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Fire to the Stars
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Expected 4 Aug 26In a kingdom cursed to turn people into dragons, two teens from opposite worlds, each with nothing left to lose, form an uneasy alliance. Told in dual perspectives, this sweeping debut follows their search for redemption and the slow-burning bond that could save them both.
Every month, the kingdom of Florent braces for the a solar event that turns ordinary humans into vicious dragon shifters. And anyone can be a dragon's next victim.
Claire knows this all too well because the Ignition consumed her and her father, her town, and the life she thought she’d have. Now, she's scraping by on her wits as part of a sisterhood of thieves—lying, stealing, her heart locked tight—until she tracks down a disgraced dragon slayer who may be the one person who can give her back the life she once had.
Abel has been shunned by the prestigious Slayers Guild for conducting research that’s too...unorthodox to condone. But there’s no one Claire trusts more than a rulebreaker, and that research might be the one thing that could help her. So when Abel reveals he is hunting again, Claire tries to hire him under false pretenses. Abel, however, is reluctant to accept a job from a criminal, no matter how charming she is. And yet...he really needs the money.
Together, Claire and Abel will race through Florent and uncover dangerous secrets in their quests for forgiveness—and survival. But that knowledge may cost them the very thing they’ve grown desperate to each other.
Every month, the kingdom of Florent braces for the a solar event that turns ordinary humans into vicious dragon shifters. And anyone can be a dragon's next victim.
Claire knows this all too well because the Ignition consumed her and her father, her town, and the life she thought she’d have. Now, she's scraping by on her wits as part of a sisterhood of thieves—lying, stealing, her heart locked tight—until she tracks down a disgraced dragon slayer who may be the one person who can give her back the life she once had.
Abel has been shunned by the prestigious Slayers Guild for conducting research that’s too...unorthodox to condone. But there’s no one Claire trusts more than a rulebreaker, and that research might be the one thing that could help her. So when Abel reveals he is hunting again, Claire tries to hire him under false pretenses. Abel, however, is reluctant to accept a job from a criminal, no matter how charming she is. And yet...he really needs the money.
Together, Claire and Abel will race through Florent and uncover dangerous secrets in their quests for forgiveness—and survival. But that knowledge may cost them the very thing they’ve grown desperate to each other.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication August 4, 2026
2 people are currently reading
473 people want to read
About the author
Morgan J. Watchorn
2 books19 followersMorgan J. Watchorn is the author of fantasy books that feature unapologetic girls at the heart of cataclysms—either fighting or causing them. Her debut YA fantasy novel FIRE TO THE STARS will release from Knopf/Penguin Random House in fall 2025. An untitled YA fantasy novel will follow.
A Southern California native, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California, Irvine with an overachiever complex that both haunts and motivates her to this day. When she’s not writing, she can be found at the barn with her spoiled horses.
She is represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary.
A Southern California native, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California, Irvine with an overachiever complex that both haunts and motivates her to this day. When she’s not writing, she can be found at the barn with her spoiled horses.
She is represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 21, 2025
Filled with adventure, romance and sassy banter, FIRE TO THE STARS is a propulsive whirlwind of a fantasy that will keep you craving more! Plus, you'll discover your new favourite pet – a tinderfox.
Thank you to Morgan and Knopf for the ARC. This is my honest review.
Thank you to Morgan and Knopf for the ARC. This is my honest review.
October 22, 2022
I read an early copy of this book and gosh was I blown away. Filled with quick-witted characters, gorgeous prose, and plot that makes you want to read just-one-more-chapter, this book is an absolute must read. While I typically stay away from dragon-related books, this is the book that made me reconsider my prior dislike of the genre.
Also, shout out to my favorite angsty boy Abel. He is perfection. He must be protected at all costs.
Also, shout out to my favorite angsty boy Abel. He is perfection. He must be protected at all costs.
Read
October 2, 2024J’ai pas réussi à accrocher et j’en suis la première déçue car tout avait du potentiel… :(
gave-up-on
January 18, 202670% was as far as I made it before throwing in the towel.
This has to be the most boring book for this year (and the year is still young, so maybe more books will be surpassing the role of 'most boring'.
I kept waiting for tension, surprise, deeper emotions and backstories for the characters. I got none of that. You're reading what you're seeing on the page, a dragon hunter who is awful at using a sword and riding a horse, killed his brother but not before torturing him to find cure only to come up with none. The female lead is a daughter of a farmer who became a dragon and killed her father and destroyed her town hires him under guise for looking for dragon but the dragon is actually her.
