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A planet populated by enchanters.
A magical book.
A cabal of shadow beings.
An assassin that turns people to stone.
Welcome to the magical world of Cressida Widdershins...
"Fire" is the first in "The Book of Fire Trilogy", a series of fantasy adventure novels aimed at children aged ten and above, but like Harry Potter can be enjoyed by adults too.
A magical book.
A cabal of shadow beings.
An assassin that turns people to stone.
Welcome to the magical world of Cressida Widdershins...
"Fire" is the first in "The Book of Fire Trilogy", a series of fantasy adventure novels aimed at children aged ten and above, but like Harry Potter can be enjoyed by adults too.
- GenresYoung Adult
156 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 12, 2012
13 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
David L. Dawson
38 books94 followersDavid L Dawson is the writer of The Fall and The Sky Is Falling, the first two parts of an explosive new dystopian quartet. He also wrote the novella series Snow White and Trip, as well as the upcoming middle grade Book of Fire trilogy. Upcoming projects include The Girl from Yesterday, a dystopian/scifi/vampire romance novel
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 24, 2018
Why I read the book:
As the first book in the Book of Fire Trilogy, Fire seemed like a good place to start. The series is categorized as middle grade fantasy. I ran across the e-series for a good price on Amazon, thought I remembered reading and enjoying the series in middle or high school, and downloaded it for my Kindle. (After finishing the series, I did some research, and discovered that I had confused it with another series)
Synopsis of the book:
Fire takes place on a parallel Earth. (A parallel earth a world similar enough to our own that is recognized by the reader as Earth, but there are distinct differences in things like the laws of physics, the populations, and/or technological abilities) There are three races on this version of earth: Humans, Elves, and Irie. Some 99% of the humans born on this version of Earth have a gene that allows them to perform magic. Magic is so commonplace that appliances run on magic spells, instead of electricity. The Elves are the stereotypical proud race - so technologically and intellectually advanced that they didn’t want to be around the slow, stupid Humans. The Irie are wild fairies that live in the forests and attack humans who get too close. There is only one landmass on this earth: Pangea. The forces of nature (and enchanters) have failed to break it apart, although some 4,000 years prior 2 million Elves did manage to break a section off, but the procedure killed about 1.5 million elves.
Fire centers around a young girl named Cressida who is among the one percent of the population born without magic. Her mother teaches magic at Cressida’s school, and her father is a somewhat famous archeologist. She struggles with every subject in school, and feels like a failure. One day, on a school field trip, she foils the attempt of an elf trying to take over the world by bringing the Great Var skeleton (think dinosaur size sea creature) back to life. As she leaves the scene, she is oddly compelled to pick up the book left behind by the spellcaster. She realizes that the book contains very powerful spells, and decides that it should be destroyed. Her problems begin when the book proves to be indestructible. Powerful agents of good and evil, shadows of gods, a few elves, a handful of Irie, and the Pangea version of the FBI are now focused on Cressida and schemes are hatched to kill her and take the book from her, while others try to protect her and help her destroy the book, while still others are trying to steal it for the government.
What I thought:
The storyline was good - I read the entire series. It was a fairly simple plot, easy to follow - I didn’t spend a lot of time backtracking to figure out why the plot suddenly didn’t make sense, and a quick read.
That being said, the book was full of typos, and the grammar was atrocious. My biggest grammar complaint is that the narrative tense changed constantly, especially during conversations. Occasionally conversations would go from being told from a characters perspective, to being narrated by the author, or even switch to another character’s point of view. This made several conversations hard to read and understand.
In the author’s defense:
I’ve just looked at his profile; he is English, and I’m American. The differences between British English and American English could account for some or all of my complaints.
The bottom line:
Despite enjoying the book enough to finish it and read the remainder of the series, I didn’t enjoy it enough to recommend it to anyone else, or keep it on my Kindle for rereading.
