Fierce Like a Firestorm by Lana Popovic ISBN: 9780062436894
Series: Hibiscus Daughter #2
Also in this series: Wicked Like a Wildfire
Published by HarperCollins on August 21, 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 320
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“Lush. Delicious. Bewildering. And darkly magical. Popovic has created a world that you tumble into from the very first words and wish you could stay in forever.” —Evelyn Skye, author of The Crown's Game
In the bewitching conclusion to Lana Popovic’s sumptuous and romantic teen fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo, Malina must rescue her twin sister from a magical power more dangerous than Death.
Twin sisters Iris and Malina thought they knew how to reverse the ancient curse that haunts their line, the spell that destines them to use their gleams—unique forms of beauty-manipulating magic—to entice and enchant none other than Death himself. But both sisters thought wrong.
Instead of ending the wicked bargain with the power of her infinite bloom, Iris is taken to an uncanny realm between this world and the next. Only, unlike all of Death’s companions before, Iris’s body goes on the one-way journey along with her soul, arriving in a kingdom never meant to sustain a living girl.
Left behind, Lina searches for a way to save Iris. But as Lina unearths the dark secrets that bind her family and Iris tries to outwit Death on his own terrain, a power resurfaces that even Mara, the original witch mother, fears.
Now both sisters must learn to fully embrace their gleams—or else they’ll truly lose each other forever.
Characters: 6, it’s not fair to compare the sequel to the first book, but I was much more invested in the characters in book 1 because they were so very fleshed out. That said, a lot of the story revolves around Malina in this book, and there’s huge character growth for a number of characters, in a way that didn’t undermine or excuse past bad behavior.
Atmosphere: 6, the language in both books is evocative, bordering on florid. But either I stopped noticing it after the first quarter of the book, or it wasn’t used as much. Certainly the tension went up. No spoilers, but suffice to say some of the big bad descriptions were easy to imagine, and unsettling.
Writing: 6, I feel like she balanced character development with plot with a very imaginative setting. To be perfectly frank I got thrown with the chapter perspective switching. I wanted to stay with Malina, where the primary action was, rather than with Iris where things seemed to be a lot of angst and fractals.
Plot: 7, once I got used to switching pace when perspective switched every chapter, I was able to stay with the high stakes. This book answered a lot of questions raised in book one, and also humanized a lot of the side characters. It took away those easy answer moments, which I enjoy- actions have consequences and sometimes when you think you’re doing the right thing, it comes back to bite you because you didn’t fully understand the whole situation. Jasna and that whole situation was easily my favorite.
Intrigue: 7, I was pretty hooked early on and remained so as the stakes got higher and higher. Trying to figure out how to defeat the baddie, trying to sort time sequences, trying to fit the puzzle pieces of Mara together- that was all part of my wanting to pick this up whenever I could.
Logic: 8, I don’t remember a lot of the first book in the duology, but I think this was in line with everything revealed in that one. The characters absolutely acted in accordance with their motives, for better and worse, and there was no neat little happy ending, which I appreciated for its realism. The further worldbuilding was a nice touch, and helped fill in some of the WTF gaps while providing space for characters to become more.
Enjoyment: 8, I really liked this while I was reading it, and it helped me get out of a pretty staggering reading slump. I will continue picking up books by Lana Harper Popopvic. She’s not mind-blowing good, but thus far she’s written solidly enjoyable books. And that’s enough for me.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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