The Fires of Vengeance

Immediately starting from where The Rage of Dragons finished, The Fires of Vengeance finds us once again back with Tau Solarin as he and Queen Tsiori desperately plan to stop the invasion promised by the Xideen people. Hadith composes a complex plan to hopefully stop the Warlord fulfilling his promise to launch all-out war against the Omehi people.
Meanwhile, in Palm city. Ambassador Odili has declared the Queen???s sister as the rightful ruler and is gathering his forces to launch a civil war that will tear the Omehi people in two.
However, demons are breaking through the barriers of hell and Tau must protect his Queen and all those he holds dear.
With his new book The Fires of Vengeance, Evan Winters firmly establishes himself as one of the brightest new voices in fantasy as he weaves a captivating tapestry of pulse beating plot and rich characters, all encapsulated in a distinct world that will get it???s hooks into your reading brain.
I really like The Fires of Vengeance! No, actually, I love the Fires of Vengeance and with this second instalment of his The Burning series, Evan Winter puts the gears into drive and puts his foot to the floor, delivering a truly spectacular book.
Everything is far more developed in this book, his characters, his plot and the world that the Omehi people inhabit.
In the Fires of Vengeance, the plot slows down a little bit and I think that the book is altogether better for it. I also did not find it as dark as the first book. Whilst Tau???s thirst for vengeance is still there, Winters gives the reader some breathing space to allow the characters to develop, and I think some of my favourite pieces are in these quiet moments, and this is where Evan Winter???s writing shines through.. For instance, there are some passages in which Tau spends time with Queen Tsiori in her tent listening to the secret history of the Omehi people whilst sat around a fire. I loved these moments and the scene that Winters describes. I could almost smell the smoke and feel the heat from the fire.
The character of Queen Tsiori is expanded considerably, and we start to understand her motivations for the actions that she is taking and how she actually wants to unite the Omehi people. But not only that, how she wants to diminish the cultural dissonance between the ruling class and the lessers of the Omehi.
Despite it been quite brutal in places, Winters also injects humour and tenderness into the story, and there are many times the book passes the six laughs test, as I laughed or caught myself smiling quite a lot through this book
There is the introduction of some new characters in ???The Fires of Vengeance???. I have already told you that Queen Tsiori is expanded on, but there are also others which hold and contribute to the story. The standout of which is Nyah, the Queen???s Vizier. She is at once hard and unforgiving, but she develops throughout the book and you begin to see her softer edges. In fact, for me Nyah gets one of the standout lines of the whole book. This happens when she is with her daughter just before one of the big battle scenes. As the men are discussing tactics, Nyah turns to daughter and states
???This, Chibo, is what men call leadership??? Nyah said walking up with her daughter. ???You can tell they are doing it when you see several of them not doing any work.???
That had me laughing for a good few minutes.
In addition, the two Queens handmaidens are equally as good as they become part of Tau???s team of fighters and they establish themselves as a prominent part of the story.
But don???t worry, the old guard are there too, Hadith and Uduak and although they don???t play as prominent a role as in the first book, it is good to see their inclusion in the story and again there are some moments of tenderness in their story. As injury befalls Hadith, we see just how close the relationship between Hadith and Uduak has developed and how close they are as friends.
Whilst on the whole, the story takes place from Tau???s point of view, there are some instances where this changes and we get to see how others view Tau. One of these is when the point of view changes to Duma. We get to see Tau through the Xideens??? eyes, and on another occasion, the point of view moves to Esi and we see Tau as an enraged demon coming to change her life for ever.
I can???t say how much I enjoyed this book. Unfortunately for me, I finished the book just before going to bed and I was that stoked up I couldn???t sleep for the next hour while I came down a bit!

I'm not starring this review because I have accepted I am not the target audience. I enjoyed a lot of the small moments, like the conversations between Jabari and Tau. Or when Tsiora is telling her story. But for whatever reason, I could not get through this book at my usual pace. I kept getting distracted, playing with my phone... The plot just doesn't grab me the way I want it to. I was way more interested in Esi and her narrative voice, but we don't get it for very long. Maybe I just can't relate to Tau's level of vengeance?

It's rare that I think the sequel is better than the original, but Evan Winter did a great job here. It was so exciting from start to finish and I could barely put it down. I loved Tau's character development, especially towards the end of the book, as well as his relationship with the other characters. Can't wait for the next one!

I didn't think I was gonna pick up this sequel so soon after reading the very fiery and bloody The Rage of Dragons but the characters were still on my mind, and I decided to continue before I forget what I loved about this world. And I was definitely right to do so.

The author takes us right back to where we ended in the first book but there's no time to breathe. Right from the get go, there are plans to make, betrayals to endure, warlords to kill and a civil war to win. This book pits the Lessers against the Nobles, demons against humans, Xiddeen against Omehi, dragons against dragons, and sister against sister. Along with the dragon fight sequences, we also have multiple encounters with demons in their world and those action sequences were some of the most brutal. But the one showdown I was anticipating the most felt quite anticlimactic and I missed feeling the emotions going through the heads of the fighters during it. It's all still brutal and violent and extremely fast paced, hardly leaving any time for contemplation or mourning. And there is a lot to mourn for - the author breaks our and the characters' hearts over and over again but leaving none of us any time to grieve, because there is more to fight for if they need to survive. I almost felt numb after a point because I couldn't process so much painful heartbreak.

But despite the relentless and very well written action sequences, we also get to know more about the history of the Omehi people, the reasons for the hierarchy of power between the Nobles and the Lessers, and the author leaves us a lot to ponder about - which history is true, are some people naturally powerful than others, does that necessitate oppression, what does destroying this privilege and making everyone equal entail, is such drastic change even possible after centuries of discrimination and fighting. These are questions that linger in the minds of our characters, especially the ones who have been historically oppressed, as they continue to fight for the Queen in the hope that change may be possible in their lifetime.

This book is very much still about Tau's revenge. His ultimate goal is to kill Abasi Odili and he will not be stopped at any cost. But his character arc is paved with grief and pain and the author has decided he needs more of it. Even as he believes he only has revenge in his heart, he loses more people he cares for, sometimes making him question the price of his purpose. But he knows he can't stop even if it destroys him. But I was very glad that his friends and Sword brothers support him every step of the way. He may be the champion and Hadith maybe grand general, but they are still always questioned by the nobles about their worth, but I was glad that they all stood up for themselves and their people, proving that they are anyone's equal.

It was nice to get some perspective from Tsiora and see what she is feeling about this civil war with her sister. She is young but definitely determined, has a goal in mind and is totally set on achieving it, whatever it takes. She could be sweet at times, but there were also times she displayed her cruelty. And watching her through her sister Esi's POV gave me pause about her true nature. But Esi herself has her own beliefs and prejudices and despite her childhood trauma, I couldn't sympathize with her enough because of her attitude towards Tau and the Lessers. Nyah is a very competent vizier of the Queen, always ready to protect her, even from herself. She butted heads with Tau a lot because of their differing opinions about what needed to be done, but her loyalty was commendable. Hafsa is a healer who is another character very good at her job, lending both voice and support for her patients, and saving as many people as she can. I was so glad to see so many interesting women in this book and I'm hoping it continues.

In the end, this was a throughly engaging and action packed sequel, battering the reader's hearts with more pain and heartbreak. It also expanded the scale of the already epic story, ending on such a dreadful note that it's obvious that the next book will open with another thrilling battle, and bring more violence and death to our characters. That's ofcourse not gonna stop me from devouring the next installment of this series as soon as I can get my hands on it, and I can only hope that it will be before the end of this year.