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The Fire King
From the author of The Cold King comes a dark tale of passion, vengeance and redemption.
Revenge can be its own poison…
Katiyana Nix was a princess but only wanted what every other little girl had—a mother to love and teach her and a father to care for her. Instead, she grew up lonely in the shadow of her mother’s death while her father was absent in his grief.
When she finally thought she’d found hope for herself and her father, it was in the form of her beautiful new stepmother. But Sula committed the most evil of betrayals, leaving Katiyana more lost than she had ever been. Alone and scared, she fled to the forest to live amongst the trees with other lost souls searching for their own safety.
When she crosses paths with the fiery King Lian, a man whose thirst for revenge against the evil queen has no end, her time of quiet peace is ended. His anger untamed, he aims to use the lost princess as a weapon to achieve his dark goals.
Katiyana must battle her own demons, as well as his, while she tries to save him from himself and her kingdom from the clutches of her stepmother.
Can she succeed in ridding the world of the evil queen or will Lian’s temper cause them all to burn?
Revenge can be its own poison…
Katiyana Nix was a princess but only wanted what every other little girl had—a mother to love and teach her and a father to care for her. Instead, she grew up lonely in the shadow of her mother’s death while her father was absent in his grief.
When she finally thought she’d found hope for herself and her father, it was in the form of her beautiful new stepmother. But Sula committed the most evil of betrayals, leaving Katiyana more lost than she had ever been. Alone and scared, she fled to the forest to live amongst the trees with other lost souls searching for their own safety.
When she crosses paths with the fiery King Lian, a man whose thirst for revenge against the evil queen has no end, her time of quiet peace is ended. His anger untamed, he aims to use the lost princess as a weapon to achieve his dark goals.
Katiyana must battle her own demons, as well as his, while she tries to save him from himself and her kingdom from the clutches of her stepmother.
Can she succeed in ridding the world of the evil queen or will Lian’s temper cause them all to burn?
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 26, 2013
26 people are currently reading
1188 people want to read
About the author
Amber Jaeger
7 books187 followersAmber Jaeger is the author of five novels, including the completed Hemlock Bay series. When she's not working on the next King book, she can be found camping, cooking or wherever the cat happens to be napping. The Dragon King is forthcoming in Fall 2016.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
March 10, 2015
Yes, I know he's called the Fire King because of his temper. That didn't stop me from thinking he was a giant asshole for 80% of the book. Endless temper tantrums, constantly slamming his fist on tables and roaring (not shouting) at people gave me zero character development and no interest in getting on board this ship. On top of that, nothing really got explained - from the motivation of any character (other than revenge and a blinding sense of black/white/wrong/right), to how magic works in this world, to what any of the subplots might have to do with...anything. I didn't get it. Plus, lots of editing errors. Enough to distract me and that's never a good thing.
I'm guessing the nameless girl (who I'm going to call Alice b/c I was getting Twilight flashbacks every time she was on the page) is the center of the next book, if there's going to be one, but I'd actually like to see Cindar's story. Doubt that's gonna happen.
I'm guessing the nameless girl (who I'm going to call Alice b/c I was getting Twilight flashbacks every time she was on the page) is the center of the next book, if there's going to be one, but I'd actually like to see Cindar's story. Doubt that's gonna happen.
March 6, 2016
I can't believe I'm even writing this review, because I don't write reviews for books. Ever. But the rage I felt after reading this has compelled me to write this. I couldn't even finish this crap because of how bad it was. I got about halfway through (in about 30 minutes) and had to stop I was so f*cking angry. I'm never going to get those 30 minutes I wasted on this sh*t back.
I don't understand how this book can even have the rating it does. It astounds me that anybody could find this pathetic excuse for a novel even remotely interesting. Was this written by a five year old who didn't bother to proofread it afterwards? Why were there so many errors within the book??? I swear I was not five minutes into the book when suddenly there was someone named "Klaribel" in the book even though the scene was limited only to someone named Maribel and the heroine who's name I didn't even f*cking know until like twenty pages in because I think she was referred to as princess the entire f*cking time? And then suddenly! Her name is Kat-something! Or is it Klaribel? Since that was used halfway through the whole running into the forest to escape scene and around the time I found out that the heroine did indeed have a name. The mistake completely messed me up and had me back tracking trying to figure out who the f*ck Klaribel was. An error in the writing here and there won't bother me, but there were so many it took away from the plot which I guess at this point was a blessing in disguise because the pacing of the book was utter crap and the plot line was stupid.
Not only were there a ton of grammar errors and just random story errors (ex: Klaribel) but the plot line of this book was horrendous. At first I thought to myself: "What the f*ck is this supposed to be a retelling of??" I could not for the life of me figure out what the f*ck this fairy tale is being retold here. Apparently, after looking through a few other reviews, it's supposed to be a retelling of Snow White??? Is that a joke??? Maybe if I had read more than 50% of this book I would have figured it out, but really, if it takes someone more than 50% of a book to figure out what the story is supposed to retelling there's a problem here. At this point you should just say it takes elements from the Snow White fairy tale because nothing about this screams "Snow White" to me.
And can we talk about the hero Lian??? The guy who acted like a 3 year old from the moment he was introduced, "roared" a lot (I'm guessing this is supposed to be some sort of lion comparison but mostly it just made me think the author had a limited vocabulary and has never heard of this magical thing called a thesaurus), slammed his hands on tables a lot, and was just an asshole who threw temper tantrums every other page?? This is the hero you have painted for us?? He is an entirely unappealing hero and was a total f*cking asshole to that maid Alma. Speaking of Alma, what the f*ck? Was her back story supposed to be sad or something? "Oh noes, the evil Queen who poisons everybody poisoned my parents and then my uncle was assassinated in his bed (or some sh*t like that, like being assassinated in your bed is supposed to make your death more sad or some stupid sh*t like that)!! And people talk crap about me behind my back and think I'm a whore! My story is so sad!" Ah yes, she was an orphan and her entire family was killed. Just like everybody else. And then on top of that, she figured out who the heroine was because somehow she did and apparently she played with her when she was a kid and was Kat's first friend??? That little "twist" was stupid, randomly thrown in and depressingly enough something I completely expected that I was on one hand unsurprised it happened and on the other hand irrationally angry that I had completely seen it coming. Was this supposed to make me like her more? What was the point of adding this random tenuous connection to the heroine?? Was her backstory supposed to be heart wrenching or tragic or something??? Really, I don't understand how anybody is even supposed to feel anything other than extreme hatred for any of these characters. At this point, I was hoping the evil Queen would just kill everyone.
