Title: Heart of Flames
Author: Nicki Pau Preto
Series: Crown of Feathers
Page count: 640 pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
You are a daughter of queens.
the world is balanced on the edge of a knife, and war is almost certain between the empire and the Phoenix Riders.
Like Nefyra before you, your life will be a trial by fire.
Veronyka finally got her wish to join the Riders, but while she’s supposed to be in training, all she really wants to do is fly out to defend the villages of Pyra from the advancing empire. Tristan has been promoted to Master Rider, but he has very different ideas about the best way to protect their people than his father, the commander. Sev has been sent to spy on the empire, but maintaining his cover may force him to fight on the wrong side of the war. And Veronyka’s sister, Val, is determined to regain the empire she lost-even if it means inciting the war herself.
Such is your inheritance. A name. A legacy. An empire in ruin.
As tensions reach a boiling point, the character all find themselves drawn together into a fight that will shape the course of the empire-and determine the future of the Phoenix Riders. Each must decide how far they’re willing to go-and what they’re willing to lose in the process.
I pray you are able to pass through the flames.“
Goodreads blurb
God, I’m still trying to collect all my thoughts from this book. It took me almost two months to get through. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it was sooooo long and because it was so emotionally charged. Mixing that with everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, it took me a minute or two. But man was it a great sequel.
As far as characters go, we got a lot more development for some background characters like Elliot and Kade while continuing Veronyka, Val, and Sev’s arcs. Tristan is the only one who was really sort of lacking in character story, but I think that’s because we got so much of him in the first book and because his story is so intertwined with Veronyka’s. Val’s story did not go in the direction I was expecting it to, but now it’s become clear that she’s going to be the main antagonist of the story.
The only thing that I didn’t like was the length of it. I felt like there was a lot of filler that wasn’t really necessary and didn’t really add anything to the main plotline. Hopefully some of it is going to pay off in the next one!
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