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The Fire Sermon

(The Fire Sermon #1)

Francesca Haig (Goodreads Author)

3.61 · Rating details · 6,922 ratings · 1,183 reviews

The Hunger Games meets Cormac McCarthy's The Road in this richly imagined first novel in a new postapocalyptic trilogy by award-winning poet Francesca Haig.

Four hundred years in the future, the Earth has turned primitive following a nuclear fire that laid waste to civilization and nature. Though the radiation fallout has ended, for some unknowable reason every person is b

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Hardcover, 384 pages

Published March 10th 2015 by Gallery Books (first published August 14th 2014)

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Jan 09, 2018 karen rated it liked it

Shelves: my-biggest-fear

the first book in any fantasy-dusted series has one job: to tell the reader what’s up with this world. and this book does that, but it does so in a breathless rush that never addresses the underlying questions attached to “what’s up with this world,” like “how” and “why” things are this way. it’s a crucial part of writing; the world-building, because without accounting for more than just the surface details, it’s like listening to someone tell you about a crazy dream they had:

so, there was a bl ...more

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May 13, 2015 Sean Barrs rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, fantasy, 3-star-reads

This has such an excellent start that I was immediately drawn into the fascinating story. It's set in a post-apocalypse world that has been destroyed by a catastrophic event, called the Fire Sermon, which has killed thousands of people. In the aftermath of the blast the only children that are born are twins. One is perfect, the Alpha, and the other is deformed, the Omega. They are separated at birth, when their categories are usually known, and are forced to live apart. The Alphas live like king ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Kathylill rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2015, dystopian

In short: Good world building, good writing but unappealing characters.

I can understand why this book has already been optioned by Dreamworks for a movie. The world building is quite unique and fascinating and the author has done a great job describing it from Cass’ point of view, an Omega seer. As a reader you really get a feel for the post-apocalyptical world the characters are living in.

At first the book took of great but and the story was told well, the pacing was just right but then, durin In short: Good world building, good writing but unappealing characters.

I can understand why this book has already been optioned by Dreamworks for a movie. The world building is quite unique and fascinating and the author has done a great job describing it from Cass’ point of view, an Omega seer. As a reader you really get a feel for the post-apocalyptical world the characters are living in.

At first the book took of great but and the story was told well, the pacing was just right but then, during the second half of the book I lost interest. The story progressed very slowly, started to get repetitive and dragging. After the escape from the Keeping Rooms Cass and Kip are always on the run, traveling through the post-apocalyptical landscape and the only change is traveling on horseback, walking by foot or sailing on a boat. But really everything is just a long suffering on the road. Francesca Haig may be a good writer but Cormac Mc Carthy she is not. There are some plot twists that I could see coming from a mile away.

One of the main problems I had with the novel is the characters. Cass and her male counterpart/love interest Kip are just so unappealing. She has this “holier than you” attitude and kept repeating her opinions like an annoying chant. As a character she is not really progressing or changing. There is no “Aha”-moment. From start to end she remains the same. Kip is not a warrior. He is saved by Cass, has no memory of who he is (or his twin) and his character has no hero attitudes either. Instead of fighting he would rather stay hidden as a farmer or some such thing. The romance between those two left me cold. I didn’t get it at all.

I will be reading the second book. The world was really rather interesting.

On a side-note: I don't get why this is considered Young Adult. Cass is 22 or 23 years old for the most part of the story (13 when she is separated from her twin, 6 years living in the omega farming colony, 4 years of being hold captive in the Keeping Rooms).
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Oct 17, 2014 Sarah Churchill rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, received-for-review

Loved the writing - I've heard that Haig is a poet, and that definitely shows in the writing, some of it is just downright beautiful. I also enjoyed the world itself, though no real information was given about the disaster that caused this postapocalyptic world and I would have liked to know more. Maybe in book 2!

Character wise, the protagonist is likeable enough although I did find her a bit whiny, and I would have liked a little more growth from her, but again... maybe in book 2! I liked some Loved the writing - I've heard that Haig is a poet, and that definitely shows in the writing, some of it is just downright beautiful. I also enjoyed the world itself, though no real information was given about the disaster that caused this postapocalyptic world and I would have liked to know more. Maybe in book 2!

Character wise, the protagonist is likeable enough although I did find her a bit whiny, and I would have liked a little more growth from her, but again... maybe in book 2! I liked some of the supporting characters more, and especially liked the antagonists. I love a good bad guy!

Twists were great, mostly unpredictable, and as a general concept I think it's great. Pacing was a little inconsistent, but not distracting once I got past the one big slow spot.

So yeah, good and enjoyable but not amazing. I think I'm just getting a bit bored of dystopia where the society is broken/corrupt/dying... but the MC is 'different' and the only one who can change the world. It's getting a bit formulaic. In this instance everyone is born as twins, one a 'perfect' Alpha and the other a 'deformed' or in some way disabled 'Omega'. Our main character's 'deformity' is that she's a seer (kinda like a psychic). Now, correct me if I'm wrong but that's an Ability. A fairly useful ability. That's quite a big advantage she has over the rest of her kind who are hobbling around with missing limbs. She kinda lucked out there. So of course she must save the world.

Ok one last thing. To me this is somewhat of a plot hole, and it won't matter to some but it really bugged me. Alphas live a privileged life with all of the power and wealth. Omegas are shunned and kept in camps, the lowest level of society. Twins - one Alpha and one Omega - are connected to the extent where they feel each others pain and if one dies the other dies. Now, if my life were dependant on keeping my twin alive - no matter how much I'd been conditioned to despise them - I'd keep them in a frigging padded room. I wouldn't send them off to live off the land, in poverty-stricken ghettos with lice and illnesses and a high risk of malnutrition, starvation, infection and disease. Just sayin. ...more

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Feb 23, 2015 Sarah Elizabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, r2r-complete, fantasy, read-2016, as, paranormal, young-adult

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction/Blue Door and NetGalley.)

“I’m on my way to achieving something big. I can’t let you get in my way.”

This story had lots of potential, but it didn’t quite fulfil it for me.

Cass was a strong character, and she held up well against the threat of the alphas and the situations she was put in. Kip was also a likeable character, and the pair worked pretty well togethe ...more

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Feb 06, 2018 Mara YA Mood Reader rated it liked it

This was just okay. Superbly written but lacking in a way I can’t place. I was left feeling very disconnected and without much of a care of what’s to come. I don’t see myself continuing on with the trilogy.

This came highly recommended to me and the premise was very intriguing and even the short bit I read in a sample had me rushing to my library to procure an actual copy.

But it just didn’t grip me. The characters were a bit dull, 2D. They were on the run for 90% of the book which put me to sle ...more

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May 25, 2015 Anna (Enchanted by YA) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: coverly-love, saw-it-all-coming, fell-for-the-hype, almost-dnf, cardboard-characters, meh

So much potential, yet this book fell flat.

Now, I’m writing this review for myself as much as anyone because I want to figure out where everything went wrong.

