Daughter of Fire: The Darkness Rising (Destiny and Darkness #2) by Karen Frost
- Publisher: Ylva Publishing, November 17th 2019
- Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ+
- Format: eARC
- Page Count: 196 pages
- My Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)
Content warnings: death, blood, cult, kidnapping, mind control
This story has certainly kept me on the edge of my seat. Frost made great decisions on where a chapter should break, and I find myself unable to even pause reading.
In part two of Daughter of Fire, Aeryn (16) finally learns that her family is likely alive. And some people around her are definitely up to no good. When things break into chaos, can Aeryn and her fellow students save the kingdom they don’t really care for?
This is an action-packed fantasy that is heavy on magic. It also has very good YA romance. I love Lyse (~18), and she is so kind and helpful. Even though the story is in Aeryn’s first-person perspective, we still get to see Lyse’s struggles, especially since many things take form in magic and thus allowing visualization. The jealousy drama between Aeryn and Lyse makes me a little uncomfortable. Yet it is also kind of adorable because they are teenagers and confused about their future. I feel that Asher is only a plot device for the drama. She definitely deserves more and I am happy that the next installment features her story.
“[W]e should all be the hero of our story.” — Asher
I wondered about many seemingly random facts while reading, but as the story unfurls, almost everything clicks. Frost has done a wonderful job at piecing information together and delivering an intensely paced plot. I did find it odd that spell-casting suddenly becomes very important in this second part, having been addressed little in the previous book. And one question I still cannot get out of my head was whether or not Aeryn could have used magic outside of the university to be banned from the city and subsequently able to go home. Perhaps the consequences would not be worth it.
Am I being too suspicious of things, or are Aeryn and her friends too naïve? They seem to think that everything is simple and people with power are trustworthy. I guess I got too nervous on their behalf. Too often SFF involves the main characters trying to save everyone while making a mess of things, and I am happy that Aeryn and her friends are not like that. It is very refreshing to see them, eager teenagers, not taking everything into their own hands immediately.
Aeryn and Lyse remind me a lot of Kiena and Ava from Breaking Legacies, respectively. So much so I would consider the ending almost a retelling. And Aeryn’s relationship with fate is also a lot like Joslyn’s from Princess of Dorsa—they both fight for the women they love at a great price. These two novels mentioned here are my favorite sapphic fantasies of all time, so I might be too spoiled by them to love Daughter of Fire.
“The gods stopped paying attention to the mortal world centuries ago. They have their own quarrels to attend to.” — Reddek the Wise, first Chancellor of Windhall University
The book closes on a cliffhanger that I am slightly put off by because purposefully mystifying readers by having main characters withhold information never sits well with me. That being said, this story is too enjoyable to miss, and I am intrigued to find out more in the next book Destiny’s Choice.
Daughter of Fire is a wonderful page-turner of a YA high fantasy with cute slow-burn romance between two teenage girls. If you are up for a thrilling read that also makes you melt a little when the main character looks at her crush, Daughter of Fire: Conspiracy of the Dark (part one) and Daughter of Fire: The Darkness Rising (part two) are a great YA fantasy to read. [2 Sep 2020]
I received an electronic review copy from Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
