Review:
I received a copy from Netgalley.
I put in a request for this title as soon as I saw it pop up on Netgalley. Stunning cover and a blurb that immediately got my attention. When I didn't hear back for what seemed like ages I pre ordered the book. And wouldn't you know...about two weeks later I got my approval email. By then i think my pre order had been shipped early. Oh well. So I wound up with a shiny paperback copy and a copy for my Kindle.
As it turned out, I would have probably got a kindle copy as well anyway, because I absolutely loved this book. I read in a few hours. Simply could not put it down. The basics of the plot were nothing particularly new. Studious boring girl discovers super power and may be "the chosen one" for...reasons. And a mysterious boy with his own issues and somehow they have to come together even though they don't seem to like each other at first to defeat the bad guys.
The plot was brilliant. Set in both a small English town and Paris, France, it weaves amazingly the two separate storylines of the heroes, English girl Taylor who dreams of studying history at Oxford University with her grandfather who is a professor there, and French boy Sacha who is a wiseass with an attitude problem. When Sacha is first introduced he's involved with some dodgy characters and seems to have some unusual abilities of his own. Taylor's life is fairly normal. She's told she has to tutor Sacha in English. He's less than thrilled about it.
The characters were densely layered, and there was so much more to each of them that meets the eye. Its impossible to recap without being totally spoilery. As Sacha and Taylor get to know each other via emails and on-line chats, each is having their own problems. Family issues, and things relating to their own unique abilities. The two intertwine and connect together as the plot thickens and more secrets and questions are woven into the story line.
The tension is gripping, there's a great mix of action. There's barely there hints of a romance which I'm hoping will be developed as the series goes on. There was a lot of information to take in, but the writing was so good, some of the concepts involving Taylor's unique power was a little hard to grasp, but it was well put together enough that it wasn't info dumping at all.
The last battle scenes where Taylor finally gets her head around what's happening reminded me very much of the end of the first 'Matrix' movie. (I was grinning a lot). By the end of the book there is definitely more questions and hardly any answers. A solid start to a brilliant series with a whole host of great potential. I loved it from start to finish and really can not wait to see what's going to happen next.
Thank you to net galley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for approving my request to view the title.
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1265429/review-the-secret-fire
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