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Spitfire
How do you know if someone truly loves you when they have been Bound by blood to serve you? How do you love someone when time and again they have barred you from making your own decisions? And how do you make two stubborn assholes get over themselves for long enough to admit that they love each other - and, just as importantly, you?
Spitfire is a story about a somber prince, his stroppy, shape-shifting dragon, and their future queen (who may have read one too many romance novels about those foreign royals who Bind themselves to dragons). It is unabashedly queer and is filled to the brim with chaotic bi energy and distressingly hot and dangerous women. Initially, it presents as high fantasy erotica about a love triangle composed of three adults (mid-to-late twenties) who are staggeringly bad at communicating their feelings, but Spitfire is a tale about coming to terms with old, unresolved feelings by embracing new love.
Spitfire is a story about a somber prince, his stroppy, shape-shifting dragon, and their future queen (who may have read one too many romance novels about those foreign royals who Bind themselves to dragons). It is unabashedly queer and is filled to the brim with chaotic bi energy and distressingly hot and dangerous women. Initially, it presents as high fantasy erotica about a love triangle composed of three adults (mid-to-late twenties) who are staggeringly bad at communicating their feelings, but Spitfire is a tale about coming to terms with old, unresolved feelings by embracing new love.
1002 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 9, 2021
164 people are currently reading
768 people want to read
About the author
Maya Kern
10 books33 followersMaya Kern is a queer author and artist best known for her high fantasy romance novel Spitfire, her homegrown skirt empire, and her self-published comics, which include the webcomic Monster Pop! as well as several short form fairytale comics. Maya is a staunch lover of messy, heartfelt romances that are as heart-wrenching as they are spicy. She is a huge advocate for fat liberation and body positivity, which factor prominently into her writing, art, and clothing design.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
October 16, 2021
This is a story about a queer love triangle, not the advertised "polyamorous love story".
(I'll probably write a more detailed/refined review at some point, but I at least want to save others the frustration that I felt. I would have enjoyed this book much more if it was not falsely represented in promotions.)
I did overall enjoy this book and I feel like a lot of the other reviews covered the good.
Positives
- a diverse cast of characters
- an interesting world
- thought-out magic and magical creatures
- bisexual love triangle
Negatives
- Editing. There are a distracting amount of typos and misspellings. The pacing was off, between way too long sex scenes and lack of plot beyond romance and angst. The ending was abrupt and frankly more interesting than most of the book.
- No polyamory*. Which would be fine if it were not described as a central part of the story on Twitter.
- the characters were all self centered and feel more like teens than their supposed mid twenties
*Slight spoilers ahead! On polyamory and just referring to the dynamic of romance and point in the story where you could argue there's polyamory.
At best, this story is a bisexual love triangle with a potential for future polyamory. At worst, it's a story about cheating, sneaking around, and lying to your partner.
It's made clear at the start of the story that monogamy is expected between Caed and Allene. It's over 90% into the story before Allene is truthful and tells her fiance that she is non-monogamous and has been sleeping with others and will continue to do so.
That isn't polyamory or any form of ethical non-monogamy. That's just cheating. Polyamory requires consent from all parties. Polyamory would have required being open and honest from the beginning rather than sneaking around and dodging the issue.
(I'll probably write a more detailed/refined review at some point, but I at least want to save others the frustration that I felt. I would have enjoyed this book much more if it was not falsely represented in promotions.)
I did overall enjoy this book and I feel like a lot of the other reviews covered the good.
Positives
- a diverse cast of characters
- an interesting world
- thought-out magic and magical creatures
- bisexual love triangle
Negatives
- Editing. There are a distracting amount of typos and misspellings. The pacing was off, between way too long sex scenes and lack of plot beyond romance and angst. The ending was abrupt and frankly more interesting than most of the book.
- No polyamory*. Which would be fine if it were not described as a central part of the story on Twitter.
- the characters were all self centered and feel more like teens than their supposed mid twenties
*Slight spoilers ahead! On polyamory and just referring to the dynamic of romance and point in the story where you could argue there's polyamory.
At best, this story is a bisexual love triangle with a potential for future polyamory. At worst, it's a story about cheating, sneaking around, and lying to your partner.
It's made clear at the start of the story that monogamy is expected between Caed and Allene. It's over 90% into the story before Allene is truthful and tells her fiance that she is non-monogamous and has been sleeping with others and will continue to do so.
That isn't polyamory or any form of ethical non-monogamy. That's just cheating. Polyamory requires consent from all parties. Polyamory would have required being open and honest from the beginning rather than sneaking around and dodging the issue.
October 12, 2021
This does not have a HEA or HFN at the end this has a ending that makes me absolute fucking mad. Also not to be to mean but please if your going to just slap this on Ku from AO3 then please actually have it edited. This really really needs a good polish and it could be something amazing but it still makes me want to scream and rage at how the dragon gets treated the entire book and is shafted of Pov time when he is the most important character.
If you have three main mcs then their must be a balance between pov focused chapters. Their isn't with this and it is the absolutely most frustrating experience.
If you have three main mcs then their must be a balance between pov focused chapters. Their isn't with this and it is the absolutely most frustrating experience.
October 8, 2022
My Selling Pitch:
Do you love a bonkers YA fantasy novel? Do you like ensemble casts and juicy love triangles? Can you tolerate an annoying mix of high diction coupled with genre-breaking modern slang? Can you handle one of the main love interests being a completely insufferable, emotionally constipated sad boy for the entirety of the book? Do you like queer romances? Can you sit through really off the walls sex scenes that are going to ick out probably 90% of readers? It’s gonna read like good fanfiction that’s in serious need of an edit, but if you love gems in the rough, this is your book.
Pre-reading:
TikTok (and Facebook Reels) sent me here, and I am afraid.
Thick of it:
(I love the new Kindle highlights feature, and I use it extensively for live-in-text reactions, so see that bit if you want even more unhinged rambling.)
I haven't even started the story yet, but the character list is sending me. A goth. An unmemorable woman.
Stupidly pretty is such a femme author thing to write.
I'm glad that you gave us a pronunciation because I was lost. And I'm sorry, but the name pronunciation is just a blow job. We can all see that.
The toxic in me loves the shifters have no clothes trope.
Just say Brienne from Game of Thrones.
Not the double m ums.
This book is horny. (Oh Samantha, you have no idea.)
These names are too long. My eyes just skip over them.
This book reads like good horny fan fiction.
I got distracted looking at the author's art of this book on Twitter, and it's all gorgeous, but I'm back now.
I know my gaydar is practically nonexistent, but I really did not think he was a top. I'm guessing he's gonna be a switch in the book because I can't picture the prince being a bottom, but like, I don't know man, I just didn't peg it that way. Pun not intended. (Just so miserably wrong)
Book is very fan fiction. Listen 30 pages in and there are already orgasms.
The chapter titles are something else.
Briar Queen sounds badass. I want to know more about her.
Oh god, the mind link fuckery trope.
There are some major typos in this.
I like how everyone in this book is just allowed to fuck everyone. When I said this book was horny, I meant that.
The way I went into this book as a joke and now I am so invested in these characters and fully concerned that I am stressed. I'm on like chapter 6. Good job book!
I mean, I'm me, and if you give a paper bag a backstory I'm invested, but like sheesh.
The POV construction in this book is lovely because we change to the character whose situation is most relevant. Like the audience gets to be ignorant/learn alongside the characters which is very satisfying for reader engagement. There’s no real info dumping.
Also with how invested I am now, I can't help but feel that the 1st chapter is a bit cheap to jump into the sex so explicitly, so off the bat. I feel like it was a bit gratuitous and didn't really fit the vibe of the rest of the book. (This is a consistent problem with the sex scenes being out of place and alienating.)
Please, please, please tell me the villain isn't my favorite and her disgruntled parent. I will be very annoyed if it's them. I don't want them to be the big bads. Please have something better than that, thank you.
The visuals in this book are so artsy and beautiful.
