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Temptress of the Flame
A half-Demon monarch with godlike power.
An unlikely trio of daring adventurers.
A desperate quest to free the world.
Freezing to death, far from home, with nothing but mountains, wind, and infinite white for company. This was not how Halius thought his life would end. Collapsing to the ground, all strength sapped from his body, he plummets face-first into the snow, with failure and regret eagerly waiting to become his silent epitaph.
“Plainsward. Get to your feet.”
With what little energy he can muster, he lifts his head to see a woman approaching, her slender form immune to the frigid tempest. Stunned and baffled as his body is warmed, he soon learns that this stranger is a Firemage, one of considerable talent, able to bend flame to her will with effortless ease.
Their meeting is no accident, she openly admits. Through a mixture of obligation and threat, he soon finds himself bound to her. Set on a course to take him far from everyone he cares about, Halius prepares to enter a world of magic and monsters he’d never dared to imagine.
The dangers are immense, and the journey is long, but only one question weighs on his mind. What possible use could a woman of such vast power ever have for a simple hunter like himself?
Temptress of the Flame is a high-adventure epic fantasy set in a rich world full of unique creatures and races. With a cast of fun and disparate characters, a villain whose power lives up to the hype, and a solid mix of grit and wit, this story is a must-read for fans of sword and sorcery, epic and high fantasy, and action-adventure.
Click BUY NOW, or READ FOR FREE to discover this world for yourself.
An unlikely trio of daring adventurers.
A desperate quest to free the world.
Freezing to death, far from home, with nothing but mountains, wind, and infinite white for company. This was not how Halius thought his life would end. Collapsing to the ground, all strength sapped from his body, he plummets face-first into the snow, with failure and regret eagerly waiting to become his silent epitaph.
“Plainsward. Get to your feet.”
With what little energy he can muster, he lifts his head to see a woman approaching, her slender form immune to the frigid tempest. Stunned and baffled as his body is warmed, he soon learns that this stranger is a Firemage, one of considerable talent, able to bend flame to her will with effortless ease.
Their meeting is no accident, she openly admits. Through a mixture of obligation and threat, he soon finds himself bound to her. Set on a course to take him far from everyone he cares about, Halius prepares to enter a world of magic and monsters he’d never dared to imagine.
The dangers are immense, and the journey is long, but only one question weighs on his mind. What possible use could a woman of such vast power ever have for a simple hunter like himself?
Temptress of the Flame is a high-adventure epic fantasy set in a rich world full of unique creatures and races. With a cast of fun and disparate characters, a villain whose power lives up to the hype, and a solid mix of grit and wit, this story is a must-read for fans of sword and sorcery, epic and high fantasy, and action-adventure.
Click BUY NOW, or READ FOR FREE to discover this world for yourself.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 2, 2012
3 people are currently reading
423 people want to read
About the author
Wade Kakoschke
2 books5 followersWade Kakoschke is a South Australian author, best known for his Epic Fantasy novel, Temptress of the Flame.
Aside from working on several upcoming books, Wade also spends his time making independent short films, and spending calm weekends with his partner Kyra, two dogs, four cats, and probably a horse or something that Kyra snuck in when he wasn't looking.
Aside from working on several upcoming books, Wade also spends his time making independent short films, and spending calm weekends with his partner Kyra, two dogs, four cats, and probably a horse or something that Kyra snuck in when he wasn't looking.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 29, 2022
Not too bad!
The story was a little weak in places but overall it was a fun story that kept me interested.
The plot sees Plainsward Halius finding himself entangled in the quest of Firemage Zebala after leaving his village to find a cure for the mysterious illness ravaging his people. Meanwhile, his brother Valus finds himself imprisoned by the tyrant Fire Lord, Gyanos.
Firstly, I found the initial union of Halius and Zebala to be a bit grating. The logic of the two joining forces seemed a little too weak to me, since noble Halius was originally on the quest to save his people. After he joined Zeb, it was like he kind of forgot that everyone back home was dying. So I wasn't real sold on it, but I did like Zeb's immediate feistiness.
