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Firesouls #1
Kindling Ashes
Sixteen years ago, the strongest of the dragons who once flew free over the kingdom of Auland escaped extinction the only way they knew how; releasing their souls to reside in unaware humans. With a debilitating sickness now spreading through their hosts, time is running out for them once more…
On the streets of the capital city, a teenage gold smuggler named Giselle struggles to survive with the help of the Voice inside her head. Her world is turned upside down when she catches an opportunity to travel to the mountains just as she has always dreamed, but there is a price to pay which she cannot avoid.
Far south in the country, Corran is the youngest son of the dragonslayer who led the battle all those years ago. He clashes with his brothers daily in a battle to prove himself and when he hears of dragon sympathisers in the area he is determined to turn it to his advantage. But with the first footstep outside his home, he sets his destiny to never return.
Two souls cannot live in one body forever. The hibernation is over.
On the streets of the capital city, a teenage gold smuggler named Giselle struggles to survive with the help of the Voice inside her head. Her world is turned upside down when she catches an opportunity to travel to the mountains just as she has always dreamed, but there is a price to pay which she cannot avoid.
Far south in the country, Corran is the youngest son of the dragonslayer who led the battle all those years ago. He clashes with his brothers daily in a battle to prove himself and when he hears of dragon sympathisers in the area he is determined to turn it to his advantage. But with the first footstep outside his home, he sets his destiny to never return.
Two souls cannot live in one body forever. The hibernation is over.
264 pages, Paperback
First published April 21, 2014
About the author
Laura Harris
3 books25 followersLaura Harris discovered her talent for writing aged six, when a school exercise about the Great Fire of London got a little out of hand and ended up taller than her. After realising she could create her own stories she never paused to reconsider and has been scribbling in notebooks ever since. Attempting National Novel Writing Month for the first time in 2009 allowed her to get past the problem of reaching the end of a story and since then she has focused on writing novels. Winning Lulu’s Wrimo Accelerator competition has sent her on her first venture into the world of publishing with Kindling Ashes.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 13, 2014
A highly imaginative fantasy of remarkable vision and premise
In a world of great fire-breathing beasts and Dragon slayers, one girl’s destiny marks the beginning of a new age to come. Either the world will burn in flame or Dragons will co-exist harmoniously alongside humans once more.
The first instalment within the exciting new ‘Firesouls’ series is an explosive opening, as the Dragons awake from hibernation and frees themselves from their human ‘host’ bodies. Two souls cannot live in one body forever, with their souls emerging causing a sickness to develop in the ignorant human hosts that threaten to endanger the human race on an epic scale. Teenager Giselle embarks on a perilous quest to try and not only protect Dragons but also her own kind as both equally are under threat, with the Kingdom of Auland on the precipice of falling into darkness. Corran (a young Dragonslayer) concurrently realizes his destined path that stretches out before him, and so these two divergent characters begin a journey into the unknown…
Kindling Ashes by Laura Harris is a refreshingly original Young Adult fantasy creation unlike anything I have encountered before and which is breathtakingly impressive! As a fan of Eragon and other dragon stories such as those by Anne MaCaffrey etc. I was dazzled by such a brilliant debut, with a unique slant on Dragons and their history. The conglomeration of metaphorical descriptive passages, engaging dialogue and dynamic vibrant characters this sweeping story was an entertaining and fast-paced read. As compelling as the eye-catching cover, I was sucked into an interesting story of inspired creative vision and extraordinary concepts, as to delight any fantasy fan or teenager who lives to dream.
…It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any Dragons! – JRR Tolkien
Giselle was a spunky, likeable main protagonist whose admirable strength made me care about her and become entangled within the unravelling saga. Wrought with sizzling fervent intensity and passion, the wonderfully woven narrative presents a multi-layered web of wonders to enchant and fascinate. I am addicted to epic quests, great destinies, magic and mythological creatures and references and so this riveting read was greatly appealing to me. Richly evocative and overlapping sub-plots lure you into a mesmerizing world that’s brilliantly realised on the page in such colour and dexterity.
Without a doubt this sensational story is a 4.5 star novel and accomplished debut setting standards high for a sequel!
*I would like to thank the author for providing me with a physical copy of her novel to read & provide an honest, non-biased review on.
In a world of great fire-breathing beasts and Dragon slayers, one girl’s destiny marks the beginning of a new age to come. Either the world will burn in flame or Dragons will co-exist harmoniously alongside humans once more.
