Flash Review of Wildefire by Karsten Knight

A flash review of 
Wildefire by Karsten Knight

Every flame begins with a spark.

Blackwood Academy was supposed to be a fresh start for Ashline Wilde. A secluded boarding school deep in the heart of California's redwood forests, three thousand miles from her old life - it sounded like the new beginning she needed after an act of unspeakable violence left a girl in her hometown dead. 

But Blackwood is far from the peaceful haven Ashline was searching for. 
Because terrifying, supernatural beasts roam the forests around campus. 
Because the murderer from Ashline's hometown - her own sister - has followed her across the country. 

Because a group of reincarnated gods and goddesses has been mysteriously summoned to Blackwood...
... And Ashline's one of them. 

I found this book almost by accident, but when I read an excerpt in which Ashline kicks ass, I was hooked. I love me a girl who can kick ass. 

Ashline Wilde, the main character, is spirited and still insecure in other ways. For some heroines, the heroic actions and sacrifices come easily, but that’s not the feeling I get with Ash. I like it that she just sort of goes with it. 

Ash’s life was shaken up by the things that happen at the beginning of the book. She’s a little lost because of that, but she’s still sure of herself. That’s obvious in how she’s extremely independent, almost to a fault. She doesn’t want to rely on others, but has to take care of things by herself. I think she definitely hates being a burden and doesn’t like burdening others, so she tries to take care of things herself. Some of it might also come from the fact that her trust has been betrayed badly before. Basically, she’s got a smart head, but her need to take care of things by herself gets in the way.

I like the fact that she’s still got her friends, even though she has some lone wolf traits going on. She doesn’t hate on people easily - possibly because she’s been there herself - unless it’s with a good reason. 

The side characters are just as well handled as the main character. I’m trying to be cautious and not say anything specific, so I won’t spoil you. 

There’s quite a lot of characters with Ashline and I love how some seemed like a typical stereotype, but turned out to be the almost opposite. And I also loved how we were shown through Ash’s perspective that she made mistakes in judging people: they turned out to be something else other than they thought, that the characters had more sides to them than she had thought. 

The plot isn’t something that I guessed but it’s very simple. And there’s nothing wrong with simple, in fact I liked it that the action wasn’t the main thing. It’s more about following the character about their normal lives and then something strange happens and more of than not, someone does something seemingly out of character. This book just seems to show only pieces of a bigger mystery that’s going on behind the scenes. And frankly, from what I’ve read about the second book, I think there could be enough good stuff for a long series. Knight gives us just enough of hints of the mystery to make us curious and I’m definitely curious to find out what is going on.

The idea is original, even you might stop for a second when ancient gods are mentioned. They’re used a lot in literature and co., but Knight succeeds in making them his own. Like I said, it’s more about the characters themselves than the massive powers they’ve got. I’ve read other books that have done that before - downplayed the god-aspect and made them more “normal - and I seriously have to applaud Knight for handling it the best. 

And the writing is excellent. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it flows well, fastly paced at some times and then it calms and the humor just jumps out behind a tree. I love how there’s sort of this sense of normalcy and then a huge tragedy strikes or after a wild action scene there’s humor where you wouldn’t expect it. 

Final thoughts: I liked the book, it was a great read that had me jumping up and down and laughing aloud. The whole god-thing, mythology and mystery is tied well together. The book has got some serious “What are you doing, you’re not doing that, stop it!” -scenes going on and I love them. Also, Knight is pretty good at cliffhangers or just giving important hints and not revealing more. 

Interlude!

Hello there. Sorry I've been absent for so long! But now I have three posts almost ready, so expect updates this and next week! 
(If you're wondering how ready, that means I have to check some points and make sure the sentences make sense in English.) 

Found the Place to Rest My Head (Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward)

A review of 

Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war raging between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret bound of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Possessed by a deadly beast Rhage is the most dangerous of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetites. He's the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover-for inside him burns ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. Owned by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him.

Mary Luce, a survivor of many hardships is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world and reliant to Rhage's protection. With a life-threatening curse of her own, Mary is not looking for love. She lost her faith in miracles years ago. But when Rhage's intense animal attraction turns into something more emotional, he knows that he must make Mary his alone. And while their enemies close in, Mary fights desperately to gain life eternal with the one she loves...

Now, I explained in the review of Dark Lover, how introductionary it was and I’m ashamed to admit, so is Lover Eternal. We see more of the Brothers and their daily lives and more of the actual workings of the world. At this point it really feels more like people are just going about their things and not as, “hey look, this is how we feed”. Since I know how the series goes on, it’s really hard to say does this bother the whole reading experience. I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s still worth mentioning. 

