become the leader of the dragon riders, aka Firstrider and the Fleet Commander.
Lee, a dragonlord's son of the old regime, fights for what he believes in and struggles between the choice of family and regaining all that he lost and those he had come to care about in the new world order. Annie, a former serf whose family was killed by Lee's father, fights to prove herself in a society that still treats her like a nobody even as she climbed through the ranks. Both want to protect their ideals and come face to face with the facts that it is impossible to live in a world without evil.
As they train through a series of tournaments and form stronger bonds with their dragons to become leaders who can protect the city and their loved ones, you read on to find what choices they will make. Some of those choices even surprised me, a frequent reader who usually figures out what's going to happen long before it happens. It was nice to be surprised, but their choices also made sense. With a war on the horizon, one where they have to fight other dragons who have started breathing fire while theirs have yet to spark, it is quite a page turner.
There is a full cast of characters, some you love and some you hate. But these characters are not as simple as that and you start wondering about the true depth of the characters as Lee and Annie sometimes choose unlikely partners to help them reach your goals. Some characters are hard to fully grasp who they are. At times you wonder, why do I like/hate this character or what is the true motivation of this character, what does he/she want? It keeps you wondering and makes you want to know what will happen next in the story.
As a teacher, I like this book as a way to explain revolutions and how things are not always clear cut. Lee and Annie have to figure out whether the world they live in and know is better than what had been before and make a choice between the lesser of two evils. They have tough choices ahead of them and it is not always clear, even to the characters themselves, what choices they are going to make. Life is hard and we are defined by the choices we make. The literal text is also not overly complex which makes it an easier read to allow students to focus on the deeper meaning of what is going on.
Overall, I loved reading Fireborne by Rosaria Munda and can't wait till she works on and releases the sequel, because I know I will not be the only one disappointed if there is not sequel. Hopefully you will enjoy the story as much as I did.
As someone who appreciates character growth in the story, it was a pleasure to watch two unlikely friends, Annie and Lee, work through their past, their goals for the future, people's expectations, and the war that threatens to destroy their worlds all while dealing with the emotional upheaval of being a teen without parents and training to become the leader of the dragon riders, aka Firstrider and the Fleet Commander.
Lee, a dragonlord's son of the old regime, fights for what he believes in and struggles between the choice of family and regaining all that he lost and those he had come to care about in the new world order. Annie, a former serf whose family was killed by Lee's father, fights to prove herself in a society that still treats her like a nobody even as she climbed through the ranks. Both want to protect their ideals and come face to face with the facts that it is impossible to live in a world without evil.
As they train through a series of tournaments and form stronger bonds with their dragons to become leaders who can protect the city and their loved ones, you read on to find what choices they will make. Some of those choices even surprised me, a frequent reader who usually figures out what's going to happen long before it happens. It was nice to be surprised, but their choices also made sense. With a war on the horizon, one where they have to fight other dragons who have started breathing fire while theirs have yet to spark, it is quite a page turner.
There is a full cast of characters, some you love and some you hate. But these characters are not as simple as that and you start wondering about the true depth of the characters as Lee and Annie sometimes choose unlikely partners to help them reach your goals. Some characters are hard to fully grasp who they are. At times you wonder, why do I like/hate this character or what is the true motivation of this character, what does he/she want? It keeps you wondering and makes you want to know what will happen next in the story.
As a teacher, I like this book as a way to explain revolutions and how things are not always clear cut. Lee and Annie have to figure out whether the world they live in and know is better than what had been before and make a choice between the lesser of two evils. They have tough choices ahead of them and it is not always clear, even to the characters themselves, what choices they are going to make. Life is hard and we are defined by the choices we make. The literal text is also not overly complex which makes it an easier read to allow students to focus on the deeper meaning of what is going on.
Overall, I loved reading Fireborne by Rosaria Munda and can't wait till she works on and releases the sequel, because I know I will not be the only one disappointed if there is not sequel. Hopefully you will enjoy the story as much as I did.