The Fiery Heart
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: November 19, 2013
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Review:
Bookish Confession: I don’t pre-order books. If I want a book I’ll buy it the day it comes out or wait a couple weeks. I’ve only pre-ordered 2 books and one of them is The Fiery Heart. I was excited that the novel would have both Sydney and Adrian’s perspectives. I expected new insight in to their characters, and more action. Instead I got something totally different and was a little disappointed by The Fiery Heart.
I was the most about reading this story from Adrian’s perspective. Adrian has been my favorite character in the Vampire Academy/Bloodlines series since Rose met him in Frostbite. Adrian is witty, understanding, moody, artsy. I expected his thoughts to reflect the character I have come to love. Instead Adrian felt like a different person. His thought’s weren’t witty and funny, occasionally some of the things he said were cute and I chuckled but the camaraderie I felt with his character when the books were from Sydney’s perspective was missing. It was almost like Adrian had to think of an Adrian response to a situation and then say the words rather then having them flow naturally. It’s a hard thing to explain but I just expected something more from Adrian then what I got.
I also thought this installment lacked the action of the previous novels. There was a lot of planning, talking, kissing, avoiding Sydney’s sister, and more planning. The entire plot led up to the last scene which, because of painful amounts of foreshadowing, could be seen coming a mile away. This novel felt like a set up for the next one. There were also huge sections devoted to information dumps about the plot line from previous books. Don’t get me wrong, I like a little bit of a reminder, but it felt like the first 70 pages were a re-cap of what had already happened.
I did like that there was a lot of kissing in The Fiery Heart. Sydney and Adrian are a couple you really want to root for. They’ve got so much working against them and still they are crazy about one another. I like that because of her relationship with Adrian, Sydney has changed so much throughout this series. It was interesting to have Zoe there as a reminder of just how much Sydney’s Alchemist beliefs have changed.
Overall, I enjoyed The Fiery Heart and will definitely be picking up the sequel, Silver Shadows, especially after that terrible cliff we were left on. I hope that in the next book Adrian feels more natural, and Sydney can stay strong because I have a feeling the next novel will be intense.
I loved TFH as well.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason that a lot of things were neglected in TFH (the family, minor characters, hell, we never even see Sydney's human girlfriends, IIRC) is because we're witnessing the spiral of their relationship. We're witnessing it become more and more obsessive. We're witnessing them leave behind the breadcrumbs that lead to their difficulties at the end of the novel. Most of us spotted that coming from a mile off, but damn, what a mile it was.
Another thing we see are a lot of minor characters who care about S+A, and who aren't going to be bound by diplomacy in the next book. Jackie and the Stelle among them. And not to mention Abe. Abe's musings on what he would do for the people that mattered to him struck me as especially poignant, not only because of what it inspired Sydney to do at the end, but because I believe Sydney falls under that umbrella -- at least, as Rose's friend and even, by proxy, as Adrian's lover. I keep getting this wonderful mental image of Jared Sage waking up in an abandoned hut in the middle of Siberia and being pistol-whipped by Abe's men.
I still loved this book even though I completely agree with you. I think Adrian's POV wasn't as exciting because he's really happy and calm and so much more stable than he's been in the past. And yes, when I finished the book I realized that not a whole lot happened plot-wise, but I just didn't care because I just really love the characters. And Sydrian! Yay! And you could see the cliffhanger coming from a mile away, but it still hurt. And I do think the next book is going to be more intense. Still love the series, but definitely not as exciting as the last couple of books have been. ~Pam
ReplyDeleteSounds great I have not read this author but after your review I will be.
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