Firebird delivers a bold and addictive start to a dark romantasy series that blends Roman mythology, dragon shifters, and a simmering forbidden romance. The world is brutal and richly imagined, and from the first chapter, it’s clear that Malina and Julianus are two forces caught in something far bigger than themselves. Their connection is intense and immediate, leaning into the fated mates trope, but there’s a softness beneath the heat that makes their bond feel earned rather than superficial. I especially enjoyed Malina’s quiet resilience and the ways she holds on to her agency, even in a world built to take it from her.

The pacing is tight and the plot has real momentum, with just enough political tension and backstory to keep the stakes grounded. While the romance develops fast, it avoids feeling hollow. Julianus’s internal struggle and the presence of his dragon’s voice added a layer of emotional depth that worked well alongside the high heat and action. The master-slave dynamic might be a sticking point for some readers, but it’s framed more as protection than possession, and the book does acknowledge the imbalance without romanticizing it. If you're drawn to emotionally charged stories with found family threads, dragons, and a morally complex setting, Firebird is a solid pick and sets up the series with plenty of fire.

I was interested in this book as I love Ancient Rome and romantasy, and I was intrigued by the sound of the world Cross has created in Firebird. I did very much enjoy Cross's take on Ancient Rome and appreciated that she's obviously done a lot of research as well as putting her own unique spin on it! Unfortunately, other elements of the book just weren't for me, namely the central romance being between a master/slave. I can see how the author has tried to balance the power dynamic between them, but it didn't land for me and I still found it uncomfortable in places. I also found the main female character to be very passive/reactive (arguably unsurprising given her circumstances) so it didn't feel like the story had much drive.

I'm glad to see they've since added a content warning to the description on other platforms!

I really liked lots of elements in this book, the setting, the fast paced action, the magic system, how quickly the MMC fell for the FMC,… I could go on. There are so many books around now with an ancient Roman setting, but this one has just enough unique elements to the story line that it didn’t feel like a retelling.
Thank you to Juliette Cross, NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had high expectations for Firebird, drawn in by the original setting of an ancient Rome ruled by dragon shifters and a protagonist with empathic powers. However, the reading experience turned out to be disappointing in many ways.

Malina is a young woman from Dacia who, because of the war, ends up becoming a servant to Julian, a member of the aristocracy in a Rome populated by dragon shifters. He takes her from the battlefield after recognizing her as his mate. The premise had the potential for an intense, slow-burn romance—but the relationship between Malina and Julian, which is central to the story, falls flat due to a poorly executed insta-love. The emotional connection between them simply isn’t believable.

The master–slave dynamic is… strange, to say the least. Julian never officially acknowledges her as anything more than a servant, and continues to expect Malina’s service even after their relationship clearly becomes more intimate. This aspect is handled in a confusing and unbalanced way that makes the power dynamics uncomfortable rather than nuanced.

The political and social elements of the story are barely touched upon, limited to a small cast of characters who, honestly, didn’t pique much of my interest. That said, I did find the chapters from Julian’s POV more engaging than those from Malina’s.

In short, this isn’t a book I would recommend, and I won’t be reading the second volume—especially since, from what I understand, it follows different characters. The ending was frustratingly anticlimactic and left me unsatisfied.

Firebird was released last month, and I have been so excited to read it.
I was a little worried as I had heard some negativity surrounding it, which is why it took me a while to get round to it.
It's set in a reimagined ancient Rome but with dragons. As soon as I heard this, I was intrigued. But I'm also a bit confused with a lot of people's backlash surrounding the use of slaves. Just to clarify, this isn't me condoning slaves but in Ancient Rome, they had slaves. So that part of the book is accurate and quite frankly expected for me.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, and I will definitely want to read the next installment to find out what happens next.
There is some heavy subject matters so 100% check the trigger Warnings.

3.5 ⭐️
I really enjoyed Firebird! The world-building was rich and immersive, and Juliette Cross did a great job weaving Roman history into a compelling fantasy setting. The chemistry and tension between the main characters were palpable. I'll definitely be continuing the series.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

5 🌟
3 🌶️

- Ancient Rome times
- Dragon Shifters
- Slave / Master (for protection)
- Dark Romantasy
- Gods, Goddess & Mytholgy of Rome

Malian & MMC meet briefly when she’s 17 as she’s dancing with her sister.

MMC becomes general in the Rome Army, his uncle is emperor
He saves Malian and to keep her safe she becomes one of his slaves in his household.

I really enjoyed it. The dragon shifting mixed with Ancient Rome was really good.

It reads like a standalone but I hope there’s a second book within this world.

Not my cup of tea

When I started "Firebird" by Juliette Cross, I was equally excited to finally dive into the story, but also very skeptical due to the many negative reviews.

I enjoyed the first third of the book. The story built up tension well and I just thought to myself "yet another example of how you always have to make up your own mind". But the further the story progressed, the more it lost me as a reader. At a certain point I found the love story between Malina and Julian really awful. Apart from the master x slave relationship, which unfortunately wasn't done well here and had a really bad aftertaste, I found it emotionless and implausible. Malina's 380 degree turn made her lose my sympathy points.

Unfortunately, "Firebird" only gets 2 out of 5 stars from me and no reading recommendation.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and author Juliette Cross for this eARC

I thoroughly enjoyed Firebird by Juliette Cross

I liked how she took parts of different mythology and interview them with her own world building and lore.
I found the dragons very intriguing and wish we had explored them more/learned more about them, but I have hope that we will get that in subsequent books.
Similar with Malina’s magic, it sound so cool and we know from the beginning how she can use it as a weapon, I just hope we get to see more of that in the future.

I wish the relationship between Malina & Julian had a bit more development. While not insta-love (thank god!) it did feel rushed/too fast, especially given the fact that technically it its a slave/master romance, even though this aspect was only ever felt in one or two scenes and even then it wasn’t between the our MCs, but a show for other characters. Still imo the romance would’ve greatly benefited from a slowburn.

As a whole I really enjoyed it and will continue with the series.

DNF at 15% - I struggled to get to grips with this book for a long time - I mean the premise was fascinating, woman with magical powers ends up involved wth dragons after her family is wiped out - intriguing! What we end up with is a book where men turn into dragons (Roman soldiers at any rate) and also walk around HALF turned into a dragon - so put that thought in your head and try and join it with the beautiful young witch who has been captured by a high ranking commander in the army - the same army that has killed her entire family - and now kidnapped her and made her his slave in his big house on a hill. And then is leering after her because from the first time he ever laid eyes on her he thought she was hot - so now he owns her. Right fair enough then. I have no interest in reading about a "relationship" where consent cannot be freely given - or about half man half dragons to be honest either!!

Firebird blends dragon shifters, Roman mythology, and witchy magic into a fast-paced romantasy that’s entertaining and full of promise. The world-building is creative, especially the way it reimagines Roman gods and political intrigue through a fantasy lens. I especially loved the mythological nods and the strong start.

Malina is a great lead—resilient, smart, and easy to root for. Julian’s character falls into the morally grey category, but I appreciated that his decision to “take” Malina as a slave was framed more as an act of protection than dominance. Their dynamic never felt exploitative, even if the romance did lean into insta-love/fated mates territory a bit too fast for my taste.

While the story had a lot going for it, it lacked the emotional depth and development to fully land. But it’s an engaging read and sets up some really exciting possibilities for book two. Looking forward to seeing where the series goes next!

This is a Dark fantasy with some dark themes. including elements of master/slave relationship, attempted sexual assault (not between MCS) and dubious consent (not between MCS)
Our FMC is a witch with the ability to read and manipulate emotions. After some event, she is under the ownership of our MMC,who is the nephew of the emperor and has the reputation of a ruthless general. When Malina finds herself in his possession, she will slowly discover that she is a slave only in title and that Julian is not what he shows to the world. We will get a first taste of the beginning of the revolution against the emperor, political games but also the bond between the characters.
This was engaging,fast paced and very plot intrigued but it felt a little bit flat. The insta love trope wasn't to my liking and somehow from Julian's side I could justify it, from Malina's side I expected more building and it felt rushed.
I would like to learn more about the dragon hierarchies and I hope this happens in the rest of the books. As for those afraid reading this one because of the captor /captive trope ,i a gonna say that ,we mainly see it developing in the secondary characters, such as how the emperor behaves, etc. (he gets an award for best villain performance), as Julian doesn't treat Malina as a slave , he almost kisses the ground she walks 😅
we see the beginning of the revolution and some political games that seemed very interesting but they were underdeveloped,the same goes for the stories behind some secondary characters that played crucial part to the plot . Overall has great base for something amazing but because of the lack of depth , insta love and sloppy development of the stories of some characters and of Roman mythology ,it wasn't. It was just ok!

I really enjoyed this, the story is full of magic and adventure, as well as a sweet and steamy romance. The world-building is wonderful and it’s a highly addictive story.

I'm devastated that I struggled with Firebird, because it was a highly anticipated ARC for me, and I expected it would be a highlight book for the year. I am a big fan of previous books by Juliet Cross, and so was excited to read Firebird, especially as it had the unusual setting of the Roman Empire which has been a particular interest recently.

The first couple of chapters did kind of engage me when we were learning about Melina's family and seeing her dancing, though I was a little confused about who was who, I expected this to be clarified as time went on. However, I found nothing likeable or engaging about either main character – Melina or Julian, and what I thought would be an interesting political romantasy plot had very little substance. I also struggled with the pacing, finding it very slow, and therefore hard to remain engaged – it took me several weeks to read this book when normally it would take me a couple of days, and I only finished it because it was an ARC. Towards the very end, things did pick up a little, but I'm not sure it was worth the amount of time invested in the book.

The most interesting thing I read was the teaser for the next book which actually sounded far more interesting than this one.

One of the things which I struggled with most in the book was the power dynamic. I have no issue with books that play with power dynamics as part of the storyline, where there is some kind of parity at some point. They are a huge amount of fun and a joy to read. However, this book had an actual slave and master dynamic where Julian kept her as his slave, collar and all, to keep her 'safe' and close, because she was his fated mate.

I have some serious issues with this, not least because there is no part of that power dynamic, despite her magic, that is anywhere near equal. In reality, he would've known that she would be much safer away from him, even for a few short weeks or months. And he could've waited until she was no longer a slave before things got physical, so that there wasn't such an imbalance between them. But for all his fine words, he is nothing more than your standard monster who growls mine when somebody else is near his toy.

So, overall, I didn't love it! But I did love the idea and I really wanted to like it more than I did. Which means I will probably read the second book, especially because it did sound, from the teaser I've read so far, more interesting than this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

If this had stayed closer to what the blurb promised, it could’ve easily been a five-star read for me. The slave/master dynamic really caught me off guard and made parts of it uncomfortable. That said, the worldbuilding was cool, the pacing kept me hooked, and I genuinely enjoyed Juliette Cross’s writing. I’d read more from her for sure.

DNS

Trigger warnings were added, which is a very good thing and makes readers be able to make an informed choice. However, at the moment it also makes it a book that I won’t pick up.

Please read your trigger warnings.

This is a dark romance with a slave/master dynamic set in ancient rome.

I like the FMC and she isn't just a rinse copy repeat of popular FMCs, she has some sass yes, but a normal amount given her circumstances. I also think the ancient rome setting was something fresh and we don't see a lot of aso it was a nice touch, which was a nice blend of fantasy and history and made for a powerful setting mirroring the main characters.

The romance is a dark romance and you need to know this going in. There was a power imbalance throughout and this needs broached with care. I feel that there where a lot of popular tropes and themes here and it is a very powerful romance. And of course to make it an effectice romance you know there will be redemption at some point. There were definitely some lines thrown in for the 'booktok; crowd to be quotable and didnt feel very realistic or natural within the perimeters of the conversation.

I feel the book needed a tasd more depth on the plot but this is a common theme with romantasy whereby it can be difficult to make a strong fantasy plot with a strong romance. It was enjoyable but i feel it could have been stronger, and ended very abruptly, but I'm hopefuly book 2 may be able to go in more depth if there is an established fanbase,

If this were just a story as pitched in the blurb, this would have totally been a 5 star read. However the slave/master dynamic came out of nowhere and was very uncomfortable to read at times. I have to say though that this is my first Juliette Cross book and I loved her writing style, so I would like to read more from her.

This book was marketed poorly.
This is a book with a slave/master relationship. This is a very uncomfortable dynamic.
I didn't realise this was a part of the story when I started reading.
This also has insta-love which is a trope I dislike and the MMC may have 'mated' with the FMC when she was underage.

(Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!)

Okay, so this book was not what I was expecting when I saw it was about Romans and Celts — and honestly, I’m kind of obsessed with how chaotic and creative it got. I mean... Dragons and Witches in ancient Rome? Yes please.

In this world, dragons rule (literally), and everyone else? Basically enslaved. So right off the bat, you know this isn't your average historical fantasy.

We meet Malina, a Dacian witch and absolute badass, doing what she does best: dancing like a queen and catching the attention of Roman general Julianus Dakkia — who also just so happens to be a red dragon. There’s a little flirting, a spicy talisman moment, and then boom — time jump.

When they meet again, the vibes are very different, but Julian’s dragon? Oh, he’s decided. Malina is his. Cue the fated mates tension.

One of my favorite parts was that the dragon inside Julian actually had his own voice — it added such a cool layer to his character. I also loved the connections Malina formed with the other “slaves” — there’s a strong found family thread that gives the story some heart.

There’s a little enemies to lovers, a lot of political scheming, battles, magic, spice, and of course, dragon drama. It’s a wild mix, but it works. A strong start to what feels like it’s going to be a very dramatic and high-stakes series.

Will I be reading book two? Absolutely.