War of Fire and Fury

Flame and Thorns #5

by Marion Blackwood

The final war against the Iceheart Dynasty has already started, and now it is a race against time to catch up before their enemies can wipe them out completely. But after everything that has been done to her, Selena struggles heavily with the effects of magic. Managing the full impact of it while fighting on the losing side of a war might just prove to be impossible. At least alone.

But her friends are battling their own demons, and not everyone comes out unscathed. With the tension mounting, long-overdue confrontations come to a head in the midst of chaos. Relationships will be changed, loyalties will be tested, and hearts will break, because not everyone survives to see a new era dawn.

For better or worse, the greatest battle of their time will come to an end. But in a war of fire and fury, who will be left when the ashes settle?

Genres: Fantasy, Romantasy, Dragons, Fantasy Romance, Fae, Romance, Audiobook

522 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2026

About the author

Marion Blackwood is the author of The Oncoming Storm series, the Court of Elves series, the Ruthless Villains series, the Ruthless Enemy trilogy, and the Flame and Thorns series. She has a Master's Degree in English and History Education, and she worked as a high school teacher before becoming a full-time author. When she's not busy writing fantasy books or traveling the world, she reads, binges shows, and loses at video games. Marion has previously lived in the US and China, but now she once again calls the beautiful country of Sweden home. To find out more, visit: www.marionblackwood.com

Reviews

[APo R · Rating 1 out of 5]

*huffff* 🙄
✨brace yourselves because im about to go off.✨ 🕺
my rant is about to start 💞💞💞
I came in having very low expectations.... and they were fulfilled. 😑
I hate Selena so fucking much and im not sure I've ever felt that before. 💩
its ALWAYS THE SAME WITH HER. literally her entire arc for TWO books was just her being a magic addict and forcing emotions into ppl and then feeling guilt about it.
GET OVER YOURSELF. 🖕
lets dive in

I wanted to DNF that book sooo bad buttt i pulled through and it cost me three hours of my life that I will never get back.
The memory plot honestly was good but the author RUINED IT by giving fucking Selena her memories back in a single chapter. ONE!! and so easily too.
I just felt like she got her memories way too soon and she was back to her whiny bitchy annoying infuriating bitchy self 💀
Its so annoying to read her pov because well her inner thoughts display who she is at her core, and lets just say she's a ✨whiner✨: always complaining about
-the death of her parents 💀
-the fact that she's imprisoned in her court
-her magic being 'weak' and her being the weak link (tbh she FUCKING IS the weak link.)
girly rrly thought she was the only one with trauma ✋.

ALL of the other characters have trauma, and dead parents, and are imprisoned, and TRAUMA AGAIN. Like, she thought she was ✨special✨.
Also the number of breakdowns she has during the book is 🤯 mind-blowing. The number of times I read 'she screamed' is again 🤯.
Isera is LITERALLY DEATHLY SCARED OF TIGHT SPACES and you don't see her having a complete mental breakdown over it and if she has one, she doesn't want the attention.
But 👑QUEEN SELENA👑 here thinks that the whole world revolves around her and she's so important, and tbh she's the least important character in the book.
She doesn't leave an impression on herself (I lowkey forgot her name at some point).
And omgggg the number go times she mentions her parents being dead and her being lazy as fuuuu and not checking if she was using magic on them blah blah blah *insert long sigh* im pretty sure at some point the author just copy and pasted some sentences because it was so repetitive.
Like I became so much more invested in Alistair and Lyra's dynamic that I completely forgot about her relationship with draven. (on a related note, those two are so mushy mushy now I get second hand embarrassment reading their interactions. like pls stop ✋ and get away from me)

I liked isera and orion's dynamic soo much more and selena and dravens.
Also, the author tries (emphasis on tries because she def did not succeed (insert side eye)) to portray selena as this badass 'im gonna become a villain to defeat the villain' heroine, but its really giving ' i try way too hard to have an interesting personality'.
Girly thought she was becoming like jesina 🤡🤡🤡🤡.
No sorry girl but even the unhinged psychopathic villain is more interesting to read than you.
Sorry not sorry.
Like she really thought she was the most badass girl out there when she 'became a villain'.
selena:😎😎😈😈 her really: 💩💩💩🤡
Im sorry but she has the personality traits of a motherfking POTATO 🥔🥔🥔 and that's an insult to the potato.
Anyway at about half of the book, i actively wanted to throw myself out the window 🔫💀🔫💀
so I skipped ahead a lot.