And then the heroine. Kat probably wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the whole "I don't wanna be Queen cus then I have to wear a dress!!!!! Boo hoo hoo!!!" I realize that the reason she "doesn't want to be Queen" is because she wants her ~*~freedom~*~ but jesus fucking christ she's a huge brat and every issue with her is that she doesn't want to wear a dress, she doesn't want to comb her hair, blah blah blah! Are these supposed to make her easier to relate to? More endearing? Well, it didn't work. It ruined any character Kat could have possibly had if the author hadn't completely turned her into some dress, comb, hygiene-averse and smelly piece of sh*t. The author creates this heroine who survived and learned how to hunt and pick locks and all this other exciting crap only to turn her into this dumb idiot of a character who whined about having to wear a dress when she had to return to the court. She just exists at this annoying person who hates dresses and who is able to make Lian angry and tell him off and then make him not as angry or something which makes her special compared to everyone else. And then on top of that there is the stupid, utterly flat character with literally 0 personality (honestly this could be said of every character in this book) named Wil-something who is supposed to be like a romantic rival or something? But in reality is your standard, unoriginal, spoiled brat character that wants in the King's pants and is basically the complete opposite of Kat. I guess this is supposed to make Kat more appealing or something? Unfortunately, dear author, I hated every character in this book.
And finally, the prose. Good gracious, the prose was bad. There was something about the way this entire book was written that was just stiff and boring. It was barely descriptive and for the most part just felt like the author was just straightforward telling us what was happening instead of describing it. What was that phrase my elementary school teacher told me? That a writer should show, and not tell? That didn't happen here. I've read fanfiction written by teenagers with better prose than this crap. The pacing was utterly horrible in this book. Heroine wanders through forest for like three pages and like a week passes or something and then SUDDENLY THREE GIRLS APPEAR and then five pages later SUDDENLY SEVEN YEARS PASS and she's seventeen and bored of living in a hole under the hill and wants to ~*~see the world~*~. Then a bunch of other sh*t happens in like ten pages and suddenly she's going to help the King overthrow the evil Queen or something.
I guess I shouldn't have expected much from a book that's like 200 pages. The entire book feels like a lazy mash of crappy, unoriginal characters with a trash plot that the author spent a couple of hours writing about and didn't bother to proof read before publishing it. The only thing I wonder now is if the author had an editor. If so, she should fire them, because the amount of errors in this book was ridiculous.
If you managed to make it this far, then this is all you need to know: A lobotomy would be a kinder alternative than having to read this boring drivel again.
I don't understand how this book can even have the rating it does. It astounds me that anybody could find this pathetic excuse for a novel even remotely interesting. Was this written by a five year old who didn't bother to proofread it afterwards? Why were there so many errors within the book??? I swear I was not five minutes into the book when suddenly there was someone named "Klaribel" in the book even though the scene was limited only to someone named Maribel and the heroine who's name I didn't even f*cking know until like twenty pages in because I think she was referred to as princess the entire f*cking time? And then suddenly! Her name is Kat-something! Or is it Klaribel? Since that was used halfway through the whole running into the forest to escape scene and around the time I found out that the heroine did indeed have a name. The mistake completely messed me up and had me back tracking trying to figure out who the f*ck Klaribel was. An error in the writing here and there won't bother me, but there were so many it took away from the plot which I guess at this point was a blessing in disguise because the pacing of the book was utter crap and the plot line was stupid.
Not only were there a ton of grammar errors and just random story errors (ex: Klaribel) but the plot line of this book was horrendous. At first I thought to myself: "What the f*ck is this supposed to be a retelling of??" I could not for the life of me figure out what the f*ck this fairy tale is being retold here. Apparently, after looking through a few other reviews, it's supposed to be a retelling of Snow White??? Is that a joke??? Maybe if I had read more than 50% of this book I would have figured it out, but really, if it takes someone more than 50% of a book to figure out what the story is supposed to retelling there's a problem here. At this point you should just say it takes elements from the Snow White fairy tale because nothing about this screams "Snow White" to me.
And can we talk about the hero Lian??? The guy who acted like a 3 year old from the moment he was introduced, "roared" a lot (I'm guessing this is supposed to be some sort of lion comparison but mostly it just made me think the author had a limited vocabulary and has never heard of this magical thing called a thesaurus), slammed his hands on tables a lot, and was just an asshole who threw temper tantrums every other page?? This is the hero you have painted for us?? He is an entirely unappealing hero and was a total f*cking asshole to that maid Alma. Speaking of Alma, what the f*ck? Was her back story supposed to be sad or something? "Oh noes, the evil Queen who poisons everybody poisoned my parents and then my uncle was assassinated in his bed (or some sh*t like that, like being assassinated in your bed is supposed to make your death more sad or some stupid sh*t like that)!! And people talk crap about me behind my back and think I'm a whore! My story is so sad!" Ah yes, she was an orphan and her entire family was killed. Just like everybody else. And then on top of that, she figured out who the heroine was because somehow she did and apparently she played with her when she was a kid and was Kat's first friend??? That little "twist" was stupid, randomly thrown in and depressingly enough something I completely expected that I was on one hand unsurprised it happened and on the other hand irrationally angry that I had completely seen it coming. Was this supposed to make me like her more? What was the point of adding this random tenuous connection to the heroine?? Was her backstory supposed to be heart wrenching or tragic or something??? Really, I don't understand how anybody is even supposed to feel anything other than extreme hatred for any of these characters. At this point, I was hoping the evil Queen would just kill everyone.
And then the heroine. Kat probably wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the whole "I don't wanna be Queen cus then I have to wear a dress!!!!! Boo hoo hoo!!!" I realize that the reason she "doesn't want to be Queen" is because she wants her ~*~freedom~*~ but jesus fucking christ she's a huge brat and every issue with her is that she doesn't want to wear a dress, she doesn't want to comb her hair, blah blah blah! Are these supposed to make her easier to relate to? More endearing? Well, it didn't work. It ruined any character Kat could have possibly had if the author hadn't completely turned her into some dress, comb, hygiene-averse and smelly piece of sh*t. The author creates this heroine who survived and learned how to hunt and pick locks and all this other exciting crap only to turn her into this dumb idiot of a character who whined about having to wear a dress when she had to return to the court. She just exists at this annoying person who hates dresses and who is able to make Lian angry and tell him off and then make him not as angry or something which makes her special compared to everyone else. And then on top of that there is the stupid, utterly flat character with literally 0 personality (honestly this could be said of every character in this book) named Wil-something who is supposed to be like a romantic rival or something? But in reality is your standard, unoriginal, spoiled brat character that wants in the King's pants and is basically the complete opposite of Kat. I guess this is supposed to make Kat more appealing or something? Unfortunately, dear author, I hated every character in this book.
And finally, the prose. Good gracious, the prose was bad. There was something about the way this entire book was written that was just stiff and boring. It was barely descriptive and for the most part just felt like the author was just straightforward telling us what was happening instead of describing it. What was that phrase my elementary school teacher told me? That a writer should show, and not tell? That didn't happen here. I've read fanfiction written by teenagers with better prose than this crap. The pacing was utterly horrible in this book. Heroine wanders through forest for like three pages and like a week passes or something and then SUDDENLY THREE GIRLS APPEAR and then five pages later SUDDENLY SEVEN YEARS PASS and she's seventeen and bored of living in a hole under the hill and wants to ~*~see the world~*~. Then a bunch of other sh*t happens in like ten pages and suddenly she's going to help the King overthrow the evil Queen or something.
I guess I shouldn't have expected much from a book that's like 200 pages. The entire book feels like a lazy mash of crappy, unoriginal characters with a trash plot that the author spent a couple of hours writing about and didn't bother to proof read before publishing it. The only thing I wonder now is if the author had an editor. If so, she should fire them, because the amount of errors in this book was ridiculous.
