Author: Shelby K. Morrison
Rating: 3/5 stars
Synopsis:
After fleeing her home
in Tharien with the Emperor's forces hot on her heels, Aia Wynnald has
only one goal: To end the two-thousand-year-old discrimination against
Benders—a race of beings like her, with a misunderstood gift. But when
the Emperor’s Church of Mighty retaliates with a new threat, her noble
plans are put on hold.
With her companion Cole Balain, a former enemy, by her side, Aia must halt the devastation triggered by her well-meaning actions. The only way she can fight the Church is with the help of a disenchanted group of rebel Benders who'd sooner submit to their fate than follow Aia's lead.
Can she inspire them to fight and work together to resolve this new crisis, or will her ingrained submissive nature bring her, and the Benders of Dyel, to their knees?
With her companion Cole Balain, a former enemy, by her side, Aia must halt the devastation triggered by her well-meaning actions. The only way she can fight the Church is with the help of a disenchanted group of rebel Benders who'd sooner submit to their fate than follow Aia's lead.
Can she inspire them to fight and work together to resolve this new crisis, or will her ingrained submissive nature bring her, and the Benders of Dyel, to their knees?
My Thoughts:
After
reading the first book in the Legend of the Liberator trilogy I couldn’t wait
to continue reading the story, but unfortunately a couple of years passed until
the second instalment debuted. It has arrived at last and it was very exciting
to re-join Aia and Cole, to follow a newfound band of rebels that was
determined to gain freedom.
I really
like Shelby K. Morrison’s writing, it flows so nicely, it’s very dynamic and
makes you want to keep reading. Even though I didn’t have much time for reading
recently it was no problem for me to read bigger chunks of this novel at once.
I’m still
in love with this fantasy world, the benders, how the legend from the name of the series is being created on the pages.
In Among the Flames I appreciated
that the other kingdoms in the empire were shown to us. There were a lot more
travelling than in the first book, that made me happy, since in From the Ashes the characters didn’t
move around much.
A lot of
new characters were introduced, I enjoyed the variety and my favourite new face
was Fynris. I found his double agent status intriguing and hoped he would make
the right decision all along.
The thing
is, I gave Among the Flames three stars, but the reason why I didn’t give it a
higher rating is due to personal taste. First of all, for a long while the
rebels hid in an underground tomb and the pacing in the story was a bit off for
me.
Whenever I
read books about rebellions at some point it turns out that the rebels have a
secret hideout underground and the characters’ activities stop, they become a
bit idle usually; sure, they plan things, but don’t act for a while and I very
often get bored when that happens.
The other
thing that I find a bit slow in the trilogy is the romance. Aia and Cole are
running circles around each other and I expected something to happen between
them in the second book, but they were still too shy about their feelings.
Despite
these two things that bothered me a bit, I enjoyed the second book very much and
I would recommend the series to everyone who likes fantasy. I can’t wait to
know what Aia will be up in the next book.
Read my review of From the Ashes here.