Wilde's Fire (Darkness Falls, #1) in Q&A with Krystal Wade

Jul 09, 2012 Jessa Russo rated it it was amazing

My disclosure for this review is that Krystal Wade is my editor at Curiosity Quills, where my debut novel will be published by the end of the year. I am only disclosing this information because I have to admit that I was worried about reading WILDE'S FIRE. I'm ridiculous, I know. But here's a sneak peek into what was going through my mind: What if I didn't like it? What if I didn't like her writing style? What would that say about me, or about my own book that she picked out of dozens of manuscr ...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Caedy Eries rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2012-challenge, kindle, author-read-review

Title: Wilde’s Fire
Author: Krystal Wade
Rating: 5/5

I would like to thank Curiosity Quills press for allowing me a copy of this book to review for free via netgalley.com. It has been a pleasure.

Book Blurb: Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she’s ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she’s dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with mo Title: Wilde’s Fire
Author: Krystal Wade
Rating: 5/5

I would like to thank Curiosity Quills press for allowing me a copy of this book to review for free via netgalley.com. It has been a pleasure.

Book Blurb: Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she’s ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she’s dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more than just the frightening creatures in front of her. Kate’s forced to accept a new truth: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What’s worse, she has no control over her new future, and it’s full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made. Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?

Review: Katriona “Kat” Wilde returns from her first year away at college, attending Virginia Tech. It is Memorial Day weekend, and she, her sister and best friend Brad are going camping in the mountains just like they do every year. However, there is a slight change in plans when her parents do not come. This leads to the world as Kat, Brad and her sister Brit know it, shattering and splintering into something filled with sinister darkness.

Everything Kat has known turns out to be a lie, turns out to be tainted with the Darkness that has already destroyed all but a few thousand individuals in the world of Encardia. Amongst the survivors are Flanna, her cousin Arland Maher (who Kat knows quite a bit of intimate detail of), and others who are under the leadership of Arland.

The Darkness, controlled by Dughbal, a fallen god, stripped of his immortality is consuming all in its path and Dughbal wants the magic, the ‘light’ within Katriona. However, Kat is the center of a prophecy given by a powerful Seer before she was born, she is the one that Encardia is waiting for, the one that will shatter the darkness and bring the light back to a land cast in shadows. She has been stripped of all she has, all she loves and now must forge her way along this path. Will she truly be the one that brings light to Encardia? What else will she lose along her journey? How many loved ones will she lose in the war against Dughbal and the darkness?

This book made me want to throw things. Lots of things. I barely managed to restrain myself from throwing my Kindle across the room when I got to the cliffhanger ending. I am not normally a fan of cliffhangers, but this one has me eagerly waiting for more. Krystal Wade has crafted a world of such depth and wonderment that I am sucked in entirely. I want to know more of Encardia, I want to see the world thrive as it had before Kat’s birth, before the war and the darkness stole the sunlight. I want to see the world that Arland remembers, and I want to see the world of Encardia after the darkness has been beaten, as the light returns to a world that had been thrown into perpetual shadow for longer than anyone can remember.

Thank you Mrs. Wade for gifting us with this fantastical world where there is magic and fairytale romance and struggles of love and friendship and family. I look forward to the next installment of Darkness Falls.
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Jun 14, 2012 Ray rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book. Most people think that first Person is not very good. I have read alot of first person books, and have to say this is a very good book. It is a Young Adult book dealing with Fantasy. It is a love story, or so it seems. But she also has major conflicts in the book against good and evil. There are sword fights, (who doesn't love a good fight) But I like the twist she made about her own version of 'elves'. The book is well written. Her characters are filling out. We know about ...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Laurice rated it really liked it

Shelves: all-time-favorites, war, 2012, dream-guy, arcs-netgalley, paranormal, series

Book-iography

Title: Wilde's Fire
Author: Krystal Wade
Published: May 13, 2012
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Format: Ebook from NetGalley
Pages: 146
Type: Series, Darkness Falls #1
Bookshelves: YA Books, Paranormal
Read: August 3-6, 2012
Links: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating:

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What can I say?

This book is F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.!
Honestly, I liked this book. Though I've read a lot of typos and negative reviews about it, it didn't stop me from reading and enjoying Wilde's Fire! : ...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Jamie Ayres rated it it was amazing

This is the first New Adult book I've read and LOVED it!!! The cover draws you in and the fantasy setting Wade depicts is very believable--I felt like I was in the story alongside the characters. Kate, the main protagonist, was someone you could really root for as she learns of her prophecy and how to fight, but all the sub characters were done really well, too. The romantic conflicts were, of course, my fav part. So much sexual tension between Kate and . . . well, you'll have to read it and fin ...more

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Apr 26, 2012 M.L. Falconer rated it liked it

The world building, creatures and premise are all wonderful in this book. Encardia has been thrust into darkness for decades and strange werewolf like creatures wage war against the people. (The Coscarthas are the only beasts we get a description of, the others are simply referred to as Daemons. I found this to be believable due to the darkness of the world, the author keeps the reader “in the dark” about further descriptions, although I hope that as the series progresses we’ll get more detailed The world building, creatures and premise are all wonderful in this book. Encardia has been thrust into darkness for decades and strange werewolf like creatures wage war against the people. (The Coscarthas are the only beasts we get a description of, the others are simply referred to as Daemons. I found this to be believable due to the darkness of the world, the author keeps the reader “in the dark” about further descriptions, although I hope that as the series progresses we’ll get more detailed descriptions of them). The author creates many questions within the reader that keeps us turning pages, i.e. who is in control of the daemons and are they responsible for the darkness?

It is also very interesting to experience the political power struggle between the Draiochtans and the Ground Dwellers while in the midst of an all-out destruction of the world at the claws of the daemons and the curtain of darkness.

The fantastical elements of the story are amazingly vast and they pulled me through. However, I am an adult male and the romance elements of the story, I felt, highly outweighed the fantastical elements. Young adult boys and adult males, we enjoy the fights, the sword play, and the action and adventure. Ninety percent of this novel is about the romance and directed, primarily I suspect, toward young adult girls. For the YA female audience the following notes may be of no consequence and you may stop reading here.

Wilde’s Fire is a Young Adult Fantasy Romance story that shows a lot of potential with its fantastical elements, however those wonderful fantastical elements, I felt as a male reader, were overshadowed by the romantic elements. The reader gets, of Kate and Arland, two romantic tours of the base; we share two or three romantic cleanings of the stalls and four or five baths together. When we finally get a great battle scene, which is well written and exiting by the way, even Arland’s thoughts, in the heat of the fight are of winning the battle quickly so he and Kate can “get to bathe together again in no time”. When daemons are afoot and a battle is imminent, thoughts of taking a bath would quickly give way to clobbering daemons.

The final chapter, however, really turns up the heat of the fantastical elements. The pace is heightened and we finally begin to see Kate’s strength as a leader and warrior, instead of a love struck young girl. For the male readers, this chapter gives us a lot to look forward to from the next installment of this series. Kate is angry and she’s about to kick some daemon butt. I look forward to that.
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Jun 30, 2012 Melissa rated it it was amazing

Not my normal genre, I am glad that I branched out! I found myself dusting off my imagination while reading this well-written debut from Krystal Wade. Leaving many cliffhangers at the end, I will naturally read onto Wilde's Army. Great read! ...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Katie Hamstead rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: curiosity-quills, friend-s-book, own-it

This was a fun read. The world sucked me in an kept me interested. Kate Wilde comes to life on the pages, while her story takes unexpected twists and turns.
The only reason I'm giving four instead of five stars is I felt the first part was a little slow for my taste, and conversations stopped too abruptly for no reason.
But the second half really picks up the pace, and motivated me to start reading book 2 (Wilde's Army) right away.
A fun read for fantasy lovers, and a fabulous debut novel! ...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Debra added it

If you enjoy first person-present tense, young-adult, fantasy, then you may want to consider adding this book to your list. Wilde’s Fire is a truly engaging story that will hold your attention until the very end. The book brings together a nice blend of young love, magic, sword fighting, prophecies and some very scary evil foes. All three books are now out in this trilogy, so this is the perfect time to get caught up in the story.

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May 05, 2012 Lisa Collicutt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

A portal to a fantasy world gets me every time. I was completely taken into Encardia, and gasped when I came to the end of the book. You see, I read it on my Kindle and didn't have pages to count, so I had no idea the end was near. Hoping Wilde's Army, second book in the Darkness Falls trilogy arrives in the mail today. ...more

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