Nothing particularly sticks out to me as the reason that I gave The Fire Sermon only 2 stars – there wasn’t anything which immediately put me off like insta-love or infodumps etc. Quite the opposite really, I found there were things which could have pulled me into the story – the thing is they didn’t.

Everything was so… impossibly… slow… tha ...more

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Oct 22, 2015 Emma rated it liked it · review of another edition

A grudging 3 stars.

Dystopian fiction is a hook that gets me every time. Judging by the prevalence of this kind of story recently, I'm not alone in that. I think we sense this modern world we live in is a fragile one, unsustainable or riven with cracks that just need the slightest pressure to fracture the whole. We're desperate to know 'what happens when it all falls apart?'

The greater premise of this story is one that addresses this question. Characters talk of 'the Blast', seemingly a nuclear A grudging 3 stars.

Dystopian fiction is a hook that gets me every time. Judging by the prevalence of this kind of story recently, I'm not alone in that. I think we sense this modern world we live in is a fragile one, unsustainable or riven with cracks that just need the slightest pressure to fracture the whole. We're desperate to know 'what happens when it all falls apart?'

The greater premise of this story is one that addresses this question. Characters talk of 'the Blast', seemingly a nuclear explosion that ruined the earth well before the story takes place. It has affected the landscape and the very nature of humanity. Now every birth is that of twins, one 'perfect', one with some kind of deformity, yet inescapably linked. If one dies, so does the other.

Great. All well and good. But. This is where the premise gets a little muddy for me. I know people can be arseholes but if my life depended on the wellbeing of another person, I'm not about to let them wander off into the great beyond to suffer some kind of starvation/subsistence living, or be worked like an animal on a refuge, or locked in a cell to waste away. I can understand these Omega twins being negatively defined culturally but any ill health could kill you. It would be in your best interests to at least make sure they aren't going to drop dead before their time.

Aha you say, the plot answers this problem. Yes, I suppose. Tanks. Not a unique answer (please refer most recently to the Matrix). Never mind that there is a supposed fear and ban of technology did to 'the blast'. Never mind that people who have not been using much technology have managed to build cryo chambers. Anyway, it's all part of a greater crackdown on the 'lesser' twins.

Into this steps the main twins of the story. One 'perfect' but evil, the other just as perfect (no physical deformities for her) but with visions and a conscience. She wanders around for the story complaining about her visions. She meets two guys, falls for both. Still, she seems to be the only one in the whole world that understands the stupidity involved in having outright warfare between two groups that inevitably kills one from each camp. It seems like a backwards version of that bit at school when two captains got alternate choices to pick for their team...right, I'm going to kill this person and hope nobody important on my side dies... Good plan.

Maybe the author will take this forward and improve upon it. I think I needed to understand why the Omega twins were treated in such a poor fashion despite the idiocy of it. I can't get behind a story where the underlying premise feels shaky to me from the beginning. At the moment I can't see where it's going and to be honest, I don't really care. By the end of this book, the writing had already faltered and the characters are just not interesting enough to make me continue. ...more

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Feb 27, 2016 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, ya, fantasy, adventure, romance, dystopia

This story follows the synopsis pretty well. The Fire Sermon definitely has Cormac McCarthy’s The Road feel to it. In the far future, after a nuclear apocalypse, the survivors carry a genetic abnormality. Every baby is born a fraternal twin, one boy one girl. One twin is “normal” (Alpha), the other twin has a congenital abnormality (Omega) and is born sterile. In rare instances, the Omega has psychic ability and no physical abnormality. Every twin is linked even though they are separated as soon
This story follows the synopsis pretty well. The Fire Sermon definitely has Cormac McCarthy’s The Road feel to it. In the far future, after a nuclear apocalypse, the survivors carry a genetic abnormality. Every baby is born a fraternal twin, one boy one girl. One twin is “normal” (Alpha), the other twin has a congenital abnormality (Omega) and is born sterile. In rare instances, the Omega has psychic ability and no physical abnormality. Every twin is linked even though they are separated as soon as the Alpha is identified. When one dies the other ones dies as well. Cass is an Omega that has the gift of sight. Because she had no obvious abnormality, her and her twin weren’t split until much later then most twins. All Omegas are sent to live with their own kind s Alphas don’t have to remember that they exist.

In this story Cass (Omega) is sent to live with other Omegas in a village far from her home. Her abnormality makes her an outcast, even among other outcasts. The story starts with Cass being captured and thrown into prison for her and her twin’s protection. Her Alpha twin has risen to power in society and he can’t take a chance that something might happen to her (ergo him).

I honestly didn’t see how things might change for Cass. Locked up in solitary confinement for four years she gets really crafty. I loved how she got away and what she did next. Of course, she finds a boy, Kip, and they pair up to change the world. Things are pretty bleak for these two throughout most of the story. I really liked both Cass and Kip. I thought Cass was well fleshed out and I loved how she stood by her principles. Kip was really reliant on Cass and I found him to be a hard person to pin down. He seemed pretty devoted to Cass, which is pretty sad for him. I liked Cass and Kip together, although I didn’t think it was a swoon worthy romance. I think they helped each other in a lot of ways.

I loved the world building in this story. The author gave me enough details to outline the scenes but it was still vague enough for me to imagine my own world. I doubt two people reading this book would imagine exactly the same world. This world is dark. Cass and Kip have no safe haven in the world. There are towns of Alphas that would kill them on sight and then dreary Omega settlements surrounded by vast expanses of land off limits due to nuclear fallout. The world is dark.

I liked the complexity of this world a lot. The good guys (Omegas) verses the bad guys (Alphas). Killing a bad guy will kill a good guy too. The Alphas come up with all sorts of inventive to keep those Omegas safe and out of the way. There are real problems with this society. It seems like Cass is the only one who sees that the solution is simple. Ugh!

This was a really inventive story. I am hooked now and so ready for the sequel The Map of Bones. ...more

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Feb 07, 2015 Diane S ☔ rated it liked it

A great premise, and a terrifying new world where the Alphas are on top, their twins, the Omegas on bottom. Loved the catch that they must protect their twins at the same time they are keeping them at the bottom of the social and ruling scale. Leads to some horrible and unique ways of keeping them safe.

Yet, this reads like a YA book, the romance between two of the Omega escapees seems trite, and some of the lightness in very dangerous moments did not ring true. It bothered me, but might not both ...more

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Aug 11, 2018 Max Lau • Maxxesbooktopia rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-stars-books

3.5 Stars [Review to come]

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Mar 13, 2015 Justine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-read

Not quite a 4, but more than a 3 so I'm rounding it up.

The Fire Sermon is a debut novel about a post-apocalyptic world in which everyone is born with a fraternal twin. One twin is the alpha, and one the omega. Every omega twin is marked by a physical deformity of some kind while the alpha is not. Rarely, an omega twin will be born with no physical deformity, but will instead have some psychic power as a seer. The twins are linked for life however, and when one dies, so does the other.

