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Blue Fire by Janice Hardy
Feb. 22nd, 2015 09:35 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
Nya must leave the only home she’s ever known.
Trust the very people she always hated.
And become the weapon she never wanted to be.
War rages in Nya and Tali’s dystopian world yet somehow the sisters have survived, forced into hiding. But when their escape plan is ambushed, Nya finds herself alone and friendless in an alien city.
Nya’s only hope of rescuing her sister is to risk sharing her secret with the underground resistance – and face the new menace that threatens her world …
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The second in Janice Hardy’s tween-marketed PAIN MERCHANTS TRILOGY broadens out the world building and the scale of Nya’s struggle but the large cast of characters made it difficult to keep track of who’s who and results in none ever really standing out. Having read the first book in 2009, I also found it difficult to remember what had happened before because Hardy only gives a brief recap of previous events. There are some great ideas here – I still like the way healing can be used and exploited and I liked the fact that the opposition are not homogenous and has its own divisions. Unfortunately the book simply isn’t long enough to allow for life to be breathed into the characters or for the scope to be fully expanded. I was also disappointed in the Duke (who’s two-dimensional at best), the traditional fantasy focus on a legitimate heir rather than examining democracy left me disappointed and the ending is rushed and failed to satisfy me. There’s still enough here for me to want to check out the finale but this sequel simply didn’t live up to the promise of the first book for me.
Trust the very people she always hated.
And become the weapon she never wanted to be.
War rages in Nya and Tali’s dystopian world yet somehow the sisters have survived, forced into hiding. But when their escape plan is ambushed, Nya finds herself alone and friendless in an alien city.
Nya’s only hope of rescuing her sister is to risk sharing her secret with the underground resistance – and face the new menace that threatens her world …
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The second in Janice Hardy’s tween-marketed PAIN MERCHANTS TRILOGY broadens out the world building and the scale of Nya’s struggle but the large cast of characters made it difficult to keep track of who’s who and results in none ever really standing out. Having read the first book in 2009, I also found it difficult to remember what had happened before because Hardy only gives a brief recap of previous events. There are some great ideas here – I still like the way healing can be used and exploited and I liked the fact that the opposition are not homogenous and has its own divisions. Unfortunately the book simply isn’t long enough to allow for life to be breathed into the characters or for the scope to be fully expanded. I was also disappointed in the Duke (who’s two-dimensional at best), the traditional fantasy focus on a legitimate heir rather than examining democracy left me disappointed and the ending is rushed and failed to satisfy me. There’s still enough here for me to want to check out the finale but this sequel simply didn’t live up to the promise of the first book for me.