The first instalment within the exciting new ‘Firesouls’ series is an explosive opening, as the Dragons awake from hibernation and frees themselves from their human ‘host’ bodies. Two souls cannot live in one body forever, with their souls emerging causing a sickness to develop in the ignorant human hosts that threaten to endanger the human race on an epic scale. Teenager Giselle embarks on a perilous quest to try and not only protect Dragons but also her own kind as both equally are under threat, with the Kingdom of Auland on the precipice of falling into darkness. Corran (a young Dragonslayer) concurrently realizes his destined path that stretches out before him, and so these two divergent characters begin a journey into the unknown…
Kindling Ashes by Laura Harris is a refreshingly original Young Adult fantasy creation unlike anything I have encountered before and which is breathtakingly impressive! As a fan of Eragon and other dragon stories such as those by Anne MaCaffrey etc. I was dazzled by such a brilliant debut, with a unique slant on Dragons and their history. The conglomeration of metaphorical descriptive passages, engaging dialogue and dynamic vibrant characters this sweeping story was an entertaining and fast-paced read. As compelling as the eye-catching cover, I was sucked into an interesting story of inspired creative vision and extraordinary concepts, as to delight any fantasy fan or teenager who lives to dream.
…It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any Dragons! – JRR Tolkien
Giselle was a spunky, likeable main protagonist whose admirable strength made me care about her and become entangled within the unravelling saga. Wrought with sizzling fervent intensity and passion, the wonderfully woven narrative presents a multi-layered web of wonders to enchant and fascinate. I am addicted to epic quests, great destinies, magic and mythological creatures and references and so this riveting read was greatly appealing to me. Richly evocative and overlapping sub-plots lure you into a mesmerizing world that’s brilliantly realised on the page in such colour and dexterity.
Without a doubt this sensational story is a 4.5 star novel and accomplished debut setting standards high for a sequel!
*I would like to thank the author for providing me with a physical copy of her novel to read & provide an honest, non-biased review on.
August 22, 2014
edit/after reading it:
I got to read it after all (even though I didn't win a copy) and I really enjoyed it! It was a great story with very interesting characters and very vivid descriptions. I'll surely read the second book when it comes out.
Anyways, this is a great book and a very fun and interesting read. If you come across it, give it a try and you won't be disappointed.
P.S. @Laura Harris: I hope you're in your house writing the second book day and night! And if you'd like a beta reader I'd love to be one. :P
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I really really really want to read this book!!!
Come on Gods of Goodreads! Hear my prayer! Let me win this book! Give me this story to read and I promise I will enjoy it cause there's no way I wouldn't enjoy and love this book!
*fingers crossed*
I got to read it after all (even though I didn't win a copy) and I really enjoyed it! It was a great story with very interesting characters and very vivid descriptions. I'll surely read the second book when it comes out.
Anyways, this is a great book and a very fun and interesting read. If you come across it, give it a try and you won't be disappointed.
P.S. @Laura Harris: I hope you're in your house writing the second book day and night! And if you'd like a beta reader I'd love to be one. :P
------------------------------------------------------------
I really really really want to read this book!!!
Come on Gods of Goodreads! Hear my prayer! Let me win this book! Give me this story to read and I promise I will enjoy it cause there's no way I wouldn't enjoy and love this book!
*fingers crossed*
July 17, 2014
Personal rating: 3 Stars
Rating it deserves: 3.5 Stars
An interesting and, for the most part, enjoyable read. I don't read dragon fantasy novels often so it was nice reading something that's somewhat still new to me. There were a few disappointments here and there, but I liked it overall. Let's begin my likes and dislikes in:
Characters
Giselle
I liked her. No extreme emotions here. I neither love nor hate her, though there were certainly moments where I felt either emotion about her. She's what's described in the synopsis---an 18-year-old girl who smuggles gold to make a living. She comes from a depressing background in the family department (I'll let you discover that for yourself if you haven't read it yet), she's neither a novice nor a professional in the smuggling trade (only good enough to just barely get by), and, other than sharing a dragon with her body, she's alone. Even though she's alone physically, she's emotionally attached to the hip (not literally) with her dragon soul. There's a bond there that she immensely appreciates (even if she doesn't show it sometimes) and proves time and time again how attached she is to her dragon. That attachment becomes a little too dependent which, to my dislike, leads to immature behavior. I won't mention what time of immature behavior she exuded (for, again, those of you who haven't read it), but it's behavior you'd expect from someone who gets too attached. I don't blame her for acting the way she did and (especially) feeling the way she did considering her circumstances and their history, but seeing that side of Giselle didn't sit well with me as it made me question the character that I thought I knew.
Moving on, she's no bamf fighter as she's only used weapons for show than for actual use (though the latter changes later on) and I enjoyed that aspect about her. It made me feel a little closer to her since strong heroines who can do tremendous things like wield weapons and professionally fight hand to hand combat slightly distances me from them. Not in a bad way nor at a large scale that it bothers me, I just enjoy it when a character (in terms of skills) is at a more average humane level since it feels for relatable. Another thing I liked about Giselle is that she can be smart philosophically, though it isn't shown that often. She may not be book smart, but she knows or eventually reaches the better conclusion to intellectual and moral conundrums. Even though she doesn't seem like a good guy (especially considering her occupation in the beginning), deep down she usually has her heart in the right place.
