Firebird - Review

Firebird (The Fire That Binds, # 1)

By: Juliette Cross

Publication: April 8, 2025 by Bramble

400 pages

Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Dragons

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon )

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Goodreads description--A conqueror captivated…
A witch prophesied to save them all…
An unforgiving world where dragons rule Rome.

Julian Dakkia, Roman general and nephew to the emperor, has played his role as conqueror well. Yet, the moment he laid eyes on Malina, he was enthralled by the Dacian dancer. Years later, the fierce beauty stands before him, a captive on a scarred battlefield, her life in danger. He instinctively shifts into his fierce dragon form to save her, an action that may mean his head on the imperial gate.

The rules of their world dictate that he is the conqueror and she is the captured. But he and his dragon know one thing: their bond has nothing to do with the laws of mighty Rome. She belongs to them. And they belong to her.

Fierce and powerful, twenty-one-year old Malina has survived the loss of her family and she is determined to fight until her dying breath. Still, she can’t believe that the centurion who had once bestowed a secret talisman on her is the Roman general of legendary brutality…and now holds her life in his hands. Nor can she deny how her soul has always seemed to answer his. Slowly she learns that Julian is caught in his mad uncle’s machinations for domination, and helps him plot the downfall of the empire itself.

As they navigate a world where flying deathriders conquer and burn, their love will ignite a firestorm that can only end in heartbreak or death. Or both.

Firebird is a fantasy with some dark themes, including elements of master/slave relationship, attempted sexual assault (not between MCs), and dubious consent (not between MCs). Readers who may be sensitive to these elements, please take note.

Malina has grown up with her grandmother telling her that she and her sisters will be powerful, magical. And that they will each be instrumental in saving many from the evils that befall them. Out of the four sisters, Malina is the one who first taps into her magical ability. She is an empath. She can feel the emotions of others. One day, as she and her sisters are performing a dance with their traveling troupe, she locks eyes with a dragon shifter, a Roman. He tosses her a coin and then follows her when she flees. They have a short conversation. Neither learn the other's name. But they definitely have some sort of instant connection. Later, Malina's village is attacked by Romans, and her father tells her to run. She does so, not knowing what happened to the rest of her family. She is sure that her father is killed because her tether to his emotions snaps. She finds a village of Celts that takes her in. And over the years, she uses her gift against the Romans to protect the Celts. Eventually, even that group was conquered by the Romans.

On the battlefield, word of soldiers under his command attempting to attack the captured witch, who is rumored to have helped the Celts thwart the Romans, comes to Julian. He goes to stop them and realizes the woman they are trying to attack is none other than the woman he once encountered who locked eyes with him during a dance with her sisters many years ago. His dragon takes over, and he carries her away to his home in Rome. Malina is wary of Julian. Despite still feeling their connection from the past, she doesn't want to be anyone's slave. Yet Julian, being nephew to the evil emperor Inniculus, cannot take a human as a wife. It doesn't help that Julian and a select group of others are slowly making plans to dethrone Inniculus. But they can't just cut the head off the snake, because many others would be willing to step into his absence and resume the Roman rule as it is. Julian needs to be ready to take out all of those major players who would be his uncle's allies at the same time.

Matters aren't helped at all, that Ciprian is determined to bring Julian down on his rise to the emperor's favored side. Julian has to earn Malina's trust, but seeing the other "slaves" in his household, spending many hours talking with him, and hearing of his plan for Rome, wins her over slowly. Of course, her empathic gift can easily tell her Julian's emotions which does help to boost her confidence in him.

Favorite quotes:

-"I have no reason to injure you." "You might do it all the same."

-"I care not what they say, for what I feel is all my own. Not forced or given to me by the fates or anyone else. It comes from my own soul."

I had some issues with Firebird. The first one was how it made any sense at all for Julian to take Maline to the warcamp with him. If he's worried about the rumors going around of his attachment to her, surely taking her with him when he's never taken a woman before makes no sense. Thankfully, this wasn't really used as a means of causing damage to their relationship. Only the opposite. But it still didn't make sense to me. Also, the spice was skippable. I don't read for that. I enjoy good plots that don't need spice. I don't skip a book because it is included a lot of times, because I can just skip over it. And you know if there's spice, there is cursing as well. Sometimes the endearments felt out of place given the context, culture, and history of the characters. I don't know. I just found that sometimes these things pulled me out of the story, which isn't a good thing.

Firebird did hook my attention, which was much needed as I kept starting and putting down books without making it very far. Malina and Julian's instant connection was a draw for me. Sometimes, mates and magical soulmates can be off-putting, but I enjoyed it this time. I was thinking the entire series would follow Malina and Julian, but book 2, Bloodsinger, follows Malina's sister, Lela. I can always do without spice and language, but it wasn't a big deal to skip those. Firebird gets 4 Stars. Have you read Firebird? What did you think? Let me know!