There were a lot of useless and predictable battles, and I honestly don't even remember a lot. 😑
At one point I physically could not continue reading this piece of shitt (excuse my french) so i had to take a few deep breaths before continuing while bearing in mind that SELENA isn't a real person (thank the lord) and that if I threw my kindle against the wall I would have to pay for it 💳💳💳
the moment money 💰was involved, I quickly calmed down. BUT still cringed so so so hard at .... THE WHOLE BOOK. 🕺🕺🕺
Her whole problem with being addicted to magic was honestly pathetic (just my opinion not trying imply anything about real ppl fighting real addictions ♥️).
But selenas struggle with the magic went on for TWO WHOLE BOOKS and it just made her rlly weak and there was to a single bone of compassion in my body for her. like when she KILLS ppl she's crying, and guilty, and guilty again and telling herself that it will be the last time OMFG STFU AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT INSTEAD OF FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF 🤬🤬🤬. I hate her so much. She sounded like me when im trying to stop eating m and ms 🍫 like 'one more, one more' .
bish respectfully stfu.
I was rooting for her death for the entire book 💀💀💀 i wanted her to die sooo baad cuz she deserved death im sorry she did.
The whole plot with a secret clan felt used and re used to me like it was obvious.
the book didn't have any satisfying deaths like come onnn i felt like I was reliving the stranger things finale (my fav show love u for eternity ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥) just KILL SOME CHARACTERS PLEASE.
Me, as a reader, I want to feel emotions and not only the happy emotions during the closure at the end. being a good author is knowing how to take risks and kill off somebody to keep the audience on their toes.
Its a fantasy novel, there's a FUCKING WAR GOING ON and your telling the only person who dies is the portal opening dude???? No. Kill more people and don't bullshit us with the *almost death scenes* *cough ALISTAIR*
The pacing was honestly not good and the action scene felt repeated like they go on a dangerous mission, shit happens, selena ✨ screams ✨they ALMSOT DIE but miraculously survive. It's all just too repetitive.
ANYWAY I think ive said everything that needed to be said, still kudos to the author for writing this series, writing is though shit and Im in no way undermining her accomplishments, just sharing my ✨thoughts✨.
The ending was nice enough if you loved the characters it was perfect, if u hated a certain characters *cough cough* well Ive said it above.
my overall thoughts: 💩💩🥔🥔
I preferred the first books and was genuinely disappointed because it def had potential to be a fire series.
Will not read again for my own sanity or else i will seriously consider therapy....
Thank you so much if you stayed during my rant, and TOODLES 🫡🫡

[makayla 𖧧.⋆☼ · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 🌟 “𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦.”

Wow. Just wow. Edge of my seat, laughing, crying, screaming! What an amazing ending to such a fun series. These books have become some of my absolute 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 and will be living rent free in my head for the foreseeable future ❤️‍🔥🤌🏼

These characters UGH I love them all!! 🫂

So glad we got more from Orion and Isera. Their banter and tension is soooo good 🔥 Also Alistair and Lyra, I’m so obsessed. And it’s not even just them as couples but them as standalone characters have completely stolen my heart. I would actually die for a separate book about any of them!

Selena and Draven. I have TEARS in my eyes. No notes, just longing 🥹 I can’t even describe how I feel about them. The way they push each other, lean on each other. The banter, the spice (🥵🤭🤪), and again, it’s not even just them as a couple but Draven and Selena as their own people, their growth throughout this series. Everything they’ve both endured, I can’t get enough!!!