Corran
I'm not entirely sure how to describe how I feel about him. I started liking him a bit near the end, but for the most part it's not a love, like, or hate (though I felt the latter a lot for the majority of the novel). He's definitely not your typical hero that is the bad guy who changes to good at a typical pace. He's a bad apple for a majority of the novel, but I don't completely condemn him for it as his family situation has some influence towards his behavior/personality as well as the fact there is a moral compass in him...he just often chooses the wrong direction. You generally feel bad for him (or at least I did) when you learn about some of the shit he's gone through. When he got his comeuppances, I never felt a strong satisfaction of "YEAH! You deserved it!". It was mostly just pity because, again, I felt that his history growing up with his family was the major cause of how he turned out now. We may be the ultimate deciders of our fate, but what has effected us in making the types of decisions we make should definitely be considered.
He's typically bad with his moral compass, he's selfish for a large part of the novel (even when he considers others it usually ends with him wondering what he'll get out of it), and lacks smarts in the philosophical department for a good half to three fourths of the novel. He's nowhere near as bad as can be, but his actions from beginning to 70-75% of the novel aren't mostly good either. He doesn't relish in wreaking havoc, but he will if it'll benefit him/if it's his mission. Again, he's not the most despicable "hero" you'll ever meet (very far from it), but I wouldn't place him under the label good either. One silver lining for him is that he's fortunately not a static character so he does change. For better or for worse, I'll leave that up to you.
OVERALL, no matter what I felt for the characters, I didn't feel a strong connection to them. Despite me saying that I felt a little closer to Giselle with her "normalcy", I don't feel like she's my best friend...Or am I the only one who usually feels like the main character is their best friend at the end of a story? Anyways, I felt like I didn't make any concrete bonds with any characters. I like Giselle, but I feel like she's still somewhat of a mystery to me. I obviously don't know how I want to feel about Corran, but he also feels like somewhat of a stranger to me. Giselle's dragon and Frang have great personalities, but I also don't feel a huge attachment to them. I feel that the solution to it would be to give all 4 a lot/an equal amount of spotlight in the story written in 1st person, but I do understand that would definitely take a while and be difficult to accomplish. I don't have an easy or right solution to this distance that I felt, but I wanted to acknowledge it to see if I may be the only one feeling this (which, looking at the ratings, maybe I am?) or if anyone else feels it.
Plot
A definitely interesting premise. Again, I don't read dragon fantasy novels often so I don't know if dragons sharing a body with a human is normal, but I enjoy the reasoning/events behind it. I am disappointed about not getting a full explanation on how to process worked. There are definitely blanks that have not been explained, some most likely unintentional, others I'm not sure. I would definitely like to know who the heck Frang was Also, how many people are still Firesouls? I don't expect an exact number, but it's hard to understand if there are tens, hundreds, or thousands of them. You get a slightly better idea that there are more than a certain number, but it's still not a good reading about how many there are roughly.
I'd also like to know a little more about Corran's father's influence in the war. I know he encouraged the take down of dragons and, I believe, helped instigate it, but a lot of people (as mentioned by Corran) were against it/weren't eager for the war so I'm left wondering how he managed to get this battle started. We're told the story about why some humans wanted to start the war and it's a plausible reason that I'd be 100% into if it weren't for the fact that pretty much the only people we ever meet in the story are people who support dragons. I don't doubt there are people against them, but it's hard to see the legitimacy of this struggle between the people vs. dragons when, again, a majority of the people we meet like them. Heck, even the King doesn't want them dead.
I love the premise, but I sincerely hope that some blanks are filled and other tidbits of information are further explained in the next book.
Relatioships
Various relationship are dived into here: friendship, love, and family. Interesting relationships are brought up, but aren't fully explored to their full potential. I don't deny the strong friendship between Giselle and her dragon, but I would've loved to see more interaction between the two. Not that there wasn't much of it, but it was definitely minimized since there was also focus on close third person with Frang and Corran. Again, I understand the difficulty of accomplishing this so I don't condemn the author for not writing an extremely long story that balances 4 different characters.
Oh, and speaking of Corran, I was disappointed that there wasn't as much interaction between Corran and Giselle as I expected. Even though they were in the same story and in the same situation, it still felt like I was reading a story ABOUT two different people instead of reading a story WITH two different people. When I read stories with 2 different POVs, I still feel like I'm reading the same story. With this story, I just felt isolated when I read each character in third person. Aside from the one interaction where they have their snarky conversation together, it mostly just felt like the other character didn't exist.
One final relationship I would've loved to know more about is the one with Tilda and Corran. There must be a history behind it as Corran does demonstrate strong feelings for her, but it's hard to completely accept it when there are no experiences between the two to see play out before you. Maybe there should be a short/mini novella about their relationship before she left? I don't deny that they have feelings for each other that go beyond a simple crush, but it's hard to feel it when, again, there are no real experiences to go by and are only allowed to accept it by word.
Overall, I just liked the novel. Despite my pickiness, I did enjoy it. The narrative was nicely written and the plot holds interest, there were just some disappointments that brought me down. Even though I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, I still recommend checking it out as it seems I'm part of the few who didn't like it as much as the others. You should definitely at least read a preview of the story to see if it interests you. If you're interested in YA Fantasy novels that focus on dragons, this might be the book for you.
That being said, I'm still interested in checking out book 2 and seeing where that leads off to.
Rating it deserves: 3.5 Stars
An interesting and, for the most part, enjoyable read. I don't read dragon fantasy novels often so it was nice reading something that's somewhat still new to me. There were a few disappointments here and there, but I liked it overall. Let's begin my likes and dislikes in:
Characters
Giselle
I liked her. No extreme emotions here. I neither love nor hate her, though there were certainly moments where I felt either emotion about her. She's what's described in the synopsis---an 18-year-old girl who smuggles gold to make a living. She comes from a depressing background in the family department (I'll let you discover that for yourself if you haven't read it yet), she's neither a novice nor a professional in the smuggling trade (only good enough to just barely get by), and, other than sharing a dragon with her body, she's alone. Even though she's alone physically, she's emotionally attached to the hip (not literally) with her dragon soul. There's a bond there that she immensely appreciates (even if she doesn't show it sometimes) and proves time and time again how attached she is to her dragon. That attachment becomes a little too dependent which, to my dislike, leads to immature behavior. I won't mention what time of immature behavior she exuded (for, again, those of you who haven't read it), but it's behavior you'd expect from someone who gets too attached. I don't blame her for acting the way she did and (especially) feeling the way she did considering her circumstances and their history, but seeing that side of Giselle didn't sit well with me as it made me question the character that I thought I knew.
Moving on, she's no bamf fighter as she's only used weapons for show than for actual use (though the latter changes later on) and I enjoyed that aspect about her. It made me feel a little closer to her since strong heroines who can do tremendous things like wield weapons and professionally fight hand to hand combat slightly distances me from them. Not in a bad way nor at a large scale that it bothers me, I just enjoy it when a character (in terms of skills) is at a more average humane level since it feels for relatable. Another thing I liked about Giselle is that she can be smart philosophically, though it isn't shown that often. She may not be book smart, but she knows or eventually reaches the better conclusion to intellectual and moral conundrums. Even though she doesn't seem like a good guy (especially considering her occupation in the beginning), deep down she usually has her heart in the right place.
Corran
I'm not entirely sure how to describe how I feel about him. I started liking him a bit near the end, but for the most part it's not a love, like, or hate (though I felt the latter a lot for the majority of the novel). He's definitely not your typical hero that is the bad guy who changes to good at a typical pace. He's a bad apple for a majority of the novel, but I don't completely condemn him for it as his family situation has some influence towards his behavior/personality as well as the fact there is a moral compass in him...he just often chooses the wrong direction. You generally feel bad for him (or at least I did) when you learn about some of the shit he's gone through. When he got his comeuppances, I never felt a strong satisfaction of "YEAH! You deserved it!". It was mostly just pity because, again, I felt that his history growing up with his family was the major cause of how he turned out now. We may be the ultimate deciders of our fate, but what has effected us in making the types of decisions we make should definitely be considered.
He's typically bad with his moral compass, he's selfish for a large part of the novel (even when he considers others it usually ends with him wondering what he'll get out of it), and lacks smarts in the philosophical department for a good half to three fourths of the novel. He's nowhere near as bad as can be, but his actions from beginning to 70-75% of the novel aren't mostly good either. He doesn't relish in wreaking havoc, but he will if it'll benefit him/if it's his mission. Again, he's not the most despicable "hero" you'll ever meet (very far from it), but I wouldn't place him under the label good either. One silver lining for him is that he's fortunately not a static character so he does change. For better or for worse, I'll leave that up to you.
OVERALL, no matter what I felt for the characters, I didn't feel a strong connection to them. Despite me saying that I felt a little closer to Giselle with her "normalcy", I don't feel like she's my best friend...Or am I the only one who usually feels like the main character is their best friend at the end of a story? Anyways, I felt like I didn't make any concrete bonds with any characters. I like Giselle, but I feel like she's still somewhat of a mystery to me. I obviously don't know how I want to feel about Corran, but he also feels like somewhat of a stranger to me. Giselle's dragon and Frang have great personalities, but I also don't feel a huge attachment to them. I feel that the solution to it would be to give all 4 a lot/an equal amount of spotlight in the story written in 1st person, but I do understand that would definitely take a while and be difficult to accomplish. I don't have an easy or right solution to this distance that I felt, but I wanted to acknowledge it to see if I may be the only one feeling this (which, looking at the ratings, maybe I am?) or if anyone else feels it.
