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The Pyromancer Trilogy #1
Firebrand
Kaijin Sora behaved like any studious child his age who constantly indulged in reading books and thirsting for new knowledge. But there was one thing that distinguished him from other children -- his tenacious passion for fire. In hopes of curbing this strange and disturbing sickness, Kaijin's parents sent him off to study magic. Unbeknownst to Kaijin, the knowledge he would glean during his years of intense study would only further kindle his inner flames. What began as a simple childhood curiosity would ultimately transition into a blazing love so powerful, it kills.... "Firebrand" is an engrossing fantasy adventure filled with magic and mystery.
- GenresFantasy
187 pages, Paperback
First published April 11, 2012
About the author
R.M. Prioleau
9 books29 followersR.M. Prioleau is a game developer and artist by day; and a dangerous writer by night. Since childhood, she’s continued exploring new methods of expanding her skills and creativity as she delves into the realm of literary abandon. R.M. is a NaNoWriMo enthusiast, and has been active in the worldwide writing community since 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 5, 2012
Quick summary: Slow moving plot about a boy learning magic, that bursts into an all out zombie ("Undead" if you prefer) war with necromancy and pyromancy. :D
Overall, I liked it. As mentioned above, it's a bit slow moving for the first 3/4ths of it, with glimpses of our main character, Kaijin, and his life at various points as he learns and becomes interested in magic--or more specifically FIRE. Kid loves fire; a lot. It's on the verge of being unsettling for both the reader and novel cast. I consider that a good thing & so does Ignis, the fire god. Toward the end, he gets involved with a necromancer named Xavorin, who has a history with his Master Jarial.
My favorite scenes were probably the interactions between Kaijin & Rorick as they were younger, and I almost wish there was more explored there later in the book. The underachieving younger sibling, and the advanced older sibling was a classic, and still good contrast.
If I had a complaint--it'd be Jarial. I couldn't figure out where Kaijin's fondness for the man came from. He was mean, treated Kaijin's brother like dirt, treated Kaijin like dirt often (he was a little back and forth with emotions), and later we revealed there were many others who used magic--and one was probably more helpful in five minutes than Jarial seemed to be for all 12 or so years. He was hard to like; I disliked him.
If you feel differently, that's great. I shall continue to greatly dislike him. :D
But back to the good stuff, Kaijin's relation to the divine spirit whispering in his head was an interesting set of events as it unfolded, and it looks like it'll get more focus in book 2. Consider this sort of an introduction to it all.
I'll give the second book a go. :)
Overall, I liked it. As mentioned above, it's a bit slow moving for the first 3/4ths of it, with glimpses of our main character, Kaijin, and his life at various points as he learns and becomes interested in magic--or more specifically FIRE. Kid loves fire; a lot. It's on the verge of being unsettling for both the reader and novel cast. I consider that a good thing & so does Ignis, the fire god. Toward the end, he gets involved with a necromancer named Xavorin, who has a history with his Master Jarial.
My favorite scenes were probably the interactions between Kaijin & Rorick as they were younger, and I almost wish there was more explored there later in the book. The underachieving younger sibling, and the advanced older sibling was a classic, and still good contrast.
If I had a complaint--it'd be Jarial. I couldn't figure out where Kaijin's fondness for the man came from. He was mean, treated Kaijin's brother like dirt, treated Kaijin like dirt often (he was a little back and forth with emotions), and later we revealed there were many others who used magic--and one was probably more helpful in five minutes than Jarial seemed to be for all 12 or so years. He was hard to like; I disliked him.
If you feel differently, that's great. I shall continue to greatly dislike him. :D
But back to the good stuff, Kaijin's relation to the divine spirit whispering in his head was an interesting set of events as it unfolded, and it looks like it'll get more focus in book 2. Consider this sort of an introduction to it all.
I'll give the second book a go. :)
March 21, 2018
I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Finally! I finished it!
Cover atracted me immidietly. Boy on the cover reminds me of Jack from Pillars of the earth, my all time favorite book. I was so happy when I got this ebook from NG. I almost started sreaming how excited I was.
Unfortunately this book was not at half as good as Pillars of the earth.
I expected this book to be, I don't know, better written? More interesting? With deeper characters?
I don't say this book is bad, there were just too big expectation so I felt a little bit fooled. It's solid three stars, I will try to read next book, maybe there will be some improvement
Finally! I finished it!
Cover atracted me immidietly. Boy on the cover reminds me of Jack from Pillars of the earth, my all time favorite book. I was so happy when I got this ebook from NG. I almost started sreaming how excited I was.
Unfortunately this book was not at half as good as Pillars of the earth.
I expected this book to be, I don't know, better written? More interesting? With deeper characters?
I don't say this book is bad, there were just too big expectation so I felt a little bit fooled. It's solid three stars, I will try to read next book, maybe there will be some improvement
February 27, 2013
Synopsis: In a world of magic and mayhem, a young boy is drawn to books of power. Taken under the tutelage of a senior mage, Kaijin begins his studies of magic and mystery and finds himself caught in an adventure beyond life and death.
There’s something quite refreshing about Firebrand, and it starts quite early on. Fantasy, adventure, starting with a young boy who… isn’t an orphan! It’s such a simple thing, but it makes such a pleasant change. I could write all day about fantasy cliché, and how many stories tell the tale of a chosen one who didn’t know their parents but discovers they’re special and secretly a king or queen in waiting and blah blah blah. Kaijin isn’t. Good.
What Kaijin is, however, is a would-be fire mage. And what Prioleau sets out to do is tell the first part of Kaijin’s story. Not his whole life, but rather the first part, the forming stage. Normally, this would be a brief couple of chapters at the start of a huge fantasy epic. To do so in a full book requires a steady and confident hand. Prioleau does not disappoint.
Admittedly, to begin with, Kaijin, his brother Rorick, and his tutor Jarial are all pretty annoying and need patience to mature into their roles. Kaijin succeeds in this, as the protagonist of any story should. Jarial follows, although not quite as successfully, but suits the character. Rorick fails, and remains an irritating little sod (and perhaps surplus to requirements. Certainly more could have been done with his actions). True, also, that there’s a little jumping in time – but in fairness, we don’t need to see every moment of Kaijin’s life.
Prioleau brings a nice touch with the creation of the laws of Kaijin’s world – an essential for any fantasy writer. Magic, politics, gods, people, customs, etc. It’s a hard line to walk. Too loose, and nothing rings true – anything goes, without any structure. Too hard, and the writer ends up creating the rules to a role playing game instead. Prioleau, perhaps, errs a little towards the hard side (but only a very little), and leaves enough space for development later in the day.
What Prioleau does well, though, is build up the world through the rules, the description and the storytelling. The principle characters develop with credible motivation, and the dialogue works.
Prioleau neatly sidesteps a couple of the genre clichés, but doesn’t deviate too far from the tried and true conventions of fantasy adventures. What’s written is written well, with characters that can be enjoyed, and a story which moves nicely.
Personally, I enjoyed the introduction of a (seemingly very long-lifed) familiar, and the corruption of a necromancer. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with Kaijin, now that the world is his for the exploring.
* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review *
There’s something quite refreshing about Firebrand, and it starts quite early on. Fantasy, adventure, starting with a young boy who… isn’t an orphan! It’s such a simple thing, but it makes such a pleasant change. I could write all day about fantasy cliché, and how many stories tell the tale of a chosen one who didn’t know their parents but discovers they’re special and secretly a king or queen in waiting and blah blah blah. Kaijin isn’t. Good.
What Kaijin is, however, is a would-be fire mage. And what Prioleau sets out to do is tell the first part of Kaijin’s story. Not his whole life, but rather the first part, the forming stage. Normally, this would be a brief couple of chapters at the start of a huge fantasy epic. To do so in a full book requires a steady and confident hand. Prioleau does not disappoint.
Admittedly, to begin with, Kaijin, his brother Rorick, and his tutor Jarial are all pretty annoying and need patience to mature into their roles. Kaijin succeeds in this, as the protagonist of any story should. Jarial follows, although not quite as successfully, but suits the character. Rorick fails, and remains an irritating little sod (and perhaps surplus to requirements. Certainly more could have been done with his actions). True, also, that there’s a little jumping in time – but in fairness, we don’t need to see every moment of Kaijin’s life.
Prioleau brings a nice touch with the creation of the laws of Kaijin’s world – an essential for any fantasy writer. Magic, politics, gods, people, customs, etc. It’s a hard line to walk. Too loose, and nothing rings true – anything goes, without any structure. Too hard, and the writer ends up creating the rules to a role playing game instead. Prioleau, perhaps, errs a little towards the hard side (but only a very little), and leaves enough space for development later in the day.