She better do some serious reputation damage control because all the other characters- my babies. Sad boy Caed can get fucked. (He will continue to be insufferable the entire book.)
Yeah OK, I understand why this book had to be self-published. I'm not sure if a publisher would pick this up, but I don't know why because this type of thing is all over fan fiction, so clearly people are reading it. (No, I know why. There are some serious edits needed for this to be mass market.)
Remember how earlier I said I was so into this book because every character had distinct voices? We're losing that a bit. I'm about 40% through. It is coming across a bit as just fantasy wish-fulfillment sex scenes that a plot was written around. And the bad part is that the plot is so much better than the sex scenes, to the point that the sex scenes no longer feel like they fit. They feel like they belong to a different book.
I have such a hard time mentally picturing Feon.
This author is really fixated on precum turning white clothes transparent. Which like you know go off, bestie, whatever floats your boat, but this is not my personal thing, and I would like to stop hearing about it. Someone get these boys different colored underwear.
Caed is such an emotionally constipated sad boy. And like he’s gonna be super familiar to readers because he’s very representative of emotionally abusive boyfriends and friends, but it’s exhausting to read about, and I’m too old for this lol. Get your shit together.
The sound I emitted when I found out we got a Lysithea chapter was ungodly.
This book is giving me anxiety. Don't experiment on yourself. Don't cut things. Like what if you don't stop bleeding? You don't know what all the stuff does. I would be so bad in these fantasy novels because I'm such an anxious mess. Like nothing would get done. Would not be the one going oh hey let’s mess with the magic and cursed objects because curiosity and adventure. Fuck that. You know it‘s only going to get worse because of plot.
Also, like what if they die? I know they won't die, but like what if they die? They need to not die. I'm so invested, jesus.
No, too far. We've hit my limit for weird sex. Too far. I would like to hit the escape button. I don't wanna read this. This is weird.
You how I thought we were gonna make it through the book with them just fucking as people? That's on me. But like also, mom come pick me up.
I don’t want to picture it, but if you're going into that much graphic detail, and I'm getting confused and now I have so many images in my brain that I did not want. I'm going to need brain bleach.
I'm stress sweating.
You know, that is not the ending that I saw coming.
Post-reading:
This book is unhinged. In all seriousness, it has a good YA fantasy plot. It is most definitely not a YA book though. Like I’m invested. I care. It has a good fuck you reader ending. The pacing is fantastic. I absolutely plowed through this 600 page book that I went into thinking I was going to read as a joke. I think it could be a really good book with some massive edits. The diction mixing with the slang is jarring, annoying, and immersion-ruining and needs to be removed. The “Easter egg” modern references need to be trashed. Sometimes the characters’ dialogue is offputting, and they come across as too young or like a therapist’s transcript. Should be an easy fix with a good editor. The sex scenes need a complete overhaul if it’s going to be a mass-market book. The anatomical terms are going to ick people out. Some of it is too bonkers. Clearly, I’m not the intended audience for these kinds of scenes, that’s not my thing, but I think you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find enough people who want to read those scenes as they are. In a similar vein, the book does kind of read like the sex scenes were written independently, and then they were shoved into where they could fit in the plot. The first scene is gratuitous, and I fully believe that it should be removed in its entirety. Some of the emotional turning point sex scenes also don’t have enough dialogue, or sparky chemistry within them for it to be believable that it’s a dam breaking and justify such an escalation between characters. There’s enough tension currently between characters that you want them together, the execution of the culmination of that is just really lacking. I understand why a lot of questions weren’t answered in this book and again, bravo for that ending because it really came out of left field and it’s fucking believable, which is so hard to do, but I do worry that the sequel might end up plot hole-y if it’s not very carefully managed. Basically, the book is super rough, but if you’re the type of reader who gets off on the concept of a book rather than its like line by line execution, you’re gonna dig this.
Who should read this:
YA fantasy lovers
Fan fiction readers
Readers who care more about concept than execution
Do I want to re-read this:
Maybe? I’d be very interested in reading an edited overhaul of this book
Similar Books:
* Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas-the current standard for bonkers fantasy plots I think
* The Immortals by Tamora Pierce-bonkers fantasy with shape-shifting
* The Rose by Tiffany Reisz-bonkers erotica, not very similar but like if you read this one for the sex scenes, you might like this
* Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo-fantasy with cool world-building
Do you love a bonkers YA fantasy novel? Do you like ensemble casts and juicy love triangles? Can you tolerate an annoying mix of high diction coupled with genre-breaking modern slang? Can you handle one of the main love interests being a completely insufferable, emotionally constipated sad boy for the entirety of the book? Do you like queer romances? Can you sit through really off the walls sex scenes that are going to ick out probably 90% of readers? It’s gonna read like good fanfiction that’s in serious need of an edit, but if you love gems in the rough, this is your book.
Pre-reading:
TikTok (and Facebook Reels) sent me here, and I am afraid.
Thick of it:
(I love the new Kindle highlights feature, and I use it extensively for live-in-text reactions, so see that bit if you want even more unhinged rambling.)
I haven't even started the story yet, but the character list is sending me. A goth. An unmemorable woman.
Stupidly pretty is such a femme author thing to write.
I'm glad that you gave us a pronunciation because I was lost. And I'm sorry, but the name pronunciation is just a blow job. We can all see that.
The toxic in me loves the shifters have no clothes trope.
Just say Brienne from Game of Thrones.
Not the double m ums.
This book is horny. (Oh Samantha, you have no idea.)
These names are too long. My eyes just skip over them.
This book reads like good horny fan fiction.
I got distracted looking at the author's art of this book on Twitter, and it's all gorgeous, but I'm back now.
I know my gaydar is practically nonexistent, but I really did not think he was a top. I'm guessing he's gonna be a switch in the book because I can't picture the prince being a bottom, but like, I don't know man, I just didn't peg it that way. Pun not intended. (Just so miserably wrong)
Book is very fan fiction. Listen 30 pages in and there are already orgasms.
The chapter titles are something else.
Briar Queen sounds badass. I want to know more about her.
Oh god, the mind link fuckery trope.
There are some major typos in this.
I like how everyone in this book is just allowed to fuck everyone. When I said this book was horny, I meant that.
The way I went into this book as a joke and now I am so invested in these characters and fully concerned that I am stressed. I'm on like chapter 6. Good job book!
I mean, I'm me, and if you give a paper bag a backstory I'm invested, but like sheesh.
The POV construction in this book is lovely because we change to the character whose situation is most relevant. Like the audience gets to be ignorant/learn alongside the characters which is very satisfying for reader engagement. There’s no real info dumping.
Also with how invested I am now, I can't help but feel that the 1st chapter is a bit cheap to jump into the sex so explicitly, so off the bat. I feel like it was a bit gratuitous and didn't really fit the vibe of the rest of the book. (This is a consistent problem with the sex scenes being out of place and alienating.)
Please, please, please tell me the villain isn't my favorite and her disgruntled parent. I will be very annoyed if it's them. I don't want them to be the big bads. Please have something better than that, thank you.
The visuals in this book are so artsy and beautiful.
She better do some serious reputation damage control because all the other characters- my babies. Sad boy Caed can get fucked. (He will continue to be insufferable the entire book.)
Yeah OK, I understand why this book had to be self-published. I'm not sure if a publisher would pick this up, but I don't know why because this type of thing is all over fan fiction, so clearly people are reading it. (No, I know why. There are some serious edits needed for this to be mass market.)
Remember how earlier I said I was so into this book because every character had distinct voices? We're losing that a bit. I'm about 40% through. It is coming across a bit as just fantasy wish-fulfillment sex scenes that a plot was written around. And the bad part is that the plot is so much better than the sex scenes, to the point that the sex scenes no longer feel like they fit. They feel like they belong to a different book.
I have such a hard time mentally picturing Feon.
This author is really fixated on precum turning white clothes transparent. Which like you know go off, bestie, whatever floats your boat, but this is not my personal thing, and I would like to stop hearing about it. Someone get these boys different colored underwear.
Caed is such an emotionally constipated sad boy. And like he’s gonna be super familiar to readers because he’s very representative of emotionally abusive boyfriends and friends, but it’s exhausting to read about, and I’m too old for this lol. Get your shit together.
The sound I emitted when I found out we got a Lysithea chapter was ungodly.
This book is giving me anxiety. Don't experiment on yourself. Don't cut things. Like what if you don't stop bleeding? You don't know what all the stuff does. I would be so bad in these fantasy novels because I'm such an anxious mess. Like nothing would get done. Would not be the one going oh hey let’s mess with the magic and cursed objects because curiosity and adventure. Fuck that. You know it‘s only going to get worse because of plot.
Also, like what if they die? I know they won't die, but like what if they die? They need to not die. I'm so invested, jesus.
No, too far. We've hit my limit for weird sex. Too far. I would like to hit the escape button. I don't wanna read this. This is weird.
You how I thought we were gonna make it through the book with them just fucking as people? That's on me. But like also, mom come pick me up.
I don’t want to picture it, but if you're going into that much graphic detail, and I'm getting confused and now I have so many images in my brain that I did not want. I'm going to need brain bleach.
I'm stress sweating.
You know, that is not the ending that I saw coming.
Post-reading:
This book is unhinged. In all seriousness, it has a good YA fantasy plot. It is most definitely not a YA book though. Like I’m invested. I care. It has a good fuck you reader ending. The pacing is fantastic. I absolutely plowed through this 600 page book that I went into thinking I was going to read as a joke. I think it could be a really good book with some massive edits. The diction mixing with the slang is jarring, annoying, and immersion-ruining and needs to be removed. The “Easter egg” modern references need to be trashed. Sometimes the characters’ dialogue is offputting, and they come across as too young or like a therapist’s transcript. Should be an easy fix with a good editor. The sex scenes need a complete overhaul if it’s going to be a mass-market book. The anatomical terms are going to ick people out. Some of it is too bonkers. Clearly, I’m not the intended audience for these kinds of scenes, that’s not my thing, but I think you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find enough people who want to read those scenes as they are. In a similar vein, the book does kind of read like the sex scenes were written independently, and then they were shoved into where they could fit in the plot. The first scene is gratuitous, and I fully believe that it should be removed in its entirety. Some of the emotional turning point sex scenes also don’t have enough dialogue, or sparky chemistry within them for it to be believable that it’s a dam breaking and justify such an escalation between characters. There’s enough tension currently between characters that you want them together, the execution of the culmination of that is just really lacking. I understand why a lot of questions weren’t answered in this book and again, bravo for that ending because it really came out of left field and it’s fucking believable, which is so hard to do, but I do worry that the sequel might end up plot hole-y if it’s not very carefully managed. Basically, the book is super rough, but if you’re the type of reader who gets off on the concept of a book rather than its like line by line execution, you’re gonna dig this.
Who should read this:
YA fantasy lovers
Fan fiction readers
Readers who care more about concept than execution
Do I want to re-read this:
Maybe? I’d be very interested in reading an edited overhaul of this book
Similar Books:
* Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas-the current standard for bonkers fantasy plots I think
* The Immortals by Tamora Pierce-bonkers fantasy with shape-shifting
* The Rose by Tiffany Reisz-bonkers erotica, not very similar but like if you read this one for the sex scenes, you might like this
* Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo-fantasy with cool world-building
July 10, 2022
So frustrated!!
I can honestly say I’ve never read a book like this before. It has an extremely diverse exploration of every possibly facet of queer culture, satisfyingly complex world building, and characters that are deep and flawed and complicated. I loved all the drama and angst, and my feelings towards characters changed constantly; I’d go from frustrated to sympathetic, hating a character to loving them. Toward the end I had thoroughly grown to care about all three main characters (and a lot of the side characters).
I will say that I am extremely upset with the ending. We finally get the dramatic moment we’ve been waiting for, then the book just ends. Literally - last couple pages of the book flip the script, and it’s over. It is probably one of the worst cliff hangers I’ve ever come across. Plus, book has just been released, so who knows how long until we will get the second book in this series?
The polyamory also wasn’t made explicit to all characters romantically involved with each other, so the sneaking around kinda felt like cheating. It hurts characters that were already struggling with their relationship and was kinda heartbreaking. I’d be a little cautious if that’s typically a hard limit for you.
Along those lines author did warn readers what to expect on the first page, I totally recommend checking that out before delving in.
All in all I would read this again in a heartbeat and am so happy I stumbled on it when I did. I haven’t heard of this author before but I will be keeping an eye out for their future work (and keep my fingers crossed that it is a short wait for the sequel)!
I can honestly say I’ve never read a book like this before. It has an extremely diverse exploration of every possibly facet of queer culture, satisfyingly complex world building, and characters that are deep and flawed and complicated. I loved all the drama and angst, and my feelings towards characters changed constantly; I’d go from frustrated to sympathetic, hating a character to loving them. Toward the end I had thoroughly grown to care about all three main characters (and a lot of the side characters).
I will say that I am extremely upset with the ending. We finally get the dramatic moment we’ve been waiting for, then the book just ends. Literally - last couple pages of the book flip the script, and it’s over. It is probably one of the worst cliff hangers I’ve ever come across. Plus, book has just been released, so who knows how long until we will get the second book in this series?
The polyamory also wasn’t made explicit to all characters romantically involved with each other, so the sneaking around kinda felt like cheating. It hurts characters that were already struggling with their relationship and was kinda heartbreaking. I’d be a little cautious if that’s typically a hard limit for you.
Along those lines author did warn readers what to expect on the first page, I totally recommend checking that out before delving in.
All in all I would read this again in a heartbeat and am so happy I stumbled on it when I did. I haven’t heard of this author before but I will be keeping an eye out for their future work (and keep my fingers crossed that it is a short wait for the sequel)!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
dnf
June 7, 2023DNF @ 6%. No rating.
Maybe I should have read the blurb and not just got drawn in by a pretty cover. But, if there’s going to be everyone fucking everything, why on earth is this 600 pages. I’m 33 pages in, it feels like I’ve read a hundred, but also nothing is happening.
Side note, MCs have sex with other non-MC characters, both on and off page. Other reviews have indicated there isn’t a HFN/HEA.
Maybe I should have read the blurb and not just got drawn in by a pretty cover. But, if there’s going to be everyone fucking everything, why on earth is this 600 pages. I’m 33 pages in, it feels like I’ve read a hundred, but also nothing is happening.
Side note, MCs have sex with other non-MC characters, both on and off page. Other reviews have indicated there isn’t a HFN/HEA.
September 18, 2021
What an absolute treat this book is. If you want culture-clash and different expectations of relationship portrayed with sympathy and care on ALL sides; if you want a sensitive exploration of how emotionally distant parenting can continue to cause problems well into adulthood; if you want authentic portrayals of body-positive, gender-blind attraction and desire - READ THIS BOOK. The worldbuilding is stunningly rich, the character writing is excellent and has very distinctive voices between the four POV characters, and the, ahem, romance is 🔥🔥🔥. The only thing I'm mad about is the twist ending, which I won't spoil but I will say has got me absolutely on tenterhooks waiting for the next book!!
June 19, 2023
It's well written, the characters have real depth to them, but I felt let down that it didn't have a conclusion, while polyamory was defined in one of the cultures of the world it wasn't established in the relationship between the main characters.
I also struggled with some of the more complex political world building that was done, it just seemed so irrelevant to the romance and dynamics, like two separate stories mashed together that had no bearing on the other.
All in all I finished the novel but I'm not sure I would read a sequel or reread this if given a choice.
I also struggled with some of the more complex political world building that was done, it just seemed so irrelevant to the romance and dynamics, like two separate stories mashed together that had no bearing on the other.
All in all I finished the novel but I'm not sure I would read a sequel or reread this if given a choice.
January 21, 2025
When I write a review, I generally try to keep the book and the author as separate entities that suffer minimal overlap by mere coincidence rather than by design, it removes a level of subjectivity that I feel betters my analysis. However, I cannot do that with Spitfire by Maya Kern no matter how hard I try. When I initially went into this book, it was with a lenient and open mind because I like to support indie, self-published authors and the pitch for this story was intriguing, I wanted this book to be good, I was understanding of the limitations that self-publishing incurs and did not think twice about stray typos or odd formatting choices, but what I cannot understand is how the author decided to advertise Spitfire as a “queer, polyamorous fantasy/romance” novel and deliver on barely any of that.
It’s worth noting that the author wrote Spitfire serially, publishing it onto AO3 as she wrote it, and this happened over the span of little over a year, before it was concluded, and then thrown onto Amazon for purchase not long thereafter… and it’s this author’s first time writing like this, ever. No, I’m not kidding. Spitfire is a first draft that had minimal if any editing and is being sold for, at minimum, ten dollars (a lower cost from when I came into ownership of my copy but I will give credit where credit is due).
This isn’t me attempting to lay the hammer down on a budding author but this is me sincerely disliking how the author claims that Spitfire was a fun passion project yet turned around and sold it without a modicum of consideration for the abhorrent state this book is in. The version that I read was the Kindle version which I’ve inferred is the ‘better’ and heavier edited version and still I struggled to parse through poor structuring and implications of a plot told through the eyes of characters that make me want to run head first into a wall because every interaction is one big miscommunication that I couldn’t grasp because of how insufferably it was conveyed. It’s almost as if Spitfire was written by someone who loathes writing and the medium of written storytelling.
I hate having so little good to say about a book of this size, over six hundred pages and over three hundred thousand words (to be exact), but genuinely, the only positives I came away with were: 1) The concept of bonding with dragons is cool 2) The ideas were interesting 3) The final chapter was the best part because it was the first time an actual plot unfurled and felt like it was meant to unfurl.
With that said, the following is my point-by-point review of Spitfire, and it’s with an intentional disregard for the Kindle author’s note that mentions because I feel like that’s a cop-out for a badly written story and not an actual warning for triggering content.
Do not proceed if you’re uninterested in spoilers.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Spitfire is a book that needs reworking from the ground up technically speaking, starting with a very intensive rewrite that disregards everything in this version. I won’t deny that there are compelling concepts put forth both in terms of worldbuilding and plotlines but the issue that arises here is there are so many things going on that nothing ends up going on. I mean that. Throughout the story, there are four different plotlines that we’re given: attacks on the Nadara kingdom we have to find the reason for, a mysterious dagger Allene is obsessed with, the strange happenings with Feon and some nymph (or Solene?), and the belatedly insinuated interests of the Ballard family to convene with the dragons of Domina that go denied by the king of Nadara, for some reason.
None of the aforementioned plotlines are ever pursued beyond being peeked and poked at between gratuitous sex scenes that last too long and serve nothing but to beef up the word count to my detriment. I do understand that it was intended by the author for Spitfire to be the first in a duology but the sheer inexperience is none more clear than here because the first book in a duology is not meant to leave you with nothing but questions. It needs to be able to be read and feel, on some level, concluded while also leaving enough uncertainties on the table so that a reader wants to see what happens in the sequel. All Spitfire did was leave me wondering why this book was so long when I came away more confused than I went in.
A lot of this can be attributed to clumsy worldbuilding, none of the kingdoms or customs mentioned feel fully realized as much as they sound like the author thought of cool concepts and added them in without considering how to work any into the world, like Nadara is meant to be a powerful “sun” kingdom who has this entwined relationship with the dragons, but we’re never really shown how this plays into the culture outside of Feon and Caederyn constantly lamenting about how powerful and catastrophic their bond is, and the king’s bond with his dragon was, or how the first bonded pair ended in mythological tragedy. I’m not even entirely sure how the dragons as a species work and I was in the POV of one for endless chapters. All I know for certain is that Feon can shapeshift to have a clit and a dick and maybe even tits if he’s feeling feisty.
Not to mention the fact that it feels like the author flip flops between having this world feel modern with a lot of anachronisms and then using “naught” and “oft” improperly, along with a lot of synonym word salad to make more intellectual characters like Allene seem intellectual instead of just having her be that. There’s so much telling that it comes across as clinical at times. There’s no earnest “getting inside the head” of any POV character despite being in first person, there is always a degree of separation that prevents a reader from being able to fully sit with the story.
Spitfire is also not… legible. I can’t tell if it’s the pacing of too-long sex scenes and too-short important scenes or the mish-mosh of improperly issued dated language and modern “barfed” and “blunt” uses, or the fucking refridgerant joke in the middle of an important trade deal, but there was never a chapter that I came away from being able to retain the contents on the first read. It took multiple reads to comprehend what was being told to me in a book that knows subtlety as much as it knows how to use parentheses correctly. There’s so much of the narration telling you what happens and then following it up with a flowery prose version of what it just said and it made me feel insane.
Alongside being illegible, Spitfire has no direction.
I’m under the impression from the summary and promotional material that it’s meant to be about these three characters going through the tribulations to find love on the other side but all the narrative gives you is tribulations, conflict with sex resolution, conflict with sex resolution that ends soon as the sex does, and no reason for you to believe these near-thirty year old characters have some internal happenings that make having a conversation impossible… because Allene is regularly used as a therapist for both Caederyn and Feon to hiss, moan, and grumble at until she sucks or fucks them. It’s so directionless, in fact, that when it finally ended I was still waiting for the next chapter to explain to me why in the world a once-dead dragon stole the fucking Queen he wasn’t even bonded to.
WHY DID HE STEAL THE FUCKING QUEEN! WHY IS YUEN ALIVE!
OVERALL ISSUES
I want Feon to die.
Or, it’s a little more complicated than that. There’s a saying I’ve heard ‘good characters can save a bad plot, but bad characters will ruin a good plot’ and I feel like that really applies here because it’s evident that the author wanted this book to have a character-driven narrative and while I’m usually fond of similar narratives, Spitfire falls flat on its face due to having characters that are simultaneously one dimensional and brimming with the potential to be something less than insufferable. What I mean by this is the characters, specifically the main trio, have semi-distinct personalities that I feel like have a lot of depth that the author refuses to acknowledge let alone explore.
Feon, for example, has been raised to serve and (implied) die for Caederyn, and while he has spent his entire life living alongside royals, it is clear he isn’t seen as royal—not like the real royals are. How many times is he referred to as a dog or slapped and chided and be expected to take it? HELL, someone gifts Caederyn a dog because Feon is viewed as a dog he can’t keep in line. In a better story, I feel like this would be explored in a way that coincides with Allene’s arrival to the kingdom, where despite the fact that she isn’t from Nadara but she is seen as a Real Royal in a way Feon has never been allowed, and how complicated the feelings he has are (being devoted to Caederyn while hating how he’s viewed by others for his position) but … we never get to see that, not even in the slightest. God, it’s even worse when Nadara reveres the bond of a dragon and their human BUT the dragons that are revered are those who have been martyrs? How do we focus so little on the implications there?
“Shapeshifting dragon whose sole purpose in life is to serve the prince of a kingdom that looks down on him while he’s alive but if he dies as a martyr, he’ll be loved” is a severely fucked up and interesting concept that is proposed, and we never see the potential in that get explored.
What do we get instead? Feon, this dragon-shifter who stomps around and acts like a child and rages when he is not acknowledged for five seconds, and who seemingly hates everyone but Caederyn until he sees a woman he can horrifically sexualize and then they’re good enough to fuck, but you better bet he’ll be talking shit about them afterwards! I don’t even mind these types of characters but the way this author depicts Feon (in which he comes across as misogynistic and cruel for cruelty’s sake) makes him insufferable to read and each time I was reading a POV chapter of his, I dreaded it. I knew I was going to read him either seeing women as nothing but sex toys, being mean to women for no apparent reason, or acting like an edgy teenager who just learned his first cuss word. What’s worse? The narrative makes it seem like Feon is not wrong for acting this way. I don’t need to have my hand held and told this shit is bad but I do need to know that this isn’t a standard for the world… and unfortunately, I fear it is, which is upsetting when I don’t think the author meant for that to be the case.
Caederyn and Allene are not particularly better, they’re just… lacking overall, and it almost feels like this story would’ve been more coherent if it was just told in Feon’s POV because I cannot fathom why the other two POVs were at all necessary? In most cases, Feon was present for everything. He was even present for sex scene between Caederyn and Allene! There’s no narrative purpose either of them serve that cannot be served by just writing their chapters in Feon’s POV. Hell, I’d prefer that so I don’t have to keep track of Caederyn’s fucking lunch he spent four pages eating. At least Feon DOES things, horrible as he is, I hate being bored more than I hate seeing him eye fuck every passing woman.
While I’m on the topic of characters, I don’t think any of them are taken seriously nor do they take anything seriously. It seems like every chapter has some little quirky Marvel ‘he’s behind me, isn’t he?’ moment that’s so shoehorned in that it often left me wondering why the author didn’t want to put a little more effort into writing earnestly because, otherwise, it’s almost like the story cannot take itself with any degree of sincerity because that runs the risk of it being approached with sincerity. Like, when I first sat down to write this review, I wanted to make a shitty Letterboxd one sentence “lol get cucked” review because that felt deserved.
Spitfire couldn’t take my time seriously, why would I take it seriously?
But ultimately, I feel as though approaching Spitfire in this way accentuates how horrifically done it is. I’ve read fanfiction that will never be sold for a dime that has more heart in it than a book that should’ve never left its word processor with a price tag so hefty for what it is. Often, I’ve seen the author claim that an editor wasn’t a financial burden that could be taken on and that critique of Spitfire is something to ignore because obviously it’s in bad faith if the reader could not sympathize with an indie author’s limitations, but every issue I have with this book starts with how it was written and how it was tossed out for people to purchase it despite the author clearly knowing it isn’t in a state that warrants it. There’s a reason why the available versions of Spitfire are considered legacy versions, after all.
Reading Spitfire truthfully felt like being given a microwave dinner fresh from the freezer and being told to eat it or, if I’d like, I can wait for it to thaw out.
Which is all to say, Spitfire is the hastily done product of someone who didn’t want to take the time to give their audience a decent story.
A novel can be written and published in a year.
A good novel cannot.
(Review continues in comments)
It’s worth noting that the author wrote Spitfire serially, publishing it onto AO3 as she wrote it, and this happened over the span of little over a year, before it was concluded, and then thrown onto Amazon for purchase not long thereafter… and it’s this author’s first time writing like this, ever. No, I’m not kidding. Spitfire is a first draft that had minimal if any editing and is being sold for, at minimum, ten dollars (a lower cost from when I came into ownership of my copy but I will give credit where credit is due).
This isn’t me attempting to lay the hammer down on a budding author but this is me sincerely disliking how the author claims that Spitfire was a fun passion project yet turned around and sold it without a modicum of consideration for the abhorrent state this book is in. The version that I read was the Kindle version which I’ve inferred is the ‘better’ and heavier edited version and still I struggled to parse through poor structuring and implications of a plot told through the eyes of characters that make me want to run head first into a wall because every interaction is one big miscommunication that I couldn’t grasp because of how insufferably it was conveyed. It’s almost as if Spitfire was written by someone who loathes writing and the medium of written storytelling.
I hate having so little good to say about a book of this size, over six hundred pages and over three hundred thousand words (to be exact), but genuinely, the only positives I came away with were: 1) The concept of bonding with dragons is cool 2) The ideas were interesting 3) The final chapter was the best part because it was the first time an actual plot unfurled and felt like it was meant to unfurl.
With that said, the following is my point-by-point review of Spitfire, and it’s with an intentional disregard for the Kindle author’s note that mentions because I feel like that’s a cop-out for a badly written story and not an actual warning for triggering content.
Do not proceed if you’re uninterested in spoilers.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Spitfire is a book that needs reworking from the ground up technically speaking, starting with a very intensive rewrite that disregards everything in this version. I won’t deny that there are compelling concepts put forth both in terms of worldbuilding and plotlines but the issue that arises here is there are so many things going on that nothing ends up going on. I mean that. Throughout the story, there are four different plotlines that we’re given: attacks on the Nadara kingdom we have to find the reason for, a mysterious dagger Allene is obsessed with, the strange happenings with Feon and some nymph (or Solene?), and the belatedly insinuated interests of the Ballard family to convene with the dragons of Domina that go denied by the king of Nadara, for some reason.
None of the aforementioned plotlines are ever pursued beyond being peeked and poked at between gratuitous sex scenes that last too long and serve nothing but to beef up the word count to my detriment. I do understand that it was intended by the author for Spitfire to be the first in a duology but the sheer inexperience is none more clear than here because the first book in a duology is not meant to leave you with nothing but questions. It needs to be able to be read and feel, on some level, concluded while also leaving enough uncertainties on the table so that a reader wants to see what happens in the sequel. All Spitfire did was leave me wondering why this book was so long when I came away more confused than I went in.
A lot of this can be attributed to clumsy worldbuilding, none of the kingdoms or customs mentioned feel fully realized as much as they sound like the author thought of cool concepts and added them in without considering how to work any into the world, like Nadara is meant to be a powerful “sun” kingdom who has this entwined relationship with the dragons, but we’re never really shown how this plays into the culture outside of Feon and Caederyn constantly lamenting about how powerful and catastrophic their bond is, and the king’s bond with his dragon was, or how the first bonded pair ended in mythological tragedy. I’m not even entirely sure how the dragons as a species work and I was in the POV of one for endless chapters. All I know for certain is that Feon can shapeshift to have a clit and a dick and maybe even tits if he’s feeling feisty.
Not to mention the fact that it feels like the author flip flops between having this world feel modern with a lot of anachronisms and then using “naught” and “oft” improperly, along with a lot of synonym word salad to make more intellectual characters like Allene seem intellectual instead of just having her be that. There’s so much telling that it comes across as clinical at times. There’s no earnest “getting inside the head” of any POV character despite being in first person, there is always a degree of separation that prevents a reader from being able to fully sit with the story.
Spitfire is also not… legible. I can’t tell if it’s the pacing of too-long sex scenes and too-short important scenes or the mish-mosh of improperly issued dated language and modern “barfed” and “blunt” uses, or the fucking refridgerant joke in the middle of an important trade deal, but there was never a chapter that I came away from being able to retain the contents on the first read. It took multiple reads to comprehend what was being told to me in a book that knows subtlety as much as it knows how to use parentheses correctly. There’s so much of the narration telling you what happens and then following it up with a flowery prose version of what it just said and it made me feel insane.
Alongside being illegible, Spitfire has no direction.
I’m under the impression from the summary and promotional material that it’s meant to be about these three characters going through the tribulations to find love on the other side but all the narrative gives you is tribulations, conflict with sex resolution, conflict with sex resolution that ends soon as the sex does, and no reason for you to believe these near-thirty year old characters have some internal happenings that make having a conversation impossible… because Allene is regularly used as a therapist for both Caederyn and Feon to hiss, moan, and grumble at until she sucks or fucks them. It’s so directionless, in fact, that when it finally ended I was still waiting for the next chapter to explain to me why in the world a once-dead dragon stole the fucking Queen he wasn’t even bonded to.
WHY DID HE STEAL THE FUCKING QUEEN! WHY IS YUEN ALIVE!
OVERALL ISSUES
I want Feon to die.
Or, it’s a little more complicated than that. There’s a saying I’ve heard ‘good characters can save a bad plot, but bad characters will ruin a good plot’ and I feel like that really applies here because it’s evident that the author wanted this book to have a character-driven narrative and while I’m usually fond of similar narratives, Spitfire falls flat on its face due to having characters that are simultaneously one dimensional and brimming with the potential to be something less than insufferable. What I mean by this is the characters, specifically the main trio, have semi-distinct personalities that I feel like have a lot of depth that the author refuses to acknowledge let alone explore.
Feon, for example, has been raised to serve and (implied) die for Caederyn, and while he has spent his entire life living alongside royals, it is clear he isn’t seen as royal—not like the real royals are. How many times is he referred to as a dog or slapped and chided and be expected to take it? HELL, someone gifts Caederyn a dog because Feon is viewed as a dog he can’t keep in line. In a better story, I feel like this would be explored in a way that coincides with Allene’s arrival to the kingdom, where despite the fact that she isn’t from Nadara but she is seen as a Real Royal in a way Feon has never been allowed, and how complicated the feelings he has are (being devoted to Caederyn while hating how he’s viewed by others for his position) but … we never get to see that, not even in the slightest. God, it’s even worse when Nadara reveres the bond of a dragon and their human BUT the dragons that are revered are those who have been martyrs? How do we focus so little on the implications there?
“Shapeshifting dragon whose sole purpose in life is to serve the prince of a kingdom that looks down on him while he’s alive but if he dies as a martyr, he’ll be loved” is a severely fucked up and interesting concept that is proposed, and we never see the potential in that get explored.
What do we get instead? Feon, this dragon-shifter who stomps around and acts like a child and rages when he is not acknowledged for five seconds, and who seemingly hates everyone but Caederyn until he sees a woman he can horrifically sexualize and then they’re good enough to fuck, but you better bet he’ll be talking shit about them afterwards! I don’t even mind these types of characters but the way this author depicts Feon (in which he comes across as misogynistic and cruel for cruelty’s sake) makes him insufferable to read and each time I was reading a POV chapter of his, I dreaded it. I knew I was going to read him either seeing women as nothing but sex toys, being mean to women for no apparent reason, or acting like an edgy teenager who just learned his first cuss word. What’s worse? The narrative makes it seem like Feon is not wrong for acting this way. I don’t need to have my hand held and told this shit is bad but I do need to know that this isn’t a standard for the world… and unfortunately, I fear it is, which is upsetting when I don’t think the author meant for that to be the case.
Caederyn and Allene are not particularly better, they’re just… lacking overall, and it almost feels like this story would’ve been more coherent if it was just told in Feon’s POV because I cannot fathom why the other two POVs were at all necessary? In most cases, Feon was present for everything. He was even present for sex scene between Caederyn and Allene! There’s no narrative purpose either of them serve that cannot be served by just writing their chapters in Feon’s POV. Hell, I’d prefer that so I don’t have to keep track of Caederyn’s fucking lunch he spent four pages eating. At least Feon DOES things, horrible as he is, I hate being bored more than I hate seeing him eye fuck every passing woman.
While I’m on the topic of characters, I don’t think any of them are taken seriously nor do they take anything seriously. It seems like every chapter has some little quirky Marvel ‘he’s behind me, isn’t he?’ moment that’s so shoehorned in that it often left me wondering why the author didn’t want to put a little more effort into writing earnestly because, otherwise, it’s almost like the story cannot take itself with any degree of sincerity because that runs the risk of it being approached with sincerity. Like, when I first sat down to write this review, I wanted to make a shitty Letterboxd one sentence “lol get cucked” review because that felt deserved.
Spitfire couldn’t take my time seriously, why would I take it seriously?
But ultimately, I feel as though approaching Spitfire in this way accentuates how horrifically done it is. I’ve read fanfiction that will never be sold for a dime that has more heart in it than a book that should’ve never left its word processor with a price tag so hefty for what it is. Often, I’ve seen the author claim that an editor wasn’t a financial burden that could be taken on and that critique of Spitfire is something to ignore because obviously it’s in bad faith if the reader could not sympathize with an indie author’s limitations, but every issue I have with this book starts with how it was written and how it was tossed out for people to purchase it despite the author clearly knowing it isn’t in a state that warrants it. There’s a reason why the available versions of Spitfire are considered legacy versions, after all.
Reading Spitfire truthfully felt like being given a microwave dinner fresh from the freezer and being told to eat it or, if I’d like, I can wait for it to thaw out.
Which is all to say, Spitfire is the hastily done product of someone who didn’t want to take the time to give their audience a decent story.
A novel can be written and published in a year.
A good novel cannot.
(Review continues in comments)
November 5, 2021
This story really felt like 2 parts, for 75% of the book it was on track to be a 4-4.5☆ but the ending really tanked it for me. I feel like we totally missed out on vital personal chapters by others that would have made it a bit more impactful. I will read a sequel if there if one at some point. I am very interested in the story and it DOES say in the beginning that it's not a HEA but more of a in the future HEA.
What a roller coaster this book was.
This was a wonderfully queer story about 3 individuals and the bonds of love that entangled them. It is not polyamorous!!
What I liked:
-the magic systems
-Feon the dragon. He was a wonderfully petulant dragon. I felt that his parts were very flushed out. He has the ability to change his form and the gender things that come along with that was very flushed out.
-this book was VERY queer.
What bothered me:
i felt that the pacing was strange throughout the story. Each chapter is in someone else's perspective. While it aided in understanding character motivations, there wasn't enough time spent on certain aspects. There's this whole plot going on and we spend a lot of time in Allene's perspective that I feel like we are missing out on Caed whole bit. (Trying not to spoil)
My biggest gripe was that this isn't a polyamorous story tho perhaps that was my fault? When I read the synopsis, it sounded like a polyamorous situation. That's not what you get. It almost comes off as cheating then had a WILD ending out of no where?? The story is trucking along until the like 75% ish point then it went down hill for me. By the end of the book I was confused and it was very abrupt.
What a roller coaster this book was.
This was a wonderfully queer story about 3 individuals and the bonds of love that entangled them. It is not polyamorous!!
What I liked:
-the magic systems
-Feon the dragon. He was a wonderfully petulant dragon. I felt that his parts were very flushed out. He has the ability to change his form and the gender things that come along with that was very flushed out.
-this book was VERY queer.
What bothered me:
i felt that the pacing was strange throughout the story. Each chapter is in someone else's perspective. While it aided in understanding character motivations, there wasn't enough time spent on certain aspects. There's this whole plot going on and we spend a lot of time in Allene's perspective that I feel like we are missing out on Caed whole bit. (Trying not to spoil)
My biggest gripe was that this isn't a polyamorous story tho perhaps that was my fault? When I read the synopsis, it sounded like a polyamorous situation. That's not what you get. It almost comes off as cheating then had a WILD ending out of no where?? The story is trucking along until the like 75% ish point then it went down hill for me. By the end of the book I was confused and it was very abrupt.
June 2, 2022
This book is soooo long. There were parts that I absolutely loved and some parts that definitely could have been delivered better.
Good Parts:
-lots of smut
-Feon a literal non binary dragon
-the bi sexual representation
-some parts hurt emotionally you can feel the passion through the words
-world building is good I can perfectly imagine where they are at several parts with out dragging it out
Bad Parts
-I hated Allene in the beginning it was quite hard to read her parts and I kept wishing I was reading Feons part again when reading her POV
-some parts are so drawn out and unnecessary there’s a lot of conversations “that could have been an e-mail type meetings”
-Editing(I know this is self published but there is quite a few errors in print)
-this story is not poly they never agree to all be together in a relationship
SPOILERS
-it ends on a stupid cliff hanger
-the self harm part was not handled well
-Caeds sex scenes were just mediocre compared to Feons (sorry not sorry I’m a Feon fan)
Good Parts:
-lots of smut
-Feon a literal non binary dragon
-the bi sexual representation
-some parts hurt emotionally you can feel the passion through the words
-world building is good I can perfectly imagine where they are at several parts with out dragging it out
Bad Parts
-I hated Allene in the beginning it was quite hard to read her parts and I kept wishing I was reading Feons part again when reading her POV
-some parts are so drawn out and unnecessary there’s a lot of conversations “that could have been an e-mail type meetings”
-Editing(I know this is self published but there is quite a few errors in print)
-this story is not poly they never agree to all be together in a relationship
SPOILERS
-it ends on a stupid cliff hanger
-the self harm part was not handled well
-Caeds sex scenes were just mediocre compared to Feons (sorry not sorry I’m a Feon fan)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2022
I had to DNF this book about halfway through. I lasted as long as I did because the world building and character building are INCREDIBLE. But, to me, the sex scenes were kinda weird and I couldn't get into them, kinda cringing and wanting to skip over them. But the bigger issue is the lack of plot. This is an enormous book but halfway in, there is still. Nothing. Happening. Even the singular fight scene was more glossed over than anything. There is so much of the story that is just way too drawn out and didn't need to go on for as long as it did. But ultimately I find myself wondering, what is even the point of this book? I'm all for a book where the romance and character relations is the larger focus, but I need something else or it simply will not hold my attention.
July 8, 2022
Staggeringly disappointed.
I wanted so badly for this to be a five star review. It has all the ingredients to a book I would absolutely adore! It’s queer, it’s diverse, it’s fat positive, it’s sex positive, it’s about dragons for gods sake. Unfortunately the author’s inexperience truly did diminish the storytelling. The book is far too long. It meanders needlessly and gets lost in the minutiae of the characters daily lives and tends to drag something terrible. The author is in need of an accomplished beta reader or a serious editor. It could easily have been 200 pages shorter. Easily. The pacing of the story was very poor, long and strung out with very minor pops of internet until the last less than a hundred pages, then rushed in the last 10% of the book. So many unresolved plot points as to feel unfulfilled. I’m aware there is a sequel planned, but this book felt wholly without resolution on ANY of the plot points. The author made multiple errors in wordage, and overused phrases that are uncommon enough for it to stand out. (Wrong-footed is used at least 7 times in the first quarter of the book.) It had some lovely moments, and overall I would say I enjoyed it, but I was ultimately disappointed in the outcome. I hope the author finds better support before the next book is published. 3/5 ⭐️ 1.5🌶
I wanted so badly for this to be a five star review. It has all the ingredients to a book I would absolutely adore! It’s queer, it’s diverse, it’s fat positive, it’s sex positive, it’s about dragons for gods sake. Unfortunately the author’s inexperience truly did diminish the storytelling. The book is far too long. It meanders needlessly and gets lost in the minutiae of the characters daily lives and tends to drag something terrible. The author is in need of an accomplished beta reader or a serious editor. It could easily have been 200 pages shorter. Easily. The pacing of the story was very poor, long and strung out with very minor pops of internet until the last less than a hundred pages, then rushed in the last 10% of the book. So many unresolved plot points as to feel unfulfilled. I’m aware there is a sequel planned, but this book felt wholly without resolution on ANY of the plot points. The author made multiple errors in wordage, and overused phrases that are uncommon enough for it to stand out. (Wrong-footed is used at least 7 times in the first quarter of the book.) It had some lovely moments, and overall I would say I enjoyed it, but I was ultimately disappointed in the outcome. I hope the author finds better support before the next book is published. 3/5 ⭐️ 1.5🌶
August 23, 2022
While this book is not perfect and the characters have their own issues the writing and world building is fantastic and we get a full queer fantasy world, something that we don't get very often with POC characters as well.
Make sure you read the warnings at the start of the book, Maya Kern does warn us, but it's worth it even though that ending did us dirty.
Also the description from Kindle is a little more fitting: How do you know if someone truly loves you when they have been Bound by blood to serve you? How do you love someone when time and again they have barred you from making your own decisions? And how do you make two stubborn assholes get over themselves for long enough to admit that they love each other - and, just as importantly, you?
Spitfire is a story about a somber prince, his stroppy, shape-shifting dragon, and their future queen (who may have read one too many romance novels about those foreign royals who Bind themselves to dragons). It is unabashedly queer and is filled to the brim with chaotic bi energy and distressingly hot and dangerous women. Initially, it presents as high fantasy erotica about a love triangle composed of three adults (mid-to-late twenties) who are staggeringly bad at communicating their feelings, but Spitfire is a tale about coming to terms with old, unresolved feelings by embracing new love.
Make sure you read the warnings at the start of the book, Maya Kern does warn us, but it's worth it even though that ending did us dirty.
Also the description from Kindle is a little more fitting: How do you know if someone truly loves you when they have been Bound by blood to serve you? How do you love someone when time and again they have barred you from making your own decisions? And how do you make two stubborn assholes get over themselves for long enough to admit that they love each other - and, just as importantly, you?
Spitfire is a story about a somber prince, his stroppy, shape-shifting dragon, and their future queen (who may have read one too many romance novels about those foreign royals who Bind themselves to dragons). It is unabashedly queer and is filled to the brim with chaotic bi energy and distressingly hot and dangerous women. Initially, it presents as high fantasy erotica about a love triangle composed of three adults (mid-to-late twenties) who are staggeringly bad at communicating their feelings, but Spitfire is a tale about coming to terms with old, unresolved feelings by embracing new love.
October 2, 2022
I got Sptifire as a Christmas gift for myself last year and was recently able to take the time to finish it! It's a culmination of a lot of things I like in fantasy which made it a fun read. I absolutely love the world building and the mastery of different perspectives throughout the chapters. Not just one but three flawed protagonists with varying self-awareness.
I did struggle with the pacing throughout the book which especially made it hard to keep track of the character's intentions. I swing back and forth from "how this is not exactly cheating needs to be clear" and "the misunderstanding is the point." I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on whether or not this is good polyamorous representation, but if I got into that here this review ridiculously long. (This internal dialogue has also made me switch between three and four stars a bunch.)
A reminder when reading a lot of these reviews: the book is self-published (typos do come with the territory), and there is a note on the trigger warning page at the beginning of the book that the romance will not resolve by the end (so in the most recent edition we were all warned of leaving on a love triangle and cliff-hanger of some sort).
I am super excited to start the next book or whatever comes next for the series!
I did struggle with the pacing throughout the book which especially made it hard to keep track of the character's intentions. I swing back and forth from "how this is not exactly cheating needs to be clear" and "the misunderstanding is the point." I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on whether or not this is good polyamorous representation, but if I got into that here this review ridiculously long. (This internal dialogue has also made me switch between three and four stars a bunch.)
A reminder when reading a lot of these reviews: the book is self-published (typos do come with the territory), and there is a note on the trigger warning page at the beginning of the book that the romance will not resolve by the end (so in the most recent edition we were all warned of leaving on a love triangle and cliff-hanger of some sort).
I am super excited to start the next book or whatever comes next for the series!
May 28, 2022
This book needs an editor. Badly. The premise is amazing, but unfortunately, the concept gets thoroughly bogged down by SO MANY unnecessary scenes and descriptions. The dialogue (inner and external) also does not strongly convey a sense of each character as a unique individual, despite the whole idea being that you switch between the main 3's perspectives. The main 3's characters are established in the first few chapters, and then proceed to have NO development to themselves/their relationships until about page 250. I got through chapters 1-16 (about 300 pages) before deciding that I'd had enough.
If this book gets edited and becomes a third of its current length, with characters developing deeper motivations and feelings beyond 'he's mad at me' and 'he's so sexy,' then I will be very interested to revisit this book's premise.
DNF at 50%.
If this book gets edited and becomes a third of its current length, with characters developing deeper motivations and feelings beyond 'he's mad at me' and 'he's so sexy,' then I will be very interested to revisit this book's premise.
DNF at 50%.
December 29, 2022
actual rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
🔥🔥🔥
📚 - Adult Fantasy
📖 - 1002 pages
This book. The writing is witty, it's detailed. I know that this book will not be for everyone. But I love this kind of writing. I love that the different characters have such unique voices. This world that Maya Kern has created is one free of homophobia, transphobia, and judgment of poly relationships. It's all normalized. The Kindle version of this book did need a little bit of editing for information sharing/placement (it was originally published on AO3), but overall - this book was fascinating. The next book is not done yet and I will be reading all of it available on AO3 until it is.
Please, please, please read the content warning at the beginning of the book (on kindle unlimited) before deciding if you should attempt to read this book. It deals with some very sensitive content.
🔥🔥🔥
📚 - Adult Fantasy
📖 - 1002 pages
This book. The writing is witty, it's detailed. I know that this book will not be for everyone. But I love this kind of writing. I love that the different characters have such unique voices. This world that Maya Kern has created is one free of homophobia, transphobia, and judgment of poly relationships. It's all normalized. The Kindle version of this book did need a little bit of editing for information sharing/placement (it was originally published on AO3), but overall - this book was fascinating. The next book is not done yet and I will be reading all of it available on AO3 until it is.
Please, please, please read the content warning at the beginning of the book (on kindle unlimited) before deciding if you should attempt to read this book. It deals with some very sensitive content.
February 9, 2022
OK so gotta say... i did really enjoy this book.
The story is really immersive & it does feel like a breath of fresh air , at least with some of the stuff i typically read. I'd love to dive into more fantasy books asap. Maya s writing is well thought out, and although i think it could have done with another read through to check for typos & over used words , I do love the book warts and all. I can tell how much passion and joy went into making this book !
I would even say i was expecting more smut so i think i disagree slightly with everyone saying sex scenes were dragged out or overall it had too much.
I'm eager to read more after the explosive cliffhanger and honestly considering this is mayas first go at a writing a novel , im pretty impressed. Bring on firebrand..
The story is really immersive & it does feel like a breath of fresh air , at least with some of the stuff i typically read. I'd love to dive into more fantasy books asap. Maya s writing is well thought out, and although i think it could have done with another read through to check for typos & over used words , I do love the book warts and all. I can tell how much passion and joy went into making this book !
I would even say i was expecting more smut so i think i disagree slightly with everyone saying sex scenes were dragged out or overall it had too much.
I'm eager to read more after the explosive cliffhanger and honestly considering this is mayas first go at a writing a novel , im pretty impressed. Bring on firebrand..
March 5, 2023
Okay so I liked the premise and the relationship that grew with Feon and Allene was nice and felt like good pacing but Caed felt like a side character. The way the poly relationship was handled felt like cheating since neither of the boys understood she liked/wanted them both until after things happened. Also the ending pissed me off, I got confused. The fact that neither love interest addressed Caeds waning mental health makes me m a d. And the king actaully being the dragon the whole time confused me and left me wanting to throw my kindle in a woodchipper. The sex scene were written so well and I enjoyed reading all of them. The bond didn't feel consistent, but I enjoyed the book and I will read the second one once ot comes out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2021
Intriguing world building, with several threads left hanging. The ending was a cliffhanger but well-done. I look forward to the sequel.
I frequently found the main characters tiresome: Allene's naivety and high-handedness; Caed's self-recrimination and failure to consider the viewpoints of those around him; and Feon's childishness.
The sex scenes were longer than needed, and did little to advance the plot or character development. While well-written, I found myself skimming for important dialogue and then skipping past. The book could have been significantly shorter had these been condensed.
I frequently found the main characters tiresome: Allene's naivety and high-handedness; Caed's self-recrimination and failure to consider the viewpoints of those around him; and Feon's childishness.
The sex scenes were longer than needed, and did little to advance the plot or character development. While well-written, I found myself skimming for important dialogue and then skipping past. The book could have been significantly shorter had these been condensed.
October 24, 2022
I loved it. I knew this was self published when started reading it, so I didn't expect a fully streamlined and edited book.
The characters have a lot of depth and feel like actual people. I also really liked how the chapters switch between viewpoints. I can't wait to read the edited version! The author has been able to hire a professional editor and they are going to release Spitfire in two parts, edited and with some changes to the story so it can be split in the middle. In total Spitfire is going to be a four part series.
The characters have a lot of depth and feel like actual people. I also really liked how the chapters switch between viewpoints. I can't wait to read the edited version! The author has been able to hire a professional editor and they are going to release Spitfire in two parts, edited and with some changes to the story so it can be split in the middle. In total Spitfire is going to be a four part series.
March 16, 2022
Loved this book!
Such a diverse book that I have stayed up many nights reading!! As much as I loved this book, I am a little frustrated by the abruptness of the ending. There were a lot of side stories along the way that never seemed to have a reason for being there, so I’m curious if any of those come up in the second book. That being said, you have been warned and you should definitely read this book!! Highly recommend!!
Such a diverse book that I have stayed up many nights reading!! As much as I loved this book, I am a little frustrated by the abruptness of the ending. There were a lot of side stories along the way that never seemed to have a reason for being there, so I’m curious if any of those come up in the second book. That being said, you have been warned and you should definitely read this book!! Highly recommend!!
May 8, 2023
Spitfire is not the polyamorous love story it is advertised to be, so I feel a bit lied to and want to rate it lower. But if you get past that and just want a queer fantasy book, this has enjoyable characters, a fun take on magic, and some spice, all in a deep fantasy setting. I'll certainly continue the series and hope that polyamory is a real tag in the next one.
June 20, 2022
Very modern take on fantasy
This has a compelling magic system, light politics, and reasonably well developed characters. The sex scenes are varied, and are usually the weak point in the narrative, reminding you that you're in a book.
This has a compelling magic system, light politics, and reasonably well developed characters. The sex scenes are varied, and are usually the weak point in the narrative, reminding you that you're in a book.
October 15, 2021
I have so many questions....
December 22, 2021
Excellent Character Focused Fiction
The characters are the reason to read this. The world and its building are interesting and rich, but the characters and how they interact is so intriguing that you can’t even hate any of them. I enjoyed every minute of it, even the bits that made me cry and the bits that made me set the book down to walk around in second hand awkwardness.
The characters are the reason to read this. The world and its building are interesting and rich, but the characters and how they interact is so intriguing that you can’t even hate any of them. I enjoyed every minute of it, even the bits that made me cry and the bits that made me set the book down to walk around in second hand awkwardness.
May 29, 2022
great story
* * * * I loved this story and am looking forward to the next book. * * * *
* * * * I loved this story and am looking forward to the next book. * * * *
December 14, 2022
Absolutely dying for the sequel
November 22, 2023
Good bones but really needs an editor. I was frustrated reading it because if you gave me a few weeks and a red pen I could make this book something amazing 😭
September 12, 2025
Dnf't weil einfach unter all dem smut kein plot war. bitte fragt mich nicht über die Charaktere ich hab keine Ahnung ob die überhaupt personality hatten
November 30, 2024
this book!! this book made me feel so many things. i devoured this super long book while being sick and it made the time go much much faster.
i am absolutely obsessed with Feon as a character, he's such an annoying, horny, mean little shape-shifting dragon and if i could be his best friend i would. this book has sexy women (a LOT of them), a depressed prince, gender nonconformity, relationships between all genders, mindfuckery, flirting, a lost dagger, a very strong-minded princess (one of the aforementioned sexy women) and a whole lot of emotional pain.
the ending did make me go slightly insane, i was warned but i did not expect that. my only question are what the fuck and when do i get to read the sequel
i am absolutely obsessed with Feon as a character, he's such an annoying, horny, mean little shape-shifting dragon and if i could be his best friend i would. this book has sexy women (a LOT of them), a depressed prince, gender nonconformity, relationships between all genders, mindfuckery, flirting, a lost dagger, a very strong-minded princess (one of the aforementioned sexy women) and a whole lot of emotional pain.
the ending did make me go slightly insane, i was warned but i did not expect that. my only question are what the fuck and when do i get to read the sequel
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