If you managed to make it this far, then this is all you need to know: A lobotomy would be a kinder alternative than having to read this boring drivel again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2017
Další skvěle převyprávěná pohádka se vším co k ní patří (a možná i víc). Volné a hravější pokračování Ledového krále se spoustou dohadování, urážení, komických scén a vtipných dialogů.
Jediné co nevím je, jak přeložit název - Ohnivý král nebo spíš král Horká hlava? :-D
Jediné co nevím je, jak přeložit název - Ohnivý král nebo spíš král Horká hlava? :-D
September 7, 2013
I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
The Fire King is, chronologically, the second book, if this book was part of a series. It isn't necessary to read the first book, The Cold King. (But I recommended it. The events of The Cold King will help readers understand The Fire King a little bit better.) The Fire King is recommended to thirteen and up, because of the suggestive language and hint-hints (no language/verbal included, just pure body language and intimate moments).
First of all, The Fire King does include some of our favorite characters. I have to mention a few (I love old characters), so if you don't want to know, skip a few lines. Drum roll, please. (You're not doing it. Get your hands off the mouse and clap.) Calia Thorn (although talked about in a fashion I disgust), The Cold King (yay! Hottie from previous book coming over!), and the horse mistress (she's a good character). That's the plus side of The Fire King.
(I'm going to start from the beginning.) Okay, the beginning of The Fire King start off, reminding me of a Snow White tale. (And The Fire King is a retelling of the tale of Snow White.) It seems promising so far, and I love it. Katiyana is "Snow White", with a name that is thankfully not Snow White. (It annoys me how authors pointlessly name their characters "Snow White." It doesn't do well since there are stories, Disney movies, plays, poems, another tale with her name, and etc. Using "Snow White" shows the author in a light that suggest unoriginality and boringness.)
The plot moves quickly, so don't play surprise if you're wondering how Katiyana starts off from Point A to Point B. (The book in told in two hundred pages, I estimate. Perhaps more or less.)
The chemistry between Lian and Katiyana is obvious, although I wish Amber added a little more humor and kissing scenes (because I'll never get enough of it). Fire and fire burns everything until there isn't anything left to burn. (Most likely, you'll read the previous sentence without completely understanding it.)
The ending reminds me of Snow White. (Duh, it's a Snow White retelling. Idiot.) Anyway, it's nice to see a happy ending, even though The Fire King's ending is a little bit too 'Disney.' (But I never tire of watching too many Disney movies.)
The Fire King isn't very wonderful, though. The words and language is a little shady. The Fire King can really use a good editor and good editing. The Fire King isn't perfect, but there's plenty of room for improvement.
Characters:
Katiyana, or should I say Princess Katiyana, is pretty much a wild girl through and through. She's not a true Royal, and perhaps never be. (Because her wild side is too wild to be tame.) Katiyana does have a thirst for revenge, but that disappears in The Fire King for a while before flaring up again. I guess feelings never die. Katiyana is unlike Calia Thorn.
Unlike The Cold King, The Sun King/Fire King is filled with fire. His own thirst for revenge and blood because of the brutal deaths of his beloved family. He practically oozes revenge and fire. He's the complete opposite of The Cold King. Did I mention how cute and sweet he is?
Rating: Four out of Five
-ofpaperandwords.blogspot.com
The Fire King is, chronologically, the second book, if this book was part of a series. It isn't necessary to read the first book, The Cold King. (But I recommended it. The events of The Cold King will help readers understand The Fire King a little bit better.) The Fire King is recommended to thirteen and up, because of the suggestive language and hint-hints (no language/verbal included, just pure body language and intimate moments).
First of all, The Fire King does include some of our favorite characters. I have to mention a few (I love old characters), so if you don't want to know, skip a few lines. Drum roll, please. (You're not doing it. Get your hands off the mouse and clap.) Calia Thorn (although talked about in a fashion I disgust), The Cold King (yay! Hottie from previous book coming over!), and the horse mistress (she's a good character). That's the plus side of The Fire King.
(I'm going to start from the beginning.) Okay, the beginning of The Fire King start off, reminding me of a Snow White tale. (And The Fire King is a retelling of the tale of Snow White.) It seems promising so far, and I love it. Katiyana is "Snow White", with a name that is thankfully not Snow White. (It annoys me how authors pointlessly name their characters "Snow White." It doesn't do well since there are stories, Disney movies, plays, poems, another tale with her name, and etc. Using "Snow White" shows the author in a light that suggest unoriginality and boringness.)
The plot moves quickly, so don't play surprise if you're wondering how Katiyana starts off from Point A to Point B. (The book in told in two hundred pages, I estimate. Perhaps more or less.)
The chemistry between Lian and Katiyana is obvious, although I wish Amber added a little more humor and kissing scenes (because I'll never get enough of it). Fire and fire burns everything until there isn't anything left to burn. (Most likely, you'll read the previous sentence without completely understanding it.)
The ending reminds me of Snow White. (Duh, it's a Snow White retelling. Idiot.) Anyway, it's nice to see a happy ending, even though The Fire King's ending is a little bit too 'Disney.' (But I never tire of watching too many Disney movies.)
The Fire King isn't very wonderful, though. The words and language is a little shady. The Fire King can really use a good editor and good editing. The Fire King isn't perfect, but there's plenty of room for improvement.
Characters:
Katiyana, or should I say Princess Katiyana, is pretty much a wild girl through and through. She's not a true Royal, and perhaps never be. (Because her wild side is too wild to be tame.) Katiyana does have a thirst for revenge, but that disappears in The Fire King for a while before flaring up again. I guess feelings never die. Katiyana is unlike Calia Thorn.
Unlike The Cold King, The Sun King/Fire King is filled with fire. His own thirst for revenge and blood because of the brutal deaths of his beloved family. He practically oozes revenge and fire. He's the complete opposite of The Cold King. Did I mention how cute and sweet he is?
Rating: Four out of Five
-ofpaperandwords.blogspot.com
November 20, 2016
Definitely loving this series, cannot wait for the next one! Not *as* awesome as the Cold King (which shocked my with how underrated it was and how much I love it), but still a great read.
Reread: April 2015
Reread: November 2016... Where's the next one?!
Reread: April 2015
Reread: November 2016... Where's the next one?!
February 7, 2016
This was a retelling of snow white, though apart from the beginning of the book you wouldn't be able to tell. The Fire King was a very nice retelling. Not a shadow of the original fairy-tell. I did like Katiyanna, she was a strong female character. She wasn't perfect of course she went through much in her life and sometimes fear seemed to cripple her. So although she tries to seem tough all the time, she wasn't always. I'm not sure why the Fire King scared her at times. I know he made me upset because of his tantrums. He also suffered a lot and that turned him into someone unbearably angry, yelling all the time. His need for revenge came before even the people he cared about. It was nice to see how Katiyanna helped him overcome that.
The book seemed to go too fast at some parts and drag in other parts. But in general it was a fun fast read. I wouldn't say it was epic though. But I like how sweet and slow and realistic the romance was. But I wouldn't consider it a romance though. It was a fairytell retelling.
