“⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fire that burns from within
"Sometimes the chains that hold you are inside your own mind. Sometimes freedom means choosing when to burn."
This book hit different. Roar'Z isn't your typical fantasy hero. He's a gladiator with literal fire in his blood, but the real story is about the prison he's built in his own head. The external chains? Those are almost secondary.
What got me was how the book handles power and control. Roar'Z spends most of his time suppressing what makes him dangerous, hiding what makes him different. And you watch him struggle with when to let that fire out and when to keep it locked down tight.
The worldbuilding is solid. Orcs, dragons, druids who can't decide if they should actually help anyone. The action scenes are brutal and well-written. But it's the character work that kept me reading.
If you like your fantasy dark, your protagonists complicated, and your themes about breaking free from what holds you back (even when that thing is yourself), pick this up.
Worth the read.”