Brilliant! This short story was so enthralling, I began looking for Firelight right after I finished it.

Never mind the references to the Beauty and the Beast story (which is an old favourite of mine) that sparked off my curiosity right away, the writing alone would have been enough to keep me reading for its entire length and more. It was just so detailed and mysterious, and I had that awesome and rare feeling that everything in the book was exactly as it should have been.

The main characters was the feature I liked more - they felt very realistic and the author hit one of my soft spots by giving them both a characteristic that makes them feel, at least partly, a beast.

The only thing that was left too unexplored was Martin's side of the story, but I didn't like him that much, so it wasn't a big loss.

I really can't wait to read Firelight and, although I was sorry to learn that the second installment won't follow Archer and Miranda's story, I have a feeling I will come to like this series very much.