How do people turn into dragons? Two brothers up in the sky got into a fight and one cursed any humans that become too greedy to become dragons. Which makes no sense because how can you destroy all of humanity's greed?
The romance is boring and somehow he ends up falling for her but they do nothing romantic and or have any sort of romantic feelings except letting her be a shoulder for her to 'oh woe is me' and they apparently have sex?
But the most irritating thing of all? This takes place either in France or France adjacent. The author makes the characters half-ass French. Why? I don't know. I wish that if you were going to use French in books make the characters speak it in full or don't and just indicate that the character is speaking a different language. In this book it's called 'Old Form' or something of that nature. So, is this an alt. universe earth?
There aren't any side characters, really. There is Lyle but he doesn't really show up enough for you to care, or care about his kidnapped mother. There is a threat of people in masks with blue cloaks, that can self heal, but they're also not there enough.
All I know is, dragons are in again and a pretty cover does not support the text inside.
Out of respect for the author, due to not finishing it I will not be rating this.
This has to be the most boring book for this year (and the year is still young, so maybe more books will be surpassing the role of 'most boring'.
I kept waiting for tension, surprise, deeper emotions and backstories for the characters. I got none of that. You're reading what you're seeing on the page, a dragon hunter who is awful at using a sword and riding a horse, killed his brother but not before torturing him to find cure only to come up with none. The female lead is a daughter of a farmer who became a dragon and killed her father and destroyed her town hires him under guise for looking for dragon but the dragon is actually her.
How do people turn into dragons? Two brothers up in the sky got into a fight and one cursed any humans that become too greedy to become dragons. Which makes no sense because how can you destroy all of humanity's greed?
The romance is boring and somehow he ends up falling for her but they do nothing romantic and or have any sort of romantic feelings except letting her be a shoulder for her to 'oh woe is me' and they apparently have sex?
But the most irritating thing of all? This takes place either in France or France adjacent. The author makes the characters half-ass French. Why? I don't know. I wish that if you were going to use French in books make the characters speak it in full or don't and just indicate that the character is speaking a different language. In this book it's called 'Old Form' or something of that nature. So, is this an alt. universe earth?
There aren't any side characters, really. There is Lyle but he doesn't really show up enough for you to care, or care about his kidnapped mother. There is a threat of people in masks with blue cloaks, that can self heal, but they're also not there enough.
All I know is, dragons are in again and a pretty cover does not support the text inside.
Out of respect for the author, due to not finishing it I will not be rating this.
Read
December 21, 2025Hello, lovely readers! Thank you for your interest in Fire to the Stars. ARCs are now available to request on NetGalley and Edelweiss. I hope you enjoy! Either way, you have my deepest gratitude for giving my work a try.
*Content warnings are currently listed on my website on the Books page and will be included in the final copy.
*Content warnings are currently listed on my website on the Books page and will be included in the final copy.
January 26, 2026
I received an Advanced Readers’ Copy of this book from NetGalley 7 months before release. But my real flex is that I heard the first emerging ideas for this novel over the phone about 6 years ago.
Fire to the Stars is exciting, thrilling, and endearing. The world is clearly much bigger than the story itself and lives past the final page. My only struggle was being totally not used to reading YA and having to resettle into that style, but FTTS is exactly the kind of book that teenage-Ellie would’ve be obsessed with: careful in its character construction but unbridled in its address of dark and delicate topics. I cannot wait to see this on the shelves.
Fire to the Stars is exciting, thrilling, and endearing. The world is clearly much bigger than the story itself and lives past the final page. My only struggle was being totally not used to reading YA and having to resettle into that style, but FTTS is exactly the kind of book that teenage-Ellie would’ve be obsessed with: careful in its character construction but unbridled in its address of dark and delicate topics. I cannot wait to see this on the shelves.
November 7, 2022
I read an early version of this novel, and let me just say, FIRE TO THE STARS will absolutely steal your heart. Whether it is the complex, yet lovable, characters or the intricate worldbuilding or Morgan Watchorn's captivating prose, there is truly something for any and all readers to enjoy. I cannot begin to phrase how much I adore Morgan and FIRE TO THE STARS, so I'll stick with a simple—READ THIS BOOK!
January 30, 2026
Huge thanks to the Netgalley team, the Random House Children's Books | Knopf Books for Young Readers team, and the force of nature that is Morgan J. Watchorn for providing an ARC copy of this novel for me to review. I feel incredibly fortunate to leave my thoughts on this one.
Fire to the Stars is a book like no other, and I'm not saying that just to say it. With precise, compassionate prose, it combines the witty, romantic, monster-hunter banter of ND Stevenson's Nimona with the dark, scientific, morally gray edges of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 into a dynamic, fiery tornado that'll leave you breathless by the end of the last page.
