Early Review: Fire Kin by M.J. Scott
Fire Kin by M.J. Scott
Half-Light City #4
Imagine a city divided…a city readying itself for a war. The vampire Blood and the shape-shifting Beast Kind seek to seize control now that the treaty is broken. Only the humans stand in their way…but they stand without their Fae allies…and they desperately need help....
I chose to stay with the humans when the Fae withdrew from the City. I am a healer, and they need me. I know the odds are against them. I know they need reinforcements. But I never expected them to turn and seek aid from the depths of my past. Asharic is a powerful Fae, exiled by the Veiled Queen thirty years ago. Leaving me behind. But now the queen is dead and the throne is vacant, and Ash is returning to the City—my City—with his mercenary army.
It would be false to deny that there is still a spark between us, but I will not be taken in again. And I’m not the only one disturbed by his return. A Blood lord is poised to conquer the Half-Light City, and other enemies new and old are gathering to eliminate the threat Ash poses. To save the City, we will have to join forces. And pray we’re not the ones who burn…
Since I'm very romance driven with my reading choices, it's only fitting that I kick this review off with my feelings for the main couple, Bryony and Ash. I just love the past history and tension that comes with reunited lovers. It's that battle to make this time work that really amps up the tension for me, and if you've followed my reviews at all, you'll know that that delicious tension and build up between a couple is my weakness. When done well, it can suck me completely into the characters, and I was so happy that was the case here with these two.
Now as much as I loved Ash and Bryony together, they couldn't overshadow an issue I had with the flow and focus of this book. So much time seemed to be spent on the fae politics side of things rather than the overall series arc of the war against the blood. This might have been okay if I had felt like we were getting somewhere with the fae aspects, but it just seemed to scratch the surface a stay rather vague, and yet major things happened, leaving my scratching my head and scrambling to get on board. It's also because of this heavy fae focus (and well heavy romantic focus too, but you won't hear me complaining about that), that the final showdown or resolution seemed to get jilted. I mean when you have a four book build up with a "big bad" I just would have expected the climax to have a bit more oomph to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I like how things turned out and the little event at the very very end really sold things for me, but I still feel a bit let down at how it was all resolved. I guess I just wanted a bit more.
So that being said, I'm pretty impressed with this final installment in the Half Light series. While I did have a bit of frustration with wanting more at the climax, overall I'm pleased and would recommend the entire series to fans of Urban Fantasy or lighter steampunk.
(Received a copy from the publisher)
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