Title: Of fire and stars.
Author: Audrey Coulthurst.
Format: Audiobook.
Publisher: Balzer + Bray.
Page count: 389.
Release day: November 22nd 2016.
Genre: YA, fantasy, romance
Rating: 2 stars.
What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)
Betrothed since
childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what
her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her
homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a
secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future
queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden.
Now, Denna must learn the ways of her new home
while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn
to ride Mynaria’s formidable warhorses—and her teacher is the person who
intimidates her most, the prickly and unconventional Princess
Amaranthine—called Mare—the sister of her betrothed.
When a shocking assassination leaves the kingdom
reeling, Mare and Denna reluctantly join forces to search for the culprit. As
the two become closer, Mare is surprised by Denna’s intelligence and bravery,
while Denna is drawn to Mare’s independent streak. And soon their friendship is
threatening to blossom into something more.
But with dangerous conflict brewing that makes
the alliance more important than ever, acting on their feelings could be
deadly. Forced to choose between their duty and their hearts, Mare and Denna
must find a way to save their kingdoms—and each other.
My thoughts:
Honestly I don’t think I would ever have picked this up if I didn’t need a book with the word ‘star’ for my astronomy OWL. And I think I was correct with that decision, since this was not really for me.
I knew before I started reading this that it was mainly focussed on the romance and not necessarily on the magic part of this world. But I was still so disappointed in the amount (almost non existing) of explanation we got on the magic system. It sounded so interesting, but I still don’t really understand it. And that is because it was so poorly explained.
We follow princess Denna who is married of to the prince of Mynaria, but she ends up falling in love with his sister instead. Which, honestly, sounds pretty good. But this is almost all that happens, and we already know this from the start. Like, yes more happens. But it is so much pushed to the background by the romance, that it didn’t grab my attention. But this ‘background’ story is the reason why I added 1 star to my rating.
Since this book is mainly focused on the characters, I expected a lot from them. But they still felt a bit flat to me. There definitely was some development, but not that big and story changing.
I guess I should not read fantasy books that are mainly focussed on romance. I do enjoy reading romance books, but I guess when there is also fantasy, I’m more interested in the fantasy parts haha.
Honestly I don’t think I will read another book by this author, but of course not all authors are for everyone!
I read this book last year and I was also disappointed about the lack of explanation for the magic and magical system. I did think the romance was cute but it wasn’t anything super special. The sequel comes out later this year and I don’t know if I’m going to read it…
Luckily I’m not the only one then haha! I’m actually pretty sure I won’t continue haha #oops