❤️‍🔥 “𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘥.”

❤️‍🔥 “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴.”

» 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝟿 😭 Orion my baby 💔 he honestly might be my favorite person in this entire series
» 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝟸𝟽 😭😭😭
» Isera’s story is all pain. But the full circle ending…my heart 🥹
» Lavendera Dawnwalker. I simply have no words ❤️‍🩹

I was literally balling my eyes out the last 20%. The way Marion incorporated details from the previous books and wrapped it up in this final story was so full circle. So wholesome. Heart. So. Full. 💕

This is one of those series I accept no criticism for, have your opinions but I’m not listening!!!! 😆 sue me!!!!! 🤣

·˖✶𓆩 ⌞𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔⌝ 𓆪✶˖·
𖥻𝟷 𝐸𝓂𝓅𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝐹𝓁𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓃𝓈: 𝟺🌟
𖥻𝟸 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝐼𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐵𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹: 𝟺.𝟻🌟
𖥻𝟹 𝒞𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝐿𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒟𝑒𝒸𝑒𝒾𝓉: 𝟻 🌟
𖥻𝟺 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝒲𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒱𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓈: 𝟺.𝟻 🌟
𖥻𝟻 𝒲𝒶𝓇 𝑜𝒻 𝐹𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐹𝓊𝓇𝓎: 𝟼 🌟

⋆༺𓆩 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓐𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓮: 𝟺.𝟾 🌟𓆪༻⋆



𝚙𝚛𝚎-𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍: Release day 🗣️🥳 I am SO excited to pickup where the last cliffhanger left off! But also sad this is the last book I don’t want to leave this world 😭 gnawing at my desk to get off work so I can read this!!! ❤️‍🔥🤩

[Giulia ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad ending, but I cringed a few times while reading

(SPOILER)
Also, I’m sad no relevant character died while fighting

Pre release:
I have a feeling Alistair will die… but I hope I’m wrong. The death of a main character would actually be something I’d somehow appreciate, because this is what happens during war and it’s not realistic to win a war without losing anyone, but not Alistair please, let it be Galen

[évieane · Rating 3 out of 5]

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍✦ . 　⁺ 　 . 2.9 - 3.1 ☆ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ˋ°•*⁀➷ㅤmight contain spoilers ❗

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ I am not even considering writing a review for this. The thought alone feels exhausting, and, if I am being completely honest, there is hardly anything worth saying anyway. I am just insanely happy to finally be done with this series.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ This book got a slightly better rating than any of the previous books in this series, solely based on two reasons:
1. I am truly just happy to be done with all of this. One of the stars is for myself because I was able to push through ALL of it.
2. The absolutely hilarious bromance developing between Draven-Orion-Alistair; they could all quite literally walk away from their respective women, and I would be absurdly, almost enthusiastically, happy for them.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ Sadly, even this, as the last book in the series, was still so insanely repetitive. From the characters' actions and decisions to the plot itself, everything was repeated again and again. It was so draining.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ No, the FMC does not become better, she does not become more likeable, and she doesn't get smarter. She remains just as bad as in book one; she just whines even more in this book.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ This series could have been everything, but instead it decided to remain fully mediocre. Disappointing.

ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⋅ ☾ Did I mention that I am finally just happy to be done with this????
⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍendㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹



ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ᯓ ✿ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍pre-reading ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⪼ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ started ┆25-March-2025┆
ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ㅤ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ⤿ we finally reached the last book and I haven't yet lost my mind 🙌🏻 maybe there is still hope

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another example of a series that got dragged out into 5 books when it should have only been a trilogy. I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over.

[Taylor Urquhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 20% - I remembered I have free will and don’t have to read books I don’t want to lol

This series had a lot of potential but I think it was just a little too drawn out for me. I might like it more if I read it now when all the books were available but by the third I was just over it.

Wanted to finish because I felt like I had to but I honestly just can’t get into this - maybe I will revisit another time lol

[annjella · Rating 5 out of 5]

im not okay. this series is my new number one. this was so beautiful. i am tearing up thinking about how perfect this series was. this is why i love reading. this series has a piece of my heart that i will never be able to take back.

