While parts of this book were wonderful, I wasn't really feeling the romance between Rayn and Celeste. I'm not one for arranged marriages though so I'm sure that I'm biased.

Celeste is a shy princess who loves mathematics. She was abused at a young age when forced into a marriage way too young. She suffered from mental and physical abuse. In Assassin's Gambit she was saved by her sister-in-law. Now many years later under the more caring upbringing of her brother she is happy.

Rayn is a foreign prince who has many misgivings towards the Kjallans. Celeste's father had been a horrible monarch so Rayn struggled to trust them. Rayn and Celeste end up taking a ship to visit one of Kjall's provinces and end up in an assassination attempt. As the two go through this adventure of determining who the assassins were, Rayn is able to get to know Celeste a little better.

The biggest problem I had with this book was that parts didn't flow well for me. Rayn seemed to be fine with everything at one moment and then out of nowhere he freaked out at Celeste because of her family and country. I really was baffled as to what set him off. It just didn't seem like a natural way to act.

I loved the scenery a lot with this book. At one point they even get to experience Inya which has volcanoes that the Fire Mages have to control to protect the people. I loved learning about this new mage type. So far with every book in this series, Raby introduces us to another mage type. I really like her magic system.

Honestly, if arranged marriages turned into love matches is your thing, you would probably really enjoy this book. It just wasn't for me. I am excited though for the series to continue.

Is that the same girl from the cover of Lauren Kate's Fallen? Wow. And I've been told that the genre usually has original covers.....

This book was very fast-paced. And not really in a good way - it seemed a bit too fast. The plot jumps from one scene to a next with no transitions or connection to the next scene. One second, the characters are hunting a boar, and Mara gets hurt. The next, she's fine, and they're winning a tournament. And for some reason, it's wrong for Mara to try to hunt a boar, but perfectly fine for her to compete in a contest known for regularly killing children. I'm sorry. I'll try not to harp on every inconsistency. But small things like that really took me out of the story.

Talis and Mara were...okay as characters. They had some decent characterization, and I will admit that Mara's reactions to anything even remotely resembling proper ladies behavior were pretty funny. The other two kids are just obnoxious. And they're main characters, for some reason, despite being incredibly unlikable. You're supposed to establish an emotional connection between the reader and your main characters - the goal is to make readers care about what happens to the characters. Rikar and the fat one just kind of grate on your nerves.

I did like the descriptions in the book. The detail put into each scene was nicely done. I especially liked the landscapes. I just wish more attention had been put into the characters and the transitions.

The ending - I had been warned about the ending before I started reading the book. I figured it couldn't be as bad as everyone was making it out to be. It was.

The problem is, again, the lack of transitions. Nothing about the last two paragraphs feels like the book is being brought to a close. It just...stops. That's it.

Books that just end like that bother me. Yes, the story might be continuing in another book, but this isn't that book, now is it? It would work if all of the series were put together in a collection, where you could just read one right after another. But when it's a single book being cut off like that, it just leaves the entire thing feeling unfinished. Give us some sort of closure!

Anyway, this book was okay. It's clearly written for younger readers, but it's not the worst book I've read, by far. I suppose I should someday actually put together a reference chart of the worst books I've read...

Kindle free download 1/13/13.

 

 

The Fire Mage Series (eBook) Kate Bloomfield

 

Book 1- Frost Arch

 

Avalon lives in a post-apocalyptic world where Mages are the dominant life form and humans are uneducated and enslaved. As a Fire Mage who can’t control her powers, Avalon flees her home town after almost killing her little sister. What Avalon doesn’t expect however, is that her life will take a dramatic change when she moves to Fros t Arch, a snowy city where she gets a job as a maid, and befriends a local Healer. Before she knows it, Avalon is on the run from the law.

 

Book 2- Flamethroat

 

Avalon Redding has returned to Mortlock to find her home destroyed, and her family missing. They have been taken by 'The Realm' for harboring an illegal human, Avalon's sister. Desperate to find her family, Avalon travels across the country to the Headquarters of the Realm, with Healer Jack Greenwood, and animal companion Hawthorne. Their friendship is tested when Jack is reunited with his estranged father, and falls under a strange beauty's spell. Will Jack abandon Avalon during her quest? And is Hawthorne really one-of-a-kind?

 

Book 3- Falling Ashes Release Date- April 1, 2013

 

Avalon has made a lot of dangerous enemies. The Realm has issued a bounty on the infamous Fire-Mage's head, labelling her leader of the human-alliance, and traitor to Mage-kind. Soon, strangers begin to recognize Avalon after seeing her wanted poster in the streets, and seek to earn the cash reward for her capture. Forced to go into hiding, Avalon flees to the overseas city 'Ashes', not knowing who to trust, or what to do. Yet something frightens Avalon more than the Realm; her own burning desire for revenge which threatens to consume her, and turn Avalon into the monster the government depicts her to be.