Plot
A definitely interesting premise. Again, I don't read dragon fantasy novels often so I don't know if dragons sharing a body with a human is normal, but I enjoy the reasoning/events behind it. I am disappointed about not getting a full explanation on how to process worked. There are definitely blanks that have not been explained, some most likely unintentional, others I'm not sure. I would definitely like to know who the heck Frang was Also, how many people are still Firesouls? I don't expect an exact number, but it's hard to understand if there are tens, hundreds, or thousands of them. You get a slightly better idea that there are more than a certain number, but it's still not a good reading about how many there are roughly.
I'd also like to know a little more about Corran's father's influence in the war. I know he encouraged the take down of dragons and, I believe, helped instigate it, but a lot of people (as mentioned by Corran) were against it/weren't eager for the war so I'm left wondering how he managed to get this battle started. We're told the story about why some humans wanted to start the war and it's a plausible reason that I'd be 100% into if it weren't for the fact that pretty much the only people we ever meet in the story are people who support dragons. I don't doubt there are people against them, but it's hard to see the legitimacy of this struggle between the people vs. dragons when, again, a majority of the people we meet like them. Heck, even the King doesn't want them dead.
I love the premise, but I sincerely hope that some blanks are filled and other tidbits of information are further explained in the next book.
Relatioships
Various relationship are dived into here: friendship, love, and family. Interesting relationships are brought up, but aren't fully explored to their full potential. I don't deny the strong friendship between Giselle and her dragon, but I would've loved to see more interaction between the two. Not that there wasn't much of it, but it was definitely minimized since there was also focus on close third person with Frang and Corran. Again, I understand the difficulty of accomplishing this so I don't condemn the author for not writing an extremely long story that balances 4 different characters.
Oh, and speaking of Corran, I was disappointed that there wasn't as much interaction between Corran and Giselle as I expected. Even though they were in the same story and in the same situation, it still felt like I was reading a story ABOUT two different people instead of reading a story WITH two different people. When I read stories with 2 different POVs, I still feel like I'm reading the same story. With this story, I just felt isolated when I read each character in third person. Aside from the one interaction where they have their snarky conversation together, it mostly just felt like the other character didn't exist.
One final relationship I would've loved to know more about is the one with Tilda and Corran. There must be a history behind it as Corran does demonstrate strong feelings for her, but it's hard to completely accept it when there are no experiences between the two to see play out before you. Maybe there should be a short/mini novella about their relationship before she left? I don't deny that they have feelings for each other that go beyond a simple crush, but it's hard to feel it when, again, there are no real experiences to go by and are only allowed to accept it by word.
Overall, I just liked the novel. Despite my pickiness, I did enjoy it. The narrative was nicely written and the plot holds interest, there were just some disappointments that brought me down. Even though I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, I still recommend checking it out as it seems I'm part of the few who didn't like it as much as the others. You should definitely at least read a preview of the story to see if it interests you. If you're interested in YA Fantasy novels that focus on dragons, this might be the book for you.
That being said, I'm still interested in checking out book 2 and seeing where that leads off to.
May 14, 2014
A Trickster Eric Novels review
Laura Harris asked me to read her story "Kindling Ashes". It features a conflict between the Firesouls, who want to revive the dragon race, and the dragon slayers, who want to finish the job they started sixteen years ago. I will examine plot, characters and polish, and then then assign a grade.
PLOT
The story begins in the aftermath of a war between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Auland. It ended with dragon extinction, but unknown to most humans, the dragons have been hiding out inside humans as disembodied spirits. Now the dragons seek to regroup and return to dragon bodies before their hosts go up in flames. It's a sympathetic conflict and drives one of the two protagonists up the wall with in-decision.
There are two protagonist because this book features a dual-protagonist system. Every chapter switches the perspective of the story between Giselle, a firesoul sympathetic to the dragons, and Corran, a firesoul who wants to kill dragons. It works well not only because it underscores the grey and grey morality of the story. For instance, one chapter will have humans recall dragons tearing towers down and burning humans alive while the next will have dragons recall raids by humans that ended with dead mates and shattered eggs.
The cause and nature of the war is revealed over the course of the story. It's an interesting deconstruction of the age-old idea that dragons hoard treasure in caves.
It's not action packed by any stretch of the word but I read through it quicker than I do many review requests because the world building intrigued me and I liked the characters. Corran, in particular, was fun to dissect for his true motive and which side of the fence he would fall on.
There are a couple problems but all of them occur near the end of the story, leaving the rest spotless.
1. There's a Whatever Happened To The Mouse with a major villain, which is puzzling given the situation, but a protagonist notes the absence and also that there's a more pressing matter to tend to. Thus, it's easier to overlook.
2. There's a Diablos Ex Machina that prevents one of the two protagonists from living happily ever after as of this book, instead of waiting for the end of the series. It happens early enough, and there's enough development before and after that I feel it will become something more than that. Thus, it's also easier to overlook.
