The Dawning of Firebird Alex

The Sedumen Chronicles #1-3.5

by Orren Merton

Eighteen-year-old Alexandra Gold is a her humanity and compassion come from her deceased human mother, and her powers over spirit fire and super-human strength from her demon-like Sedu father. Collecting the first three novels in The Sedumen Chronicles, this volume

Firebird When Alex unearths her father's Sedu blade, it sets in motion a journey that challenges everything she thought she was. Rescuing her friends from another Seduman gives her a taste of the heroine she might become.

Lady Her old nemesis, down but not out, executes a horrific plan to conquer both Earth and Sediin. It's up to Alex to assume the mantle of Lady Firebird and hunt her adversary across universes.

Firebird Just when Alex thought she'd won, she discovers her victory has unleashed a horrible vengeance that threatens to destroy human and Sedu alike. In order to save everyone, she must convince skeptics in both universes that she truly is the heroine that she claims to be.

Also in this collection Firebird In this bonus novelette, Alex and her friends unwittingly awaken a murderous eldritch horror in a beachside manor. They must defeat the monster before it kills again.

490 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 27, 2015

About the author

Orren Merton started writing fantasy and science fiction at an embarrassingly young age, mostly for his own amusement. In 2001, magazines, developers, and corporations began to pay him to write and edit music software related articles, manuals, and books. His Industrial rock group Ember After released their debut album, Grasping At Straws, in 2008. He now has a few fantasy and science fiction novels under his belt, and has no intention of stopping. He lives in Southern California with his family, pets, collection of sci-fi/fantasy memorabilia, and curiously large stuffed animal collection.

Reviews

[Amphitrite · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked: Lets start with the first book Firebird Alex. Alex is an eighteen year old girl who has recently lost her mother to cancer, something her mother has been fighting as long as Alex can remember. In the opening scene we learn a lot about both Alex and her mother before she died. Her mother was Jewish, and so Alex was exposed to Jewish tradition when her mother was well enough to go to the synagogue. It doesn't take long learn what we need to about Alex, what she really is. Half-demon because of her father. This aspect of Alex is something that is a big deal not only for her, but for those around her since she has a tendency to flame up when angry. Firebird Alex has Alex trying to save her friends from a threat and facing her father who she had never met before. Its an engaging and hard to put down story, all three novels and the novelette are! In each novel Alex's challenges become bigger and more challenging for her to try and overcome. From saving her friends, to dealing with being Lady Firebird, to trying to convince both the human realm and realm of the demons that she isn't going to doom everyone. Alex grows a lot over the books, and watching her face the obstacles in her way that prevent her from doing what she needed to accomplish in each book was fantastic.

What I didn't like: I really don't have anything big to nitpick at from the story, it was paced well, made sense, and was very engaging and kept me pulled in.

Overall Review: Be prepared to enjoy these books, and be aware that as Alex's story goes on things get a lot darker as she gets more intertwined with the danger going on in the human realm that she is trying to prevent. I think my favorite tidbit that the author gives us in the series was the allusion about how her nickname of firebird could be one of hope or doom, because of the mythical bird that her nickname is a reference to.

Recommend?: These are great books that make for a very fun and entertaining and engaging read. I could hardly put them down once I got into each story!