Book Review: Fireborne

Another book review from me. This time it was from my favorite genre, fantasy! This book was read by me accidentally. Someone from twitter tweeted about this book had a discount on Google Play so i thought why not. The synopsis quite intriguing for me. Before I started to open the book, I didn’t put much expectation. Just another typical young-adult fantasy book where I could pretty much predict where it going to go. Turned out, it was not.

The opening scene was when our two main characters, Anne and Lee, with their squad drilling on dragonback! I fell in love with the dragons instantly. This book made me want to be claimed by a dragon as well. It could accompany me when everyone are busy and understand me unlike anyone else.

Synopsis:
Anne and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone — even the lowborn — a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders.

Now they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn’t be more different. Annie’s lowborn family was executed by dragonfire, while Lee’s aristrocatic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the same orphanage forged their friendship, and seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragonriding fleet.

But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city.

With war on the horizon and his relationship with Annie changing fast, Lee must choose to kill the only family he has left or betray everything he’s come to believe in. And Annie must decide whether to protect the boy she loves … or step up to be the champion her city needs.

I’m going to break down the reviews into several parts. The book is the first from The Aurelian Cycle series. And this is what i think after reading it.

World-Building
The world is set after a bloodbath revolutionary took place. Callipolis was a triarch nation led by dragonlords. In this regime, only those three lords who led the country that could keep and ride dragons. They were very discriminative, brutal, and had no mercy. Especially to lowborns, which were called serfs. In the glittering world of dragonlords, one aristocrat stood up and became a hero. He promised to make a better and just world. So he slayed them all. Leaving people who stood by him to create another set of rules.

Instead of being born with their status, the people are given the opportunity to work hard to determine their fate through a test. There are four citizen classifications. Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. I think it is not uncommon to categorize the people in most novels I know. But the historical aspect before this system was created made it look fresh. This novel described justice, revolution, and how the decision-making perceived by the ruling class is different from the ordinary citizen. I like how the story weighs on the politics, how our main characters directly contribute in governmental matters and affect the world itself.

Characters
I love the characters. Annie and Lee have so many dynamics in them. I like how they have their own dilemmas, justifications, and just very interesting characters. And I like it as well that the author doesn’t just throw the friendship-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovers kind of relationship between them. It is more complicated than that. They still don’t know how to behave around each other because of their unusual background ties. But the pining, wanting, restraining make it so angsty, and how much I like it.

I can relate much to Annie. She’s very competent and has the skill required for the leadership position in her world. But she just lacks one thing: confidence. The way she needs to always reassure herself, seek validation from her peers and superiors, and try hard to imitate her leader friends on how to behave in the role. I understand the struggle she faces through. And it kind of makes me sad. But these traits what make her such a complex and four-dimensional character. To have flaws, not just a very high self-esteemed and always-know-what-to-do female lead i often encounter while reading fantasy books (not that it is wrong though, it just that Annie makes us feel like we can see ourselves in her).

One thing I disliked is that besides the main characters, we can’t really dive deep into another side characters. I understand though the story revolves around those two. But maybe a more glimpse into the fears, desires, and dynamics of their friends can make them more humane.

Plot
The author claimed she wrote this novel inspired by Plato’s Republic and is pitched as Aegon Targaryen and Hermione Granger with dragons. How cool is that? In my opinion, the book is character-driven but the plot doesn’t feel hollow at all. Because the source is inspired from a.ka Plato’s Republic, therefore it discusses what is just and what is not from the characters’ point of view. It is very interesting to me because once again the characters here are not only being the object of the dynamic of their world, instead, they participate in the decisions over the course of the plot. The lesser evil … Hence, what they get is very much directly the consequences of their actions. Adding to this, because of Fireborne I get curious about The Republic and consider reading it.

Overall, this book is so good. The vibe and nuance of their world, like how they dress and architectures, are similar to Game of Thrones in my imagination based on how the author describes it.

If you like dragons, strong main characters, complicated romance, or especially fantasy please please pick up this book and put it on your reading list so we can discuss it together.

4.5 stars from me!

Bonus, one of the quotes from Fireborne:

There was greatness in them. But with that greatness came arrogance, and with that arrogance corruption, and with that corruption downfall.