CHARACTERS
Giselle is the leading lady. I like her. She has this vulnerable toughness thing that makes her a endearing and sympathetic protagonist. There's also her fighting skills. Considering she's a host for a dragon, one would think the author would make her this super powered warrior but that's not the case. She's as strong and skilled as you'd expect a teenage street urchin whose never seriously fought before the story to be. When outmatched, she runs away or uses guile instead of god mode dragon powers.
Corran is the leading guy. What's interesting about him is that he spends the book pulled in three directions. He's from a family of dragonslayers, holds the soul of a dragon but isn't fond of either group because the former (save one member) is abusive and the latter he has been raised to hate as evil monsters. It's like he's walking on a fence for the entire story and wobbles this way and that while plotting his own course. It was fascinating to debate whether really wanted to kill dragons to be a hero or just wanted to show up his big brother bully; in other words, if he was a hero or a villain.
Frang gets a mention because he's my favorite character. He's a dragon soul stuck in Corran's head and a large part of the reason that Corran's side of the story (his mental processes and such) is so interesting. He shows the boy his memories as proof that dragons are not evil and so the boy has to go to greater lengths to justify his hatred. He's also a witty snarker that, at the same time, has a bigger role and wider personality than simple comic relief.
I could go on, but I only have more good things to say about the characters.
POLISH
No spelling or grammar problems. I like the split narration because it is consistent and adds value to the story. Other books I've reviewed use this technique but it reads like two or more separate stories. This is two sides of the same one because they reflect each other and constantly intertwine.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Kindling Ashes" an A+
Laura Harris asked me to read her story "Kindling Ashes". It features a conflict between the Firesouls, who want to revive the dragon race, and the dragon slayers, who want to finish the job they started sixteen years ago. I will examine plot, characters and polish, and then then assign a grade.
PLOT
The story begins in the aftermath of a war between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Auland. It ended with dragon extinction, but unknown to most humans, the dragons have been hiding out inside humans as disembodied spirits. Now the dragons seek to regroup and return to dragon bodies before their hosts go up in flames. It's a sympathetic conflict and drives one of the two protagonists up the wall with in-decision.
There are two protagonist because this book features a dual-protagonist system. Every chapter switches the perspective of the story between Giselle, a firesoul sympathetic to the dragons, and Corran, a firesoul who wants to kill dragons. It works well not only because it underscores the grey and grey morality of the story. For instance, one chapter will have humans recall dragons tearing towers down and burning humans alive while the next will have dragons recall raids by humans that ended with dead mates and shattered eggs.
The cause and nature of the war is revealed over the course of the story. It's an interesting deconstruction of the age-old idea that dragons hoard treasure in caves.
It's not action packed by any stretch of the word but I read through it quicker than I do many review requests because the world building intrigued me and I liked the characters. Corran, in particular, was fun to dissect for his true motive and which side of the fence he would fall on.
There are a couple problems but all of them occur near the end of the story, leaving the rest spotless.
1. There's a Whatever Happened To The Mouse with a major villain, which is puzzling given the situation, but a protagonist notes the absence and also that there's a more pressing matter to tend to. Thus, it's easier to overlook.
2. There's a Diablos Ex Machina that prevents one of the two protagonists from living happily ever after as of this book, instead of waiting for the end of the series. It happens early enough, and there's enough development before and after that I feel it will become something more than that. Thus, it's also easier to overlook.
CHARACTERS
Giselle is the leading lady. I like her. She has this vulnerable toughness thing that makes her a endearing and sympathetic protagonist. There's also her fighting skills. Considering she's a host for a dragon, one would think the author would make her this super powered warrior but that's not the case. She's as strong and skilled as you'd expect a teenage street urchin whose never seriously fought before the story to be. When outmatched, she runs away or uses guile instead of god mode dragon powers.
Corran is the leading guy. What's interesting about him is that he spends the book pulled in three directions. He's from a family of dragonslayers, holds the soul of a dragon but isn't fond of either group because the former (save one member) is abusive and the latter he has been raised to hate as evil monsters. It's like he's walking on a fence for the entire story and wobbles this way and that while plotting his own course. It was fascinating to debate whether really wanted to kill dragons to be a hero or just wanted to show up his big brother bully; in other words, if he was a hero or a villain.
Frang gets a mention because he's my favorite character. He's a dragon soul stuck in Corran's head and a large part of the reason that Corran's side of the story (his mental processes and such) is so interesting. He shows the boy his memories as proof that dragons are not evil and so the boy has to go to greater lengths to justify his hatred. He's also a witty snarker that, at the same time, has a bigger role and wider personality than simple comic relief.
I could go on, but I only have more good things to say about the characters.
POLISH
No spelling or grammar problems. I like the split narration because it is consistent and adds value to the story. Other books I've reviewed use this technique but it reads like two or more separate stories. This is two sides of the same one because they reflect each other and constantly intertwine.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Kindling Ashes" an A+
June 8, 2015
Last week, I reviewed Clash of Eagles which is a historical fiction.
