Review: Rise of Fire by Sophie Jordan

Publication Date: February 7, 2017

My final rating for Rise of Fire is between a 3- and a 3.5.-stars which means I did like it. This book picks up immediately following the conclusion of Book 1, Reign of Shadows, which left off on quite a cliffhanger indeed! Although I did like it, I did not enjoy it as much as I did the first book. I think some of that had to do with the plot of this story and a bit of it had to do with me picking up on more flaws in the execution of writing a blind main character.

If you are onto this book, most likely you are already aware that our main female character, Luna, has been blind since birth. In Reign of Shadows, they are outside a lot of time, where due to a total eclipse of the sun that has shrouded the earth for the last 17-years they are in perpetual darkness. In this story, they are mainly inside a castle. It is a castle that she has never ever been to before yet she navigates it like she has echolocation capabilities or something. With the first book it was a little easier to forgive some of that because all the characters were pretty much struggling through the dark. Anyway, that aside, I still enjoyed the relationship between our two main characters – their romance was sweet and built up quite a bit in this one. Luna is still a great character in my mind who has had quite an unusual life up to this point.

Another reason I may not have enjoyed this one quite as much was the fact that the action was mainly held within a castle; it was pretty stationary. I had fun with the traveling aspect of the first book. I love a good quest or a road-trip in a book, so that plot was definitely something I enjoy more anyway; however, I understand that that is totally a personal preference and really has nothing to do with this specific book. Overall, I am pleased with this one, loved the ending and am very happy that I have completed this duology. It was dark and pretty fun and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a darker retelling!