5⭐️ 1🌶
I finished Bright Burns the Flame by Angelina J. Steffort last evening. This was another ARC. This was written in the third person which sort of threw me. Most of what I read is in 1st person. Even with it being in 3rd person we as readers really only got the FMC, Lory's perspective. The world building was methodical, detailed, epic but not overwhelming. Lory lives in the slums on the street barely surviving. She strategically picks marks from a local brothel to rob. This time she chooses the wrong mark and after giving chase is caught. She's taken to prison, brought before the triad and will be executed the next day. Moments before she is beheaded she is given a choice, death or enrollment into a vicious military academy she only heard about the day before from a fellow prisoner. She chooses Ashthorn Ward. She's taken there by the most gorgeous man she's ever encountered the MMC Khayrivven Falcrest. She is deposited into a room and told she must be in the dining hall the next day before the second bell or she'll die. Ashthorn is absolutely brutal. Every day Ashlings who don't make it to breakfast by the second bell are executed, many also die during the intense training. Lory makes friends the first day and three of them are great steadfast people. The found family in this is very well done. Falcrest is a mystery. He's the one responsible for executing Ashlings each day. He's the youngest ever captain from the regular military and one of the youngest ever Veiled Hands at Ashthorn. (Hands are the teachers.) Magic in the kingdom of Brestolya is forbidden, if you're found to possess magic, you're killed. Unless your magic can be useful to King Ulder. Everyone at Ashthorn Wars has magic, except Lory, or so she thinks. Basically everything she ever thought was a lie. There's a war going on she knew nothing about. Lory does have magic, Falcrest helps her to unleash it for the first time. Falcrest hides behind a carefully crafted facade. His secrets and the secrets he keeps for Lory could get them both killed.
It took a bit for me to get into this book. Training, trials and secret academies don't hook me like some other things do, but this picked up nicely and really hooked me 20 or 30% in as more twists were revealed. The tension and yearning in this is top notch. The spice was very low though. I have to admit the one and only scene was not detailed or graphic at all and I was rather disappointed. (I like spicy spice.) I rated the book a 1🌶, but honestly its more of a .5. This book builds tension and leads to a battle, essentially, then ends on a cliffhanger. I loved it overall. It's book one in a series. The author has written many other books, but this was the first of hers I've read. This one fits into an established world but is a different time period from what I've read about it. I did some rudimentary searching today and I have yet to figure out which other series it connects to but several of her other books look interesting. I will be reading more by this author. I'll also be reading the next book in this series when it comes out. This one comes out Feb 28th.
I'm about halfway done with another ARC now. I received both an ebook and audio of this one and I'm listening to the audio. The audio has been fabulous and I'm really enjoying it. More on that one once I'm finished.
-Q
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