A social st Not quite a 4, but more than a 3 so I'm rounding it up.

The Fire Sermon is a debut novel about a post-apocalyptic world in which everyone is born with a fraternal twin. One twin is the alpha, and one the omega. Every omega twin is marked by a physical deformity of some kind while the alpha is not. Rarely, an omega twin will be born with no physical deformity, but will instead have some psychic power as a seer. The twins are linked for life however, and when one dies, so does the other.

A social structure has developed such that omegas are treated as outcasts and made to live separately from the alphas. They are given poorer lands, not allowed to marry, and are generally treated very badly by alphas. The alphas would just go ahead and get rid of the omegas if they could, but of course they can't do that without harming other alphas.

The story centres around an omega seer named Cass and her alpha twin Zach. Cass longs for a world where everyone can just get along, but Zach wants to rise to power in the current alpha society. You can already see where this is going, and it isn't anywhere good.

What makes the story here a bit different is that instead of just imagining what it would be like if we were all linked together by a common thread, these people have to live it. It actually hasn't made a bit of difference in terms of how they treat each other, as they still manage to create and oppress a lower class even while each person is inextricably linked to each other to the point of death (which really, you would think would make for some eye-opening moments for these people, but apparently not).

Still, Cass maintains her vision of a united society, and I have to respect that. There was something more I wanted out of this book, and to be honest, I'm not quite sure what it was. I liked the story well enough, but for some reason I couldn't get too emotionally invested in it.

In any case, I'll be reading the next book to find out what happens next - I may be more invested by then. ...more

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Aug 16, 2016 Rusty's Ghost Engine (also known as.......... Jinky Spring) rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-or-dystopia, fantasy-or-paranormal, apocalyptic, annoyed

2.5 stars
This is the plot and what happened I'm doing this cause I don't want to read this again. Read if you don't want to continue with this book.
(view spoiler) 2.5 stars
This is the plot and what happened I'm doing this cause I don't want to read this again. Read if you don't want to continue with this book.
(view spoiler)[ So basically it's set 400 years after a nuclear blast and technology and things from Before are seen as bad because of the blast. After the blast all humans were born in twins, one male and female one of them is an unblemished flawless alpha while the other is either mutated or with fault and is known as an omega and as soon as the fault is spotted they are branded with thee omega symbol and sent to live in a special omega settlement with tithes and poor land and cruel alpha council oppressors. They are also sterile and both twins will die at the same moment no matter how far appart they are and if one twin is severely hurt the other will also feel it yet no one understands this link. No one knows of the old name of their land or if there is an elsewhere a land beyond. Some omegas are born unblemished on the outside but with a strange mental ability/curse which gives them visions and dreams of the future and can be used to guide them through unknown territories, they are known as seers. Cass was branded and sent away at thirteen because no one could find any omega mutations on either her or her brother but her brother knew about her gift from early on and managed to expose her by making her feel bad for him when the council man came to their house on Zach's call and when Zach tried to admit he was the seer but Cass couldn't have it on her conscience that Zach would be wrongfully sent away and Zach knew this.

But after a few years Cass was captured and taken to a place known as the keeping rooms (prisons where powerful councilors can have their omega twins kept out of harms way to stop enemy councilors from killing them or threatening them using their twin) where she discovers that Zach her twin is gaining power in the council and has a lot of enemies. After 4 years imprisonment and interrogation by the confessor (a seer like Cass yet privileged and used by the council to probe the minds of omegas for information about a mythical island where omegas live freely) Cass manages to escape but goes to the room filled with liquid tanks with unconscious omegas in them like she saw in her dreams there she rescues a conscious one armed boy with no memory from his tank and escapes. After weeks on the run Cass' senses guide them to the coast where they get a boat and sail to the mythical island. There she meets Piper one of the more powerful leaders of the omega resistance and when it is discovered who her twin is she is once again locked up for her own safety and because the rebellion feel she could be useful to them somehow. After an attack on the island which Cass foretold most of the omegas evacuate and cass and kip (the boy she rescued whom she named after an old collie dog from her childhood village that liked to sleep a lot) travel to land where they stumble upon Zoe Pipers alpha twin who has always worked for the rebellion. Eventually after reuniting with Piper Cass tells them that the council was working to eventually put all omegas in tanks by giving them all the new harsher living conditions which would make them seek refuge in one of the councils workhouses. But she pointed out that at the moment they were only tanking dangerous omegas or omegas of really high ranking alphas and that the council had a database stored on technology from Before with records of every alpha and omega and info about them. (it was revealed the council had a lot of technology from Before and the Confessor was the mastermind behind it and was somehow powering the computers with her mind so it seemed) Cass and Kip planned to destroy the database which Cass located after getting a glimpse of the confessors mind but when they go to destroy the main computer in an old silo they meet the Confessor. After a brief showdown it is revealed that Kip was the confessors alpha twin who was wanting to pay to have her put in the keeping rooms. But when the confessor gained favor in the council by proving she was useful she had her alpha twin disguised as an omega by having his arm ripped off and branded she then sent him to the tanks where the council later planned to experiment on him and the other tanked people. It was never revealed what his real name was but at the end he sacrificed his life and the confessors life to save Cass. But Cass didn't escape the silo she was blinded by grief over the boy she loved. Later Zach bursted in and witnessed the scene before him and he told Cass to go before the guards came as he would lose power on the council if word got out that his twin had been involved in the death of one of the councils most powerful people. When cass escaped she later reunited with Piper and Zoe who took horses and rode out to hide near the deadlands Cass was greifstricken but was constantly reminded of all the people who had died so she could be safe. Cass at the end decided to stay with the rebellion and help bring about a future where alpha and omega lived equally. (hide spoiler)]

First let me say I find it strange that the people of this world don't know anything much of the outside world yet remember the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. :/ Hmm.. anyway when I first started this book I wondered whether it was a high fantasy but then as the world building came I got a feeling of urgh. I got this feeling because I cannot say how many times I've read dystopian or apocalyptic books mentioning a Before and After I mean it has been done sooooo many times already that with the world building I felt kind of been there done that.

But what really greyed the book was the characters. I mean they all felt so flat and unrealistic and I never felt anything for them even the main narrator, Cass. I felt they all lacked the emotions, personalities and depth that all well developed characters should have. Cass frustrated me more than once. I mean when she was with the rebellion she was always told she was valuable to them because she could be used in certain ways and they often spoke of her like a chess piece. She never got frustrated with this and although she did remind Piper sometimes that his leadership methods were heading in the same way as the alphas methods, she hardly stood up for her own life choices and individuality. It was like she also saw herself as a pawn in politics and just seemed to accept that. I mean wouldn't most people want to stand up for the right to chose what happens in their lives!?

The things I did like was the unpredictability of Cass and Kip's journey and the twists towards the end. The suspense and action was present throughout most of the book with many action scenes and there's something about on the run books that really grabs my attention. I also must add the descriptions of post apocalyptic cities never fail to impress me... for some reason.

So overall this book in my opinion wasn't very well written especially when it came to characters but the sense off pace was good. I'm still not sure whether I'll read on in the series... if I do it won't be for a while. I would recommend this book for people who don't mind their typical post apocalyptic world building but are looking for a standard adventure nonetheless. ...more

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Feb 15, 2015 Dianne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1-in-series, arc-read, netgalley, coming-of-age, dark-fantasy, dystopian, own

Page one, first line, and I. Am. Hooked. That was all it took and not once did my mind wander! The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig was pure magnetic reading for me.

In a post-apocalyptic world, hundreds of years into the future Earth as we know it does not exist. In its place is a primitive world where singular births no longer exist and each pregnancy ends with the birthing of twins, one whole, normal and desirable, called an Alpha. One is always born with some type of deformity, limbless, blind, Page one, first line, and I. Am. Hooked. That was all it took and not once did my mind wander! The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig was pure magnetic reading for me.

In a post-apocalyptic world, hundreds of years into the future Earth as we know it does not exist. In its place is a primitive world where singular births no longer exist and each pregnancy ends with the birthing of twins, one whole, normal and desirable, called an Alpha. One is always born with some type of deformity, limbless, blind, or worse, the most feared of all Omegas, a child perfect on the outside, but with psychic abilities. Normally separated soon after birth, the Omega is branded and sent to live with others who are less than perfect while the Alphas proclaim their dominion over the world. Is there a catch to the twins’ existence? The one weakness that cannot be avoided is that should one twin die, the other will die with them, no matter the miles and livestyles separating them.

Cass and Zach were born looking perfect, but Cass is a Seer. On the day her brother betrayed her to gain favor within the ruling council, she began a journey through life that would be the turning point for the inequalities faced by those who were less than perfect. Meanwhile, Zach has begun his climb to the top of the power chain, willing to be ruthless and cold in an effort to secure his place in the world. Two siblings, once best friends and confidants are now pitted against each other in a brutal and deadly game of survival as Cass’ superior psychic abilities are put to the test against an Omega who has defected to the Alpha side, and is determined to see Cass brought down. Technology is non-existent, but someone has found the key to harnessing electricity and building a house of horrors in the name of science, but is the true reason? Is the future retreating back to one of the darkest times in Earth’s history by experimenting on human Omegas until their bodies can take no more? Rebel Omegas are banding together and hiding out until they are prepared to do battle for equality, will there be Alphas who share their dreams? Will they stand by them, fight with them or will the council crush the revolt before it begins? Cass could be the key to victory, but at what cost? People will die, two by two, but only one death will either crush Cass or forge her heart into a raging inferno for justice.

Francesca Haig has wrung every emotional response possible out of me a she builds a bleak and troubled world based on fear and prejudice. Her characters feel fear, insecurity and are not born equipped to wage war, but when push comes to shove, and the heart is involved heroes rise, take risks and learn to believe in the possibility of a better world for everyone. Filled with the perfect pacing for each scene, this journey into a world that could be is at once, frightening and fascinating to be part of. Could this be the world we are leaving for our descendents?

I received this ARC edition from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books in exchange for my honest review.

Trilogy - The Fire Sermon - Book 1
Publication Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 9781476767185
Genre: Scifi | Fantasy
Print Length: 384 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Reviewed for: http://tometender.blogspot.com

...more

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Jan 29, 2016 Helen rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5, can't believe I've started with decimal stars!

Imagine a setting, far into it future, where the world has been scorched by fire; parts are uninhabitable, parts arable and a lot seems unexplored. Using our knowledge we can assume that there has been some sort of nuclear event- the fire sermon. The event seems to have been caused by evil Electric but given we're in the future with no technology, or living memory, we don't have the finer details. This doesn't matter.

Now imagine the fall out, th 3.5, can't believe I've started with decimal stars!

Imagine a setting, far into it future, where the world has been scorched by fire; parts are uninhabitable, parts arable and a lot seems unexplored. Using our knowledge we can assume that there has been some sort of nuclear event- the fire sermon. The event seems to have been caused by evil Electric but given we're in the future with no technology, or living memory, we don't have the finer details. This doesn't matter.

Now imagine the fall out, the damage done to humans. The contamination. This society has grown up believing that it is essential to avoid the contamination, even to avoid remnants of the past: buildings, Electric etc. they are taboo.

Knowing this, I can fully understand why a future society would want to rid themselves of contaminated humans, push them out of the villages and avoid them like a literal plague. But, and this is quite a big but...

All humans are now born as twins, one perfect (well healthy) the other contaminated. This could be extra toes, a missing limb or even a Cyclops-style single eye. Although this always threw me as I can't help wondering if that could actually happen. Okay, I can get on board with this thinks me. But...when you're twin is hurt, you feel it. When they are ill, you get the same temperature. When they die so do you.

These contaminated twins aren't covered in pustules or contagious they (mostly) just have a physical difference. You die if they die. So would you segregate them off to the worse possible farm land, not allow them animals, not have any contact with them or ensure they took good care of your twin lives? Hmmm, that's a tough question. I guess I'd send them off to starve and become ill?! I struggled. Also, essentially animals haven't been affected, we're told some are born funny. There was a two-headed snake. Only one character, lovely Cass, questions this. What? Why? How? I want to know how this works, what caused it, why people don't care about their twin. This took a star.

Overall though, ignoring the above, this was a great story. There were parts you could see coming but that didn't diminish the excitement or my tears at one point! Cass is a lovely protagonist, she wants to know why too. I bonded. So, not quite a four but more than a three, decimals! ...more

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Mar 10, 2015 Brittain *Needs a Nap and a Drink* rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fangirling, strong-leading-lady, favorites, men-men-men-men-manly-men-men, series-to-finish, holy-plot-twists-batman, beautiful-cover-art, something-beautiful, love-triangle, dystopia

I really need to stop rating books while I'm still in the afterglow stages of reading. I almost always come back later and pull it down a star or two after considering the plot holes and flaws in the book.

I saw this cover in a book store a few months ago and simply stared at it for a few moments. The publisher and author would have to be confident in both the cover art and the content to be able to put out a book like this.

And their gamble worked. It got my attention.

The Fire Sermon is a post-ap ...more

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Jul 04, 2013 Tez rated it really liked it · review of another edition

TRIGGER WARNING: Ableism, and lots of it. The society based on ableism, so it's pretty inescapable. Thankfully, the story is told from the point of view of someone who believes that ableism is wrong - otherwise the book would've been unreadable.

Is The Fire Sermon post-apocalyptic or fantasy? Maybe it's supposed to be both. The post-apoc elements work best, but the fantasy elements had me questioning the world-building.

There was a nuclear blast, which blighted the land and decimated the populatio TRIGGER WARNING: Ableism, and lots of it. The society based on ableism, so it's pretty inescapable. Thankfully, the story is told from the point of view of someone who believes that ableism is wrong - otherwise the book would've been unreadable.