[Vic · Rating 1 out of 5]

(There will be some spoilers in this review)

Girl what the hell… once again I have been severely let down.

First off, the writing… awful. “He did this. Then I did that. Now I’m doing this.” It felt like I was reading at a first grade level. Word choice… cringe as fuck. Whole ass battle going on and everyone is having whack ass conversations like let’s focus people!!! I was living for the tension between Orion and Isera in the third book but I actually wanted to throw up on them in this book. Orion over sexualizing literally everything made me want to rip my eyes out (pun intended) like let’s have some class and decorum for a minute.

Also, “pocket reality” was mentioned at least a hundred times over the span of two chapters… I’m pretty sure at it was mentioned three times in one sentence. There were so many parts/conversations that were overly repetitive like plz just get to the point.

I thought the ending of book four was so dumb but it became extra dumb when Selena’s memory was restored literally within the first ten pages of this book. There was actually no good reason to have that whole under developed memory loss trope. All it did was turn Selena into a magic fiend crackhead and for what????

Selena truly took insufferable to a whole new level in this book. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt bc she’s obviously going thru all this crazy trauma but I kid you not her parents and her “wanting everything” was mentioned every. single. chapter.

My baby Draven turned into a cringy loser like there is no way this is the same man from the first book. He should’ve stayed hating Selena and maybe he would’ve kept a sliver of personality. Bruh and the throne scene… like alright pack it up temu fourth wing.

I could go on about everything else I hated about this book but for my peace of mind I’m gonna pretend like this series was only three books and move on with my life.

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, and I've only DNF'd 2 other books before. Because I enjoyed the first 4, I read the first 15%. I skimmed until about 30%, and then I gave up. I couldn't take any more of the weird magic addiction, Selena acting like she's the only person anything awful has ever happened to, and their plans falling apart. Selena's inner dialogue and and Jessina and Bane's constant foiling of their plans just kept cycling, over and over. I was going to skip to the end for the conclussion, but I realized that I just didn't care anymore. You can only read a different version of the same exact paragraphs over and over before it's time to move on. So many phrases and sentences felt like they were copy/pasted into every single chapter. Skip this book.

[Milda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series started off really promising, I appreciated the growth of the main female character, the accurate portrayal of grief, depression, addiction even. I really fell in love with the side characters who went from bullies and enemies to found family that bonded so well, they showed their soft sides.
Unfortunately this last book felt a bit rushed. I believe it could have used some more editing. There were a lot of overexplaining obvious things, a lot of repetition to a point were I wanted to skip all Selena's inner monologues. It felt like she knew 5 phrases and put them on repeat but not in a mantra way. If it wasn't for all the characters I got attached to I probably would have DNFd. It does leave possibilities for maybe some spin off series for the other 2 couples which is exciting even if I wasn't the biggest fan of how this book turned out. 🐉 🦇

[Khadija Salman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I skimmed this to read what happens with Isera and Orion. Glad they ended up together. Don’t really care if everyone else ended up dead or in a ditch.

[Books &Chaos · Rating 4 out of 5]

War of Fire and Fury was an excellent and satisfying ending to the Flame and Thorns series. I felt that everything wrapped up nicely and no stone was left unturned.

I especially enjoyed that this book had more of a focus on the side characters. Their stories added excitement and where what kept me fully engaged. That being said, I did find myself wishing things had been handled a bit differently. The choice to have Selena “overhear” (or basically eavesdrop) on private conversations felt a little forced and frankly, uncomfortable at times. I definitely would have preferred to see those relationships unfold through multiple POVs instead.

But the battle scenes—Epic! They were fast-paced, vividly detailed and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

I truly had a great time following along on this journey.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Tropes ✨:
Dragon shifters & Fae
Found family
Epic battle
Fated mates

🖤: “If it’s a choice between you and the world, I choose you every single time.”

[Krissi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start by saying I rated all other books in this series 4 to 5 stars and overall I really enjoyed this series. I loved the characters, the couples etc. Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book as much and I was close to DNFing several times.

The good
- Orion!!!! He's the best character in this last book honestly
- Orion & Isera getting together and being fated mates
- Lyra & Alistair getting together
- Draven and Orion's bromance
- The happy ending

The issues I had
- it was soooo repetitive
- the whole addiction storyline took up way too much time
- the memory loss was dealt with so quickly it felt entirely unnecessary
- We go from battle to talking about addiction to battle to addiction...
- the story just wasn't impactful


I feel like this book would have benefited greatly from multiple POVs because then we could have actually gotten more out of the other relationships developing and not just Selena watching them admit their feelings and we would have had to deal less with Selena's feelings and repetitive thoughts.

While this book wasn't my favourite, I still recommend the whole series.

[Vernika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series will forever have a space in my heart🥹🥹,hands down one of the best romantasy picks for me❤️....
I was delaying the read because I didn't want it to end so soon but now that I have finally read it, I am a little overwhelmed, not gonna lie there were some parts that didn't quite work out for me but they can be overlooked. The ending was predictable and cliché but well written and comforting so I don't think I have got much to complain.....(and YES,I cried a lot in the end not only because of the contents of the book but also the fact that this beautiful journey came to an end😭😭😭)

[Katarzyna Sulima · Rating 3 out of 5]

how can i become an ARC reader for this?? please someone help!

[Ashley Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m honestly glad this series is over. It felt like it dragged on longer than it needed to, and by the end it just fell flat for me. There were moments I enjoyed, though. Orion’s storyline was a highlight and gave me something to stay invested in, and I’ll always love a good found family dynamic. And that handcuff scene on the throne? Definitely one of the more memorable moments. Overall, this just didn’t hit the way I wanted it to, but it had a few standout pieces that kept it from being a total miss.

[Daphne Vierstra · Rating 3 out of 5]

What. A. Ride.

There are so many things I’d rather not say about this book because of how much I enjoyed the first book of this series. But if I’m being honest, after that first book it went down hill pretty fast. The story was better suited for a trilogy and because of that there was just so much empty filling and repetition.

The first half of this book was a struggle to get through for me. The addiction felt like addiction written by someone who’s never been addicted and it was shoved down our throats really hard. The fact that everything is so over explained almost made me feel like this book was written for a bunch of 8 year olds. We get it, move along *insert eye roll*

In the second half of the book there’s a lot of action, which I liked. But the fights felt kinda dragging at times and the constant reminder of the fact that the Icehearts are ‘so smart and cunning and more experienced and 6000 years old’ was a part of the annoying internal monologue that killed the story for me. Some minor characters predictably die though I have to admit 1 of them was heart breaking.

Then in the last few chapters everyone gets there little happy ending and it was kinda over the top and rushed if you ask me.

So, I’m happy this series is over and done with. I might pick up something from this author again but not in the near future and preferably a stand alone.

[Emma Ponna Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ Considering I was struggling at the half way point, I was pleasantly suprised by the last 100 pages of this book. It was ended well. I could have been a 3/4 book series though. Alot of repetition with Selena's self loathing, I understand grief and loss but it was like mentioned at the ending of every 5 chapters or so! I'm a cold bitch 🤣

[Danielle Pulliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

**ℜ𝔈𝔙ℑ𝔈𝔚** 𝔚𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔉𝔲𝔯𝔶 𝔟𝔶 𝔐𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨𝔴𝔬𝔬𝔡 (𝔉𝔩𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔫𝔰 #5)

Release Date: February 23, 2026

5⭐️4🌶

This was everything that I wanted in the final book for this series. There was completion of revenge as well as the main characters finding what they so desperately wanted. I will definitely be reading more from Marion Blackwood in the future.

Minor Spoilers Ahead:

Selena and Draken have been collecting all of the other Dragon clans in order for them to team up against the Iceheart Dragons, Jessina and Bane. After all the attroxities the two Iceheart Dragons have commited to the entire Seelie Fae race, the black dragons, and nearly every other group of dragons, everyone is looking for some revenge against them, but is afraid to face their Icefire.

Thankfully with all of the different magical abilities from both the Seelie and Unseelie Fae, they should be able to find a way to finally defeat the Icehearts and find peace between all the other Dragon clans and Fae.

This is so much like Throne of Glass or the Lady of Darkness series or any of the series by L.J. Andrews. If you liked any of those, you should give this one a try.

Themes/Tropes:
🍁Enemies to Lovers
🍁Dragon Riders
🍁Physical Trials
🍁Emotional Manipulation Magic
🍁Shifters and Fae world
🍁Ruling class and slaves
🍁One bed trope

TW:
✨Disownment by parents
✨Violence
✨Violence with magic
✨Dismemberment
✨Sexual content

[Kriste ☾Papartis ir knyga☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uuu! Serija baigta! Gal norėjosi stipresnės finalinės knygos. Bet visa kelionė per penkias knygas , tikrai buvo verta 😍😍

[Cassidy Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

my silly little spicy dragon books are done :( was this a stellar piece of literature? no. was it my least favorite in the series? yes. but i love draven and the found family in this. selena’s addict shit was getting on my nerves though. 3.5

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m actually so surprised by how much I ended up loving this series!! The first time I picked up book 1, I soft dnf’d. But I grew to love these characters so much, and I shed tears multiple times during this book. It really just needed a minute to cook!! The characters ended up being so complex and multi-dimensional—personally, I love a series with a complex villain. I hate when they’re evil just for the sake of being evil!! I feel like Bane and Jessina’s motivations just made them that much better. The found family in this was incredible—I cared about the side characters so much even though this was single POV, which I feel can be hard to accomplish. When I started this book, I was wondering how all the various plot lines would be wrapped up, but the author addressed everything I feel like. This was a great finale and I’m so glad I read this.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

so the end was a bit of a let down but oh well still a super quick easy series to follow

[Becca Gresham · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFed this final book at 25%.

Overall, I found this series is just too surface level. Would recommend this to someone getting into romantasy, but not someone who prefers something more high fantasy.

This book specifically, was just too repetitive. The pacing was too much, I felt like we just skimmed over the events of the end of book 4: Selena and Draven barely even looked at each other for the first 70 pages, then were separated (again) while Selena was sent to find some monk like dragons. By page 120 we were already on the second “battle” with the Icehearts, probably the 10th in the series, for them to once again, get away. Not to mention Selena’s complaining about her magic addiction every other sentence.

It takes a lot for me to DNF, so it speaks volumes that I did just that to the 5th and final book in a series. Just over it and could not imagine 400 more pages of the same plot we have been reading since book 2.

[Lee-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed War of Fire and Fury. I loved the action sequences. I am really fond of the side characters and thought their stories were engaging and well handled in this book. Lyra, Isera, Orion, Alastair, and Galen make for great found family. I also thought the series had a satisfying ending.

However, the cliffhanger/conundrum from the end of book 4 was resolved in 5 seconds flat, and that annoyed me. I'm sick of this kind of tactic: dragging out series for longer than necessary, dragging out the page count for longer than necessary, and using melodrama at the end of books to hook overly curious suckers like me into continuing even when I'm pretty much fed up.

This series and book are easy to get into and entertaining braincandy with a dash of action, danger, and spice. Nonetheless, War of Fire and Fury would hugely benefit from some ruthless editing because it is extremely repetitive. Readers are not so forgetful that we need to be told exactly the same thing with the same wording (or vety similar) every few chapters.

My biggest issue, however, is that I dislike the FMC. I don't relate to her at all. I think she's a pretty awful, narcissistic person with a moral compass so broken, I found it difficult to feel sympathy for her. Want to be trusted? Act in a trustworthy way. Treating others with respect for their autonomy and dignity is common decency, but something Selena seemed not to understand. Suffered loss? Doesn't mean you get to treat other people like poop. She's supposed to be some amazing badass, but was too chicken to tell her mate or friends she was struggling with addiction, even when her complete lack of control could endanger them, and resulted in the murder of a whole bunch of people.

Suffice it to say that lots of things she did pissed me off big time, and I felt the story was written in a way that we were supposed to agree with Selena's choices, whereas I was disgusted by them.

My negative feelings for Selena meant I was also turned off by Draven going on about how wonderful she was and seemingly blaming himself for anything she went through. Hot, kind of adorable, but completely delusional. Stop grovelling, Commander. Please.

I listened to the audiobook, and thought it was well done.

[ciana · Rating 5 out of 5]

“if it’s a choice between you and the world, i choose you every single time.”

—

this was a good conclusion to a fun, fast paced romantasy series!! i do however really wish this series had been dual or multi pov at times. there are so many good side characters and romances and i would’ve loved to be in their heads while those moments were playing out.

draven. mf. ryat. that is all.

selena was a little unhinged in this one and some of her choices felt repetitive, but with everything she was dealing with (the trauma, the addiction, etc) it made sense for where she was mentally.

this book is VERY battle heavy. like there is no peace for a solid 80% of it lol. it’s basically chaos the entire time.

orion and isera my LOVES. i would read an entire spin off about them. their banter??? elite. and orion’s insecurity in this book actually hurt my feelings. i wanted to cry for him. i’m so glad it played out the way it did. alistair and lyra were also such a good balance. she really brings him out of his shell and i loved their dynamic.

the found family is what really makes this series. it’s a group of people who either forgot how to love or never really had it, and watching them build something real together was my favorite part.

these books are 100% about the vibes and the ride. they’re dramatic, romantic, chaotic, and just so much fun. such a good romantasy series for someone new to the genre or anyone who wants something fast and addictive.

“𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅. 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒅.”

[Rashika Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well… that’s the end of this series. Thank goodness. Because I have thoughts.

The series actually started strong. I loved the idea of the FMC struggling with her identity and trying to figure out who she is. That kind of character journey can be really compelling. But after five whole books, her POV is still an endlessly frustrating loop of whining where everything somehow revolves around her. At some point … girl, please. STOOOP!!

And this is what makes it worse: Draven is basically the perfect fantasy man. Broody, powerful, a hot dragon shifter, loyal, interesting… and this is the woman fate gives him? Tragic. Honestly.

The biggest issue is that the book lives almost entirely inside Selena’s head. Her inner monologue is basically the whole story, and it becomes the same rinse-and-repeat thoughts over and over again. The self-pity spiral just never ends.

Look, hating yourself and struggling internally works for the first few books. Totally fine. But by book five? I needed to see some growth. Some backbone. Some “right, let’s get on with it.” Instead it’s still:
Wah, my parents died
Wah, everyone at court hates and mistrusts me
Wah, my parents hated me… but maybe I manipulated their emotions with my magic?

Repeat. Forever.

The memory loss plot with Selena actually had potential, but she gets her memories back almost immediately and we’re right back to the same whining internal monologue like nothing changed.

At some point I just wanted to scream: you are not the only person who has suffered here. Nearly every character around her has been through far worse, yet somehow the narrative constantly circles back to Selena’s feelings about Selena.

Which is frustrating because the plot itself is actually good. The world and overall story idea are interesting, and the final installment did wrap things up in a satisfying way. It’s also a quick, easy series to read, which makes it nice as a filler between bigger fantasy series.

But I definitely found myself skimming past the repetitive monologues just to get back to the actual story.

Honestly, this series would have benefited massively from multiple POVs. Give us more Draven. Give us literally anyone else for a break from Selena’s internal spiral. Or even a third-person narrative to tone it down.

So overall: good concept, decent plot, some enjoyable moments… but one of the most frustrating FMCs I’ve read in a while.

