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A review by its_tara
Daughter of the Flames by Zoë Marriott
4.0
This review can originally be found, in full here on my blog.
Okay, so it’s been a long time since I initially got this one, which was back at Christmas during the Kindle Sale. I basically got it because it was cheap, the cover was kind of cool, and the synopsis sounded pretty good, but there was always something else I wanted to read more. However, now I’ve read it, I wish I’d got to it sooner – this story was a lot better than I thought it would be.
The story is set in an Asian or maybe Indian kind of culture called Ruan, which has been invaded by another culture – the Sedorne - and is now ruled by a tyrannical leader. As a result, the Rua people are angry, repressed and looking for some sort of saviour, probably in the form of the various resistance groups there are in the country.
Zira is a young girl of fifteen who has been brought up in the House of God, and is training to be a namoa, or priestess. Until this point, she’s only really worried about what kind of namoa she will be designated to be, and her ambition is to be a fighting namoa. However, Zira isn’t as normal as she seems, she’s actually Princess Zahira (and really, that’s made fairly obvious from the beginning) the last of the Royal Elfenesh line of Ruan. Luckily for her, the current King thinks she died in the fire that killed the rest of her family. However, that doesn’t last long, and she’s suddenly swept on a dangerous quest to reinstate her family on the throne of Ruan.
Basically, this story has a little bit of everything. It’s got the typical fantasy elements, a good hero (heroine in this case), a well-written villain, an amount of mystery, good world building as well as some sort of quest to solve. There’s also some fairly nice romance in this, though I do understand why some people had an issue with a sixteen year old girl being married to an older man (although he was only early twenties).
I have to admit though, I thought I’d like Zira/Zahira a lot more than I did. I somehow thought she’d be a lot more kick-butt than she was, and I never really felt that I connected with her. Also, some of her decisions seemed to be a little out of character, and I never really knew what to expect. I was also expecting a lot more martial arts than there actually were in the book, but I think that might have just been me. Basically, I didn’t feel like I knew her enough to really get behind her at the end of the book, which was a shame. That said, there wasn’t anything wrong with her as a character, for me, she just felt a tad underdeveloped.
I have to admit, I liked Sorin. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, though it was a little odd for him to feel so indebted to Zira for one act of heroism, and their marriage seemed a bit strange to me at first. I mean, I see it was borne out of necessity, but still – Zahira was only sixteen at the time. Would the average guy ask a sixteen year old girl to marry him? That said, I’m guessing you could argue it was part of the culture/time that the book was set in, and in that context it may make a lot more sense. He definitely grew on me, though, and by the end I think he might have been my favourite character.
As for the King, he was definitely a good villain. Whilst I didn’t understand all of his motives, I suppose this could be because he want meant to be a little off-centre. I admit, I’d like to have understood them more, but the fact that I didn’t did make him pretty unpredictable, and actually, that worked out fairly well for the way the character was portrayed. I do wish there had been more of him, maybe more background and such, in the book, but in general, he was well-written and easy to dislike. I also liked the fact that at some points I ended up feeling pity for him – for me that was a sign of how well-written the whole thing was.
I’m really curious as to where the next book in this series will go, though I only have to wait until June to find out. This book could definitely be read as a standalone – and I think the subsequent book is actually going to be just set in Zira and Sorin’s world. I have to admit, I’m almost a little sad about that, because I kind of wanted to know more about Zira/Zahira and Sorin.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but there were just a couple of things that would have made it even better for me. Recommending this for those who love fantasy, or just a good love story.
Okay, so it’s been a long time since I initially got this one, which was back at Christmas during the Kindle Sale. I basically got it because it was cheap, the cover was kind of cool, and the synopsis sounded pretty good, but there was always something else I wanted to read more. However, now I’ve read it, I wish I’d got to it sooner – this story was a lot better than I thought it would be.
The story is set in an Asian or maybe Indian kind of culture called Ruan, which has been invaded by another culture – the Sedorne - and is now ruled by a tyrannical leader. As a result, the Rua people are angry, repressed and looking for some sort of saviour, probably in the form of the various resistance groups there are in the country.
Zira is a young girl of fifteen who has been brought up in the House of God, and is training to be a namoa, or priestess. Until this point, she’s only really worried about what kind of namoa she will be designated to be, and her ambition is to be a fighting namoa. However, Zira isn’t as normal as she seems, she’s actually Princess Zahira (and really, that’s made fairly obvious from the beginning) the last of the Royal Elfenesh line of Ruan. Luckily for her, the current King thinks she died in the fire that killed the rest of her family. However, that doesn’t last long, and she’s suddenly swept on a dangerous quest to reinstate her family on the throne of Ruan.
Basically, this story has a little bit of everything. It’s got the typical fantasy elements, a good hero (heroine in this case), a well-written villain, an amount of mystery, good world building as well as some sort of quest to solve. There’s also some fairly nice romance in this, though I do understand why some people had an issue with a sixteen year old girl being married to an older man (although he was only early twenties).
I have to admit though, I thought I’d like Zira/Zahira a lot more than I did. I somehow thought she’d be a lot more kick-butt than she was, and I never really felt that I connected with her. Also, some of her decisions seemed to be a little out of character, and I never really knew what to expect. I was also expecting a lot more martial arts than there actually were in the book, but I think that might have just been me. Basically, I didn’t feel like I knew her enough to really get behind her at the end of the book, which was a shame. That said, there wasn’t anything wrong with her as a character, for me, she just felt a tad underdeveloped.
I have to admit, I liked Sorin. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, though it was a little odd for him to feel so indebted to Zira for one act of heroism, and their marriage seemed a bit strange to me at first. I mean, I see it was borne out of necessity, but still – Zahira was only sixteen at the time. Would the average guy ask a sixteen year old girl to marry him? That said, I’m guessing you could argue it was part of the culture/time that the book was set in, and in that context it may make a lot more sense. He definitely grew on me, though, and by the end I think he might have been my favourite character.
As for the King, he was definitely a good villain. Whilst I didn’t understand all of his motives, I suppose this could be because he want meant to be a little off-centre. I admit, I’d like to have understood them more, but the fact that I didn’t did make him pretty unpredictable, and actually, that worked out fairly well for the way the character was portrayed. I do wish there had been more of him, maybe more background and such, in the book, but in general, he was well-written and easy to dislike. I also liked the fact that at some points I ended up feeling pity for him – for me that was a sign of how well-written the whole thing was.
I’m really curious as to where the next book in this series will go, though I only have to wait until June to find out. This book could definitely be read as a standalone – and I think the subsequent book is actually going to be just set in Zira and Sorin’s world. I have to admit, I’m almost a little sad about that, because I kind of wanted to know more about Zira/Zahira and Sorin.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but there were just a couple of things that would have made it even better for me. Recommending this for those who love fantasy, or just a good love story.