The relationship between the two never really did a lot for me, which was a shame because I really felt that would have made for so much more impact from later events. I think there just wasn't a lot of character growth, and there wasn't enough demonstration of the characters' traits. For example, Halius is supposed to be this hero of his people - he's the friendly giant who is huge and tough but goes out of his way to help others. There were a few moments where he did demonstrate this need to protect others, but they were so often tied to idiocy that Halius to me just ended up being a dim-witted oaf of a character. Therefore, he seemed more like the idiot muscle sidekick stereotype to me than the hero he was supposed to be.
Zebala, to her credit, basically stayed vicious and mean and definitely ridiculously powerful but just not interested in helping anyone but herself. I think we were supposed to witness this side of her softening, but I just never felt that. I suspect that this story just had too much telling and not enough feeling. Like, I could read about her doing something really impressively powerful, and how it made people around her react, but I never emotionally connected to it myself. I think maybe the context wasn't fleshed out enough - the stakes weren't clear enough to get me invested.
I suppose my biggest criticism is just that the story seemed to flow too conveniently. There were still unpredictable moments and surprises for me, but ultimately I knew that if they talked about how much they definitely didn't want to go to a certain place, they'd inevitably end up there almost immediately. I think this also contributed to me feeling emotionally detached from the story - it's like I could see the author moving the pieces, rather than falling into the story and being amongst these characters.
Even with all that, though, I really enjoyed the journey of this story. At first I thought it might seem a little slow and pointlessly long, but I did really end up enjoying all the twists and turns and wonderful creatures that appeared along the way, even if it was hard to picture some of them.
There are some fantastic battle scenes, but there's also some vividly brutal violence that seemed a bit overdone to me. The 'healing' aspect seemed a convenient trick to allow for the most gruesome forms of torture the author could invent, and I think it all just went a bit too far for me. Especially when these characters lived to see another day. I don't think it needed to be quite this savage for us to feel the impact it had on the characters involved, and in my case it actually had the opposite effect - it was so absurdly gory that I just couldn't comprehend the character as real and actually experiencing that. Particularly since there was evidently no lasting trauma.
I really loved Elath, and enjoyed how the relationship between he and Valus developed. I think Elath had the best character development of the entire story, and he was easily the one I appreciated the most. He was a character I was able to connect to, understand, and feel for. So the dungeon scenes were easily some of my favourites.
Meanwhile, whatever the fk that was with Siara was just a complete mess.
I did enjoy having the two separate story lines, and particularly enjoyed their inevitable collision. It was nice to have a break from each story line now and again.
Overall, I enjoyed the journey but it did ultimately seem a little weak in its point. But there are some fantastic creatures and Elath in particular is an endearing character that you can really root for, so it was still a fun read for me.
I do feel that others less critical of fantasy will enjoy this more than I, as there is plenty to keep you reading on. It's not a perfect work of art, but it is an enjoyable romp in a fantasy world that will still throw some surprises at you.
With thanks to the author for a copy to read and review
The story was a little weak in places but overall it was a fun story that kept me interested.
The plot sees Plainsward Halius finding himself entangled in the quest of Firemage Zebala after leaving his village to find a cure for the mysterious illness ravaging his people. Meanwhile, his brother Valus finds himself imprisoned by the tyrant Fire Lord, Gyanos.
Firstly, I found the initial union of Halius and Zebala to be a bit grating. The logic of the two joining forces seemed a little too weak to me, since noble Halius was originally on the quest to save his people. After he joined Zeb, it was like he kind of forgot that everyone back home was dying. So I wasn't real sold on it, but I did like Zeb's immediate feistiness.
The relationship between the two never really did a lot for me, which was a shame because I really felt that would have made for so much more impact from later events. I think there just wasn't a lot of character growth, and there wasn't enough demonstration of the characters' traits. For example, Halius is supposed to be this hero of his people - he's the friendly giant who is huge and tough but goes out of his way to help others. There were a few moments where he did demonstrate this need to protect others, but they were so often tied to idiocy that Halius to me just ended up being a dim-witted oaf of a character. Therefore, he seemed more like the idiot muscle sidekick stereotype to me than the hero he was supposed to be.