My only regret is not reading The Cold King first cuz some characters from that book appear here. But it is the next book on my list.
September 5, 2014
Another great read! Except... for the ending. Amber has a talent for really drawing in her reader, connecting story lines and a knack for retelling a fairy tale without boring you with the same old tale. I personally especially liked that twist on who the "seven dwarves" are, that the introduction of the 'dwarves' and the other kingdoms leaves much room for future retellings and that we got revisit characters from the The Ice King. Despite that the author has yet to grasp how to write an ending that does not feel rushed. I do not expect to have a fairy tale ending despite this being a retelling, especially if she plans to revisit these characters as she did with those from the Ice King, but there is something lacking in her ending that I can not quite put a name to that left me unsatisfied.
Overall, despite the ending it was a great book and I look forward to reading her future books and hope that overtime she will find that sweet something that her endings need.
Overall, despite the ending it was a great book and I look forward to reading her future books and hope that overtime she will find that sweet something that her endings need.
October 21, 2013
Another GREAT story by AJ. She weaves such beautiful scenes and never ceases to amaze me. I always feel like I am living right there with the characters. Not many authors can do that as well as Amber.
The story, 'Snow White," was a terrific spin on a great classic. I truly enjoyed getting a different spin. All the characters were interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them. It was also nice to see some of the old characters from The Cold King. :).
The only reason this book got 4 stars instead of five, is related to the editing flaws. Sometimes I can move along and ignore them because EVERY author has them, however, this time, there were times I had to go back and read things again. I am excited to see how her new editor improves her books. :)
A must read! And I can't wait for the next book to come out, she needs to hurry with that writing!
The story, 'Snow White," was a terrific spin on a great classic. I truly enjoyed getting a different spin. All the characters were interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them. It was also nice to see some of the old characters from The Cold King. :).
The only reason this book got 4 stars instead of five, is related to the editing flaws. Sometimes I can move along and ignore them because EVERY author has them, however, this time, there were times I had to go back and read things again. I am excited to see how her new editor improves her books. :)
A must read! And I can't wait for the next book to come out, she needs to hurry with that writing!
September 18, 2013
Once again this was a tale of Snow White but done with a twist. It was a little slow until about half way through, but after that I couldn't put it down. The main female character was a little hard for me to follow. She seemed so confident at times but then she was very insecure. I guess I watch too much Once upon a time. But over all I really liked this book. I liked the Cold King a little better and the characters of that book come back in this one.
September 19, 2013
I thought this book was awesome. I actually liked it more than The Cold King, if that's even possible.
However I do have to say I found some editing mistakes in this book, which is why I've only given it 4 stars.
Awesome book though. Characters were really cool and I love strong female characters so thumbs up for that!
However I do have to say I found some editing mistakes in this book, which is why I've only given it 4 stars.
Awesome book though. Characters were really cool and I love strong female characters so thumbs up for that!
May 3, 2024
I don’t even know why I wasted my time with this book. I literally could not even finish it. I know many people said it had potential, and I agree with that. Had the plot line made coherent sense. The characters were so flat; I felt like their only personality traits were when they got angry at each other (except for Katiyana at the end of the book; for some reason, she had this moment where she was better than everyone else because she wasn’t getting angry).
When Katiyana and Lian fell in love with each other, it honestly didn’t feel like they were actually in love with each other. The romance was so flat, I felt like I was sipping some fine flat soda. Where is that carbonation??? Well, I definitely couldn’t taste it.
Another annoyance— the grammar. Although, to be honest, I’ve come to expect this from this author. The grammar was all over the place. I feel like maybe this book would have benefited with an actual editor, but who am I to judge?
Sorry for the salt, but I was really annoyed with this one and am glad to just be done with this book.
When Katiyana and Lian fell in love with each other, it honestly didn’t feel like they were actually in love with each other. The romance was so flat, I felt like I was sipping some fine flat soda. Where is that carbonation??? Well, I definitely couldn’t taste it.
Another annoyance— the grammar. Although, to be honest, I’ve come to expect this from this author. The grammar was all over the place. I feel like maybe this book would have benefited with an actual editor, but who am I to judge?
Sorry for the salt, but I was really annoyed with this one and am glad to just be done with this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2019
After reading The Cold King I was going back and forth on whether to read this book. A.Dorn has a writing style I’m still not sure I like or not but her stories also have a way of luring me into her world. For those that do not know The Cold King and The Fire King take place in the same world. The even over lap into this story.
This twist on the story of Snow White has quite a few unexpected parts that at first I thought I hated. As I went on reading I realized they actually played well into A.Dorns telling of her story and opened up options for further books. Katiyana’s and Liam’s characters are both well written with just the perfect amount of background given on why the character is how they are. The story line is a tad slow at first but picks up and stays steadfast.
Again, I like the story as a whole I just don’t like the writing POV set up/style of writing. But, that is a personal preference. If you enjoy fairytale spinoffs then you may just as well enjoy this book.
This twist on the story of Snow White has quite a few unexpected parts that at first I thought I hated. As I went on reading I realized they actually played well into A.Dorns telling of her story and opened up options for further books. Katiyana’s and Liam’s characters are both well written with just the perfect amount of background given on why the character is how they are. The story line is a tad slow at first but picks up and stays steadfast.
Again, I like the story as a whole I just don’t like the writing POV set up/style of writing. But, that is a personal preference. If you enjoy fairytale spinoffs then you may just as well enjoy this book.
March 14, 2019
Good story, needs more.
Although severely needing an editor, it is not a bad story. A better version of Snow White. I like Kat, she's independent, strong, and capable of showing her feelings when needed. She's not as forgiving as Calia, which I really like about her. She's capable of standing on her own but willing to stand by others. The definition of a queen. What I do hate about this is that it ended so abruptly. There's no closure regarding her and Lian and I want to know what happens with Adora, Cidra, and the girl with no name.
Although severely needing an editor, it is not a bad story. A better version of Snow White. I like Kat, she's independent, strong, and capable of showing her feelings when needed. She's not as forgiving as Calia, which I really like about her. She's capable of standing on her own but willing to stand by others. The definition of a queen. What I do hate about this is that it ended so abruptly. There's no closure regarding her and Lian and I want to know what happens with Adora, Cidra, and the girl with no name.
May 23, 2017
It was marginally better than Cold King. It had sooo much potential but the author screwed it up with the unrealistic protagonists who acted liked 12 year olds on crack. seriously!
P.S. I have to congratulate Amber Jaeger, at least the hero in this book did not throw the female protagonist in a cell when he met her. Oh wait, he did exactly that!
P.P.S. She did have the skills to get out of said jail cell, so I guess the author gets kudos points for that.
P.S. I have to congratulate Amber Jaeger, at least the hero in this book did not throw the female protagonist in a cell when he met her. Oh wait, he did exactly that!
P.P.S. She did have the skills to get out of said jail cell, so I guess the author gets kudos points for that.
January 3, 2018
I liked The Fire King much better than The Cold King. However, I did like the continuation of the story of The Cold King characters.