In some senses, to call this book a novel would feel inaccurate. Rather, it is a ballad of Abel Estellio and Claire Belgard, of fire and ice, of suns and moon, of light and dark, of right and wrong. Cinematic in its epic scope while staying tremendously grounded in its humanity, Watchorn's debut pays tribute to what feels like Eastern anime and Western fiction contemporaries while also breaking the YA mold in its careful rendering of the lightest and darkest parts of us.
Also, if you can't tell by now, I want this novel to have a video game, a feature-length movie, and tinderfox merchandise because that is nothing less than what it deserves. It is astoundingly vivid in its vision and execution, and only a master storyteller could produce a work of this high caliber.
To put it more precisely, I believe that Watchorn's work will define and expand the YA genre for years to come, and I cannot wait to read more of her works in the future.
Fire to the Stars is a book like no other, and I'm not saying that just to say it. With precise, compassionate prose, it combines the witty, romantic, monster-hunter banter of ND Stevenson's Nimona with the dark, scientific, morally gray edges of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 into a dynamic, fiery tornado that'll leave you breathless by the end of the last page.
In some senses, to call this book a novel would feel inaccurate. Rather, it is a ballad of Abel Estellio and Claire Belgard, of fire and ice, of suns and moon, of light and dark, of right and wrong. Cinematic in its epic scope while staying tremendously grounded in its humanity, Watchorn's debut pays tribute to what feels like Eastern anime and Western fiction contemporaries while also breaking the YA mold in its careful rendering of the lightest and darkest parts of us.
Also, if you can't tell by now, I want this novel to have a video game, a feature-length movie, and tinderfox merchandise because that is nothing less than what it deserves. It is astoundingly vivid in its vision and execution, and only a master storyteller could produce a work of this high caliber.
To put it more precisely, I believe that Watchorn's work will define and expand the YA genre for years to come, and I cannot wait to read more of her works in the future.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book has so much potential, and I wanted to love it- I did up until the last 15%. It's very dark but very well written, with an interesting worldbuilding system, a well-paced plot, instantly sympathetic main characters, and even some cute and cool animal sidekicks. I was invested not only in Claire and Abel's relationship, but in how the philosophical questions raised by the religious system would be answered within the story. There is so much buildup to what could be a cathartic, wonder-filled reveal... and then it sort of fizzles out. The big twist explanation is bogged down by overly technical details; it reads like the author is trying to write the wondrous and fantastical without ever having actually encountered actual divine truth and beauty. What consolation the characters get rests on them being chosen for qualities intrinsic to themselves; there is not any redemption so much as "if we make better choices now that makes up for everything we did before, and it means we're really good people inside now". Honestly, it reads a little bit like the author has decided to pick a bone with the Catholic church (making some valid points along the way) without an accurate understanding of why exactly certain things could have gone so wrong. The theme throughout the entire book seems to be getting at the question, "why does human suffering exist"- and the answers given are completely unsatisfactory, because they do not point to the only true Answer. So for me, the worldview in this book just didn't work and is definitely not enough to make the darkness of the story worth it.
Content:
Language- none
Romantic content- some steamy kisses, several fade-to-black scenes
Violence: lots of gore and death, mostly off-page dismemberment and beheading (both of humans and dragons), a fairly disturbing description of a young child being tortured
Content:
Language- none
Romantic content- some steamy kisses, several fade-to-black scenes
Violence: lots of gore and death, mostly off-page dismemberment and beheading (both of humans and dragons), a fairly disturbing description of a young child being tortured
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2023
I was lucky enough to read an early draft of this book, and if I fell in love with it then, I can only imagine how much more stunning it is now after revisions to make it sparkle. The premise hooked me from the very beginning: a dragon and a dragon slayer? Talk about enemies to lovers.
I have to admit I am not a "dragon person," but that was not even an obstacle while reading. The tension is high in every scene to suck any reader right in!
I have to admit I am not a "dragon person," but that was not even an obstacle while reading. The tension is high in every scene to suck any reader right in!
December 1, 2025
Finally, a fresh take on dragons that soars to new heights and steals your heart in the process! This is fantasy at its finest, with both prose and characters shining as bright as dragonfire.
I fell in love with Claire and Abel and their world, and I can't wait for readers to do the same!!
I fell in love with Claire and Abel and their world, and I can't wait for readers to do the same!!
Want to read
November 16, 2025While this book looks interesting, and I will probably read it, given the comp titles and description I've gotta wonder why it's being marketed as YA when it sounds more like Adult
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews