Book Review: Heart of Fire by Raina Nightingale
Genre(s): Fantasy / YA or middle-grade fantasy
Book Synopsis:
A SLAVE DETERMINED TO RIDE A DRAGON. A CHILD CHOSEN TO RIDE THE OBSIDIAN GUARDIAN.
Camilla has always been told that humans are inferior. They cannot use magic. If they bond to dragons, they will doom the creatures to extinction. She has never believed a word of it. She has always known that she can use magic, and she suspects it is the elves who harm the dragons by keeping them to themselves. Now, she is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: a dragon’s clutch is hatching and while she will earn the wrath of her captors if she is caught, she has the chance to see a dragon hatch and perhaps even to Recognize.
Kario’s people have feared dragons since time immemorial. When an unrealistically huge black dragon flies in while she is hunting, she is certain she will die. Instead, her life is changed when Nelexi, Obsidian Guardian of Areaer, chooses her as her final rider. Kario takes the name Flameheart, but she is soon homesick and afraid that she is insufficient to be the partner of a god.
Review:
I’m not sure if this is truly a YA book, or if it falls into the realm of middle-grade fantasy. It’s mentioned at one point that Camilla is basically an adult, so I assumed she was a teen, but both she and Kario seemed to be on the younger end of the spectrum.
My inability to properly classify the book aside, I liked the premise of the story. (I mean, what’s not to like about intelligent dragons who bond with their riders?) I’ve always preferred my dragons to be the wise/sentient type rather than the senseless monsters they’re sometimes portrayed as in other stories/media. The bonding between dragon and rider was a pretty fascinating concept, and in the case of Camilla with Radiance, it reminded me in some ways of how young animals (birds in particular) will imprint on the first adult or caregiver they come across. With Kario and Nelexi, the initiation of the bond was strikingly different, but no less impactful for either of them. I also liked that dragons from different parts of the Areaer world not only acted differently, but had evolved differently too.
Onto the characters themselves. Both of the main characters followed classic “chosen one” tropes. Kario was the typical young kid from a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, selected for a great destiny by Nelexi—who seems to have a special/elevated status amongst the rest of the dragons. Camilla was a slave determined to free herself, who later learns she harbors significant power and is fated to fulfill an important role in the world’s future.
Kario was the more likeable of the two, but she had significantly less page time than her counterpart. Kario felt very young and incredibly naïve. She had a lot to learn about the world, and Nelexi was a willing teacher. I liked her curiosity and open mindedness as she proceeded through her journey.
Camilla can be summarized in two words for about 90% of the book: angry and vengeful. I didn’t like her, and as the story progressed, her unwillingness to change (or accept change from others) was nothing short of frustrating. I really wish there had been more of Kario to break up Camilla’s story. There was just too much rage in Camilla for my liking.
Then there are the dragonmages, side characters who don’t entirely understand what they are themselves. They’re both dragon and something else (one is human, the other is an elf) and are shapeshifters of a sort. The claim they were created as they were by a mysterious “Lord of Light,” who is never fully explained. They were intriguing characters, and I’d love to learn more of the lore surrounding them.
There is a lot of set up for the larger series in this book, mostly in the form of dialogue. There are a few action scenes, but this is mostly a work of characters discovering themselves and each other, and less about the greater conflict. I suspect that might change in later books.
Overall, I thought Heart of Fire had some interesting worldbuilding. While the characters felt a bit young for my reading preferences, it was a good story.
Author website: enthralledbylove.com
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