The Fire King started out okay but was overall rushed and left something to be desired in its ending as well as some plot holes.
The Fire King started out okay but was overall rushed and left something to be desired in its ending as well as some plot holes.
October 12, 2017
At first i had the hope that the book will be interesting and will develop even further into the plot.It turnes out the love story was a bitt shallow as for in the The Cold King where the romance was enchanting .Overall it was light read , the book was okey. :)
August 29, 2018
Some thing fun and fast.
Greatly enjoyed reading this alternative fairy tale take. Well painted characters and lively plot. Recommended reading in order because characters are mentioned from first book.
Greatly enjoyed reading this alternative fairy tale take. Well painted characters and lively plot. Recommended reading in order because characters are mentioned from first book.
December 28, 2019
Love it!
Another fairy tale inspired magical romance! I enjoyed reading the Fire King. Katiyana and Lian were the perfect balance to bring out the best in one another. Their story is full of magic and love. I definitely recommend reading this book!
Another fairy tale inspired magical romance! I enjoyed reading the Fire King. Katiyana and Lian were the perfect balance to bring out the best in one another. Their story is full of magic and love. I definitely recommend reading this book!
September 28, 2018
Excellent.
Engaging. Entertaining. Valuable life lesson. Everything great fairytales should be and so much more. Looking forward to any additonal fairytale adaptions she creates.
Engaging. Entertaining. Valuable life lesson. Everything great fairytales should be and so much more. Looking forward to any additonal fairytale adaptions she creates.
October 2, 2018
Amber writes the best retellings I swear! I couldn't put it down just like when I read The Cold King and it was so great Valanka and Calia were part of this book as well
October 12, 2018
Wonderful! I hung onto every word. Truly a beautiful fairy tale !
Wonderful! I hung into every word. Truly a marvelous fairy tale! I hope to read the COLD KING next. Thank you!
Wonderful! I hung into every word. Truly a marvelous fairy tale! I hope to read the COLD KING next. Thank you!
February 18, 2020
They're both just idiots, he's not the only one with a temper! So does she!
May 17, 2022
I must give this a 2 stars, i thought i would enjoy it like The Cold King, tho the first one was just a cozy read this one is more like,...meeeh whatever
April 17, 2014
I read the first book in this series, The Cold King, in May 2013. The Cold King is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and while not the best retelling I’ve ever read, it was one that I really enjoyed. When I saw that there was a new title available by this author, The Fire King, I knew that it had to be a continuation of the world created in The Cold King. There was no question of whether I’d read this new book, it was merely a question of when. I gave the synopsis a cursory read and for some reason I thought it was going to be a Cinderella retelling. It was a bit of a surprise when I started the book and realised that what I had here was Snow White, not Cinderella!
It should be noted that although not a continuation of the first book, I would recommend reading The Cold King before The Fire King as the characters from the first book do make a reappearance and certain plot points from that book are brought up again but not expanded on enough for them to make sense without prior knowledge of what their roles are.
We first meet our new character, Katiyana (Snow White) when she’s at that awkward age between childhood and the teen years. She’s waiting for her father’s new bride, Sula, to arrive and teach her how to be a real Lady. However, when Sula finally arrives, she’s not the new mother that Katiyana expected – she’s cold, distant, and insults Katiyana - putting her down at every opportunity. A couple of years into the marriage, Katiyana’s father, the King, dies unexpectedly, leaving reign of the kingdom in Sula’s hands. Her first act as Queen is to try to have Katiyana executed. With the help of some palace servants, Katiyana escapes into the woods where she lives in a home for females who need to be hidden away from society for whatever reason. Here, she learns and masters many skills alongside the other three girls currently living there until she feels the call to explore beyond the confines of the woods. She enters the territory of King Lian, the Fire King - so named because of his temper - and once he knows who she is, how her past is similar to his own, he is determined to use her in his war against the evil Queen Sula.
The plot is a strange mélange of quick bursts and slow, awkward spreads. For example, Katiyana being captured by Lian’s men and brought before him only to escape and then come back to him of her own accord all goes very quickly. The marriage and political hodgepodge scenes where the characters are in King Valanka’s realms are very drawn out. Even more frustratingly the political part of it doesn’t have any role in the long run, despite being talked up as a very important part of Lian’s plan for ousting Sula.
I liked the new characters introduced in this novel. Katiyana is skittish and socially awkward due to her upbringing, and Lian’s fiery temper is often more than she is able to deal with, leading to a form of fascination between the characters that’s also dangerous. It felt something along the lines of being like an antelope being fascinated with a lion: very dangerous for the antelope as the lion could lash out and hurt it at any time. Despite this comparison, I did like the rapport between the two characters and how their relationship became fleshed out. They both had to face struggles: Katiyana to come to terms with what she wants and what her kingdom needs being very different; Lian to overcome the all-consuming need to avenge the deaths of his loved ones before it destroys his chances of happiness.
My main gripe with the story is that things meander about for a long time in the second half then suddenly around the 93% point there’s this huge rush of events that all happen so fast that there’s no time to let the consequences of various actions / events sink in. Moreover, it means that the story is wrapped up in a whole 1% of the book. I didn’t feel like I’d really received closure to Katiyana and Lian’s story.
What’s more, the story was in need of a good edit. The most annoying thing, for me, was apostrophe use. A lot of the time, the apostrophes were completely ignored so you’d get constructions like “the kings daughter”. This might not seem like a big deal, but I had a lot of emphasis put on the correct use of apostrophes in my private (home) education and it bugs me when they’re not used correctly by people who speak English as their mother tongue.
All in all, I enjoyed The Fire King despite its flaws. This story introduces at least three other female characters (and one province) with hints that they will receive their own stories. I’m very interested in finding out what these will be and following further fairy tale retelling adventures in Amber Jaeger’s fantasy world!
It should be noted that although not a continuation of the first book, I would recommend reading The Cold King before The Fire King as the characters from the first book do make a reappearance and certain plot points from that book are brought up again but not expanded on enough for them to make sense without prior knowledge of what their roles are.
We first meet our new character, Katiyana (Snow White) when she’s at that awkward age between childhood and the teen years. She’s waiting for her father’s new bride, Sula, to arrive and teach her how to be a real Lady. However, when Sula finally arrives, she’s not the new mother that Katiyana expected – she’s cold, distant, and insults Katiyana - putting her down at every opportunity. A couple of years into the marriage, Katiyana’s father, the King, dies unexpectedly, leaving reign of the kingdom in Sula’s hands. Her first act as Queen is to try to have Katiyana executed. With the help of some palace servants, Katiyana escapes into the woods where she lives in a home for females who need to be hidden away from society for whatever reason. Here, she learns and masters many skills alongside the other three girls currently living there until she feels the call to explore beyond the confines of the woods. She enters the territory of King Lian, the Fire King - so named because of his temper - and once he knows who she is, how her past is similar to his own, he is determined to use her in his war against the evil Queen Sula.
The plot is a strange mélange of quick bursts and slow, awkward spreads. For example, Katiyana being captured by Lian’s men and brought before him only to escape and then come back to him of her own accord all goes very quickly. The marriage and political hodgepodge scenes where the characters are in King Valanka’s realms are very drawn out. Even more frustratingly the political part of it doesn’t have any role in the long run, despite being talked up as a very important part of Lian’s plan for ousting Sula.