Zebala, to her credit, basically stayed vicious and mean and definitely ridiculously powerful but just not interested in helping anyone but herself. I think we were supposed to witness this side of her softening, but I just never felt that. I suspect that this story just had too much telling and not enough feeling. Like, I could read about her doing something really impressively powerful, and how it made people around her react, but I never emotionally connected to it myself. I think maybe the context wasn't fleshed out enough - the stakes weren't clear enough to get me invested.
I suppose my biggest criticism is just that the story seemed to flow too conveniently. There were still unpredictable moments and surprises for me, but ultimately I knew that if they talked about how much they definitely didn't want to go to a certain place, they'd inevitably end up there almost immediately. I think this also contributed to me feeling emotionally detached from the story - it's like I could see the author moving the pieces, rather than falling into the story and being amongst these characters.
Even with all that, though, I really enjoyed the journey of this story. At first I thought it might seem a little slow and pointlessly long, but I did really end up enjoying all the twists and turns and wonderful creatures that appeared along the way, even if it was hard to picture some of them.
There are some fantastic battle scenes, but there's also some vividly brutal violence that seemed a bit overdone to me. The 'healing' aspect seemed a convenient trick to allow for the most gruesome forms of torture the author could invent, and I think it all just went a bit too far for me. Especially when these characters lived to see another day. I don't think it needed to be quite this savage for us to feel the impact it had on the characters involved, and in my case it actually had the opposite effect - it was so absurdly gory that I just couldn't comprehend the character as real and actually experiencing that. Particularly since there was evidently no lasting trauma.
I really loved Elath, and enjoyed how the relationship between he and Valus developed. I think Elath had the best character development of the entire story, and he was easily the one I appreciated the most. He was a character I was able to connect to, understand, and feel for. So the dungeon scenes were easily some of my favourites.
Meanwhile, whatever the fk that was with Siara was just a complete mess.
I did enjoy having the two separate story lines, and particularly enjoyed their inevitable collision. It was nice to have a break from each story line now and again.
Overall, I enjoyed the journey but it did ultimately seem a little weak in its point. But there are some fantastic creatures and Elath in particular is an endearing character that you can really root for, so it was still a fun read for me.
I do feel that others less critical of fantasy will enjoy this more than I, as there is plenty to keep you reading on. It's not a perfect work of art, but it is an enjoyable romp in a fantasy world that will still throw some surprises at you.
With thanks to the author for a copy to read and review
November 17, 2013
i found this book absolutely brilliant, the way the world simply comes to life is amazing, it makes you feel like you're about of this story. each character it really intriguing and simply lovable, even the ones you love to hate. i highly suggest for anyone to read this book, you'll pick it up and never let go of it, even after you're finished.
May 29, 2013
I found this book at a convention about a month ago, and it was a true gem.
Temptress of the Flame is an exciting, action-driven Fantasy story, but unlike a lot of the "Sword and Sorcery" tales I've read, it is filled with strong, engaging characters, and a villain who is so intriguing that I actually found myself sympathising with him (until I remembered how nasty he is)
The world is lively, imaginative, and unique. The races are varied, and most of them fit outside the stereotypes that generally fill the genre.
The shorthand is that the plot is solid, the characters are great, the imagery is fantastic (in every sense on the word)and the whole book is just a hell of a ride.
Temptress of the Flame is an exciting, action-driven Fantasy story, but unlike a lot of the "Sword and Sorcery" tales I've read, it is filled with strong, engaging characters, and a villain who is so intriguing that I actually found myself sympathising with him (until I remembered how nasty he is)
The world is lively, imaginative, and unique. The races are varied, and most of them fit outside the stereotypes that generally fill the genre.
The shorthand is that the plot is solid, the characters are great, the imagery is fantastic (in every sense on the word)and the whole book is just a hell of a ride.
dnf
July 25, 2023DNF @ 3% I received a copy of this ebook in a Goodreads giveaway. Not my type of fantasy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews