Review : Fireblood by Trisha Wolfe

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Fireblood (Fireblood #1)
Author : Trisha Wolfe
Publication Date : December 10th 2013
Publisher : Spencer Hill Press
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control.

When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father’s capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin.

Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult.

When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart’s twisted world, Zara’s path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara’s hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father’s evil nature, or they will take him out.

But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels’ command and where the prince’s heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she’s truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart.

Personal Thoughts

I haven't had the best experience with Trisha Wolfe's YA dystopia series, but I did enjoy her NA book, The Darkest Path, so I was willing to give Fireblood a try. Plus, it's a high fantasy, a genre that rarely fails to impress me. Unfortunately, Fireblood was just not the book for me. In all honesty, it wasn't terrible, but there was nothing about it that made it stand out among other YA high fantasy books.

I wish I could tell you that I loved all of the characters. However, that was not the case. I didn't love the characters in Fireblood, not because they were bad or anything, but they were just bland and boring. I personally thought they were flat and needed more development to make me want to care for them. The main character, Zara, was so stereotypical. Nothing about her called to me and I never felt the emotions she went through throughout the book. She lacked spunk and a certain fire to make her memorable. In addition, Prince Sebastian, who chooses Zara to be his bride for reasons unexplained in the book, was an even flatter character than Zara. He was so much of the typical power-hungry leaders that are depicted in many YA books. Yet again, there wasn't even a strand of his personality that was interesting. Villains, if written well, can be quite intriguing and absolutely captivating, but not with Sebastian. Don't even get me started on the love interest, whose name I can't seem to even remember!

Like the characters, the plot was quite boring as well. Many times I wanted to stop reading but I continued in the hopes that it would get better. Once again, my biggest grievance with the plot was how unoriginal it seemed to be. The story of a girl trying to fight off an evil leader has been overdone now and frankly, becoming frustrating for me as a reader. The world-building was also weak and I had no sense of the background and history. In Fireblood, there is a Virus that is killing people and there were some interesting revelations regarding that, but I wanted to learn so much more about it. Had there been more details, I reckon I would have enjoyed Fireblood a bit more. Of course, you can't have a YA book without a romance, but the romance in this one was the kind I hate ; insta-love. I never got to watch the relationship between Zara and her love interest blossom into something realistic. Plus, I didn't understand why they fell for each other in the first place.

Personally, I think Trisha Wolfe is better at writing NA novels because she seems to understand the mindset of people in that age range. It's true that I did not have much luck with Fireblood, but that doesn't mean that you would also. If you're interested in the novel, I definitely recommend checking out other GR reviews.

Rating

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 2/5


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In My Mailbox (8)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Touch (Denazen #1) by Jus Accorda Summary (from Goodreads) When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home. Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized. Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking dow
Read more

In My Mailbox (3)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer Summary (from Goodreads) Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. The Alchemy Of Forever (Incarnation #1) by Avery Williams Summary (from Goodreads) Seraphina's first love made her immortal...her second might get her
Read more

In My Mailbox (10)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Don't You Wish (Obtained From Net Galley - Big Thanks To Random House Children's Books for the ARC) by Roxanne St Claire Summary (from Goodreads) When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.  In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen. But on the insde, Ayla is still Annie. So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life a
Read more