Is The Fire Sermon post-apocalyptic or fantasy? Maybe it's supposed to be both. The post-apoc elements work best, but the fantasy elements had me questioning the world-building.

There was a nuclear blast, which blighted the land and decimated the population. The blast caused mutations in all future births: always two babies born at a time, one boy and one girl. (No mention of any intersex.) Why always two babies? Or why not two boys, or two girls - why always one of each? (Having completed the novel, my questions remain unanswered, but maybe we learn more in future books.)

In each birth pair, one is Alpha and the other Omega. (It's random which child is which, so thankfully no sexism.) The Omega may have missing limbs or extra digits, whilst the Alpha is the "stronger" one. (I warned you about the ableism.) Due to the blighted land, crops don't grow well, and modern technology is seemingly non-existent for most, so I'm unsure of the jobs situation. Because of finances, and the government's scare campaign, as soon as Omegas are weaned they're cast out, usually sent to an Omega relative to raise.

But there's a rare form of Omega, like Cass. She has the "correct" numbers of body parts, but instead she's psychic. Cass seems to feel that being a seer is...well, a "disability", but since Alphas and Omegas alike both want to use her for it... Maybe everyone EXCEPT seers think it's an advantage? Cass has some seer angst here - she fits in with neither Alphas nor Omegas.

Cass's Alpha twin, Zach, is a political mover and shaker. But he doesn't fit in with his fellow Alphas, because Cass wasn't sent away until they were thirteen, so Zach's dealt with being suspected of "poison" just as much as Cass has, until their separation. Zach resents Cass for not turning herself in earlier.

But there's one thing preventing Alphas from killing their Omegas (and if you thought it was a conscience, you're wrong). Twins are somehow linked, so that when one of the pair falls seriously ill or dies, so does the other. Born together, die together. A political big-wig like Zach doesn't need to be assassinated - his enemies could simply kill Cass instead.

Fantasy is not my forte, and I can only keep interested in slow travel for so long. Also, the New Hobart section doesn't add much, and could have easily been shortened. While I admire Cass's altruism, I never warmed to the other major characters (Zach and Kip).

Iffy world-building aside, The Fire Sermon grabbed me from its concept, and kept me with its post-apocalyptic intrigue. Francesca Haig's well-crafted secondary characters and fleeting glimpses of technology left me wanting more - and there are two books to go in the trilogy, so onward and upward!

P.S. I ship Cass with Piper.

P.P.S. Dream Works have the film rights. There are various roles suitable for actors with missing or extra body parts, so hopefully CGI will not be required (or "required"). Likewise, my two favourite characters have "dark skin", so hopefully their actors will be people of colour. (Please don't let the characters be whitewashed!) ...more

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Jul 21, 2015 Kennedy Liggett rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2015-shelf

I feel torn with this book because it had the potential to be really good, and at certain points I started to believe that maybe it was beginning to become what I thought it was capable of.

However... now that I am done with the book, I feel disappointed.

The general idea of the book was clever- Every person has a twin, but one twin has a deformation while the other twin remains unscathed. Twins are separated at birth based on the ideals of society, and one girl (Cass), is determined to change tha ...more

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Mar 08, 2015 Laura rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I was kindly given a copy of this by the nice folks at HarperVoyager when I went to interview for a job there in 2014*, so I feel slightly guilty about the lukewarm review I'm about to write, but I honestly can't give this more than 2.5 stars.

The book is set in a dystopian future in which humanity have survived a huge 'blast', but the few stragglers that survived have mutated due to the radiation** so that every single time a woman gives birth she has twins, they are always twin pairs of one ma I was kindly given a copy of this by the nice folks at HarperVoyager when I went to interview for a job there in 2014*, so I feel slightly guilty about the lukewarm review I'm about to write, but I honestly can't give this more than 2.5 stars.

The book is set in a dystopian future in which humanity have survived a huge 'blast', but the few stragglers that survived have mutated due to the radiation** so that every single time a woman gives birth she has twins, they are always twin pairs of one male and one female, and one of them is always 100% fine, while the other has some form of 'disability' (a missing limb, congenital blindness, dwarfism, for example). The kids who aren't born disabled are known as alphas and the ones who are are called omegas. The omegas are seen as 'poisonous' or taboo by the powerful alphas and so when they are born they are all branded with an omega on their foreheads and sent away to live in poor settlements, cared for by other alpha relatives while they're young. Conveniently for the plot and world-building, all of the omegas are infertile . HOWEVER, due to another contrivance – and this is very central to the story – alphas and omegas are linked to their twin in death – in other words, when one of them dies the other dies straight away, no matter how far away they are from one another (still following?). So basically, the whole thing is incredibly contrived from the outset, and although Haig writes well for someone writing a YA dystopian novel (her writing is technically much better than Suzanne Collins' for example, but her plotting and pacing ARE NOT), the way that this was explained at the beginning of the book, rather than feeling novel or interesting, was actually quite tedious.

So anyway, the book is written from the perspective of Cass (I've just finished reading this 400 page book and I actually had to look up the protagonist's name just now - not a good sign), who is an omega who's 'disability' is essentially that she's psychic (?!) (or 'seer' as they're known). But she can only see certain things that don't directly give the game away to the reader or imperil the plot of the book. Cass is sent away when she is a teenager to scrape a living off the land while her brother becomes powerful and makes enemies. To keep himself safe, he has Cass kidnapped and locked up in a cell (so no one can kill her and therefore him), but she escapes and on the way meets another omega, Kip, and together they go on a quest across the barren lands to find the omega resistance and escape her evil brother.

I went into this book genuinely wanting to like it, but there were just so many things that were wrong with it. The pacing was irregular, with quite a bit of action at the beginning but a lull in the last half which made it difficult to get through. It was also really inconclusive. I could tell about halfway through that, unlike previous YA fantasy/dystopian series (e.g. Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Northern Lights), the book wouldn't be a nice succinct story with a pay-off and the scene set for another story within the larger plot, it was essentially just the first third (or fifth? Or ninth?) of a much larger book. Also, while there were undoubtedly a number of 'strong female characters', every single one of the characters, both male and female, fell flat. This might in part be because they were viewed through the lens of the protagonist who, despite being a psychic jailbreaking fugitive, was dull as dishwater.

Another thing that annoyed me, although I will admit that this is pretty niche, is what I see as a plothole relating to the impact of grinding poverty on life expectancy. You see, the alphas don't want to be around their omega twins, but they also can't kill them off because then they would die too, so instead they send them out to scratch out a living on really marginal and contaminated land, or encourage them to go to ghettoised fleapit reserves. As someone with a postgraduate degree in epidemiology, this struck me as ridiculous. The poor nutrition, infectious diseases and chronic ill-health associated with such levels of poverty would significantly reduce the omegas' life expectancies, so it would be a really stupid thing for the ruling class to do. And this isn't something that is difficult to work out either, people have known this for thousands of years, even if they didn't know the exact pathological mechanisms behind it.

