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golden_lily's review against another edition
4.0
Read This Review & More Like It At Ageless Pages Reviews
3.5 Stars
I described Firebug to my husband as, "like Sookie Stackhouse, before the fairies, but well written and intentionally funny." World building wise, I’ll stand by that. There are vampires and weres and a supernatural war happening under the nose of average humans.The plot is more action driven, but there is a mystery and interesting politics. It made me remember why I used to love the supernatural genre. Unfortunately, it took a while to get there.
Firebug is set in the same world as Ms. McBride's other, popular series, and I think that's to the detriment of new fans. The world building is confusing and information on the supes is doled out in a spotty and inconsistent manner. The book almost lost me right off the bat by dropping us into lovey-dovey time with Ava and her boyfriend, and catty, girl-fighting with his best friend. This doesn’t represent the rest of the book, but I started off with such a bad taste, it was hard to invest at the beginning. Additionally, every time the plot would start to pick up, we’d be treated to an exposition filled flashback. I’m not sure that was the best way to deliver the world’s information, because I felt disconnected from the main story.
Areas where supernaturals live are either ruled by the Coterie, a sort of vampiric mafia, or a Council, which is probably in the Coterie’s pocket. Most supes have no choice but to work for the Coterie in exchange for magic to pass as human, protection, or to pay off family debts. Ava hates the Coterie, but she’s been drafted into service as a soldier for her mother’s sins. She serves as hitman and intimidator along with her BFFs, Ezra the werefox and Lock, the half dryad. Firebugs, like Ava, are rare and Venus, the head baddie, isn’t going to let her leave the fold without a fight.
This book has a lot of fun elements and I enjoyed it, but beyond the world building, I have reservations. Duncan is introduced as Cade, Ava’s guardian’s, foster father and Ava’s adopted grandfather. He’s been one of a handful of constants in her tumultuous life. Which makes it weird that she’s so ready to turn her back on him and mistrust him. Approaching the climax, she spends more time mad at him than Venus.
Speaking of the climax… It wasn’t all I wanted. It’s a big scene with a lot of action and supernatural powers flying all over the place, but the actual writing didn’t communicate that enough. Major events felt skipped over, take place off screen, or just didn’t carry enough emotional weight. Even
Firebug hasn’t replaced the Croak-shaped hole in my heart like I was hoping it might, (snarky teenager in the death business with fire powers, can you blame me?) but it very well may respark my love of supernatural fiction. I’m hoping with world building out of the way, the next book can focus more on the present mysteries and less on the flashbacks.
3.5 Stars
I described Firebug to my husband as, "like Sookie Stackhouse, before the fairies, but well written and intentionally funny." World building wise, I’ll stand by that. There are vampires and weres and a supernatural war happening under the nose of average humans.The plot is more action driven, but there is a mystery and interesting politics. It made me remember why I used to love the supernatural genre. Unfortunately, it took a while to get there.
Firebug is set in the same world as Ms. McBride's other, popular series, and I think that's to the detriment of new fans. The world building is confusing and information on the supes is doled out in a spotty and inconsistent manner. The book almost lost me right off the bat by dropping us into lovey-dovey time with Ava and her boyfriend, and catty, girl-fighting with his best friend. This doesn’t represent the rest of the book, but I started off with such a bad taste, it was hard to invest at the beginning. Additionally, every time the plot would start to pick up, we’d be treated to an exposition filled flashback. I’m not sure that was the best way to deliver the world’s information, because I felt disconnected from the main story.
Areas where supernaturals live are either ruled by the Coterie, a sort of vampiric mafia, or a Council, which is probably in the Coterie’s pocket. Most supes have no choice but to work for the Coterie in exchange for magic to pass as human, protection, or to pay off family debts. Ava hates the Coterie, but she’s been drafted into service as a soldier for her mother’s sins. She serves as hitman and intimidator along with her BFFs, Ezra the werefox and Lock, the half dryad. Firebugs, like Ava, are rare and Venus, the head baddie, isn’t going to let her leave the fold without a fight.
This book has a lot of fun elements and I enjoyed it, but beyond the world building, I have reservations. Duncan is introduced as Cade, Ava’s guardian’s, foster father and Ava’s adopted grandfather. He’s been one of a handful of constants in her tumultuous life. Which makes it weird that she’s so ready to turn her back on him and mistrust him. Approaching the climax, she spends more time mad at him than Venus.
Speaking of the climax… It wasn’t all I wanted. It’s a big scene with a lot of action and supernatural powers flying all over the place, but the actual writing didn’t communicate that enough. Major events felt skipped over, take place off screen, or just didn’t carry enough emotional weight. Even
Spoiler
Venus’ death had the wind taken out of its sails by Ava’s heavy reliance on Lock and his constant whispers of “cupcake” while his sort of girlfriend burns their boss alive. I found that a very strange stylistic choice.Firebug hasn’t replaced the Croak-shaped hole in my heart like I was hoping it might, (snarky teenager in the death business with fire powers, can you blame me?) but it very well may respark my love of supernatural fiction. I’m hoping with world building out of the way, the next book can focus more on the present mysteries and less on the flashbacks.
mys_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
Absolutely loved it. There is something so amazing about a book that makes you laugh out loud and get teary at the same time. I was so worried about missing Sam from the Necromancer books, but Ava is a fantastic protagonist in her own right. I cannot wait for the next book!
nanu_nanu_narnett's review against another edition
1.0
I read about 25% in one sitting and this is what I got -
- The whole thing told rather than showed
-On that the structuring of the story was weird. There were parts where I stopped and asked myself what was happening.
- The relationships between the characters was poorly expressed. Again, told didn't show.
-The characters were one dimensional, which I would admit to being wrong about if they all had their moments later on, but there was no promise that that would happen. The characters were just all lumped there. Who were the main characters? The secondary? The tertiary?
- The narrator was bland and forgettable and when she actually showed character it was annoying and juvinile.
- Some of the sentences were just stupidly written. (That one where mr-unimportant jumped off the roof and the express elevator metaphor was used? The most poorly constructed sentence I've read in a long time)
- How powers work? What is setting? Any establishment of the actual narrative? Some insight into the world of the story?
-STOP TELLING THINGS AND SHOW ME A STORY
It hurts when there is a YA novel out there that does something different with its idea but fails to deliver. I don't understand why everyone raves about this one and you couldn't pay me to finish it.
- The whole thing told rather than showed
-On that the structuring of the story was weird. There were parts where I stopped and asked myself what was happening.
- The relationships between the characters was poorly expressed. Again, told didn't show.
-The characters were one dimensional, which I would admit to being wrong about if they all had their moments later on, but there was no promise that that would happen. The characters were just all lumped there. Who were the main characters? The secondary? The tertiary?
- The narrator was bland and forgettable and when she actually showed character it was annoying and juvinile.
- Some of the sentences were just stupidly written. (That one where mr-unimportant jumped off the roof and the express elevator metaphor was used? The most poorly constructed sentence I've read in a long time)
- How powers work? What is setting? Any establishment of the actual narrative? Some insight into the world of the story?
-STOP TELLING THINGS AND SHOW ME A STORY
It hurts when there is a YA novel out there that does something different with its idea but fails to deliver. I don't understand why everyone raves about this one and you couldn't pay me to finish it.
sillypunk's review against another edition
3.0
Basically it was fine: https://blogendorff.com/2019/02/16/book-review-firebug/
erinarkin20's review against another edition
3.0
Firebug was a solid start to a new series by Lish McBride. I may be in the minority with my rating as I didn’t absolutely love this but I will say that while that might be true, I found myself enjoying the characters and the overall story.
Ava is a firebug and lives in a paranormal world where it isn’t uncommon to be friends with a guy who talks to trees, turns into a fox, or even someone who carves figures out of wood which he can then make them real. The challenge for Ava is that her power (the ability to control fire) is rare and due to circumstances outside of her control, she doesn’t lead a normal life…no matter how much she would like to.
I liked Ava. She is sarcastic and loyal…two things I think are important in people and I enjoyed the banter she had with Lock and Ezra. She also had a really solid relationship with Cade (her guardian) and while they didn’t always see eye to eye on things, he respected Ava’s decisions and treated her like an adult and she respected him back.
Another thing I liked about this book was the friendship McBride created between Ava, Lock, and Ezra. There is a bit of sexual tension between Ava and Lock but regardless of anything else going on with them, they were always friends first. Along with Ezra, they supported each other even if they didn’t agree with their decisions and they always protected each other. I think the friendship between these characters was my favorite part of this entire book.
As Ava digs into her background and finds out more about her mother we also end up finding out more about Ava. She is currently in a situation where she, Lock, and Ezra are enforcers for a vampire named Venus. Venus runs the group called the Coterie. This is the same group that is responsible for killing Ava’s mother (actually Venus was behind that too) and now Venus has asked Ava to take a contract that involves taking out a friend of the family. When Ava says no…which she very obviously shouldn’t have done…Venus comes after her with all the firepower she has.
Now, you’re probably reading my review wondering “This sounds fantastic, why only three stars Erin?” Well, I found that there were times the story dragged for me. All the reminders that Cade was only human but was super important to Ava only led to me mumbling “Yeah, I get it.” And I didn’t need all the flashbacks and detail around the past events. I really just wanted to know why her mom was killed and why Ava was stuck in this blood pact.
With that said, I did enjoy this story and look forward to the next book as I’m curious to see what happens next for this group. There was plenty of action and snarky banter to keep me turning the pages and I love the paranormal world these characters inhabit. If you are looking for a new paranormal series, consider checking this one out.
Thank you to Macmillan for the review copy.
Ava is a firebug and lives in a paranormal world where it isn’t uncommon to be friends with a guy who talks to trees, turns into a fox, or even someone who carves figures out of wood which he can then make them real. The challenge for Ava is that her power (the ability to control fire) is rare and due to circumstances outside of her control, she doesn’t lead a normal life…no matter how much she would like to.
I liked Ava. She is sarcastic and loyal…two things I think are important in people and I enjoyed the banter she had with Lock and Ezra. She also had a really solid relationship with Cade (her guardian) and while they didn’t always see eye to eye on things, he respected Ava’s decisions and treated her like an adult and she respected him back.
Another thing I liked about this book was the friendship McBride created between Ava, Lock, and Ezra. There is a bit of sexual tension between Ava and Lock but regardless of anything else going on with them, they were always friends first. Along with Ezra, they supported each other even if they didn’t agree with their decisions and they always protected each other. I think the friendship between these characters was my favorite part of this entire book.
As Ava digs into her background and finds out more about her mother we also end up finding out more about Ava. She is currently in a situation where she, Lock, and Ezra are enforcers for a vampire named Venus. Venus runs the group called the Coterie. This is the same group that is responsible for killing Ava’s mother (actually Venus was behind that too) and now Venus has asked Ava to take a contract that involves taking out a friend of the family. When Ava says no…which she very obviously shouldn’t have done…Venus comes after her with all the firepower she has.
Now, you’re probably reading my review wondering “This sounds fantastic, why only three stars Erin?” Well, I found that there were times the story dragged for me. All the reminders that Cade was only human but was super important to Ava only led to me mumbling “Yeah, I get it.” And I didn’t need all the flashbacks and detail around the past events. I really just wanted to know why her mom was killed and why Ava was stuck in this blood pact.
With that said, I did enjoy this story and look forward to the next book as I’m curious to see what happens next for this group. There was plenty of action and snarky banter to keep me turning the pages and I love the paranormal world these characters inhabit. If you are looking for a new paranormal series, consider checking this one out.
Thank you to Macmillan for the review copy.
zellian's review against another edition
4.0
I read this series backwards, without knowing it - still enjoyable backwards.
There is one thing I was made aware of with the characters that I have noticed others also pointing out - They can be frustrating, full of cringe and cliche, however I channeled into my teen/tween self and was able to enjoy the book well enough.
Ezra came across as the typical, good looking guy cliche but a bit more hyper thanks to his fox heritage. Lock, the typical brooding teen who is also the mother hen to fox kid Ezra and sarcastic, witty but somewhat judgmental Ava.
Maybe I'm biased to books with powers, especially when that power is where you can bring forth balls of fire and hurl them at people you hate. The whole Cotorie and many different types of supernatural, super-powered people I think sets the scene pretty well and in both books I love the idea of venturing deeper into it.
I've looked around and have decided after reading these, I will be looking into reading "Hold Me Closer, Necromancy" I mean, with a title like that - how can I not?
There is one thing I was made aware of with the characters that I have noticed others also pointing out - They can be frustrating, full of cringe and cliche, however I channeled into my teen/tween self and was able to enjoy the book well enough.
Ezra came across as the typical, good looking guy cliche but a bit more hyper thanks to his fox heritage. Lock, the typical brooding teen who is also the mother hen to fox kid Ezra and sarcastic, witty but somewhat judgmental Ava.
Maybe I'm biased to books with powers, especially when that power is where you can bring forth balls of fire and hurl them at people you hate. The whole Cotorie and many different types of supernatural, super-powered people I think sets the scene pretty well and in both books I love the idea of venturing deeper into it.
I've looked around and have decided after reading these, I will be looking into reading "Hold Me Closer, Necromancy" I mean, with a title like that - how can I not?
jemcam's review against another edition
2.0
I really found the protagonist annoying. She was supposed to be a bad-ass, but instead she made poor decisions, and unsympathetic.
lisagoe's review against another edition
4.0
I love this author for her snappy dialogue and sense of humour. The last two books I've read by her were both horror humour, while this was more action adventure. It's nominally set in the same world as Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, but the tone is a bit different. Frankly, I liked the other two more than this one, but this was still page turning goodness and a lot of fun. I read it much too quickly and wish there was more.
chllybrd's review against another edition
4.0
FIREBUG was one of those books that I wasn't really excited about reading but really enjoyed once I finally started. Ava was a character after my own heart. Snarky, down to earth, and extremely loyal to the people she loves. The secondary characters were just as great as Ava, but I was a little disappointed in the missed romance part of FIREBUG.
This was the first book I've read from Lish McBride, but I have seen mention that it's part of the same world her Necromancer series is set in? Either way I had no problem getting into FIREBUG and I'm really excited to continue Ava's story with book 2.
* This book was provided free of charge from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This was the first book I've read from Lish McBride, but I have seen mention that it's part of the same world her Necromancer series is set in? Either way I had no problem getting into FIREBUG and I'm really excited to continue Ava's story with book 2.
* This book was provided free of charge from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
rain_baby's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0