So, this week, apparently my To-Be-Read Jar decided for me to go on the other side of the spectrum : fantasy.
And this fantasy novel has the one thing that I love and adore most all -- dragons.
I am a sucker for dragons so when I read this summary (months and months ago when I made my jar) I was excited to read it. Unfortunately (or not, matters on how you look at it), it was such a good read that I read in one complete day. Does anybody else love/hate when that happens?
Quick summary. Small spoilers afoot! In Kindling Ashes, you follow along with two main protagonist on either side of the Dragon War. A young gold smuggler by the name of Giselle and a young boy named Corran. Giselle is a young teen just trying to survive on the streets of Tyrun after being thrown out of her house because everyone around her thought that she was processed because she talks to herself. Corran, on the other hand, is the youngest son of Lord Huwcyn who was a mighty Dragonslayer in the war. How these two's lives intertwined...well, I guess you'll just have to buy the book to find out.
Now comes the point of the review where I foam at the mouth and babble on how much I loved this novel. This book, I honestly was expecting something that I would enjoy but wouldn't fall head-over-heels for. I was wrong. I fell in love with Giselle's and her "Voice's" relationship. It was so cute and you could tell that they truly cared for each other and didn't want to part -- even though they had to. Corran, admittedly, was my hated character for the first half of this book. But, if anyone deserves a character progression reward its him. Throughout the novel, you read his struggle with his upbringings and the truths that are being presented to him. It was thoroughly interesting to watch him have to face fact and figure out how to right his wrongs at the end of the novel. There's another character that I also loved that is correlated to Corran but I don't want to spoil that part of the novel, so any other readers want to talk to me about it, comment below.
Also, I would love to give props to Harris for not making this a romance story. My biggest worry when I read the summary was that Giselle and Corran would fall in love and everything would be right in the world; but, thank goodness Harris didn't go down that path.
Overall, I (obviously) give this book a 10 out of 10. Awesome fantasy book. Breathtaking cover art. Well written characters. What else do you need?
Best part about this? This is only part one.
The second novel Fanning Flames is set to come out sometime in 2015.
I want it now!
Until the next page turn,
Tiffany
So, this week, apparently my To-Be-Read Jar decided for me to go on the other side of the spectrum : fantasy.
And this fantasy novel has the one thing that I love and adore most all -- dragons.
I am a sucker for dragons so when I read this summary (months and months ago when I made my jar) I was excited to read it. Unfortunately (or not, matters on how you look at it), it was such a good read that I read in one complete day. Does anybody else love/hate when that happens?
Quick summary. Small spoilers afoot! In Kindling Ashes, you follow along with two main protagonist on either side of the Dragon War. A young gold smuggler by the name of Giselle and a young boy named Corran. Giselle is a young teen just trying to survive on the streets of Tyrun after being thrown out of her house because everyone around her thought that she was processed because she talks to herself. Corran, on the other hand, is the youngest son of Lord Huwcyn who was a mighty Dragonslayer in the war. How these two's lives intertwined...well, I guess you'll just have to buy the book to find out.
Now comes the point of the review where I foam at the mouth and babble on how much I loved this novel. This book, I honestly was expecting something that I would enjoy but wouldn't fall head-over-heels for. I was wrong. I fell in love with Giselle's and her "Voice's" relationship. It was so cute and you could tell that they truly cared for each other and didn't want to part -- even though they had to. Corran, admittedly, was my hated character for the first half of this book. But, if anyone deserves a character progression reward its him. Throughout the novel, you read his struggle with his upbringings and the truths that are being presented to him. It was thoroughly interesting to watch him have to face fact and figure out how to right his wrongs at the end of the novel. There's another character that I also loved that is correlated to Corran but I don't want to spoil that part of the novel, so any other readers want to talk to me about it, comment below.
Also, I would love to give props to Harris for not making this a romance story. My biggest worry when I read the summary was that Giselle and Corran would fall in love and everything would be right in the world; but, thank goodness Harris didn't go down that path.
Overall, I (obviously) give this book a 10 out of 10. Awesome fantasy book. Breathtaking cover art. Well written characters. What else do you need?
Best part about this? This is only part one.
The second novel Fanning Flames is set to come out sometime in 2015.
I want it now!
Until the next page turn,
Tiffany
July 22, 2014
You can read my other reviews at: The Titan's Tomb
Sixteen years ago the Dragon War was fought and the dragons were killed out...or at least the human's believed them to be. But the alpha dragon Baltair was able to conserve the soul of himself and the rest of his nest by hiding them away in the bodies of humans. But the dragon souls cannot be contained within the body of a human forever and even now their hosts are becoming weakened, some even dying from the exertion of having two souls. Giselle is a teenaged gold smuggler working on the streets of Auland who struggles to survive on the street with the help of the voice in her head, so when she is given the opportunity to travel to the mountains that she and Voice have dreamed about for so long, she jumps at the chance. Corran is the youngest son of the dragonslayer that led the battle all of those years ago, he is the weakest amongst his brothers and seeks the approval of his legendary father, so when he hears humours of dragon sympathises is the area he decides that this is the opportunity to prove himself once and for all. But as soon as he embarks on his journey of lies and betrayals, his destiny will be changed forever.
Ever since the beauty and success of Eragon, I have been searching for the next dragon book that I would fall in love with, and sadly, Kindling Ashes is not that book. I enjoyed the world that Harris has created and it is a very unique and different idea amongst the young adult and fantasy genre, but the characters, whilst interesting, I did not fully connect with. Corran is an egotistical and immature child that continuously made me want to slam the book shut, but his character development was his saving grace, whilst Giselle on the other hand was a selfish girl who couldn't even bear to think about having to let her dragon leave her body, and her character development needed more of something. The beginning drew me into the story, but by the end of it I was glad that it was finished. Kindling Ashes had a lot of potential and I was a bit disappointed that it didn't live up to it.
Sixteen years ago the Dragon War was fought and the dragons were killed out...or at least the human's believed them to be. But the alpha dragon Baltair was able to conserve the soul of himself and the rest of his nest by hiding them away in the bodies of humans. But the dragon souls cannot be contained within the body of a human forever and even now their hosts are becoming weakened, some even dying from the exertion of having two souls. Giselle is a teenaged gold smuggler working on the streets of Auland who struggles to survive on the street with the help of the voice in her head, so when she is given the opportunity to travel to the mountains that she and Voice have dreamed about for so long, she jumps at the chance. Corran is the youngest son of the dragonslayer that led the battle all of those years ago, he is the weakest amongst his brothers and seeks the approval of his legendary father, so when he hears humours of dragon sympathises is the area he decides that this is the opportunity to prove himself once and for all. But as soon as he embarks on his journey of lies and betrayals, his destiny will be changed forever.
Ever since the beauty and success of Eragon, I have been searching for the next dragon book that I would fall in love with, and sadly, Kindling Ashes is not that book. I enjoyed the world that Harris has created and it is a very unique and different idea amongst the young adult and fantasy genre, but the characters, whilst interesting, I did not fully connect with. Corran is an egotistical and immature child that continuously made me want to slam the book shut, but his character development was his saving grace, whilst Giselle on the other hand was a selfish girl who couldn't even bear to think about having to let her dragon leave her body, and her character development needed more of something. The beginning drew me into the story, but by the end of it I was glad that it was finished. Kindling Ashes had a lot of potential and I was a bit disappointed that it didn't live up to it.
November 1, 2014
First all of I found it very well-designed with its cover and map and everything. I've never read a novel about dragons before but this novel made me love them with its descriptions and pet-like figures.The thought of having communication with an animal living inside you is written so fantastic so that I found myself wishing we humans had this kind of ability in real too.I only wish it wouldn't end in such a climax point that left me in curiosity but I can say its one of the best fantastic books I've read and enjoyed to read.
July 19, 2014
A debut novel from a promising young author. I love the idea behind the Firesouls sharing human bodies in order to stop them being destroyed by humanity. The story itself is excellent. I have every hope that the author's voice will only continue to grow and mature as she continues writing.
I have friends who are young adult librarians who I think would be very interested to have a story like this in their libraries. The main characters go through a great deal of transformation as the story unfolds. I can hardly wait for the next book in the series!
I have friends who are young adult librarians who I think would be very interested to have a story like this in their libraries. The main characters go through a great deal of transformation as the story unfolds. I can hardly wait for the next book in the series!
August 1, 2014
Kindling Ashes is the story of a conflict between Fire souls and Drsgon slayers the Fire Souls want to revive the Dragon race while the Slayers just want to finish what they started sixteen years ago. The descriptions are so beautifully written they take you to a land where Dragons still roam the the Earth and anything is possible.
July 16, 2014
Thank you Laura Harris! I have been waiting for a ya or any fantasy book to not only have a great story but one that didnt have a love story or love triangle that took away from the adventure. I loved all the characters, the fast pace and the humor from the dragon. Great start to this series and i cant wait for the next.
October 1, 2014
it comes as no surprise to learn that this was a NaNo project. it was oddly paced, with little character development, and weak worldbuilding. I wasn't invested in any of the characters at all, even up to the end.
Read
June 14, 2014Read my review here: http://journeytoo.wordpress.com/2014/...
July 10, 2014
I need book 2. D:
May 28, 2014
Loved this book. The descriptions take the reader to a land where dragons roam and anything is possible. Made me want to slip into the book as one of the characters.
July 20, 2014
this book is amaaaazzing!!!!!!! i need the 2nd book like yesterday!!!
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