One of the few saving graces of the book was that, as mentioned before, it was actually pretty well written. I read that Haig is a poet, and this does come across in the prose, some of which is lovely.

Despite the fact that there were so many problems with this book, I was not surprised that the film options had been bought before it had even been published. Clearly, there is a drive to recreate the success of the Hunger Games franchise (plucky female protagonist, dystopian future, underdog vs an evil all-powerful state), but I really think that this one was wide of the mark.

*The second time in three years I'd interviewed for a job at Harper. The first time I got given Game of Thrones! On both occasions I would probably have preferred to have been given a job, but free books are definitely better than nothing!
**The cause of the blast is never explained, although you hear at one point that it created vast craters (asteroids?), a huge dust cloud (asteroids but more likely a supervolcano) and that it induced huge amounts of radiation (nuclear war?). This just added another level to the contrivance. ...more

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Jan 30, 2015 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was ok

Shelves: reviewcopy, ebooks, netgalley, post-apocalypse-and-dystopia, read2015

For a post-apocalyptic novel to really work, it needs to be plausible. There are a few problems with this new series that disconnected me from the story - all of the sudden, everyone has a twin! And one of the twins (but only one, always) has a deformity! And society is divided into Alphas and Omegas. Except if your twin dies, you die. I actually like the consequences to this divided society, to the extra risk of murder/illness for your twin, but it isn't explained. It would have been more belie ...more

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Feb 23, 2015 Katie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 5-stars, paperbacks-i-own, goodreads-first-reads, pov-female

Received book through Goodreads First Reads

This book was so different from others that I have read and I utterly loved it! It was wonderfully written and the story was unique with a great concept to it. The characters were well thought out as well(I especially loved Kip).

It was the opposite of predictable which I absolutely loved! The storyline kept you on your toes as you didn't know what to expect was going to happen next. The story is full of uncertainty.

The ending had a huge twist to it that ...more

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Dec 31, 2016 Lala_Loopsie [fire breathing B!tch Queen] added it

Shelves: dnf, leido-en-español

DNF at 80%

I couldn't continue with the book

1. because the book was due back at the library

2. It didn't draw me in, it was as simple as that.

After reading so many (not that many) sci-fi (read: "dystopian"), they all just end up being the same. Oppressed society and revolution because of one special little lady, and bam—you have it.

So excuse me, but this is not my favourite genre. ...more

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Mar 10, 2015 Janie Johnson rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This book is a YA dystopian. I don't read a lot of dystopian but this one sounded interesting so I decided to pick it up and give it a try because the concept was different from most. I am really glad I did because I found the story very engaging and fast paced.

In this story we have a world of Alpha and Omega. Alpha are the strong people and Omega are considered the weak, dead ends, and poisonous. When children are born they I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This book is a YA dystopian. I don't read a lot of dystopian but this one sounded interesting so I decided to pick it up and give it a try because the concept was different from most. I am really glad I did because I found the story very engaging and fast paced.

In this story we have a world of Alpha and Omega. Alpha are the strong people and Omega are considered the weak, dead ends, and poisonous. When children are born they are born as twins, one boy and one girl. One will be born Alpha and one will be born Omega. Alpha babies are born perfect and beautiful while Omega babies have some type of deformity. As they grow in the family eventually they will have what they call the split when the omega baby is pushed out and sent away to a refuge belonging only to the Omega community. Cass is born the Omega and Zach the Alpha, neither have any deformities except for the fact that Cass has a secret that Zach tries to expose. The Omega people live in Segregation while being oppressed by their stronger counterparts, the Alpha. In the beginning, as babies, the Alpha and Omega will live together, but in the end they will die together as well. This world is dependent on Cass and Zach, which will overcome?

I thought the plotline was so different in this dystopian story. I also found it to be fast paced and very engaging from page one. Rather than having a dystopian Government who oppresses it's people you have a group of people who oppress a weaker group of people. I love the concept of twins being born with one weak and one strong. I also love the connection between them that if one is in pain and dies, the other one is also in pain and dies. I think the imagery was also good, because of this, the world building is done very well, very visual.

As for the characters I think they too were developed well. I have a complaint though which kept this from receiving 5 stars. I found our protagonist rather whiny and I did not see a lot of growth in her until the very last chapter of the story. She was born Omega and was oppressed and pushed out sure, but let me tell you she showed her weakness too well. She played the poor pitiful me too well. I would have liked to see her much stronger by the end of the book. I mean she had 3 or 4 different people telling her she was much stronger and much more important that she thought and it was still not enough for her to see it herself? There will be a sequel to this one and I hope to see Cass grow by leaps and bounds. I really like Kip a lot. I feel like his personality was much better and he would stand up and fight more for injustice than Cass would. He knew he was dealt a rotten hand and he worked with what he had.

Like I said, because of the lead protagonist I could not give this book a 5 star, but it is very worth reading and I recommend this to anyone who likes YA dystopian, post apoc and even sci fi could enjoy this book. Very different and very enjoyable. I look forward to the next in this series. ...more

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Oct 09, 2014 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: for-review-read, books-i-own-print, british-author, signed, books-i-own-kindle, netgalley, read-in-2015, 2015-debut-author

British author Francesca Haig has created a really interesting world in her debut novel The Fire Sermon. Four hundred years after an explosion that nearly destroyed the world life is very different for the survivors, technology was blamed for the apocalyptic event and is now banned so in a lot of ways it is like taking a step back in time and living in the past. Ever since the blast babies have been born in pairs, there is always one boy and one girl and there is always one Alpha and one Omega. British author Francesca Haig has created a really interesting world in her debut novel The Fire Sermon. Four hundred years after an explosion that nearly destroyed the world life is very different for the survivors, technology was blamed for the apocalyptic event and is now banned so in a lot of ways it is like taking a step back in time and living in the past. Ever since the blast babies have been born in pairs, there is always one boy and one girl and there is always one Alpha and one Omega. The Alphas are strong, healthy and physically perfect while the Omegas are born with some kind of deformity and often much weaker and more sickly than their Alpha twin. You might think that natural selection would see to the deaths of the weaker twins but one other thing is completely certain, the twins lives are inexplicably linked and, no matter how far apart they are, the death of one always results in the death of the other.

The Alphas are the ruling class, the are the leaders and the ones with power while the Omegas are treated like second class citizens. The Omegas are forced to leave their homes as soon as they're disability is discovered and sent to live in special settlements with others of their kind. They are not allowed to mix with the Alpha's and they live difficult lives where they only have enough food to barely survive. Cass and Zach are different, where most twins are separated practically from birth they were raised together until they were 13. Cass always knew she was the Omega but because her disability wasn't visible nobody was able to prove it and all she ever wanted was to stay with her brother. Zach had other plans though, Cass was holding him back and preventing him from taking his rightful place in society and he will always hate her for that. Even when they are separated Zach holds a grudge and his hatred may well be the cause of all out war between the Alphas and Omegas.

