Book Review: The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter

The Fires of Vengeance // by Evan Winter

Book 2 of The Burning

See my review for Book 1 – The Rage of Dragons – here.

Pub Day: November 10, 2020

Publisher: Orbit

Synopsis:

Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the Queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the ‘true’ Queen of the Omehi.

If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne, and if she can reunite her people then the Omehi have a chance to survive the onslaught.

My Thoughts:

I was lucky enough to receive a print copy of the second book in The Burning series as well so as soon as I finished the first one, I was able to jump right into the second one without hesitation! It doesn’t happen often where I can read a new series continuously like that and it was so much fun! Thank you so much, Orbit, for that! I really appreciate it! I also want to point out that just like the first one, Fires has an amazing cover again. These books are just stunning and I love having them on my shelves.

And HAPPY PUB DAY to Evan Winter today! This is so exciting! I hope it is everything you want it to be!

The Fires of Vengeance is a direct continuation of The Rage of Dragons. Tau is trying to come to terms with everything that happened previously, temporarily distracted from his rage by grief, but finds his way back to his purpose with the help of the young queen. If you thought the first book was chock full of action, then prepare yourself for this one! Your mind will be spinning from how much can happen at once but when you’re in the middle of a war, then that is to be expected of course. It is interesting to see though how Tau no longer has a singular focus as before. The tragedies that strike from different directions allow us to see him in a different light as his own motivations twist and change as he adapts to the different situations. I seem to be alone in this but the more I learn about Tau, the more he seems to remind me of Kvothe, which is a favorite fictional character of mine!

Something that I was not the biggest fan of in this book as it kind of pulled me out of the book a little each time it happened was that there are a couple of chapters that are told from the point of view of other characters. I can see how it is important to the story because your perception of people and certain situations changes quite a bit due to the knowledge you gain from those characters, but the way it was done was a little jarring sometimes for me. But as I said, it really changed the way I viewed some of the characters, making them more layered and helping us understand their motivations and goals better. And I do have to admit that I quite enjoyed the extra tension and insights that brought. It really changed my opinion of one main character in particular in a way that I’m not entirely sure if it was intentional and if it was, then I am even more intrigued to see where this is going! Once again, all throughout this book, I am very impressed with the emotions Winter makes me feel, whether they are triumphant, mourning, hateful, or anything else.

One of my favorite things in a new to me fantasy series is learning about the world and its history. If you were intrigued by that in the first book, then you will really love that in this one! I honestly could’ve sat there and read about just that by itself for hours, but the author does a good job of smoothly incorporating those lessons into the book all throughout. Another thing that brought a fascinating tension and has us rooting for the underdogs again is how the social system of the Omehi is being shaken to its core. It is very exciting to have such an intelligent general in charge that knows exactly when to step up and when to step back to take full advantage of his soldiers and to see him navigating the issues that have arisen with the shakeup of their social system.

I enjoy books that both tie up the big event of that specific book as well as leave you wanting more. The anticipation that Fires left me with is huge and not knowing when the next one will come out is nerve-wracking! The intrigue, the war plans and execution, the emotions and conflicting motivations, it’s all so well done and I cannot wait to read more!

Affiliate Link:

If you think you’ll enjoy this awesome book, I would appreciate if you consider purchasing it here.

I am super excited to be a part of Bookshop.org as an affiliate. With every book sale that is done through my shop link here, at no extra cost to you, I receive a percentage which will be used to continue to bring you book-related content (probably going straight back into Bookshop). What is really awesome though is that a percentage will also go to independent book stores across the country, which has already helped support (and even save!) many book stores during the COVID struggles.

About the Author:

Born in England to South American parents, Evan Winter was raised in Africa near the historical territory of his ancestors. He always wanted to be a writer, but went to university first, tended bars in two countries, became a director and cinematographer whose work has been viewed more than 500,000,000 times online, met a couple conmen in the process, was threatened by UK mobsters in a case of mistaken identity, worked with wonderful A-list celebrities, unbelievably talented unknowns, and became the Creative Director for one of the world’s largest infrastructure companies, all before realizing that the words in his head would never write themselves. So, before he runs out of time, he started writing them.

More to the point, he grew up reading fantasy, loving fantasy, and believing that it’s our stories that make us who we are. He remembers being fourteen and sitting on his bed for countless hours in the summer, reading Robert Jordan with Sarah McLachlan’s music playing in the background. He remembers being transported to brilliant worlds of magic, heroism, conflict and wonder. He remembers the lessons learned when he grew up alongside Rand, contemplated life with Drizzt, fought against hard odds with Druss, and decided that, even if doing the right thing ends up badly, Ned was a good man who should be emulated.

Evan remembers thinking that, though he has but one life to live, by reading and writing he could experience a thousand more.

Evan Winter is pretty active on Twitter. He interacts a lot with his followers, which is always fun, and seems to read a lot of reviews as well. I highly recommend following him here to stay up to date on his works. I have thoroughly enjoyed both books in this series now and cannot wait to read more by him. He is definitely on the list of authors to be watched from now on!

About the Publisher:

Orbit is a leading publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy, with imprints in the UK, US and Australia. They publish across the spectrum of Science Fiction and Fantasy – from action-packed urban fantasy to widescreen space opera; from sweeping epic adventures to near-future thrillers. Launched in 2007, Orbit US is the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint at Hachette Book Group USA.

Being a reviewer for Orbit has been so much fun! All the books I’ve read through them have been great and the correspondence with them has always been so friendly. I always look forward to their emails and posts on Twitter. I have several more books to read from them. Two will be this month and another in the beginning of the new year. I cannot wait to share those with you as well!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.