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A review by ezichinny
Cursed by Fire: The Immortal Brothers by Jacquelyn Frank
2.0
I both liked and hated that this story was simple and predictable. It was easy to follow and the villain was evident immediately. While the ending was obvious, I was curious to see how the characters would evolve.
Declan was chained and burned by gods' fire for daring to drink from a fountain of immortality. After over a century of punishment, the goddess of conflict, Weysa, came to Declan with a deal. She will give him respite during the day, if he will amass worshippers in her name. The gods were fighting amongst each other and their individual powers were waning since they were not being revered as in times past.
Declan's first stop took him to Hexis where the people huddled in fear of the Redoe, a neighobor army, who extorted them for crops and money. The Grand (king) was a simpleton and offered his daughter Selinda to a cruel man, Grannish if he would save Hexis from the siege. The Grannish treated Selinda abominably and forced her perform humiliating tassk. One of them was to grant a kiss to winners of Sparing contests, which usually featured lowly born peasants. It was at such a contest that Declan first played champion to Selinda, and igniting the spark that would eventually turn into passion.
In Declan, Selinda saw a savior who would rescue her from the Grannish and save her people. In Hexis, Declan saw the answer to his quest to find new worshipers for his goddess. Their alliance ended up freeing them from their enemies as well as satisfying the goddess Weysa.
I have read several books by Jacquelyn Frank and I find her writing to be inconsistent. The Nightwalkers had some excellent books. In fact, Gideon is one of my top 5 all-time favorite PNR/UF books.
This book was too elementary for an author of her caliber. She is obviously very creative and talented because her books are different from the status quo. The idea in this one has promise, but the execution of book 1 was rudimentary. The characters were so one-dimensional. Everything was so obvious, cliché and truthfully, the book was boring. It lacked a true foundation of how the gods at conflict operate and I sincerely hope the paperback has a chart so we can remember the gods. I am going to give it a pass as a book 1 and try book 2 before I decide where to go. I have read books by this author that blew me away so I am not ready to give up on this series yet.
*Special thanks to Random house Publishing—Ballantine via Netgalley for the e-arc, which was given in exchange for an honest review.
Declan was chained and burned by gods' fire for daring to drink from a fountain of immortality. After over a century of punishment, the goddess of conflict, Weysa, came to Declan with a deal. She will give him respite during the day, if he will amass worshippers in her name. The gods were fighting amongst each other and their individual powers were waning since they were not being revered as in times past.
Declan's first stop took him to Hexis where the people huddled in fear of the Redoe, a neighobor army, who extorted them for crops and money. The Grand (king) was a simpleton and offered his daughter Selinda to a cruel man, Grannish if he would save Hexis from the siege. The Grannish treated Selinda abominably and forced her perform humiliating tassk. One of them was to grant a kiss to winners of Sparing contests, which usually featured lowly born peasants. It was at such a contest that Declan first played champion to Selinda, and igniting the spark that would eventually turn into passion.
In Declan, Selinda saw a savior who would rescue her from the Grannish and save her people. In Hexis, Declan saw the answer to his quest to find new worshipers for his goddess. Their alliance ended up freeing them from their enemies as well as satisfying the goddess Weysa.
I have read several books by Jacquelyn Frank and I find her writing to be inconsistent. The Nightwalkers had some excellent books. In fact, Gideon is one of my top 5 all-time favorite PNR/UF books.
This book was too elementary for an author of her caliber. She is obviously very creative and talented because her books are different from the status quo. The idea in this one has promise, but the execution of book 1 was rudimentary. The characters were so one-dimensional. Everything was so obvious, cliché and truthfully, the book was boring. It lacked a true foundation of how the gods at conflict operate and I sincerely hope the paperback has a chart so we can remember the gods. I am going to give it a pass as a book 1 and try book 2 before I decide where to go. I have read books by this author that blew me away so I am not ready to give up on this series yet.
*Special thanks to Random house Publishing—Ballantine via Netgalley for the e-arc, which was given in exchange for an honest review.