The Fire Sermon raises so many interesting questions and really makes you look at how humanity can be so quick to judge people. Why do groups of people always find it so easy to turn on each other for such silly reasons? We've seen it time and time again in the past so I don't know why it would surprise me to see it happening here but really you'd expect twins to be protective of each other - especially if they know that they will die if their twin does! That link between the twins also makes it very difficult for the Omegas to fight back, how can they fight the Alphas when for every Alpha they kill they also murder one of their own? Cass seems to be one of the few people who always sees both sides to things but that doesn't mean it's easy for her to convince others that she is right.

I really liked Cass, she has such a unique way of looking at things and in spite of all the horrible things that her brother does to her she always tries to see the good in him. She is in a pretty impossible position and because of her link to Zach she is in as much danger to from the Omegas she is fighting besides as she is from the Alphas who hunt her. I enjoyed seeing her relationship develop with Kip but we never got to know him as much as I hoped to, mainly because he had no memory of his past so was pretty much a blank slate when he met Cass. I was worried at one point that we were drawing into love triangle territory but happily this was completely resolved by the end of the book even if it was in a very unexpected way. Talking of the ending there are some fantastic twists and revelations towards the end of the book, a few that I'd figured out myself but even though I had an idea about some things I would never have guessed how they would resolve themselves!

The Fire Sermon is a great start to the series and it left me desperate to find out what will happen next. The story has already been optioned by Dreamworks and I would love to see it on the big screen too but no matter what happens with the movie the sequel will be jumping straight to the top of my to read pile and I really hope Francesca Haig doesn't keep us waiting too long for it! ...more

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Dec 12, 2014 Chihoe Ho rated it really liked it

"The Fire Sermon" is definitely one debut novel to watch for in 2015. While not quite on par with the dazzling brilliance that was 2014's Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Francesca Haig has written a solid dystopian novel that will thrill fans of the genre, and that will entertain more on the big screen since even before publication, it has already been optioned by DreamWorks as a feature film.

When talking about "Red Rising", one of the things I mention about what makes an outstanding dystopian franc "The Fire Sermon" is definitely one debut novel to watch for in 2015. While not quite on par with the dazzling brilliance that was 2014's Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Francesca Haig has written a solid dystopian novel that will thrill fans of the genre, and that will entertain more on the big screen since even before publication, it has already been optioned by DreamWorks as a feature film.

When talking about "Red Rising", one of the things I mention about what makes an outstanding dystopian franchise is when childhood innocence is effectively pitted against a grownup agenda. "The Fire Sermon" does that, and even goes a step further by pitting oneself against oneself, an innocent against innocence, a twin against its own. Alpha versus Omega, or rather, Alpha over Omega. The pairs are torn apart and brought up to hate the opposite, yet they can't survive on their own - when one dies, so does the other. It's a simple maneuver, but boy does it prove to be an ingenious one.

With every new dystopian novel now called "the next Hunger Games," it's no wonder that it is sometimes hard to believe it or to not be critical when something is heralded as such. "The Fire Sermon" is probably one of the closest I have read to resembling the structure and evoking the spirit of "The Hunger Games". We have Cass, our protagonist and Katniss-counterpart; Kip and Piper, the love interests that bring to mind Peeta and Gale; an oppressive regime in the Alpha Council and the Omega Resistance that will surely draw comparisons to Panem and District 13; boy-girl twins and pairings tied together in life and death like tributes reaped for the Games. While there is no arena, the binary factor is just as unpredictably wild and duplicitous. These superficial comparisons can be too on-the-nose, but "The Fire Sermon" really captured the idea and emotions of that in "The Hunger Games".

I'll freely admit that the middle bit of the novel was muddled in its plotting and pacing. "The Fire Sermon" is this one long journey that reveals more of the story to us and the characters themselves with each passing milestone, which speaking of reminds me of the first book of Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, The Knife of Never Letting Go. There is a lot of running and hiding and running and hiding, so it sometimes feels like a repetitive dry loop, periodically rerouted by the exploration of a twist. It is in Haig's fluid writing and the riveting concept that "The Fire Sermon" has found an intricately detailed voice of its own.

"You're only ever looking at half the story." A death results in two, with consequences on both ends. I know Haig will further utilize this "two sides to a coin (twin)" concept, but I hope she brings it to the next level, and, this is speculation, writes the second book to from the Alpha twin point-of-view while progressing the story forward. With the omega symbol on this eye-catching cover, it lends reason for me to believe that we will see an alpha one for the next instalment, and perhaps a joint story told in the final book. This will truly rejuvenate the series as the refresh button is hit with every major plot reveal...

Not that it needs much re-energizing, seeing how "The Fire Sermon" ended on a significant twist that I didn't see coming. What I do see coming are great things in the path for Francesca Haig and The Fire Sermon trilogy. ...more

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Jun 29, 2013 Beth rated it it was amazing

ALL THE STARS!!!

Review on That's Normal: http://thats-normal.com/2015/03/book-... ...more

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Apr 15, 2014 Shannon (It Starts At Midnight) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-for-review, 2015

3.5*

I feel the need to be very upfront about some sensitive issues in this book. In this post-apocalyptic world, some genetic anomaly has occurred and every person is born with a twin. One twin is seemingly "perfect"/"healthy" (this is the Alpha twin) while the other is generally born with a congenital abnormality and is unable to reproduce (the Omega twin). Alphas have basically no time for their Omega twin, and would likely just kill them at birth (this is said sensitive subject material) but ...more

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Nov 22, 2020 Karen’s Library rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, tbr-2020, dystopian, paranormal, advent-calendar

I’ve had The Fire Sermon on my shelves for several years and my best book friends who know me kept telling me to read it already. Well... I finally did. And once again, as usual, they were right. They knew I’d enjoy it.

Cass is an Omega twin. Her brother is the Alpha twin. Everyone in this post-apocalyptic world has a twin and one is Alpha and one is Omega. Alphas are born perfect, and Omegas are born deformed in some way. Most have a major deformity easy to see like no eyes, or a missing limb, o ...more

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Oct 31, 2015 jo rated it it was ok

Shelves: disability, audio, spec-fantasy-sf

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. this is a YAish post-apocalyptic dystopian novel about a society in which humans have evolved to give birth only to twins. of the twins, one is always able-bodied and the other is always disabled (the words “disabled” and “able-bodied” are never used in the novel). the able-bodied twins stay and grow up with their families and are called alphas. the disabled twins are cast out as early as possible, branded like cattle, and called omegas. omegas cannot reproduce. they live in destitute villages a this is a YAish post-apocalyptic dystopian novel about a society in which humans have evolved to give birth only to twins. of the twins, one is always able-bodied and the other is always disabled (the words “disabled” and “able-bodied” are never used in the novel). the able-bodied twins stay and grow up with their families and are called alphas. the disabled twins are cast out as early as possible, branded like cattle, and called omegas. omegas cannot reproduce. they live in destitute villages and are increasingly persecuted.

i scanned goodreads quickly before reading this and i saw a review that lambasted this book for being ableist, so that was something i paid attention to while i read it. and at first i wasn’t sure. the main characters are all omegas, even though the protagonist is “disabled” only in the sense of being a seer (not much of a disability, though it would have been nice if haig had discussed at least a bit why seers should be perceived as disabled).

but then at the end it turns out that her love interest and co-protagonist, in spite of missing an arm, was never an omega. so we have two protagonists who are entirely able-bodied (is an alpha with a missing arm able-bodied? and if so, what does it mean to be disabled? there’s some very cool essentialism/non-essentialism debate here that could have used a wee bit of exploration), and two other main characters only one of whom is mildly impaired (he lacks an arm too, but that is rarely remarked upon, so much so that one forgets – this is not so for the love interest, whose lack of his arm is constantly brought up). finally, two other major characters (the confessor and zach) are also able-bodied. not much disability is presented to us after all, in spite of the novel’s setting in a profoundly disabled world (the disability of the world is its dysfunctionality and horror).

the story is well constructed and the writing is beautiful, so these are excellent qualities. but what sapped me, what ultimately unmade me (cuz a careless book can undo me, especially in these tremendously fragile times) was that a book that could and should be focused on bodies is almost entirely disregarding of bodies. injuries, hunger, thirst, fatigue, comfort, discomfort, touch – all the materiality, the fragility, and the neediness of the human body are treated with great lightness, and often ignored, to the point that it’s so, so hard to suspend disbelief. when kip is first liberated from the tank he runs for quite some time without shoes on very harsh terrain, yet no mention is made of the fact that unless you are used to not wearing shoes, not having shoes will simply stop you. you can’t go without shoes unless the sole of your feet is as tough as leather.

kip and cass go days without drinking. they get hurt over and over (during their escape from the island they are slashed repeatedly by the rocks and the mussels), but their injuries are quickly forgotten.

since the fragility of the human body is the key theme of the novel (each twin will die or be hurt if the other twin dies or is hurt, so death and injury are always a possibility), glossing over so much vulnerability is not just careless, it’s callous. literature exists so that we learn how to be human. a book about bodies that ignores bodies deals a little bruise to our humanity and leaves us a little emptier.

finally, why not develop the tremendous narrative and conceptual potential of a society in which half the population is disabled? the power of the able-bodieds is stipulated but not explained, and very little is made of the disempowerment of the non-able-bodieds. in fact, *different* bodies appear only in passing. it is never the case, except for kip’s armlessness and post-tank weakness and for cass’s seerness, that a body’s disability plays a role in the narrative.

so ultimately this left me empty. because what i crave most in books is depth, and compassion, and understanding. the story, meh, the story is just a story. ...more

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Mar 11, 2015 Stephanie Swint rated it liked it

To see this review and others: https://bookishswint.wordpress.com/20...

‘The Fire Sermon’ is Francesca Haig’s debut and first book in her dystopian trilogy. It takes place after The Blast. The ruins of cities are left to fall apart empty and quiet. Fear surrounding them comes from old stories of radiation and The Council forbids all from entering them. In this new agrarian society people are always born in twins. One twin is the Alpha and the other a disfigured Omega. The Omega’s are cast out of To see this review and others: https://bookishswint.wordpress.com/20...

‘The Fire Sermon’ is Francesca Haig’s debut and first book in her dystopian trilogy. It takes place after The Blast. The ruins of cities are left to fall apart empty and quiet. Fear surrounding them comes from old stories of radiation and The Council forbids all from entering them. In this new agrarian society people are always born in twins. One twin is the Alpha and the other a disfigured Omega. The Omega’s are cast out of their families as soon as they are identified. In cases where the impairment is obvious it takes place at birth. The child is sent to live in Omega settlements where other Omega’s raise them or they are sent to Orphanages. Omega’s, if they can afford to, willingly take kids since they are barren – disparagingly referred to as the dead-end of the human race, but some Omega’s are not so obvious. Their disfigurement is invisible. The Seers, those that see the future and past, are feared and reviled by both the Alpha’s and Omega’s partially due to their ability to hide in plain sight. When Cass and Zach were born no one could tell which was which. It created a strong bond between the twins since the other children wouldn’t play with them and even their own parents held them at arm’s length. Afraid and attached to her family, Cass hid who she was until she was thirteen, but it built a fear and resentment in her twin that had significant consequences.

The book is an easy listen. The piece to this series that is unique is the Alpha and Omega twins. If you hurt one you hurt the other. Consequently, if you kill one you kill the other. The idea of engaging in warfare and rebellion becomes complicated when taking out your enemy also reduces your own forces. Cass, our main character, is likable. She is a teenager for a portion of the book but the larger portion is centered on her life at approximately nineteen. As an Omega, who is either in captivity or on the run, she barely notices her or her compatriots appearance because they are dirty, and while a romance exists it isn’t a focus. I found this refreshing.

The drawbacks are the beginning is slow to build and it is predictable. As Haig introduces you to her world and provides us with the necessary backstory for Cass and her twin, Zach, there is very little action. If you are impatient it will be hard to get through the beginning of the book. I could also see the big reveal about half way through the book. I’m sure there are others who will see it sooner than I did. It is young adult fiction, however, and if I was picking this up as a teenager, who had not already read a large amount of dystopian literature, I think I would be more impressed. It still held my attention and I am curious to see what the next installment of the trilogy has to offer. Haig’s writing was good and I think there is potential in it.

I did like listening to this book. I believe ‘The Fire Sermon’ lends itself to the audio format. It has twists and turns but you are not going to miss huge chucks of the plot if you get distracted for a moment It’s perfect for doing errands or driving to work. Lauren Fortgang narrates the audible version and she did well. She wasn’t overly dramatic and had no trouble differentiating her characters. Usually a narrator can do one character well but as you add characters it’s hard not to make one of them either annoying or indistinguishable. Fortgang had neither problem.

Audible provided this audio book to me in return for an honest review. ...more

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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Fantasy, every child is born with a twin. one will be totally normal, the other will have a physical deformity or psychic abilities. the one that has the deformity is branded on their forehead. [s]	4	36	May 15, 2018 04:52PM
A movie planned already?!	5	81	Jul 08, 2015 03:15PM
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About Francesca Haig

Francesca Haig

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Francesca Haig is the author of the post-apocalyptic Fire Sermon trilogy (The Fire Sermon; The Map of Bones; and The Forever Ship), translated into more than 20 languages.

Her latest novel, The Cookbook of Common Prayer, is published in June 2021 (UK; July 2021 for Australia and New Zealand).

Francesca gained her PhD from the University of Melbourne, and worked as an academic before becoming a full ...more

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The Fire Sermon (3 books)

Books by Francesca Haig

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Quotes from The Fire Sermon

“I’m not sure that secret goat-farming is the most effective show of defiance.” — 10 likes

“A history written in ashes, in bones. Before the blast, they say there'd been sermons about fire, about the end of the world. The fire itself gave the last sermon; after that there were no more.” — 6 likes

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