Birght Fire by MJ Austin Pages: 177
Published by Createspace Independent Pub on January 17, 2015
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, mythology, Young Adult
Source: ecopy from Author
Delfia thought she was a normal girl about to turn sixteen until her adoptive parents are murdered by creatures from the underworld. Her life gets thrown into chaos as she teams up with her best friend, a strange guy, and a prophetess. She soon discovers her biological father, Hades, ordered the attack on her and her family because a prophecy names her as the one to take him down. She must first complete a set of tasks to free Persephone, her mother, from the underworld and defeat Hades. Will she be reunited with her mother or will she get sucked into the underworld?
Bright Fire is the first book in a young adult fantasy/mythology series. Delfia is the daughter of Persephone and Hades, only she never knew that little tidbit about herself. I love mythology stories and I have a special affinity for Persephone and Hades. Bright Fire was a little different than most Hades fiction that I have read. Here he is more of the traditional bad guy, and certainly not the love interest like he was in the few other young adult books he was featured in. Bright Fire took a unique perspective on the fantasy tales and I enjoyed it. Plus, I can’t get over how much I love this cover. I just want to stare at it all day. Sigh.
The book felt kind of stilted at first. Delfia’s parents are killed almost instantly and no one really had a reaction. People were shocked and sad, but Delfia’s mom’s best friend just acted like nothing even happened at all. The book said she was sad, but in the very next sentence she told Delfia and her own daughter (Delfia’s best friend) “ok girls, be good, don’t get into too much trouble, i’m off to work.” This was just hours after both of Delphina’s parents were brutally murdered in their own home. It just felt really strange to me. But moving past that, once Delfia meets up with Alec and starts to get some more answers on what she is and what is going on, the action really starts to fly. It was easy to get lost in the story then.
This is a fun read, but as many other reviewers have warned (on goodreads) this book could have benefited from an additional grammar and general flow editing read through. But it should be noted that this is M.J. Austin’s first book, so I am sure the next book in the series will not make some of the same mistakes Bright Fire made. Overall though, Bright Fire was an enjoyable read. There is a cliffhanger at the end that is a pretty brutal one. It will leave you wanting the next book.
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Gorgeous cover! Too bad this didn’t quite live up to it.
Isn’t the cover awesome? And the book was good, but I can recommend better hades/persephone stories out there.
Ooh I’m featuring this author for a guest post soon! So glad you got a chance to read and review it. I wanted To,but just time time time (not enough that is) lol. 🙂
Glad you liked it, and although I don’t care for grammatical errors in books, I feel like first time authors kinda get a pass in my book — unless it’s like atrocious which didn’t sound like ths book was.m
Great review!!
Link me up to your guest post when you have it. I want to read it! 🙂 If you get a chance sometime you should read the book. It was interesting. Or if you are looking for other ya/na mythology books just ask because I have so many to rec!