Not terrible, but definitely not amazing either. And that’s why it lands somewhere in the middle instead of dropping to two stars.

[Leah Desjardins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great final instalment to this series.

We pick up essentially where we left off last time, and as surprising as birds with wings, Bane and Jessina are absolutely ruthless and crazy smart. How they manage to outmanoeuvre everyone 99% of the time is bananas. If you didn’t hate them and think they were absolute scummy loser bags before, you certainly will now.

They make the term ubervillains look like teletubbies in comparison. I wish I could tell you that they have very long, drawn out comeuppances, buuuut I can’t. I won’t be spoiling anything here plot wise, but I don’t know if anything would have felt like enough from everything they did to entire races.

A lot of great things happen here and the pacing in this book is way better than the previous one. The plot advances here and keeps up at a steady pace. We get reunited with some of our old favourites and we get to have DRALENA back in full swing, giving absolute perfection.

I love the storylines that we got for Lyra, Alistair, Orion, Isera, Draven and Galen. To be honest, at times the whole Selena struggles with her magic addiction issues storyline did kind of get annoying but we do at least get some progress there and the end result is good and will have you feeling some type of way.

I think the only thing that could have made this better would be to have an epilogue that showed more of what life was like after everything, but it was still mostly satisfying. No loose ends are left and overall I was happy with this and how everything ended.

Draven and Orion are honestly just chefs kiss. There’s just something about a male main character written by a woman that just has you melting like the a candle once it’s been lit.

4.5⭐️
3🌶️

[Bryaune Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

1⭐️ because I have to put something 😒

I finished this purely because I don’t like DNFing a series and I was sucked in after the plot twist at the end of book 1. The author’s writing is incredibly juvenile, it lacks the eloquence and depth that you expect at this level of writing. If I read one more sentence ending in “as well” or using “insane” as an adjective for everything, I would’ve thrown my kindle through a window. I spent my entire time editing the book so that it made sense as I was reading. Also, not every event that took place in this series needs to be explained in full detail every time it is mentioned in the book, as if we don’t remember. WE WERE THERE. I don’t need a full recap! If you take out all the unnecessary fluff, run on sentences, and repetitive statements, this series could have been a trilogy, maybe even a duology. Five books is WILD.

This book in particular was atrocious. It dragged on forever. The writing was the worst of the 5 books and if we took out all the things Selena repeated every other paragraph, it would probably be just a couple hundred pages long. The battle alone could’ve been cut down to a paragraph.

Also, you mean to tell me in the span of FIVE BOOKS we could not have a single other POV besides the FMC???!! Why are we watching Isera and Orion have an intimate conversation through Selena’s POV while she’s HIDING IN THE BUSHES?!?! Or the entire scene between Isera and Orion at the end?? 2 separate relationships blossoming between side characters and we can’t get a single chapter from their POV?! That alone would’ve elevated this book an extra star. I think that just further proves that the author doesn’t have the ability to write with any depth.

Selena as an FMC was incredibly annoying, immature, and self-loathing and it was at its peak in this book. Her self-loathing took up the majority of this book and it was PAINFUL. Even when other characters were sharing their feelings and struggles, we still have to listen to her talk about what she went through over and over and over. Most of the book was taken up by her whining and having breakdowns. Girl we’re preparing for war, we do NOT have time for your constant self-loathing?! It was so frustrating; that alone made me almost DNF multiple times. She had the potential for tremendous character development and the author just did not deliver.

Delving more into Isera + Orion and Alistair + Lyra would’ve brought some life to this book. Their side banter is the only thing that kept me going. I’m glad everyone was happy in the end, but I was not. I barely made it through.

[ᴏɢɪᴍᴀᴀᴋᴡᴇ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a single crumb was left. I DEVOURED this series. Absolutely 5 ⭐️ series overall. All of my favorite tropes came out to play. Please read it! It was a good fucking time.

SPOILER AHEAD




Miss Marion…..I NEED TO KNOW IF THEY FIND THE GRAY CLAN!!!