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nikosbookshelf's review
DNF — I found myself unable to be invested in the character of Annie. Lee was somewhat more interesting but not enough of his POV. Would have liked to see more focus on the dragon and rider bond. Maybe I’ll give this another shot when I’m in the right mood to do so.
sarah_the_mad_scientist's review against another edition
Moving and had to pack this book up will pick up again once I’ve settled in again, was enjoying.
phoenix2's review
2.0
Fireborne is one of the most anticipated YA fantasy books of autumn, but, for me, it didn't keep up with the hype.
Things smelled fishy when they started marketing it by comparing it to other popular books. Though the author claims that she was inspired by the classics (something that would have been more intriguing for me to lead me to pick up this book), them suggesting that is a combination of this and that just doesn't sound original. Still it does have that big dragon on the cover.
So, what went wrong?
First of all, what I did like parts of the story. Especially towards the ending, where things got more unpredictable and exciting, I was hooked. However, most of the book is kind of leading to that big outburst, so the action and the dragonfights were few and scarce. I also enjoyed some of the character. Annie was pretty cool and she had a nice, but not smooth, character development. Lee was okay, but he was too traped into his concept and he acted mostly because of it. Duck was a sweetheart, but condemned to be the second lead. Still, I liked his parts, as he was more humane and the easiest character to identify with. Power (now I know shouldn't) but I really liked him. Sure, he was the bully and the "bad guy", but he was the only one acting rationally and thinking straight. And he had some surprising character aspects.
Now, for the things I didn't like and which ruined the book for me. First of all, the whole book felt like it was the sketch of the actual book, just the skeleton or outline if you'd like, of the story that was written as a guidline and it should have been filled with details and some action scenes, but it never was. Most of the time the actual action was happening off the page and you just end up reading the aftermath of it. In other cases, times speeds up and you find the story days or weeks ahead just by the alteration of a paragraph. Also, I felt like I was puzzling the story myslef most of the time. Terms, events, characters and such kept appearing and the book never provided sufficient explanation for them. You just had to accept that it is what it is and move on. Plus, and maybe this is me the old Eragon fan who read the books more than ten times, but I would like to have been provided with more information on the dragons and their connection to their riders. Sure, later on there is a scene that describes how the two main leads got their dragons, but other than that, we get glimpses of what is like to be a dragon rider or what the dragons can do and can't. That, along with the few dragon fights that were only briefly described, and the story that was rushing forward, leaving things unexplained, left in just a mention, or never bothering to give a description of a place, character, event and such, were my main problems of this book.
The double pov, in addition, was a good idea but it would have worked if the characters were showing the reader their take on the event. However, the actual result was that the one picked up where the other had left and they kept altering too quickly, so there was no time to get what the character was feeling or thinking. Also, the romance was just okay. You are fed to believe straight from the start that Lee loves Annie, but she has a stronger bond with other students and she thinks of him as her old childhood friend. And that trope just keeps going throughout the book, with the addition of a love square, that just complicated things only a little. In the end, I wasn't convinced by the couple.
So, either this book was not for me, as only pulled me in towards the end, for the rest, I just kept reading to see why it was so highly praised, or it just needs to be worked on a little more, because the story does have potential.
Things smelled fishy when they started marketing it by comparing it to other popular books. Though the author claims that she was inspired by the classics (something that would have been more intriguing for me to lead me to pick up this book), them suggesting that is a combination of this and that just doesn't sound original. Still it does have that big dragon on the cover.
So, what went wrong?
First of all, what I did like parts of the story. Especially towards the ending, where things got more unpredictable and exciting, I was hooked. However, most of the book is kind of leading to that big outburst, so the action and the dragonfights were few and scarce. I also enjoyed some of the character. Annie was pretty cool and she had a nice, but not smooth, character development. Lee was okay, but he was too traped into his concept and he acted mostly because of it. Duck was a sweetheart, but condemned to be the second lead. Still, I liked his parts, as he was more humane and the easiest character to identify with. Power (now I know shouldn't) but I really liked him. Sure, he was the bully and the "bad guy", but he was the only one acting rationally and thinking straight. And he had some surprising character aspects.
Now, for the things I didn't like and which ruined the book for me. First of all, the whole book felt like it was the sketch of the actual book, just the skeleton or outline if you'd like, of the story that was written as a guidline and it should have been filled with details and some action scenes, but it never was. Most of the time the actual action was happening off the page and you just end up reading the aftermath of it. In other cases, times speeds up and you find the story days or weeks ahead just by the alteration of a paragraph. Also, I felt like I was puzzling the story myslef most of the time. Terms, events, characters and such kept appearing and the book never provided sufficient explanation for them. You just had to accept that it is what it is and move on. Plus, and maybe this is me the old Eragon fan who read the books more than ten times, but I would like to have been provided with more information on the dragons and their connection to their riders. Sure, later on there is a scene that describes how the two main leads got their dragons, but other than that, we get glimpses of what is like to be a dragon rider or what the dragons can do and can't. That, along with the few dragon fights that were only briefly described, and the story that was rushing forward, leaving things unexplained, left in just a mention, or never bothering to give a description of a place, character, event and such, were my main problems of this book.
The double pov, in addition, was a good idea but it would have worked if the characters were showing the reader their take on the event. However, the actual result was that the one picked up where the other had left and they kept altering too quickly, so there was no time to get what the character was feeling or thinking. Also, the romance was just okay. You are fed to believe straight from the start that Lee loves Annie, but she has a stronger bond with other students and she thinks of him as her old childhood friend. And that trope just keeps going throughout the book, with the addition of a love square, that just complicated things only a little. In the end, I wasn't convinced by the couple.
So, either this book was not for me, as only pulled me in towards the end, for the rest, I just kept reading to see why it was so highly praised, or it just needs to be worked on a little more, because the story does have potential.
chloeamcmahon's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
divinedemireader's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.75
I hate everyone and the world building was practically nonexistent in the beginning so I was floundering through the first like half of the book and attempting to piece it together for the rest. I can’t really distinguish a solid plot line to follow like most stories have one full plot line that they follow with some side ones to make it or the characters more interesting but this one just felt like a bunch of random information thrown together with no real end goal in mind. I can see a hazy idea of what they intended to be the overarching plot but it’s overshadowed so heavily by everything else that it’s hard to really distinguish things.
I hated the structure of this book. The pacing felt off, the world building as I mentioned earlier was so late into the book and incomplete which left me feeling lost, and the characters felt so surface level until like 80% into the book. Toward the end I did find myself hating the book less than the first section we read but generally speaking I enjoyed nothing about this book.
I hated the structure of this book. The pacing felt off, the world building as I mentioned earlier was so late into the book and incomplete which left me feeling lost, and the characters felt so surface level until like 80% into the book. Toward the end I did find myself hating the book less than the first section we read but generally speaking I enjoyed nothing about this book.
g_a_m_e_r's review against another edition
Feels generic and full of tropes I do not enjoy
niakantorka's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
After having read half of this book I started to skim through it because - and I finally need to acknowledge it to myself- that young adult characters drive me crazy. The inability of the MCs, Annie and Lee, to talk to each other about the things that matter made this book hard to bear.
The topics were intriguing:
- a fantasy form of communism versus a dragon-driven nobility ruled society. I guess it’s not a spoiler if I say both have or had its flaws.
- three different dragon breeds in some sort of fantastic version of the UK. Sadly, those dragons mostly played taxi or killing machines for their riders. And that we didn’t get a real telepathic bond was a miss in my opinion.
- found family versus birth family and the obligations that came with both. This was actually executed satisfactorily.
I’m not sure but I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it have had older protagonists, less simmering slow burn yearning between the MCs, and more adult conversations.
All in all I must say, though the ideas were good, their execution wasn’t and therefore it wasn’t for me. I wanted to know how the book ended. I had contemplated about dnf-ing it around 44%. Well, I have learned enough about its later parts and know now that I won’t finish the other books in the series.
Memo to myself: Stop it with the young adult books, no matter how cool their premises sound.
The topics were intriguing:
- a fantasy form of communism versus a dragon-driven nobility ruled society. I guess it’s not a spoiler if I say both have or had its flaws.
- three different dragon breeds in some sort of fantastic version of the UK. Sadly, those dragons mostly played taxi or killing machines for their riders. And that we didn’t get a real telepathic bond was a miss in my opinion.
- found family versus birth family and the obligations that came with both. This was actually executed satisfactorily.
I’m not sure but I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it have had older protagonists, less simmering slow burn yearning between the MCs, and more adult conversations.
All in all I must say, though the ideas were good, their execution wasn’t and therefore it wasn’t for me. I wanted to know how the book ended. I had contemplated about dnf-ing it around 44%. Well, I have learned enough about its later parts and know now that I won’t finish the other books in the series.
Memo to myself: Stop it with the young adult books, no matter how cool their premises sound.
forloveoflit_'s review
DNFed at 52%
Tried to get into this book but I just didn’t have the energy to wait to be interested for this one
Tried to get into this book but I just didn’t have the energy to wait to be interested for this one
yodamom's review
3.0
It was well written, an interesting story but I never cared about any of the characters or their issues. It felt almost like a weak Harry Potter with more fighting. The dragons had almost no personality. It could have been so much better if they had personalities. I was disappointed and will not continue the series.
kan681's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75