What Prioleau does well, though, is build up the world through the rules, the description and the storytelling. The principle characters develop with credible motivation, and the dialogue works.
Prioleau neatly sidesteps a couple of the genre clichés, but doesn’t deviate too far from the tried and true conventions of fantasy adventures. What’s written is written well, with characters that can be enjoyed, and a story which moves nicely.
Personally, I enjoyed the introduction of a (seemingly very long-lifed) familiar, and the corruption of a necromancer. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with Kaijin, now that the world is his for the exploring.
* I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review *
June 2, 2014
I read this story as part of the NaNoWriMo SF/F Storybundle, after winning a drawing for a free code for the bundle.
How does one best measure a book? Two good signs are if you enjoyed reading it and if you wanted it to be longer. Both of those are true of this work.
As a NaNo novel, it's not terribly long. Relatively few of those 50K words are spent on worldbuilding - instead the author prefers to speed the plot along. Pacing is sometimes a problem in novels that span a student's entire education, but this author highlights important events adroitly. There are also some huge time gaps to let the author skip around to the events she wants to cover. I'd love to understand more about the magic system and motivations of the non-viewpoint characters.
The novel is all from the point of view of our pyromaniac (practically pyrophiliac) protagonist. This does twist the story in a few ways - it seems unrealistic for him to run into the antagonist repeatedly. The antagonist really has nothing to do with our hero, so one would expect his story to be told separately, instead of him just randomly appearing every few chapters.
Editing is sometimes a little, um, weak, in novels of this type. I'm happy to say it's not a problem here - sentences make sense and the grammar and spelling are spotless. There are a few poorly chosen words (smirk and simper repeatedly, and adore once as well) but on the whole I was impressed.
Pretty much every non-protagonist character is volatile to the point of caricature. Everyone is quick to anger but calms down only a paragraph later. To the reader, it seems like the protagonist has an abusive parent and abusive teacher, but the hero certainly acts as if he loves those people...so either it's Stockholm Syndrome, or their constant irritability is an oversight.
The ending of the novel is quite bleak, but the set-up for future novels is good. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
How does one best measure a book? Two good signs are if you enjoyed reading it and if you wanted it to be longer. Both of those are true of this work.
As a NaNo novel, it's not terribly long. Relatively few of those 50K words are spent on worldbuilding - instead the author prefers to speed the plot along. Pacing is sometimes a problem in novels that span a student's entire education, but this author highlights important events adroitly. There are also some huge time gaps to let the author skip around to the events she wants to cover. I'd love to understand more about the magic system and motivations of the non-viewpoint characters.
The novel is all from the point of view of our pyromaniac (practically pyrophiliac) protagonist. This does twist the story in a few ways - it seems unrealistic for him to run into the antagonist repeatedly. The antagonist really has nothing to do with our hero, so one would expect his story to be told separately, instead of him just randomly appearing every few chapters.
Editing is sometimes a little, um, weak, in novels of this type. I'm happy to say it's not a problem here - sentences make sense and the grammar and spelling are spotless. There are a few poorly chosen words (smirk and simper repeatedly, and adore once as well) but on the whole I was impressed.
Pretty much every non-protagonist character is volatile to the point of caricature. Everyone is quick to anger but calms down only a paragraph later. To the reader, it seems like the protagonist has an abusive parent and abusive teacher, but the hero certainly acts as if he loves those people...so either it's Stockholm Syndrome, or their constant irritability is an oversight.
The ending of the novel is quite bleak, but the set-up for future novels is good. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
January 28, 2016
The story, though slow at the start, was pretty good. Kaijin always is the curious boy and Jarial is a cold-hearted son of a gun. I am undecided on how fast the story came to a close, honestly, I've not read a book so fast since Divergent. I think it's not bad. my favourite quote was, '... the future is never promised to us.' This book reminded me of the time I was playing Runescape. Ah memories…
September 15, 2014
Another book that made more sense after I found out it was a NaNoWriMo book. I liked it alright, and might read the sequel (is there a sequel?) one day. I think it's a bit bizarre that he never once visited his parents or brother in all those years, even though they lived in the same city. For some reason that's the big issue I have with this book, lol.
June 9, 2014
This is a well written and edited story. The pacing is a bit awkward. It starts off slow, but starts to take large jumps in time and then speeds through the ending. Overall, the story was good and the pacing awkwardness is easy to overlook.
September 27, 2014
Review will be posted on Audible
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews