Cover Image: Bursts of Fire

Bursts of Fire

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Bursts of Fire by Susan Forest is a fantasy novel, the first part of the Addicted to Heaven series. This is Ms. Forest’s first book.

The Falkyn sisters find themselves out of their castle when their kingdom has been invaded. The princesses are heirs to the imperial magiel of the Kingdom of Orumon, or as they know her – Mom.

The role of the imperial magiel is to protect the kingdom’s people from the afterlife by using a precious Prayer Stone to call upon the Gods. The invaders want to destroy all the Prayer Stones, except one.

The story starts very quickly as the author starts to build her world. Full of war, magic, brutality, and three young women who have to grow up quickly. After the fast paced, and a bit choppy, start, Bursts of Fire by Susan Forest settles into itself with a story that incorporates elements of fantasy, old religions, love and hate.

The three sisters, Meg, Janat, and Rennika, find themselves in a harsh and brutal world which they are not prepared for. They keep missing their old lives, which they slowly realize they’ll never have again. It takes over half the book for each sister to find her place in the world, and come into her type. It’s a revelation to them that they can be defined by who they are, as oppose to what they are.

The author did a good job world building, the imageries are concise, yet descriptive. It was not difficult to figure out what she was talking about, or how she imagined the world to be.

I really enjoy books about magic (Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennet), but I felt magic in this book was more in the background than it was a prominent aspect of the story. Ms. Forest built up the magic slowly as her characters discover it for themselves, but sadly there simply isn’t enough detail in this aspect for the reader to understand what’s going on. The author kept talking about the religion and “Heaven”, where magicians can talk to their God using the magic stone. Frankly I still have no idea what that’s about.

The strengths of this book is the world building and the coming of age story of the three young ladies – I just wish they weren’t princesses, a bit too cliché for my taste and the world building. Even though the main characters didn’t work for me, I did enjoy much of the novel regardless of a few glaring plot holes and pacing.

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If you love epic YA Fantasies, this series seems to be the perfect addition to your TBR.

Right away, I was captured by the writing as we are thrown into this kingdom being overthrown. When no one listens to their mother, the three sisters are quickly swept away from the castle and into the real world.

Each one is guided into a vastly different path, and it was so fun to see it all play out. There are assassins and fighting and magic all forming this great plot. It was engaging and allowed me to fly through the pages.

If you love reading politically-driven fantasies, this will also be a powerful series to read.

I gave this one 4 out of 5 stars. One of the sisters started to get on my nerves, but I think it was a purposeful ploy by the author to hone in on their different personalities and the hurtles they had to individually jump over while on the run.

I can’t wait to see where the next book takes us!

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I signed up for this tour because, well, epic fantasy has always been one of my loves, and this book looked interesting. I’ll admit that the series title, Addicted to Heaven, gave me more than a bit of pause, but as it turns out, the heaven that people are addicted to is nothing like contemporary Western versions of heaven.

Bursts of Fire is very much a part of the epic fantasy tradition. There were times, in fact, when it felt like specific epic fantasies. But it does such a good job of exploring both its new facets and riffing on the stories from which it sprang that it made for a darn good read.

And I was on an airplane and this book was next in my queue. Bursts of Fire turned out to be a terrific book to transition from Worldcon back to “real life” as I traveled from a place where everyone was talking about SF and Fantasy and back to the so-called real world where those discussions are not quite so commonplace.

The story of Bursts of Fire begins in the way that quite a few epic fantasies begin – where the kingdom is under siege and the heir to the throne gets smuggled out of town ahead of the rampaging horde.

And that’s where the differences begin.

The heir isn’t the heir to the throne. And the heir isn’t an heir. Instead, the heiresses to the king’s magical advisor, all three of them, sneak out of the capital with the help of their nanny. Who they still need, as the oldest girl is 17 and the youngest is 11. And none of them have the remotest clue about how to manage on their own – or how to manage period without people waiting on them hand and foot.

They’ll have to figure it out – and somehow manage to grow up, in the midst of a civil war where they are being hunted by both sides. The forces of the usurper believe that all magic is evil – and the rebels just want to use them for their powers.

Powers that they mostly aren’t trained to use. They’re alone, desperate, and on the run. But at least they have each other. Until they don’t.

Whether they can figure out the right course to save themselves, save each other, and save the people that they feel responsible for, is a race against desperation and despair.

And just when they think they might have a chance to right at least a few of the wrongs – they discover just how bad things really, really are.

Escape Rating B+: Bursts of Fire turned out to be a terrific airplane book. Anything that can keep me distracted for 3-4 hours of an 8 hour flight is very much appreciated. And this certainly did.

As has been a relatively recent but also extremely welcome trend in epic fantasy, Bursts of Fire is a heroine’s journey rather than a hero’s journey. Or in this particular case, three heroines’ journeys. At the same time, the story begins on a familiar note, as the chosen one – or in this case chosen ones – are thrown from their original setting to make lives for themselves, and oh-by-the-way save the world.

Part of what does make this a bit different is that there is no mentor character to provide guidance – or for them to rely upon. They lose Nanny almost immediately. She was the one their mother gave the plan to, so the girls are on their own, lost and desperate.

Also very, very young and completely out of their depth. Only the oldest, Meg, has a real clue about just how bad things are and just how much things have changed for them. Little Rennika is too young to understand, and middle-sister Janat is too self-absorbed.

Janat is a character that I never warmed up to, and her self-absorption and unwillingness to grasp their situation continues throughout the story, making this reader grateful that the relatively mature Meg is the primary point of view character.

Meg understands the stakes earliest. Rennika is young enough to adapt. Janat is a problem from beginning to end, a problem that it looks like is only going to get worse.

What’s gone wrong with the kingdom did not make much sense at first. The reader is dropped into the middle of the story, just as the girls escape – and no one seems to know why their ally has suddenly attacked. As the story progresses, it becomes clear – for select definitions of clear – that no one really does know why he went off the rails. They just see the effects – and those effects are gruesome.

War is hell, and civil war is particularly hellish. The rebels want peace and they want to go back to the way things were – as much as is possible after two years of war. The girls, who have become young women fired – or broken – in the crucible of that war want to save as many people as possible, want to reverse the sudden upwelling of prejudice against magic users fostered by the usurper and his advisors, and want to take up the purpose that their family has always undertaken – to visit heaven and intercede with the gods on their people’s behalf.

The magic system of this world is fascinating and different, and their gods are real and act upon their world in ways that can be seen and measured if not countered. The primary manifestation of that magic is the magic users’ uncontrolled shifting through time. Magic has a price, and becoming unmoored from the time you are living is part of that cost.

The glimpses that all three sisters receive of their past, present and future are sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes heartening, and always confusing. It is as much of a curse as a gift, but their ability to intercede with the gods is both powerful and necessary in this cosmos.

That the usurper is determined to break that connection powers his mad campaign against his former allies – and the reasons for that determination are shattering for the kingdom, the reader, and his heir.

That the heroines are all very young leaves this book, and presumably the series it begins, balanced on the knife edge between young adult and adult fantasy. The protagonists may be young adults, but the situations in which they find themselves feel adult in their consequences.

In the end of Bursts of Fire, we, and the characters, know more about the reasons for the fractured state of their world, but are no closer to a resolution. This is a story about a world that is broken – and it is not made whole by the end. There must be future books in this series, and I’m looking forward to reading them.

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You don't know how much I don't like giving negative reviews - especially when I see the potential in the book. And here is the case of "Bursts of Fire" which could have been book that would be rated as four or five stars read.
The story started well - the prophecy was told, but it hadn't changed anything, even when it was known... strange right? Main characters - three sisters - weren't exactly likable to me, as I found then not believable with their behavior.
The way BoF was written hadn't allowed me to connect dots of the plot or understand at least some motives as it was WAY TOO fragmented for my liking. Maybe with adding some more events and connections, it would make a better impression on me?
This opinion is my own, some people may love this book

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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Bursts of Fire by Susan Forest. I’ve voluntarily read and reviewed this copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Bursts of Fire. It’s a fantasy with a rich and complex world, wich I loved. But the story felt all over the place. There were perhaps too many elements which resulted in, at times, confusing storylines.

It also took me a while to get into the story but I did end up enjoying it. Bursts of Fire has promise to be the first installment of an entertaining and unique fantasy.

As for the characters, it took a while before they grew on me. Rennika is the only character that captured my interest immediately. Meg grew on me as the story progresswd but I did not connect to Janat. I do applaud Susan Forest for writing such a real and complicated sisterly bond. It really felt like the heart of the story.

I am curious to see where this story will go next.

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This book is exactly how epic fantasy should be written.

It took me a while to get into it, but once I was in, I was in, and I think I read most of the book in one afternoon! The world is interesting and complicated, with high stakes, and easy to cheer for characters. I especially loved the dynamic of the sisters, and how the magic system is never fully explained, but certain aspects are eluded to (like how the girls move in time when they use their magic).

Part of what makes this book so good, is that it takes it time to get to places and builds up the characters and the world. I find some books have trouble balancing the high stakes of the plot, with the smaller arcs for the characters, but this one found a pretty good balance between them. I especially enjoyed some of the sister drama. It’s drama on such a small level compared to what’s happening, but really, the girls are so young, that nobody should be surprised by it.

I’d recommend this to people who love slow-build epic fantasy and want to baste in a world, not rush through it! Overall, a stunning beginning to a series, and I can’t wait for the next one.

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Bursts of Fire is the first book in a new trilogy, Addicted to Heaven and it would seem to have many elements I love in fantasy, in particular a strong bond between three sisters facing steep odds. However it also suffered from poor pacing, and what felt like an oddly developed plot. The Falkyn sisters, Meg, Janat, and Rennika are daughters of the imperial mage, or magiel, of Orumon, Talanda, and yet though their mother is a seer who sees a dark future or lack thereof ahead, she seems to do nothing to prepare her daughters with skillsets to deal more easily with what lies ahead, which seems to involve the worldings committing genocide. Seventeen-year-old Meg faces the daunting task of keeping her sisters safe, in a world where they cannot easily hide due to the "wavering" luster of their skin, revealing their magiel heritage. I found the world-building in the story to be frustrating due to a magic system that seemed overly elaborate. There are prayer stones of different precious and semiprecious stones, spells, and magiel abilities, which also appear to include traveling on different time lines. While I enjoyed relationship between the three sisters at times, I often felt the writing, particularly in the first half of the book, was somewhat choppy even though the pacing of the story itself seemed quite slow.

Bursts of Fire might interest older middle graders or high school students patient enough to get through the first half of the book. The politics and faith elements of the story will eventually engage the reader and could be thought-provoking. But it will take some effort to get there.

I received a Digital Review Copy from Laksa Media in exchange for an honest review.

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DNF @ 20%

The concept of this YA fantasy sounded so promising. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. I was honestly bored out of my mind. A big part is that I couldn't get interested in any of the characters and the slow pace.

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Great concept and initially very intriguing, however I fast became confused as there was just too much to keep track of and unfortunately I dnf'd about halfway through.

~ Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title ~

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Their legacy was stolen from them, and now they must steal it back, but first they must learn to control the magic given to them in order to protect the Prayer Stone from destruction.

BURSTS OF FIRE by Susan Forest begins a journey into the world of epic fantasy and brutal wars waged in the name of convictions, beliefs and power. Everyone has a role to play as the battle lines are drawn, can the three sisters restore balance to the world they live in? What will it take to bring peace when ideologies clash? Who carries the truth in their soul?

After a pretty chaotic and choppy start, this tale settles into a story of love, hate, religious beliefs, loyalty and so much more that at times I felt I needed to back up to verify what I had read. Three sisters are ill-prepared to face their destinies, are feared and do not truly come into any type of defined characters until over halfway through this tale. I am not actually sure I could believe in them.

That said, the scenic descriptions and world building are powerful and easily imagined. The concept of bending time was intriguing, but needed more development and be less dependent on the reader’s ability to mentally define what was happening and why
.
Certainly some good writing went into this one and Susan Forest has a delightful imagination promises to grow with each book she writes!

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Laksa media Groups! This is my honest and voluntary review.

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I really really liked the prologue and the first chapter! Of course they were a bit confusing, but that is expected for the beginning of a fantasy book. But then it continued being really confusing, and I could not really follow. My main problem was that there were a lot of kingdoms and kings introduced in a really short amount of time. And I just did not know who belonged to which kingdom, which made it really hard since the one kingdom attacked the other. But if then something was being said about a king, I didn’t know if it was the attacking
king or the one being attacked..
We follow different storylines in this book, and within the storylines there are also different POV’s. Which was also a bit too much for me. The only storyline I was really interested in was from the sisters. But to be honest, I did enjoy their story enough to continue the book for.
I just didn’t really care for the characters, I didn’t care about the war, and it was just too confusing.
But I really hope someone else will enjoy this book!

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I made it 50% into Bursts of Fire before I ended up putting it down and not finishing.

The premise was so amazing. There's multiple kingdoms and each kingdom has a line of magiels. Each magiel can go into Heaven and get death tokens for their people. If you don't eat a death token before dying you're doomed to wander earth as a ghost.

There's two kinds of magic in the story; magiels and worldlings. Worldlings can do magic but it's with herbs and spells and such. Magiels don't necessarily need those things to do magic. Magiels also have shimmery/blurry skin so it's easier to pinpoint who is magiel and who isn't.

So here's where my issues begin. We start the story with a high magiel warning others of impending doom. She cannot see beyond the next year or so of her life. Does she spend this time preparing her daughters for what she sees coming? No. They're pampered and barely given any skills to survive. But the mother makes plans for her kids when this event is supposed to happen, but doesn't share much with them about said plans.

So most fantasy stories I read have split kingdoms, etc. and the people have only known heartache and despair for their lives. This isn't the case in this story. As this story starts, the kingdoms have been peaceful for generations and the kings are kind and just (I mean except for one but no one wants to believe he'll turn on them).

I also struggled with how one king could suddenly overcome so many kingdoms and no one stood up to him or even tried? If there's that many kingdoms and he overtook one, how did word not eventually reach other villages and areas so people could band together? Not to mention, didn't the original lady who started the story predict WHO was going to turn on them?

As for the main characters of our story, the girls themselves are ok. They're siblings so there's a ton of bickering, which is ok to an extent, but I found I didn't really connect with the three of them on any deep level.

Where I stopped reading was when one of them who barely was aged 16 suddenly got into a physical romance with an older guy they'd met. There's no spark or hint of romance until suddenly there is and they just hop into bed. And the way he was described was much older than the girls, and obviously much older than the one he suddenly decided to sleep with.

My last issue was the execution of all the magiels, but the one who is ordering their execution wants to kidnap some and make new magiels? Wouldn't it have been maybe easier to take the magiel children and raise them how you wanted, instead of slaughtering them all and then being like, "Oh hey we should probably maybe have more magiels except for just me."

I'm so disappointed because I really wanted to love this story. Like I said, the premise was so promising and I LOVED the idea of the gems and different magiels in each kingdom, but then one we get into the story it just didn't pan out the way I hoped.

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This is a book I was dying to read. Being the first book in a series, I allow for a lot of wiggle room. Between world building, character building the start of the plot climax that will ultimately leave on a major climax, plus many looming minor characters you know will come back in book two, I get that there will be a lot to be desired if you don't understand the point of book one in a series.

However, and maybe I've been spoiled by the recent opening to series recently (Illusion of Thieves, Storm Crow, Dark Shores for example) but this book just couldn't grab me at all. Even though I really liked the magical system (which was unique) and multiple points of view- which I have come to really enjoy- the book just dragged on with a very heavy handed writing style. I wanted forgive it for the sake of it being the first book but there was nothing to keep me interested beyond the unique magic system.

I couldn't remained interested in the characters. The political "intrigue" was not very intriguing and the plot never got going at all. I even put it down and came back to it knowing I had plenty of time to read it but it just wasn't what I hoped it would be. I was so excited to read it. And maybe my expectations were too high?

I just don't think that was it, though. As promised this will not be reviewed publically.

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This story was more of the same- mimicking the currently fantasy trend in YA literature. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great. I would choose a different fantasy for the particular patrons of my library.

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The worldbuilding is certainly interesting and unique. I've never read a book with that type of magic, mainly time magic related to spiritual tasks and visiting the gods. I enjoyed the perspective of 3 sisters of different ages, temperaments, and abilities.
However, I DNFed at 50%. The story dragged by very slowly after the initial action and I lost interest in what was going to happen after nothing happened for a long time. The main characters started to make choices and decisions that I didn't understand and couldn't' relate to. There was a lack of direction with the plot.
I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it either.

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Bursts of Fire is an intriguing YA Fantasy read. In her debut novel Susan Forest tackles a number of important issues: addiction, self-harm, fear of change, abandonment, religious oppression. Each of these is dealt with in the larger context of war and who to trust. It’s a coming-of-age story that doesn’t pull any punches.

One of the things I really appreciated about Forest’s novel is the way it deals with some hard issues. This is not literary fantasy by any means, but it is guided by certain themes and topics. These work together to engage the reader and make the characters feel authentic. If anything, there were a couple times when I think the sheer number of issues Forest tackles meant that not as much time could be given to any one individual issue. Regardless, all of these are set within a fascinating and complex world. There are six kingdoms who have lived at peace for generations. Each kingdom has a line of kings and a line of magiel. The magiel use special prayer stones to enter the heavens with their respective king and retrieve death tokens for their citizens. When someone dies, their death token is placed in their mouth and this allows them to pass peacefully to the afterlife. Failing to have a death token means the person would be cursed to wander the world as a ghost. King Artem and his magiel aren’t content with this situation, however, and bring war upon the land. The religious system is unique and interesting and I love the relationship and interplay between the magic and religion. Speaking of the magic in this world, there are essentially two types. Worldling magic, which involves spellbooks and ingredients, and Magiel magic—which allows a magiel to bend time, bringing an old bush back to life, for instance. I found myself captivated by the complexities that this system introduced.

There were several things that didn’t work well for me, however. First and foremost among these was that I simply didn’t connect with any of the characters. Our main characters are three magiel sisters and Huwen, the son of King Artem. I found all of them to be more annoying than anything else, though toward the second half of the novel Meg did begin to grow on me, and to a lesser extent, so did Janat. This was not helped by the fact that the pacing was fairly slow for the first two thirds of the novel. By the time the end game kicked in things were moving along at a good clip, but it felt like there was quite a bit of setup, and this was particularly true in the first third of the novel. In addition to not connecting with the characters and finding the pacing slow, there were a couple plot holes in the novel. One of these relates to how King Artem was able to rapidly conquer five other kingdoms without them becoming aware that any of the others had been conquered until he showed up on their doorstep. To me, this was never explained satisfactorily and significantly impacted my engagement with and enjoyment of the novel.

A unique magic system and excellent world building make for a promising read. Unfortunately, the characters didn’t work for me and slow pacing and plot holes kept the novel from living up to the promise of the setting.

5.0/10

2.5/5 stars.

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This turned out to be an amazing story in spite of hot mess at the beginning. Yes that's right I thought that initially the writing was terribly fractured as it jumped about giving multiple points of view which meant I had to read sentences again to work out which character the author or her editor had jumped to. Thankfully I persevered and got well and truly sucked into this amazing world although it didn't quite end the way I'd thought.
Essentially we have a society that worship several Gods and also a small faction who want to worship just the one God. In order to go to heaven when you die a person of royal blood and a Magiel ( someone who can perform magic and also travel in time ) must journey to heaven and appeal for tokens enabling the wearer to pass on into heaven and not remain a ghost.
We meet three sisters who are charged with the task of meeting up at a certain point in time in order to change cataclysmic events. What I found ironic was that the author also introduces three brothers whose lives impact on the girls although I hasten to add that essentially it's the sisters who rightly dominate this story. My favourite character was without a doubt Meg as she's brave and resourceful. Plus there's sibling rivalry although these girls are very young and their innocence and naivety all plays a part.
It's a brutal war fought out on these pages and all because of something that isn't explained until the end. Sadly the one person behind all the atrocities doesn't really appear much until the final few chapters. However it's left in such a way that I'm left wondering if just perhaps Meg and a certain brother will become entwined. Yes I admit I'm a hopeless romantic and this fantasy with its unique take on time travel has left me wanting more.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

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An interesting, action-packed fantasy with a fresh twist on magic, a deep sisterly connection and a hard take on mental illness. I fell in love with the premise immediately. I just wanted it in my hands ASAP.

And when I did finally get into Bursts of Fire I was pretty excited. It sounded like it was going to be a hard and wild ride.

Unfortunately, that’s now the experience I had.

The writing was slow and heavy in a way that made me have to reread entire paragraphs just to grasp what the hell happened. There were so many characters coming at you all at once that it was difficult to follow along. Multiple POVs is usually not so bad; you have an entire chapter to read and follow the character.

But in Bursts of Fire? Multiple POVs. Per. Chapter. There would be a few paragraphs and then BAM. POV change. While each POV shift was clearly marked by a paragraph break and a symbol, there was zero time to settle into the character’s head. You had to be with them for a five, maybe six paragraph (or less) and then you’re being whipped away to someone else’s POV.

I figured I could get used to it, and the longer I could read, the better I’d be at slipping back into the character’s heads. But I didn’t read long at all. I had to call it quits when a character spent several pages lusting after a handmaiden and then trying to kiss her, getting caught, and then masturbating for another page or so.

I’m all about sex-positivity, but the way it was done felt like this wasn’t even written for a teen audience. A lot of the writing didn’t even feel like a YA book. It read way too much like an adult fantasy with too many “teenaged” characters.

Bursts of Fire just wasn’t for me. I had to DNF it before I even hit the 20% mark.

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Despite the slow slog at the beginning, I think that Bursts of Fire is a fantastic start to what I think will be a riveting series. Forest has developed a truly unique world with an interesting system of magic and gods. The squabbling, spoiled sisters start out as somewhat unlikeable characters but develop into their own over the course of the book as they navigate a world that is falling apart. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

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I found this book compelling from the start. There were patches where I got a bit frustrated with it but I did enjoy it overall. I will certainly be looking out for the next in the series.

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