As the first book in the Book of Fire Trilogy, Fire seemed like a good place to start. The series is categorized as middle grade fantasy. I ran across the e-series for a good price on Amazon, thought I remembered reading and enjoying the series in middle or high school, and downloaded it for my Kindle. (After finishing the series, I did some research, and discovered that I had confused it with another series)
Synopsis of the book:
Fire takes place on a parallel Earth. (A parallel earth a world similar enough to our own that is recognized by the reader as Earth, but there are distinct differences in things like the laws of physics, the populations, and/or technological abilities) There are three races on this version of earth: Humans, Elves, and Irie. Some 99% of the humans born on this version of Earth have a gene that allows them to perform magic. Magic is so commonplace that appliances run on magic spells, instead of electricity. The Elves are the stereotypical proud race - so technologically and intellectually advanced that they didn’t want to be around the slow, stupid Humans. The Irie are wild fairies that live in the forests and attack humans who get too close. There is only one landmass on this earth: Pangea. The forces of nature (and enchanters) have failed to break it apart, although some 4,000 years prior 2 million Elves did manage to break a section off, but the procedure killed about 1.5 million elves.
Fire centers around a young girl named Cressida who is among the one percent of the population born without magic. Her mother teaches magic at Cressida’s school, and her father is a somewhat famous archeologist. She struggles with every subject in school, and feels like a failure. One day, on a school field trip, she foils the attempt of an elf trying to take over the world by bringing the Great Var skeleton (think dinosaur size sea creature) back to life. As she leaves the scene, she is oddly compelled to pick up the book left behind by the spellcaster. She realizes that the book contains very powerful spells, and decides that it should be destroyed. Her problems begin when the book proves to be indestructible. Powerful agents of good and evil, shadows of gods, a few elves, a handful of Irie, and the Pangea version of the FBI are now focused on Cressida and schemes are hatched to kill her and take the book from her, while others try to protect her and help her destroy the book, while still others are trying to steal it for the government.
What I thought:
The storyline was good - I read the entire series. It was a fairly simple plot, easy to follow - I didn’t spend a lot of time backtracking to figure out why the plot suddenly didn’t make sense, and a quick read.
That being said, the book was full of typos, and the grammar was atrocious. My biggest grammar complaint is that the narrative tense changed constantly, especially during conversations. Occasionally conversations would go from being told from a characters perspective, to being narrated by the author, or even switch to another character’s point of view. This made several conversations hard to read and understand.
In the author’s defense:
I’ve just looked at his profile; he is English, and I’m American. The differences between British English and American English could account for some or all of my complaints.
The bottom line:
Despite enjoying the book enough to finish it and read the remainder of the series, I didn’t enjoy it enough to recommend it to anyone else, or keep it on my Kindle for rereading.
January 5, 2018
Fire (The Book of Fire Trilogy 1) -- David L Dawson (35 chapters) Jan. 3-4, 2018 (381 pages)
**I originally read this as a part of a book collection “8 Exciting Middle Grade Novels,” compiled by Paul Moxham.**
This is a fantasy story, with a female protagonist and a male BFF. The story has some nice humor in it, but it ends on a cliffhanger, which sadden me. I had a harder time getting into this story, despite how well the plot was paced, and the small bits of humor thrown in.
The story can be enjoyed by all age groups, or read out loud to even younger children. This story has shades of classic fables, except the ending. I would like to know more about what happens next, but I am not happy that there was no real closure at the end. No sure if I will continue this series, but younger fantasy readers definitely enjoy the story.
Three stars.
**I originally read this as a part of a book collection “8 Exciting Middle Grade Novels,” compiled by Paul Moxham.**
This is a fantasy story, with a female protagonist and a male BFF. The story has some nice humor in it, but it ends on a cliffhanger, which sadden me. I had a harder time getting into this story, despite how well the plot was paced, and the small bits of humor thrown in.
The story can be enjoyed by all age groups, or read out loud to even younger children. This story has shades of classic fables, except the ending. I would like to know more about what happens next, but I am not happy that there was no real closure at the end. No sure if I will continue this series, but younger fantasy readers definitely enjoy the story.
Three stars.
February 15, 2013
I got this for free on Kindle. It was entertaining, but not amazing writing. There are a lot of grammar errors, and the storyline isn't full. It tends to jump from one thing to another, not really building reality. I'd read book 2 for free, but wouldn't pay for it.
September 4, 2013
okay read but nothing out of the ordinary.
January 21, 2017
Pretty good book,although I could slap Criseda for being such a brat.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews