These are the Moments Authors Live for: My First ARC Review of Firekind!
A few weeks back, I had an out-of-the-blue message on Instagram from a reader of Firekind. Aimee had read an ARC with Loves Book Tours.(An ARC is an Advanced Release Copy) and loved it. She was dying to know if there would be a sequel. Squeeeee!
It was a surreal moment I will never forget. All the struggle, the heartache, and the years of work were worth it. A story I'd written had brought joy to a reader's life. Fingers shaking, I replied that Firedawn, the sequel, would be releasing November 17, 2022!
Tomorrow, I'm mailing Aimee a signed copy of Firekind. My story is traveling all the way from the Ozarks to the village of Dudley in the United Kingdom! These are the moments authors live for!
Aimee was kind enough to send her five star review via email. If you're curious about Firekind, read on to find out more! Also check out Aimee's book blog at http://www.whataimeereads.com/.
Here's her review:
First of all, thank you so much to @lovebooktours, and Angela for including me in the ARC book tour.
Where do I start with this book?! I have been itching to write this review because this book excited me! SO much!This YA mythical world, intense fantasy novel, to me was a cross between Carnival Row, and LOTR, but in a more magical way! It was a fantastic fast-paced adventure that kept me hooked all the way through, constantly asking questions like HOW did that happen? THAT was amazing!? Angela managed to write in such a way that was impressive, she also included a creative intelligent way of portraying the Icelandic language which conveyed humour immensely as the reader could tell there was swearing in there but not sure what Thom was saying which was brilliant.
Wren's metaphors/similes astonished me during reading this, it imprinted in my mind that much I ended up writing most of my favourite bits down, such as "His over-veined wrists, as thick as three branches" and "the ominous clouds churning like they were being mixed by gigantic hand blenders". The use of this identified such a powerful description of the surroundings and a fantastic portrayal of the characters look, and also personalities.
Another favourite part of this for me was the subconscious thoughts that both the MC were fighting over, in a dual POV type way. This created such exciting suspense of a will they; won't they type of feeling. Although there was romance in the book, it was just a tiny snippet of the themes that overlapped in this novel which as an author I find hard to come by, so I loved the idea of the love rifs between Thom and Poppy. I also admired the way Angela managed to convey the realistic and difficult family controversies and the dynamics these arguments and circumstances which unfolded.
This novel was a love against all odds, a fight pushed to be won, a battle of memories, and the confusion of the unknown (fantastic part of this book may I add). The magical and mystical battles incorporated into this book really excited me, as every single sentence there was ALWAYS something going on, it was jam-packed cleverly without being rushed or full of jargon.
My favourite quotes in this book were: "Regardless of what happens next, I know enough to know that I love you" and "everything else might change but that never will."
I adored the concept of the new language and the themes such as feys, grens, shadowbeasts, firekinds, and all the elementals and the exciting new worlds created.
The only two things I think I would change is I would of absolutely loved some sort of map to lay out the borderlands, the portals, and also the land of the other world, which I think would of been a brilliant touch to this novel, and ALSO the glossary of the terms which was placed at the end of the novel, I feel as though that would of been better at the start.
Thank you so much for letting me read this novel again, I really enjoyed it, and it was a definite five star read for me. I cannot wait for the next one to come out!