For me this book starts off incredibly slow, so slow it took me almost a full day to pull myself through the first few chapters. After that though it was very easy for me to lose myself in. I would probably rate this closer to a 3.5 star if Goodreads allowed half stars, simply for how much I felt like I had to read through just to get to the actual meat of the story, it was quite literally 1/4 of the book, but I am glad I stuck with it as it did pay off in the end. On NetGalley, where I received an advance copy of this book, it does say the series is going to be a series of interconnected standalones that build on one another but I feel like more needs to be done with this one, maybe that’s just me though.

[3 stars]

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC!

A heist that seems too good to be true on a colonized island nation, FIREREND is the introduction to what will soon be a set of sweeping fantasy stories. Alternating between the three main characters of this story, Allara, Auren, and Nymm, we see how the heist is a necessity to each of them at this particular moment in their lives and how they need to capture their mark at the height of the Summer Festival. Fun characters and the relationships between them, building tension over a heist that surely can't be this easy, and a truly unexpected turn in the last third are explored very well throughout this novella.

The characters, both main and side, are fun and interesting in their own ways. I love what we learn about them over the course of the novella as well as seeing how they interact with others. We really see how much they need this payout, each for their own reasons, and what they are willing to do for it, especially when it comes to Nymm. Beyond the main quartet, we spend a little time with some side characters. Not much, considering the short length of the novella, but enough for each of them. Characters like Cyrie and Roan, though we only meet them once, each are bursting with character and are remembered through the rest of the story. I hope we get more of them in other installments of the series in the future.

The first three chapters are my biggest problem with this story. These initial chapters, one to introduce each character, are stilted and formulaic. Character descriptions are weirdly specific to the point of exposition, ““She looked about four years younger than a woman of twenty-six, but was an absolute terror.” is not a way people talk. The characters are good, don’t get me wrong. I like how we meet them and see their relationships to others and the stress in their lives at this time. It’s just the flawed delivery of exposition that bogs them down.

Once we move past these initial three chapters, though, we are into it. The set up to the heist is fun and we get to see characters interacting in interesting ways. I loved Nymm’s conversation with Shae, its weight on Nymm for the rest of the novella, and how it’s noticeably leagues better than Allara and Taran’s conversation from the first chapter. Character descriptions get better as well. “She shared Allara's bronze skin and dark hair, but she was so much duller, the spark of their heritage battered by illness and immobility.” was a line that stood out to me as being particularly vivid.
Action sequences are written well throughout the whole book, but the ones leading up to and during the climax are done fantastically. Tension is kept high and the question of who and what they are doing this for is always present. I think that slightly more foreshadowing could have been implemented in places, but it did not ruin the climax at all for me.

As it is essentially the 0.5 book of the series - the catalyst to what's to come, I assume - there are loose ends left that a standalone novella would have had to clear up. The character of Roan is the most glaring, as they appear in one scene at the start, is mentioned one more time, and never again. I have faith that they will be an integral part of the series upcoming, but they stand as an obvious forgotten pawn. I’m trying to not let this be a major detractor from my review as, again, I know that this is the setup to a series, but it still really stands out almost as an error.

Though the Goodreads description is missing it at the time of this review, the NetGalley description states that each book in the series will be connected, but able to read independently. One one hand, this is very fun and reminds me of the pulpy large scale fantasy paperbacks that I always saw at the library, open to pick up whichever ones were there. On the other hand, I’m having trouble seeing how this story can be continued in that way. We leave our characters in such specific predicaments that it feels necessary to pick up pretty quickly after the events. Not a criticism of this book inherently - it also lessens my complaint about Roan earlier, as they could be a fun small cameo in this story but a major player in future ones - but something I was thinking after finishing the book.

I did enjoy FIREREND and am excited to see what the author has in installment for the future installment of the series.

This book was just not for me. I wish I had seen the triggers on the blurb instead of in the book itself. Thankfully they were not personal triggers that I struggle with, but it did set a darker tone for the book than the cover indicated. I should have read the blurb more in depth.

I also struggled with the writing style. Maybe I was lacking context and prior info needed from author books, but I was struggling to grasp what was happening. I enjoyed the playlist at the beginning of the book though and appreciated the map. The cover art is also gorgeous.

I think most fantasy fans will enjoy this one. I think I am just not a huge fantasy fan and need to navigate away from the genre more (I’ve been reading it too much recently). This is a me thing, and I think fantasy fans will truly enjoy this one.

Thank you for the opportunity to sample this eARC! I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.

Wow. I was not expecting the darker turn of events this took in the latter half! One moment took me by surprise, and garnered an audible GASP from me.

⭐4.5⭐ (For how much I enjoyed it, and the potential I see in this story, I'm happy to round up and leave the book its first 5 stars on Goodreads!)

I found the story engaging from start to finish. It was character-driven, and I loved how naturally we got to explore every character's story while developing the plot in the beginning. The impact of doing this well was that I CARED about the characters. The swtich between the character POV's was done very well, and every character felt distinct in some way with their own personalities and motivations.

I LOVE a good heist story, and the Six of Crows duology is an all-time favorite of mine in this space. This story feels reminscent of that in the best ways, with the gritty city of Averna and the gang of criminals coming together in their guild to plan their next big job.

I thought the novella was well-paced, and it had a great plot progression. It's snappy and packs a punch 127 pages (e-arc) without being too rushed or too slow. The ending left me wanting more, and wishing this was a full length novel! I can't wait to read the next story.

I liked the descriptions of the characters and cities that were provided in the beginning to set up the story. I think it's helpful to have that in a novella like this, but also in general as a reference point to come back to in a fantasy story. I enjoyed the writing tone and style overall, it was simple and effective.

A few things that could be improved:
1. The crucial conversation between Taran & Allara in part 2 didn't feel as natural and well-developed for some reason. I think it could be refined in its delivery for better emotional impact. Maybe it's part of the early ARC this way, and has already been improved.
2. A few more chapters could have been included in the conclusion to this story to wrap-up "the event" and to explore the immediate fate of all the characters before leaving open threads to their consequent journey's.

On the whole I think this world has a lot of potential, and it's certainly a hidden gem that I'm happy to have stumbled upon because the cover caught my eye.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the e-arc of this story. I received it for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving my honest thoughts and opinions in this review.

look man, when you say “interconnected standalones” and “each book can be read separately” i do expect that the books have a solid ending where at least a single thread is wrapped up for each character. i do not expect that our characters are all in precarious positions with no closure. however…….. the last 20% was just characters being confronted with big things and then the book ended before any decisions were made or anything. i really enjoyed the first 60% but then it felt like the book was not going to end in any satisfying manner and it kinda fizzled for me. hoping the next novella just continues off this story but im not sure bc of the whole “standalone” thing

I was coming in with a dissatisfied iffy feeling from a dnf'd arc when I started this book, and I was very surprised (and relieved) when it didn't leave me confused or bored.

The pace was well-paced. The author dropped us right into the meat of the plot, but in a way so natural and effortless. We got to know the characters one by one and the descriptions made it easy to imagine the quaint but gritty world I was in.

It was at about 50% when I started to wonder about the "fantasy" tag this book had because so far what I'd read was about four people in the underbelly of a port city set in some historical time. Magic finally came in at the last quarter of the book and ironically it was what took away half a star from the rating I'd intended to give. I never really thought much about the details or characterizations of this book initially - it's a novella anyway - but the later portions of the book really made it apparent some world building and character development were needed. I didn't like the rapid re-familiarization of Auren and his sister, I didn't like how everything seemed to happen all at once near the end and without explanation too.

The one saving grace for this series is that the synopsis talked about this being an interconnected series and for me this did feel like a #0.5 of a fantasy series. It felt like the kind of prologue you'd see in a series that described the event that happened a hundred years ago which was the catalyst for the world you see now in your book one. I hope I made sense.

That being said, I'm definitely interested in picking up the next installment.


Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I would rate this a 3.5 stars. I thought it was pretty good. The start was fairly slow when we were being introduced to the characters, but once we got past like the 45 % mark, it really started to pick up the pace. The characters were all very interesting to learn about though, and they had quite a bit of dimension to them. Also, I thought the ending was really well done. I was surprised and I didn’t see any of the ending coming, but I would’ve loved for the book to be longer. I feel like there could’ve been more details and descriptions, especially about the world because right now I don’t really know much about the world and I really want to know more about it. I am definitely going to be reading the next book in the series and overall I thought that the plot was very interesting and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.