At least to me Rhage is the most kind and gentle of the brothers, in the end. And I guess that’s basically the idea with his beast: he’s forced to feel these hightened emotions, forced to wear himself out and to hulk out even though he’d really rather not. It’s a great contrast. And thinking his backstory, I think it really does say a lot about him as a character: that he is this good warrior who you can trust with your life, when you think how he’s forced himself to change. Hell, Rhage is not perfect, but not everyone would be so afraid of hurting others around him. I imagine some would embrace the beast and go on a bloody rampage. But Rhage is highly emotional and he pretty much follows his instincts, which is pretty obvious and can be sometimes a little off-putting: he makes a lot of fast choices and does some highly dubious decisions. It can’t be explained away, but it’s Rhage with all his faults. 

It gets me everytime I read this book, the way that Rhage just suddenly makes his world about Mary. It’s a little whiplash-inducing, but I think Rhage is looking for someone to hold onto, someone who can let him relax and who’ll hold him back. It’s somehow a little more bigger and deeper, with his quick instincts and fast decisions and what not.

I like Mary Luce a lot, because she’s head-strong and just a normal lady. When we meet her, she’s basically feeling kicked around by the world and that’s just a feeling that I can understand and I do like the way it’s portrayed: Mary’s feeling a little weak and there are moments when we see her crumbling and doubting herself. I like that, especially when she stubbornly moves on. I think she’s a very stubborn person: she’s decided she’ll survive and so she bloody will. And she doesn’t like leaning on others, because her mother’s seemingly useless faith. 

But she’s also a person who likes doing stuff to others, because she hates seeing people - especially those close to her - in pain. This combination of stubborn survival and the need to take care of others is not only interesting, but she’s such a good person. And I also think that that hatred of seeing people hurt is what makes her open up to Rhage at first. And the fact that, you know, he’s incredibly hot and that he seems to care for her honestly and she hasn’t had a lot of that. 

And parts of those are the reasons why I like these two together so much. They’re maybe not so obviously a good couple as Wrath and Beth are - with them we basically see this connection just happening the moment they meet. They meet and zap! they have this chemistry. With Rhage and Mary, you have these two people, who both feel like the world’s kicked them about a lot and are just waiting for that final hit. They’re both stubborn as shit, but then, Rhage is more emotional and Mary is more reserved with her feelings. They’re two people, who are the same in some ways, but then where they are different, they compliment each other. And I love it how they begin to see that in each other throughout the book.  

Okay, so what most grates me about this books is definitely the way that Rhage introduces and tries to get to know Mary. It does fit his character as the ladies man who’s used to women falling for him - but that’s just it. He’s used to women doing what he wants, he expects them to do this for him. And he is so very pushy! And Rhage is generally a good guy, gentle and caring so it’s a horror to see him act like every other douchebag. I love Lover Eternal for many reasons - Mary and Rhage’s dynamics are awesome - but I don’t how to tell you about this. It sucks but we love him anyway? I feel like by saying that I’m saying it’s okay when men try to do it in real life. 

Lover Eternal introduces some of the main players in the next books. I’m not referring to the introductionary thing I’ve been talking about, but here, as I’ve read this before, the game has already begun. We start to see these characters as who they really are but we don’t that yet. Some new characters are introduced and we’re given hints about them, too. Ward uses foreshadowing quite a lot, you see pieces of important things in earlier books. It’s not very obvious, but you can sort of see that they could be important. 

Also, with  Lover Eternal begins the tradition of A) the next books heroine and hero meeting - this doesn’t always happen, but more often than you’d think, the next couple is shown interacting. But, there could be two couples meeting and one would be in the next book and the other in the book after that. Ward can be sneaky. B) the book’s title being worked into the dialogue. Now, some hate this but I’m a secret fan. It can be rather obvious and silly, but with these titles being rather easy for a books like these, they’re not weird in the conversation. I just like them and they’re not big moments if you don’t. 

Before I end this, I have to say something about John Matthew. He’s first introduced in this book and while I’m not saying he or his storyline are perfect, he’s pretty damn awesome. And his story is heart-wrenching. I think he begins another important side to the series and I adore this book especially for introducing him. I truly want to say more, but that would be too spoiler-y. Just keep an eye on him!

Final thoughts: Lover Eternal definitely picks up the speed from the previous one and introduces even more delicious characters. Rhage and Mary have a sort of tragic-turned-lovestory -thing going on and Ward handles it perfectly. In this one we really see the Brothers as males who live and fight together and who would die for each other -it’s one of my personal favorites. And of course, there’s John Matthew, quite possibly the best character ever. 

Progress report!

Do not worry internet! There's a post or two coming this weekend, but unfortunately not before that.
There's something big and horrible happening this Friday and it'll take the whole day. This past week has been filled with preparations and other stuff like panicking. I'm currently in complete panic-mode, if you're curious. 

So. I just wanted to inform anyone who might be poking around here that I'm not disappearing anywhere.