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Fire and Lightning, Ash and Stone
This isn't the way the stories are supposed to go.
Jaelin and Aldwin have heard legends of the Grey Princess their entire lives. When it comes time for his first heroic quest, Jaelin naturally chooses her rescue - but the princess from Aldwin’s stories is a pale imitation of the sorceress that they find at the top of a lonely mountain tower.
Known across the realms as the Grey Princess, Liana has been the subject of stories and songs for over two centuries. Every bard and historian thinks they know the truth, but the reality of Liana's power - and the secrets she has hidden under layers of stone - is something that no one is prepared for. And Liana herself is hardly prepared when two adventurers show up on her doorstep with a doozy of a quest…and the key to undoing a choice she made many years ago.
Can a bratty lordling, a witty librarian, and an irritable sorceress bumble their way through an enchanted forest, survive the ruins of a haunted city, and defeat a centuries-old dragon with only a few hours of planning?
The better question is, can anyone stop them?
Jaelin and Aldwin have heard legends of the Grey Princess their entire lives. When it comes time for his first heroic quest, Jaelin naturally chooses her rescue - but the princess from Aldwin’s stories is a pale imitation of the sorceress that they find at the top of a lonely mountain tower.
Known across the realms as the Grey Princess, Liana has been the subject of stories and songs for over two centuries. Every bard and historian thinks they know the truth, but the reality of Liana's power - and the secrets she has hidden under layers of stone - is something that no one is prepared for. And Liana herself is hardly prepared when two adventurers show up on her doorstep with a doozy of a quest…and the key to undoing a choice she made many years ago.
Can a bratty lordling, a witty librarian, and an irritable sorceress bumble their way through an enchanted forest, survive the ruins of a haunted city, and defeat a centuries-old dragon with only a few hours of planning?
The better question is, can anyone stop them?
399 pages, Paperback
Published February 8, 2020
2 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Kelsey Clifton
10 books9 followersHow do you even begin to explain Kelsey Clifton?
As far as anyone can prove, she was born in Houston, Texas in 1989. She survived the humidity and proximity to the Ship Channel (possibly due to her growing eldritch powers) and moved to North Texas, where she conned her way into the Creative Writing program. Reports that she sold her soul in order to complete nine manuscripts in nine years have been exaggerated...but not by much. One thing is for certain: She is definitely human, and not an ancient being of inestimable power.
Feel free to follow her (because she's a millennial and she needs the attention):
Twitter: @kelsey_writes_
Instagram: @kelsey_writes
Facebook.com/kelseycliftonauthor/
Like what she does? Consider becoming a supporter:
www.patreon.com/kelseyclifton
As far as anyone can prove, she was born in Houston, Texas in 1989. She survived the humidity and proximity to the Ship Channel (possibly due to her growing eldritch powers) and moved to North Texas, where she conned her way into the Creative Writing program. Reports that she sold her soul in order to complete nine manuscripts in nine years have been exaggerated...but not by much. One thing is for certain: She is definitely human, and not an ancient being of inestimable power.
Feel free to follow her (because she's a millennial and she needs the attention):
Twitter: @kelsey_writes_
Instagram: @kelsey_writes
Facebook.com/kelseycliftonauthor/
Like what she does? Consider becoming a supporter:
www.patreon.com/kelseyclifton
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 15, 2020
3.5 Stars
This was was the Sapphic Book Club book of the month for July.
The Good
This was an enjoyable sword and sorcery book with some good representation. The book follows a prince and his mentor, a librarian, as they go on a quest to save a princess from an evil sorcerer, only to find out the princess isn't captive and is in fact a very powerful sorceress. This would have been the absolute perfect book for me several years ago when I was looking for sword and sorcery fantasy books with strong female characters in lead positions. Laina is feisty, capable, and doesn't take shit from no one. She totally calls out the prince and his sexist viewpoints and was a complete badass. The prince eventually comes around and probably has the most transformative character arc of all the characters.
The Frustration
This book was given to the Sapphic Book to read as one of the books of the month. The Sapphic Book Club focuses on f/f stories, which means that I have a certain expectation that any book I read from the Book Club will be Sapphic (f/f). While this book does have sapphic representation, I would not call this a sapphic book. The f/f story line happens between two secondary characters that are not even introduced until halfway thru the book. I spent the first half of the book feeling a little crazy on why the one main female was getting the warm and happy feeling for one of the male main characters. While it is cute and the relationship was nice, I was not expecting that. If I had known this wasn't a sapphic book I probably would not have read it at this time, nor would I have felt disappointed in the minimal amount of gayness going on.
As stated earlier, this is a very good sword and sorcery book and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a strong female centered fantasy book. I would not suggest this book for someone looking for a f/f fantasy book.
This was was the Sapphic Book Club book of the month for July.
The Good
This was an enjoyable sword and sorcery book with some good representation. The book follows a prince and his mentor, a librarian, as they go on a quest to save a princess from an evil sorcerer, only to find out the princess isn't captive and is in fact a very powerful sorceress. This would have been the absolute perfect book for me several years ago when I was looking for sword and sorcery fantasy books with strong female characters in lead positions. Laina is feisty, capable, and doesn't take shit from no one. She totally calls out the prince and his sexist viewpoints and was a complete badass. The prince eventually comes around and probably has the most transformative character arc of all the characters.
The Frustration
This book was given to the Sapphic Book to read as one of the books of the month. The Sapphic Book Club focuses on f/f stories, which means that I have a certain expectation that any book I read from the Book Club will be Sapphic (f/f). While this book does have sapphic representation, I would not call this a sapphic book. The f/f story line happens between two secondary characters that are not even introduced until halfway thru the book. I spent the first half of the book feeling a little crazy on why the one main female was getting the warm and happy feeling for one of the male main characters. While it is cute and the relationship was nice, I was not expecting that. If I had known this wasn't a sapphic book I probably would not have read it at this time, nor would I have felt disappointed in the minimal amount of gayness going on.
As stated earlier, this is a very good sword and sorcery book and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a strong female centered fantasy book. I would not suggest this book for someone looking for a f/f fantasy book.
August 31, 2020
[minor spoilers]
Witches, wizards, heroes, and dragons. A hero's quest that doesn't go quite as planned.
I was given a review copy of this book for a Sapphic Book Club, and on that front I wish this book had more. If you've come here looking for a fantasy novel involving Sapphic (wlw) main characters, you'll have to keep on looking.
Aside from the lack of Sapphic content, which really wasn't the selling point of Fire and Lightening, Ash and Stone, Clifton presents a tongue in cheek adventure (like a Hitchhiker's Guide, or The Outsorcerer's Apprentice). The story fairly quickly morphs into a more serious story which can feel a little jarring.
Witches, wizards, heroes, and dragons. A hero's quest that doesn't go quite as planned.
I was given a review copy of this book for a Sapphic Book Club, and on that front I wish this book had more. If you've come here looking for a fantasy novel involving Sapphic (wlw) main characters, you'll have to keep on looking.
Aside from the lack of Sapphic content, which really wasn't the selling point of Fire and Lightening, Ash and Stone, Clifton presents a tongue in cheek adventure (like a Hitchhiker's Guide, or The Outsorcerer's Apprentice). The story fairly quickly morphs into a more serious story which can feel a little jarring.
July 14, 2020
This book was read as part of the Sapphic Book Club hosted by @sapphicbookclub
3/3.5 Stars
I was confused on how I felt about this book the entire time I was reading it and I'm honestly still not sure. Overall I'd say it's a fairly easy read even though it's pretty long. It kinda feels like a bunch of smaller stories one after the other.
I personally found it hard to get attached to the characters although I found them likable enough. Along those lines, as I was reading this for Sapphic Book Club, I was hoping for more gay content than the book had. Also one thing that bothered me was it seemed like every argument between the characters was resolved fairly quick and easy. I would have liked to see a little more conflict/turmoil.
3/3.5 Stars
I was confused on how I felt about this book the entire time I was reading it and I'm honestly still not sure. Overall I'd say it's a fairly easy read even though it's pretty long. It kinda feels like a bunch of smaller stories one after the other.
I personally found it hard to get attached to the characters although I found them likable enough. Along those lines, as I was reading this for Sapphic Book Club, I was hoping for more gay content than the book had. Also one thing that bothered me was it seemed like every argument between the characters was resolved fairly quick and easy. I would have liked to see a little more conflict/turmoil.
July 28, 2020
This book was read for Sapphic Book Club, hosted by @sapphicbookclub.
Let’s start with the major problem other readers at the book club have already pointed out. Gay content. In my opinion, having a sapphic relationship in a book doesn’t make it a sapphic book itself. This has been a miscommunication, and I completely understand that. I don’t wish to blame the author for this. However, I want to bring this up, because this very heavily influenced my reading experience.
Looking at the blurb, I was offered an adventure. A fast-paced adventure to go slay a dragon. Sounded fun. And, technically, I did get that but the book was actually a lot more, and that sort of failed me again. This book had smaller stories, adventures, and I found myself losing interest the more I kept reading because this wasn’t what I signed up for. If the blurb had made it clear that the adventure wouldn’t be just one thing, I would’ve been in a better headspace. Seriously, the adventures seemed interesting and the world-building was promising. I felt welcomed and kind of curious about the world, but because I didn’t see what I was expecting to find, I couldn’t enjoy it. Characters are an important part of a world, and for me, these characters didn’t work that well. I didn’t feel attached to them. While they occasionally were kinda fun, I mostly just didn’t care about them enough.
This book wasn’t all bad though, not at all. It was a nice set of adventures, and the writing was actually pretty good. It flew quite well, even though the pacing was now and then a bit strange to me. But then again, I approached this as one big adventure, not as multiple stories. Because there were multiple stories, stakes never felt too high for me, there weren’t propelling conflicts. Every obstacle seemed to be swept away fast and easy. Not every story has to have high struggles, though, so I’m sure this would be very enjoyable if you wanted to read a series of adventures these adventurers go through. It can be fun and easy to read but for me, it was a miss.
Let’s start with the major problem other readers at the book club have already pointed out. Gay content. In my opinion, having a sapphic relationship in a book doesn’t make it a sapphic book itself. This has been a miscommunication, and I completely understand that. I don’t wish to blame the author for this. However, I want to bring this up, because this very heavily influenced my reading experience.
Looking at the blurb, I was offered an adventure. A fast-paced adventure to go slay a dragon. Sounded fun. And, technically, I did get that but the book was actually a lot more, and that sort of failed me again. This book had smaller stories, adventures, and I found myself losing interest the more I kept reading because this wasn’t what I signed up for. If the blurb had made it clear that the adventure wouldn’t be just one thing, I would’ve been in a better headspace. Seriously, the adventures seemed interesting and the world-building was promising. I felt welcomed and kind of curious about the world, but because I didn’t see what I was expecting to find, I couldn’t enjoy it. Characters are an important part of a world, and for me, these characters didn’t work that well. I didn’t feel attached to them. While they occasionally were kinda fun, I mostly just didn’t care about them enough.
This book wasn’t all bad though, not at all. It was a nice set of adventures, and the writing was actually pretty good. It flew quite well, even though the pacing was now and then a bit strange to me. But then again, I approached this as one big adventure, not as multiple stories. Because there were multiple stories, stakes never felt too high for me, there weren’t propelling conflicts. Every obstacle seemed to be swept away fast and easy. Not every story has to have high struggles, though, so I’m sure this would be very enjoyable if you wanted to read a series of adventures these adventurers go through. It can be fun and easy to read but for me, it was a miss.
July 10, 2020
I picked this up because the story sounded intriguing the cover caught my eye. I was happy to dive in and ended up reading the whole book in one sitting. Once I started, I couldn't help but be drawn into the story with Jae, Aldwin and the Grey Princess, I was along for the ride wherever it took me! The story was beautifully told, I loved the chronic illness rep, and I adored the characters, all of them! It was a delightful read and one I recommend!
April 10, 2020
Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/20...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews