Into the Fire

Into the Fire
Birth of the Phoenix, book one
by Ashelyn Drake

Seventeen-year-old Cara Tillman’s life is a perfectly normal one until Logan Schmidt moves to Ashlan Falls. Cara is inexplicably drawn to him, but she’s not exactly complaining. Logan’s like no boy she’s ever met, and he brings out a side of Cara that she isn’t used to. As the two get closer, everything is nearly perfect, and Cara looks forward to the future.

But Cara isn’t a normal girl. She’s a member of a small group of people descended from the mythical phoenix bird, and her time is running out. Rebirth is nearing, which means she’ll forget her life up to this point—she’ll forget Logan and everything they mean to one another.. But that may be the least of Cara’s problems.

A phoenix hunter is on the loose, and he’s determined to put an end to the lives of people like Cara and her family, once and for all.  (Description from Goodreads.com)

This book sucked me in from page one.  It has a great opening scene that really sets you right into the heart of the story. I was fascinated by the concept of Cara and her family being Phoenixes and the way the lore hits their family... my heart ached for Cara and Jeremy!   

While I'm not usually a fan of insta-love at all, in this case, with the way that Cara's genetics affected things I got it.  The way that both she and Logan felt it but also wanted to resist it really made sense.  Drake did a great job with that. The deeper they got it, and the higher the stakes got, the more I found myself rooting for Cara's happiness, no matter where it came from.  

And when we find out who the hunter is...well, I knew something was up with this character, but I have to admit to still being shocked at the big reveal! Well done. I love not being able to guess the bad guy.

AND with where this book leaves us... HELLO CLIFFHANGER!!!... I cannot wait to read the next one.  

Full Disclosure: Review copy received from publisher

The Throne of Fire

The Throne of Fire
by Rick Riordan
The Kane Chronicles, book two

Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister Sadie have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods haven't given them much time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, which has become a training ground for young magicians.

And now their most threatening enemy yet - the chaos snake Apophis - is rising. If they don't prevent him from breaking free in a few days' time, the world will come to an end. In other words, it's a typical week for the Kane family.

To have any chance of battling the Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god Ra. But that would be a feat more powerful than any magician has ever accomplished.

First they have to search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells. Oh, and did we mention that no one knows where Ra is exactly? (description taken from Rick Riordan's website)

Though I liked The Red Pyramid, it was definitely not my favorite book by Rick Riordan. I love Egyptian mythology and Riordan is a great author, but I was not a huge fan of the alternating chapters and had trouble getting into Carter and Sadie's voices.

I think that not only did Riordan improve in this volume, probably because he didn't have to do quite so much world set-up, but I also appreciated the story a lot more as an audio book. Kevin Free and Katherine Kellgren were really great reading this book. They both made things exciting and believable.

This was a fast-paced, exciting and magical adventure. I loved the introduction of new gods...especially Bes, the dwarf god...I think he's my new favorite character. It was also really cool to see the vulture goddess, the baboon god, the hippo goddess, and "Sunny Acres," a retirement home for the aging gods. The different parts of the Duat that the siblings travel through to find Ra are also really cool.

I cannot wait to see how things are finally resolved in the third and final book of the trilogy...and in the meantime, I'm really looking forward to The Son of Neptune that will be coming out this fall!

Full disclosure: Audio book received to review for AudioFile