New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan returns to the high-stakes, sweeping world of dragons, romance, and drama first evoked in her bestselling young adult Firelight series, in a brand-new epic adult romantasy series.
Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.
But human lust for power is immortal.
Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it's her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard...though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.
When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.
The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride...but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.
Magic is not dead...it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.
Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.
But human lust for power is immortal.
Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it's her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard...though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.
When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.
The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride...but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.
Magic is not dead...it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.
Title: A Fire In The Sky
Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: Avon
Expected Publication Date: September 24, 2024
Reivew:
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for an egalley of this title to read and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Jordan has long been a favorite author of mine. I love that she is versatile and can write in several different genres as well as age groups. I have read many of her YA books and her new adult. I've seen how well she writes contemporary, historical fiction, and fantasy. So I had no doubt I would enjoy this new one from her. And I was not wrong!
The first thing that drew me to this book is the dragons. They are very in right now (sailing on the coattails of Fourth Wing). What I hoped for was something unique and I do think I got it. The book was reminiscent of the Talon series by Kagawa but with a bit of an older crowd and some twisting involved. I see it being heralded as a romantasy and I will give it props to that because there is a lot of centering around the romantic relationship in this book. But that is not all it's about.
The world building is a little lite with this one. I kind of wanted more depth. Jordan does seemlessly weaves in the background of our character's fates and how the current world we are reading about is formed. There is some historical fiction in the form of a whipping girl; a throwback to 18th century aristocracy. But, don't get me wrong, this book really is pure fantasy about dragons and their history as it pertains to the world we are reading about. There is a bit of repetitiveness with the story line. Characters having inner monologue that is the same over and over again, giving nothing to actually move the story forward. So those bits were slower to absorb for me.
Jordan's characters are well fleshed out enough. The story is told in alternating points of view from Tamsyn, Fell, and Stig. There is one chapter from another character that plants some background. I kind of wish we had a few more of those as they would have leant to more world building. The points of view give good insight into who the characters are. The romance was ok. You know there is some connection by how the characters react in each other's presence. The romance becomes forced proximity. I wanted there to be more of a build up between the two characters romance wise, though. I felt like the chemistry was just a bit off. Characters are too quick to accept things, as well.
If you like twists, this story has a big one towards the end. I sort of figured it out but wanted to see how it would be revealed. The pacing was a bit more slow than what I would have liked before about the last 25% but it was fast enough that I wanted to see where things would go.
I was entertained enough that I would move on to the next book in this series. The ending definitely leaves all the room for that as it's basically a cliffhanger scenario. I need to know what happens next.
3.75 stars
Author:
Sophie Jordan took her adolescent daydreaming one step further and penned her first historical romance in the back of her high school Spanish class. This passion led her to pursue a degree in English and History.
A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.
In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.
A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.
In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.
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