The Fires of Vengeance: 2 (Burning)

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Then when Queen Tsiora reveals the true heritage of the Nobles and Lessers, and shares her visions for the future, Tau struggles to trust, or hope, for a future without prejudice because he doesn’t believe one can exist. He so desperately wants change but in his eyes it’s an unreadable dream. I loved the way Winter incorporated many philosophical layers to the narrative - how much of history can be or is rewritten? Can one race legitimately be superior to another? Winter continuously posed the question - who is the better, stronger person, the one who endures hardships and fights with every ounce of strength they can muster, or the one innately born of privilege and power? I read The Rage of Dragons earlier this year and really enjoyed it and i was so excited for this sequence. Thanks for the publisher for providing me with an E-ARC, all opinions are mine though. Feels like I’m caught between a mountain and an anthill,” Hadith grumbled as he nodded to Kellan, who was marching over at full speed. When you hit someone, it hurts. Not just your opponent. You. Sometimes your hand. Sometimes your spirit. It can break you in more than one way. You can easily win every single fight. And those wins can destroy you more than any defeat. It is why fighters condition their bodies and their minds. And their hearts.

The action never stops as Tau, newly appointed Champion to the Queen, and his Scale are kept bouncing between bloody conflicts and visceral skirmishes. This pinball-fighting effect, combined with the very short chapters, makes it easy to want to keep reading to find out what is going to happen just around the corner. I also love how this series continues to explore grey morality through a variety of perespectives and themes that often conflict the main character and leave you wondering who is truly the villain of the story. The Rage Of Dragons was a fantastic debut, thus I was prepared for the next book in the series, The Fires Of Vengeance, to not quite meet my expectations - unfortunately, for me, it didn't. The second was that this book was where I really started to feel Tau's plot armor. You can't maim a character and then have it barely slow them down in a fight! But still, I didn't care that much, since he suffered in other ways.I love Tau, I loved him in book one despite his single-mindedness and I grew to love him so much more in this book, he becomes more. He is no longer set to his own singular purpose but also the aims of those around him, those he has bonded with even more and slowly begun to realise that he isn’t on his own. Evan Winter really dived into the themes of power, privilege and prejudice set in this world and I found it a wonderful study. We get to learn more of their history before they travelled across the Roar and the exploration of the history and culture of the Omehi showed how one decision made several years ago has still impacted their lives to this day. I really liked the deeper look into Isihago, I don’t want to say much by way of this but know it is thrilling to read and is the place where one of my FAVOURITE fights take place. You call me a monster because I won’t let you treat me like my life is worthless, a thing to be used and thrown away?” it said. “You call me a monster because I refuse to live like you think I deserve? If that’s what you mean by monster, watch me be monstrous!” I think these books are amazing and I think most people who love fantasy would agree. For me, personally though, it feels a little empty. Like it's missing an ingredient, but that's just my perspective.

I know a lot of people enjoyed this one, but I cannot see any possible way that I could justifiably give this the same star rating as the previous book. Thank you so much to Orbit Books for giving me this eArc. Receiving this advanced copy did not affect my review in any way. The friendships were still amazing as in the first book. Scale Jayyed’s interactions showed how close they were, how they considered each other sword-brothers and would do anything to help each other out. Their scenes together were light hearted and humorous which was really needed with the multiple tense situations. But of the group, nothing beats the bromance between Tau, Hadith and Uduak.

Another thing that I certainly enjoyed in both books was how fast paced the book are, Winter is good at writing action scenes and the book is full of those, there is not a dull moment but maybe we should have some time to breathe a bit and slow down. It makes the book hard to put down, I finished the book in 3 days! When you first announced you were releasing The Rage of Dragons with Orbit Books, it was as part of a four-book deal. But as Tolkien said, sometimes the tale grows in the telling. Do you still think you’ll be finishing The Burningin four books? And if so, how does it feel to be nearing the halfway point in the series? But the craft is the real strength of the book, its pacing, its design, not just the descriptive prose, but how it is executed. Tau really changed, I loved that the change didn't happen overnight, it was a gradual process, in book 1 he only cared about vengeance, now he knows there's more to life than that.

And on top of all that? Ancient history, long forgotten by most of his people, but still very real and very dangerous, is waiting in the shadows. Watching for weakness, readying itself to strike. A massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for approving my request for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This story is epic in every sense of the word. The world expands organically as our protagonists are forced to find new and creative ways to defeat their enemies. I loved learning more about the Cull, the history of the Omehi people, and the realm of Isihogo. Every snippet, every single piece of information that was given had me more intrigued and invested in the story as I went along. The Fires of Vengeanceis epic fantasy at its finest. If the momentum and excellence of this series continues, there’s little doubt that it could become a new staple of the genre. Fair warning, what I write here will undoubtedly sound more negative than I intend. The book was enjoyable for the most part, but there were a handful of elements that seriously detracted from my experience.Rage is love … twisted in on itself. Rage reaches into the world when we can no longer contain the hurt of being treated as if our life and loves do not matter. Rage, and its consequences, are what we get when the world refuses to change for anything less.” We are still following Tau's story and see nearly everything through his eyes, but other characters are starting to shine as well and we do see a bit of their POV's. This story is written with so much passion and love and just manages to keep me wanting to read more and never stop. The action is visceral and violent, the prose is engaging and straightforward and as the quote to start this review should tell you, it occasionally drops some serious knowledge. Tau continues his journey in the second book of Evan Winter’s unbelievably well-paced series. If you’ve read RAGE OF DRAGONS then you already know what I’m talking about. Somehow, that book managed to maintain nearly non-stop action without sacrificing any characterization. It’s a feat that I remain intensely impressed by. I watched a talk Winter had with Brent Weeks about pacing and in it he stated that he made a choice to have Tau as the primary POV and people would either ride with it or put down the book. I think that firm decision has paid off quite handsomely during these two books.