Fireborne: 1 (Aurelian Cycle)

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But if you like that trope, you're going to be okay with the eggs, impression, shared emotional states with dragons, etc. The world isn't black and white, and far too often people (myself included) try to filter the world into that dichotomy. It talks about the cost of leadership, the weight of decision-making, and the responsibility of those in power to those without it. Having spent much of my time wedding planning over the past 8 months, the following is what I knew: it's fantasy, said to be a mix of Rachel Hartman's Seraphina and Pierce Brown's Red Rising, and Munda was inspired by the Aeneid and the Republic.

I said "Sort of" above because we get snippets of the revolution, and Lee's story, along with Annie's. The addition of the new location and characters after book 1 really elevates the series and raises the stakes, making everything more complex and interesting. Not to mention, the constant romantic tension is further complicated by attractions to other people once in a while.

The side characters have enough depth to make you care what happens to them, but Lee and Annie are both beautifully fleshed out and trigger some intense emotions in you as the reader. It adds in a cadre of dragons to make the world a hotter place, but ultimately what saves this book is the slow burn romance. I wanted to imagine an orphaned aristocrat who has every reason to seek revenge, until he realizes that maybe, his family did wrong, too.

Now they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn't be more different. Still, Lee and Annie (and Griff, now) keep striving to find justice in a world hobbled by the systems put in place by the last bunch of omelet-makers, idealists and pragmatists and tyrants alike.They read really mature and even with a romance sub-plot thrown in, it never read angsty or young, even the romance was handled really well and felt very believable. This is definitely a story about them, and their history together, and their future, and it’s so passionate and lovely and full of pathos I almost can’t stand it. The telepathic dragon/companion trope is pretty well worn by now, and Munda doesn't do much to add to it.

From action fans to romance fans, political junkies to fantasy lovers, many different audiences will find something rewarding here.one moment they’re having a normal convo and the next they’re airborne on their dragons which gave me whiplash because why are we moving so fast?