A Fire in the Sky - Review

A Fire in the Sky

By: Sophie Jordan

Expected Publication: September 24, 2024 by Avon

336 pages

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Dragons

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon )

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Goodreads description--New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan returns to the high-stakes, sweeping world of dragons, romance, and drama first evoked in her bestselling young adult Firelight series, in a brand-new epic adult romantasy series.

Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.

But human lust for power is immortal.

Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it's her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard...though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.

When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.

The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride...but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.

Magic is not dead...it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.

The first thing you need to know is that A Fire in the Sky is not a standalone prequel to the Firelight series. I didn't know this until reading the acknowledgments after the book ended. That being said, the pacing of this book felt completely off for me. The closer I got to the end of the book, I felt like the plot should be wrapping up more than it was. A Fire in the Sky ended in a cliffhanger, but other parts were left open. Knowing more books are to come makes this make sense, but not knowing it affected my enjoyment as I was reading. I kept getting pulled out of the story because it didn't make sense that this was a standalone. It's not.

Tamsyn has been raised like a sibling to the princesses of Penterra. Well, except for one large difference, she has been the royal whipping child for the princesses and has taken all of their punishments upon herself. I hated this for Tamsyn, yet I liked this idea with some historical backing used to create a strong female lead character. She is used to keeping her behavior and feelings under wrap so she doesn't incur more punishments than she already received.

Fell has been fighting on the border to protect the kingdom. He demands to wed one of the princesses not because he wants power so much as he needs his voice heard. He needs the council and king to understand what's happening on the kingdom's border. But Fell is tricked into marrying Tamsyn. He isn't happy to have been tricked, but he doesn't want to annul the marriage either. 

I feel much more beyond that description enters into spoiler territory. The wedding night scene is the main spicy scene. I can't remember if there was more than that, but if there was I don't think it was much. However, cursing was abundant in A Fire in the Sky. 

I didn't highlight much. Only three things and none of them are anything I want to share. 

The cliffhanger and the characters kept me interested in reading more. And since finishing A Fire in the Sky, I did see A Scar in the Bone on Goodreads. But not knowing from the beginning that this was intended to be the first in a prequel series threw off my entire experience of the book. Coupled with a couple of plot points that fell a little short of great writing in my opinion leaves me giving A Fire in the Sky 3.5 Stars. I enjoyed it, but it also blows my mind to see it recommended so frequently by some reviewers and influencers on Instagram and such. Hopefully, as the series continues my rating for this book might raise. Have you read A Fire in the Sky? What did you think? Let me know!