I liked the new characters introduced in this novel. Katiyana is skittish and socially awkward due to her upbringing, and Lian’s fiery temper is often more than she is able to deal with, leading to a form of fascination between the characters that’s also dangerous. It felt something along the lines of being like an antelope being fascinated with a lion: very dangerous for the antelope as the lion could lash out and hurt it at any time. Despite this comparison, I did like the rapport between the two characters and how their relationship became fleshed out. They both had to face struggles: Katiyana to come to terms with what she wants and what her kingdom needs being very different; Lian to overcome the all-consuming need to avenge the deaths of his loved ones before it destroys his chances of happiness.
My main gripe with the story is that things meander about for a long time in the second half then suddenly around the 93% point there’s this huge rush of events that all happen so fast that there’s no time to let the consequences of various actions / events sink in. Moreover, it means that the story is wrapped up in a whole 1% of the book. I didn’t feel like I’d really received closure to Katiyana and Lian’s story.
What’s more, the story was in need of a good edit. The most annoying thing, for me, was apostrophe use. A lot of the time, the apostrophes were completely ignored so you’d get constructions like “the kings daughter”. This might not seem like a big deal, but I had a lot of emphasis put on the correct use of apostrophes in my private (home) education and it bugs me when they’re not used correctly by people who speak English as their mother tongue.
All in all, I enjoyed The Fire King despite its flaws. This story introduces at least three other female characters (and one province) with hints that they will receive their own stories. I’m very interested in finding out what these will be and following further fairy tale retelling adventures in Amber Jaeger’s fantasy world!
March 17, 2015
I'm quite taken with Amber's twist on fairy tales. While it still has the classic elements that we love, the twists definitely adds its own unique style to the story.
Katiyana plays our "Snow White". Her father murdered by her Evil Step Mother Queen, Katiyana escapes to the woods only to be hunted by a dear friend, who, like the classic hunter, can not go through with it. He tells her of a safe place, a cottage of "little men" that will help her. That's where our story takes a twist and spins into sometime more then your average fairytale.
Being just a child at the time of her escape Katiyana grows up in the forest, in a cottage believed to be magic with three others. The people here come and go when their "destiny" comes calling. Katiyana learns to hunt, track, grow and gather food. Everything she needs to learn to survive and something's she learns to simply enhance her life. (Or because a friend simply can not allow her to live without learning it!)
Katiyana grows into a wonderful self sufficient woman and it's her first encounter with The Fire King (Prince Lian of the Sun Kingdom, a man that has a hard time controlling his temper) that truly made me love her as a character. She's spunky, witty, smart and brave. Quite frankly, it was a down right pleasure to read her and actually laugh out loud at her witty taunts.
As the storyline moves forward her identity as the evil Queens stepdaughter is revealed, and that she is heir to The Forest Throne. It is everything King Lian needs to spur on his revenge against the Queen who has take everything from him. Katiyana, seeing the state her people have lived in these last years; poor, starving and on the brink of death, agrees to help. She steps away from her forest life and becomes the person she needs to be to get back her throne, win over the help of other kingdoms, and defeat The Evil Queen. Which eventually she does in a real "in-your-face" manner.
The book is definitely well written, the main characters are engaging, and the secondary ones don't tend to just be there, useless. The plot carries you forward without leaving you bored or wanting to skim through passages.
However, something's that left me wanting was the lack of editing. There are more places in the book, then one would like, where sentences are missing words or misspelled. Quite frankly, considering it has been almost 2 years since this book release there is no excuse what-so-ever that an updated version hasn't been uploaded after getting many reviews on the bad spelling/grammar. I didn't have these issues with The Cold King and I felt they took away from The Fire King. A real simple problem that could have been fixed given a little more time. Which frankly can still be fixed with an updated version. Also, while in the woods Katiyana learns many other things then just hunting, like how to make dresses (that she hates to wear) but I also got the feeling while reading that one of her friends taught her a lot more then that. It was disappointing that I never got to see those things come into play and that she got treated as a wild child. I would have loved to have seen her step up to the plate when it came to being a Princess. Finally, while I loved the way Katiyana stood up to Lian, I felt that he fell a little flat as a character, even with so much terrible and good history to enhance his character, all it did was make him an angry man with the potential for abuse and the excuse of "This is who I am!"
Regardless of my perceived faults of The Fire King, I still thought it was a great book and Amber Jaeger has delivered another wonderful twist on a fairy tail that left the gates open for several other spinoffs.
And I, for one, can not wait to step into this world again!
Katiyana plays our "Snow White". Her father murdered by her Evil Step Mother Queen, Katiyana escapes to the woods only to be hunted by a dear friend, who, like the classic hunter, can not go through with it. He tells her of a safe place, a cottage of "little men" that will help her. That's where our story takes a twist and spins into sometime more then your average fairytale.
Being just a child at the time of her escape Katiyana grows up in the forest, in a cottage believed to be magic with three others. The people here come and go when their "destiny" comes calling. Katiyana learns to hunt, track, grow and gather food. Everything she needs to learn to survive and something's she learns to simply enhance her life. (Or because a friend simply can not allow her to live without learning it!)
Katiyana grows into a wonderful self sufficient woman and it's her first encounter with The Fire King (Prince Lian of the Sun Kingdom, a man that has a hard time controlling his temper) that truly made me love her as a character. She's spunky, witty, smart and brave. Quite frankly, it was a down right pleasure to read her and actually laugh out loud at her witty taunts.
As the storyline moves forward her identity as the evil Queens stepdaughter is revealed, and that she is heir to The Forest Throne. It is everything King Lian needs to spur on his revenge against the Queen who has take everything from him. Katiyana, seeing the state her people have lived in these last years; poor, starving and on the brink of death, agrees to help. She steps away from her forest life and becomes the person she needs to be to get back her throne, win over the help of other kingdoms, and defeat The Evil Queen. Which eventually she does in a real "in-your-face" manner.
The book is definitely well written, the main characters are engaging, and the secondary ones don't tend to just be there, useless. The plot carries you forward without leaving you bored or wanting to skim through passages.
However, something's that left me wanting was the lack of editing. There are more places in the book, then one would like, where sentences are missing words or misspelled. Quite frankly, considering it has been almost 2 years since this book release there is no excuse what-so-ever that an updated version hasn't been uploaded after getting many reviews on the bad spelling/grammar. I didn't have these issues with The Cold King and I felt they took away from The Fire King. A real simple problem that could have been fixed given a little more time. Which frankly can still be fixed with an updated version. Also, while in the woods Katiyana learns many other things then just hunting, like how to make dresses (that she hates to wear) but I also got the feeling while reading that one of her friends taught her a lot more then that. It was disappointing that I never got to see those things come into play and that she got treated as a wild child. I would have loved to have seen her step up to the plate when it came to being a Princess. Finally, while I loved the way Katiyana stood up to Lian, I felt that he fell a little flat as a character, even with so much terrible and good history to enhance his character, all it did was make him an angry man with the potential for abuse and the excuse of "This is who I am!"
Regardless of my perceived faults of The Fire King, I still thought it was a great book and Amber Jaeger has delivered another wonderful twist on a fairy tail that left the gates open for several other spinoffs.
And I, for one, can not wait to step into this world again!
February 26, 2016
In this Snow White with a twist, Katiyana must overcome her fears to face the evil stepmother who is poisoning her kingdom. And, her main ally Lian, must overcome his past with the wicked queen to save Katiyana.
The plot: Set in the same world as The Cold King, Katiyana is a young princess neglected in her father's grief. In am effort to overcome his grief, the father foolishly chooses a bride that was related to his late wife. In a single night of blood and grief, Katiyana must run into the woods to escape the evil queen's machinations. In the woods she finds both strangers and family, a haven and a prison where she learns to survive.
Meanwhile King Lian of a neighboring kingdom, known as the Fire King behind his back, is suffering as the evil queen takes one by one all the people he loves.
Desperate to end the Queen's reign, the two join in a futile endeavor to end the suffering imposed on both lands by her wicked ways.
The characters: Katiyana is a wild thing. Having grown up in the woods she is both honest and skittish. She doesn't like being on the ground and abhors crowds. She often acts childish, which could be a result of her limited access to people, which can be very grating on the nerves. Still, when push comes to shove she backs her play with the knife up her sleeve and the harsh but true words others are too afraid to speak. I can understand her antics due to her limited contact with the outside world and appreciated her character's growth throughout the novel.
Lian on the other hand...could not stand this childesh oaf of a King. He had temper tantrums like a two year old and manhandled people whose loyalty is above question. He constantly showed selfish endeavors and then tried to foist off his shame by endeavoring to shame those around him. I quiet often fought the urge to throw my Kindle whenever he went off on his rants and physical altercations with women. That is right, he never once manhandled Bennet, he loyal knight. Oh no, he saved it for his trusted personal servant and Katiyana. Then he wondered why the women ran from him. If I were Kat, I'd have put my sleeve dagger where it would have done the most good. Ultimately he got worse not better. He would have plunged the kingdoms into war if it weren't for Kat outsmarting him. He learned nothing. Jerkwad. I hated him.
The dwarves were fantastic! I loved the idea and I am confident in believing we will be having a book on each of them. I am intrigued how she gets them out of the forest and liked the previous retelling enough to riskthe reading.
Overall I found the story to be a step down from the previous in the retelling world this author has set forth. The Fire King was a weak follow for The Cold King. I felt that the characters were juvenile and the King got off easy haven't had to work toward his own redemption. Each character in a fairy tale must work through their own problems and meet in the middle. This book did not deliver. The only saving grace was how intriguing the plotline was. The idea of the dwarves was great. The book was nothing fantastic. A good, shallow read when you don't want anything deep or distracting; but as far as a retelling goes this was just a bust.
The plot: Set in the same world as The Cold King, Katiyana is a young princess neglected in her father's grief. In am effort to overcome his grief, the father foolishly chooses a bride that was related to his late wife. In a single night of blood and grief, Katiyana must run into the woods to escape the evil queen's machinations. In the woods she finds both strangers and family, a haven and a prison where she learns to survive.
Meanwhile King Lian of a neighboring kingdom, known as the Fire King behind his back, is suffering as the evil queen takes one by one all the people he loves.
Desperate to end the Queen's reign, the two join in a futile endeavor to end the suffering imposed on both lands by her wicked ways.
The characters: Katiyana is a wild thing. Having grown up in the woods she is both honest and skittish. She doesn't like being on the ground and abhors crowds. She often acts childish, which could be a result of her limited access to people, which can be very grating on the nerves. Still, when push comes to shove she backs her play with the knife up her sleeve and the harsh but true words others are too afraid to speak. I can understand her antics due to her limited contact with the outside world and appreciated her character's growth throughout the novel.
Lian on the other hand...could not stand this childesh oaf of a King. He had temper tantrums like a two year old and manhandled people whose loyalty is above question. He constantly showed selfish endeavors and then tried to foist off his shame by endeavoring to shame those around him. I quiet often fought the urge to throw my Kindle whenever he went off on his rants and physical altercations with women. That is right, he never once manhandled Bennet, he loyal knight. Oh no, he saved it for his trusted personal servant and Katiyana. Then he wondered why the women ran from him. If I were Kat, I'd have put my sleeve dagger where it would have done the most good. Ultimately he got worse not better. He would have plunged the kingdoms into war if it weren't for Kat outsmarting him. He learned nothing. Jerkwad. I hated him.
The dwarves were fantastic! I loved the idea and I am confident in believing we will be having a book on each of them. I am intrigued how she gets them out of the forest and liked the previous retelling enough to riskthe reading.
Overall I found the story to be a step down from the previous in the retelling world this author has set forth. The Fire King was a weak follow for The Cold King. I felt that the characters were juvenile and the King got off easy haven't had to work toward his own redemption. Each character in a fairy tale must work through their own problems and meet in the middle. This book did not deliver. The only saving grace was how intriguing the plotline was. The idea of the dwarves was great. The book was nothing fantastic. A good, shallow read when you don't want anything deep or distracting; but as far as a retelling goes this was just a bust.
March 20, 2015
If you plan to read the Cold King, I HIGHLY recommend you do that first. I made the mistake of starting with this one and it just about ruined the first. Maybe it wont for everyone but in the Ice Kings story it was harder for me to tolerate the push over, Stockholm syndrome-like development of feelings between the King and his servant. It was a little off to me. Yeah he was sorry after but he did a lot of idiotic things for someone who had lived so long. His approach of breaking people, making himself their savior so that they were grateful for basic necessities like food, light and a bathroom was really pretty sick actually. It bothered me a lot. And the characters in the Fire King are so alive and engaging, strong willed and passionate...well the Cold king characters seem faded in comparison. And I REALLY disliked his callous abuse of his privileged position. Bad king. I liked the glimpse of him in the fire king and would have been entirely content if that was all i knew of him.
Anyway, back to the Fire King, His bad attitude irritated me to no end and I appreciated the fact that she stood up to him several times. I will say I do not think she treated him as he deserved for some of the cr@p he pulled and that in all fairness he REALLY should have been stabbed at least once. Just to be fair. I mean he bruised her all up and manhandled her -she should have put a stop to it. She did slap him at one point but obviously it didn't make much of an impression as he grabs her again later. She definitely should have stabbed him. So overall its admittedly not a perfect story and could have used some serious character tweeking. The king could have been angry without so much drama, he roared, pounded things, threw things around, broke furniture, I mean this is supposed to be a redeemable character. Years and years of that kind of lack of self control do not simply go away especially when you introduce a new source of jealousy (namely his love interest). I would have liked to see him develop some self control BEFORE the very last minute, which was a kind of miraculous loophole making him a better person. His jealousy, tantrums, and physical aggression were never really addressed although I assume him letting go of his obsession with revenge was supposed to "fix" him. This was implied by the statements his friends made about him being warped by his own hatred and how he was not "like this before"... but we should have seen at LEAST some slow progression in that direction for it to be convincing. He did promise to try... before patting her on the head and patronizing her, which was super annoying since he is the one who is immensely childish in his behavior. So where was the demonstration of newfound love inspired control and consideration?
However....it is a fairytale of sorts and as such gets a bit of leeway as we pretend he miraculously recovered from his bouts of rabid, ape like behavior. The redeeming qualities in this book were the "dwarves" and the princess snow white herself. I admired her process of finding herself and developing real skills and strengths.
I have a lot of hope for the next one in the series if its about the nameless girl. My greatest hope is that it has a non-abusive, non-psychotic male in it. Thats not too much to hope for is it?
Anyway, back to the Fire King, His bad attitude irritated me to no end and I appreciated the fact that she stood up to him several times. I will say I do not think she treated him as he deserved for some of the cr@p he pulled and that in all fairness he REALLY should have been stabbed at least once. Just to be fair. I mean he bruised her all up and manhandled her -she should have put a stop to it. She did slap him at one point but obviously it didn't make much of an impression as he grabs her again later. She definitely should have stabbed him. So overall its admittedly not a perfect story and could have used some serious character tweeking. The king could have been angry without so much drama, he roared, pounded things, threw things around, broke furniture, I mean this is supposed to be a redeemable character. Years and years of that kind of lack of self control do not simply go away especially when you introduce a new source of jealousy (namely his love interest). I would have liked to see him develop some self control BEFORE the very last minute, which was a kind of miraculous loophole making him a better person. His jealousy, tantrums, and physical aggression were never really addressed although I assume him letting go of his obsession with revenge was supposed to "fix" him. This was implied by the statements his friends made about him being warped by his own hatred and how he was not "like this before"... but we should have seen at LEAST some slow progression in that direction for it to be convincing. He did promise to try... before patting her on the head and patronizing her, which was super annoying since he is the one who is immensely childish in his behavior. So where was the demonstration of newfound love inspired control and consideration?
However....it is a fairytale of sorts and as such gets a bit of leeway as we pretend he miraculously recovered from his bouts of rabid, ape like behavior. The redeeming qualities in this book were the "dwarves" and the princess snow white herself. I admired her process of finding herself and developing real skills and strengths.
I have a lot of hope for the next one in the series if its about the nameless girl. My greatest hope is that it has a non-abusive, non-psychotic male in it. Thats not too much to hope for is it?
March 6, 2017
I didn't care for the hero as he was so focused on revenge and had no control to his temper. I just could bring myself to care about what happened.
February 5, 2017
DNF
Couldn't finish the story and I'm not even ashamed of it. There were just too many inconsistencies, it left me too confused to enjoy the story.
1st) there was the fact that Katiyana did not see her father when he died. She saw some bloody sheets and heard him yelling in pain but she did NOT see him. She even cried about not being able to see him to say good bye when she ran away. Yet later on when someone asks her to describe how her father was looking when he died, she did???
2nd) i found it odd that Harmen is her "friend" and yet we never encounter or read about him until he comes to kill her. There's no connection at all between the reader and this Harmen character for me to believe that he'd up and not kill Katiyana. He also conveniently had all the things she'd need to survive out in the woods for a few days on hand. OK. SURE. Not that it helps since she doesn't have any of those things when she's found later on (not even a day later). They're not mentioned, she just doesn't have them any more and even says "i don't have enough food".
3rd) after Harmen explains to her why he must kill her the heroine (a CHILD) proceeds to poke at him about how he'll kill her:
Said the sheltered princess who's spent her whole life in a fucking nursery with a single maid. I'd understand this if she was a mature character, maybe a young teenager who's well read or well educated, but she's not. She's a child that flip flops from being mature to a sobbing, whiny mess. She went from begging for her life to shutting off her emotions and antagonizing her would be killer in a HEARTBEAT.
and 4th) the characters weren't really "introduced", they were dropped from the sky only to disappear once their minimal and forgetful purpose was done. Like who in the fuck was Maribel? She just fucking popped out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly. Rosa, her supposed nanny for years, up and vanishes after the queen criticizes her work and the heroine... feels.... nothing about this? Like... you'd think a child would have built up a bit more attachment to this woman and she's literally never mentioned or thought of again??? And Harmen Katiyana's supposed friend??? even though there's no history there between them other than the heroine going "oh we're friends." (but they never hang out or interact before the scene where he tries to murder her)
I just couldn't get past the story at this point. Too many problems.
I could tell the author was trying to shove too much information and move the story along way too quickly in the span of a few pages. I also didn't like that a lot of the book features the heroine as a child when this is advertised as a "young adult romance"???
maybe that's just Goodreads shit genre labeling. I once came across a young adult's book labeled "Erotica" and i'm 99.9% sure it wasn't (they fixed it later but still).
Couldn't finish the story and I'm not even ashamed of it. There were just too many inconsistencies, it left me too confused to enjoy the story.
1st) there was the fact that Katiyana did not see her father when he died. She saw some bloody sheets and heard him yelling in pain but she did NOT see him. She even cried about not being able to see him to say good bye when she ran away. Yet later on when someone asks her to describe how her father was looking when he died, she did???
2nd) i found it odd that Harmen is her "friend" and yet we never encounter or read about him until he comes to kill her. There's no connection at all between the reader and this Harmen character for me to believe that he'd up and not kill Katiyana. He also conveniently had all the things she'd need to survive out in the woods for a few days on hand. OK. SURE. Not that it helps since she doesn't have any of those things when she's found later on (not even a day later). They're not mentioned, she just doesn't have them any more and even says "i don't have enough food".
3rd) after Harmen explains to her why he must kill her the heroine (a CHILD) proceeds to poke at him about how he'll kill her:
“Throttling should work quite nicely, although it may take a few minutes. Perhaps you should aim to break my neck. I am only a child, so it should not be so very hard for a big man like you.”
Said the sheltered princess who's spent her whole life in a fucking nursery with a single maid. I'd understand this if she was a mature character, maybe a young teenager who's well read or well educated, but she's not. She's a child that flip flops from being mature to a sobbing, whiny mess. She went from begging for her life to shutting off her emotions and antagonizing her would be killer in a HEARTBEAT.
and 4th) the characters weren't really "introduced", they were dropped from the sky only to disappear once their minimal and forgetful purpose was done. Like who in the fuck was Maribel? She just fucking popped out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly. Rosa, her supposed nanny for years, up and vanishes after the queen criticizes her work and the heroine... feels.... nothing about this? Like... you'd think a child would have built up a bit more attachment to this woman and she's literally never mentioned or thought of again??? And Harmen Katiyana's supposed friend??? even though there's no history there between them other than the heroine going "oh we're friends." (but they never hang out or interact before the scene where he tries to murder her)
I just couldn't get past the story at this point. Too many problems.
I could tell the author was trying to shove too much information and move the story along way too quickly in the span of a few pages. I also didn't like that a lot of the book features the heroine as a child when this is advertised as a "young adult romance"???
maybe that's just Goodreads shit genre labeling. I once came across a young adult's book labeled "Erotica" and i'm 99.9% sure it wasn't (they fixed it later but still).
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