Ignite the Sun
Author: Hanna Howard
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ⭐️ /5
Reviewed: Maya

Sixteen-year-old Siria Nightingale has never seen the Sun, and has been told since she was a child that light is dangerous and Queen Iyzabel has ‘saved’ the people by shadowing the kingdom in Darkness. I thought the premise for this novel sounded really interesting and it would help me to get back into reading more fantasy, but from the very beginning, I found the book to be lacking in depth. Each character felt flat and there didn’t have any true unique features or personalities. The romance element felt unrealistic and extremely forced, for example Siria is scared to be with this person she has loved since forever but then half an hour later, they now have a passionate relationship. Siria started off as a snobbish teenager, but by the end of the book she was a powerful and inspiring female character, but I thought this transformation was not well executed and it also felt forced and very stereotypical. I disliked the way every time there was a problem, it could be quickly and efficiently solved as each character would suddenly develop new powers which conveniently would solve everything or an ally would be living half an hour away, ready to nurse characters back to health. Basically, I liked the way there were numerous problems but I didn’t like the way each was perfectly solved in a day or two. I was easily able to guess what would happen next long before, which took away the ‘surprise’ elements and quickly made the plot feel slow-going. The plot felt very forced too and there were many elements in the plot that I felt had happened too many times before in other books and so it wasn’t able to engage me at all. To conclude this review, the premise sounded really interesting but the characters didn’t have enough depth for me and the relationships, problems and plot felt really forced. I wasn’t able to become engaged with the book because of these issues.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Blink and Hanna Howard for allowing me to read this free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. Publishing date will be the 18th of August, 2020.

This review will be posted on our Instagram page on the 9th of May, 2020 at https://www.instagram.com/thebibliophilebuddies/ and on Goodreads on the 9th of May, 2020 at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/113692168-isla-and-maya

I really want to give this book four stars, but the more I think about it, the less I can justify it.

I think this could be a good book for younger readers who are trying to dip their toe into the High/Epic Fantasy genre but don't want to start with these huge series that can be quite intimidating.

But on to a more in depth review. For starters, this book has a stunning cover, it's what drew me in and the premise of chosen one who doesn't know they're the one is basically one of my ultimate book trope weaknesses.

I did enjoy the writing style of it, and it read quite easily. However, halfway through the book a thought popped into my head and I just couldn't shake it. 2/3 of this book is basically The Fellowship of the Ring if it were written for a teen and young adult audience. There are a lot of YA books and series that are very similar in genre and storyline but it's normally something I can forget about and go back to enjoying the book. Here it was incredibly hard. You have the journey on the road and through the forest, trying to hide from the enemy's soldiers. Then you arrive at some villages where you cannot reveal your identity and are reunited with your 'fellowship'. To finish it off, there's a mountain pass...

The latter part of the book was definitely my favourite where it was a lot more original in its lore and storytelling. There are still some things that definitely bother me like Siria's seemingly unlimited powers. Either you portray all nymphs to be extremely powerful and show that, or you limit her powers more. There's such an inbalance, and it always bugs me when that happens. Also, it just makes the rationalization of "Oh, Sunchildren are dangerous." almost logical. Secondly, sometimes it feels like there's a bit of lazy writing going on? This is not something I like to say, and if it happened only once I'd be totally fine with it. But there's a couple of times where Siria gets teleported away or faints during very impactful and battle scenes. I understand that perhaps writing battles aren't your thing, but then why not make it more of a chase or find another way to keep the tension high? As a result of this, I didn't really care for any of the action scenes in this book and that saddens me, since it's something that normally really excites me since I can just see it come to life in my brain.

All in all, it's an good book, but I don't think it's for everyone, especially not for people who read a lot of high fantasy books.

* ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

~ ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~

As of beginning, Ignite the sun has hooked me right in. Mages and nymphs of all kinds… yiipee!

Once upon a time, there was something called the sun ... In a kingdom ruled by an evil witch, the sun is just part of a legend about light-filled days of old. Luckily for everybody in the kingdom, Siria Nightingale is headed to the heart of the darkness to try and restore the light--or she will lose everything trying.

We meet Siria, an almost 16 yo girl that does all she can to gain the approval of her stiff parents by entering the grace of Queen Iyzabel. She has two close friends, gardeners Linden and Yarrow (unaccepted by society and her parents, obviously), that tell her stories about the days when sun was up in the sky (fifteen years ago). They follow her when she is sent to boarding school in order to be close to her, where she prepares to become… something closer to the inner circle of the Queen. At that boarding school, she is teached that light is evil, the same as mages and nymphs, exception being off course the Queen *eye roll*

Imagine her surprise at the discovery she makes at the Choosing Ball, which is also her birthday, and that sends all her world upside down, as she sees that every single thing in her life was a lie: she is the last sunchild and a major threat to Iyzabel.

“  ‘How do you know?’  /  ‘Because sixteen years ago today this kingdom celebrated the birth of a special sunchild. And that child escaped the witch’s bloody purge because she had parents powerful and clever enough to protect her.’ ”

As of this moment, we follow her journey to escape the queen and to gain fully her powers in order to fight back.

At 60% in, I already decided that this masterpiece will rise the author in my personal hall of fame, next to Maas, Pearson, Kagawa,and Chima

Brilliant story and such a marvelous growth of the main character! A stunning debut!

I must say that I was first drawn to this book because of its beautiful cover. YA fantasy has always been my favorite genre, so I had high hopes for this novel. While I loved the lush worldbuilding with all of the paranormal species featured (it felt like a D&D campaign), the rest of the story fell flat. The characters were underdeveloped and in Siria's case, underdeveloped and overpowered, feeling like cutouts of the expected character tropes in a fantasy novel. Because of this, it was hard to get wrapped up with the characters and their relationships with each other. The pacing of the story was also off, spending around a hundred pages of just them traveling without any major plot points occurring except for emotional angst. While I personally wasn't a fan of this book, I feel that anyone starting the YA genre may enjoy it because of its straightforward plot and whimsical world.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has me gripped from the very start, Siria is desperate to fit in to her realm and serve the queen in her court under the darkness. That is until the ball where everything changed as she find out she is the last sunchild, princess of Luminor and also a nymph who harnesses her powers from the sun. There is the battle of light and dark, romance, and finding your true self in this book with some fantasy mixed in was the whole story is surrounded by magic.

Overall I enjoyed the story and the lore behind all the different characters in the story but I was still wanting more as you learn that the villain is a witch and how she gets her powers but it just came from nowhere and in the end had no real build up which could have added more to the finale. I feel like too much time was spent on the travelling portion of the story and made the ending seem rushed as a lot of action was squeezed into a few chapters, it rounded up the story but I would have preferred more depth to the battle between light and dark and the powers they both had. I did have a soft spot for the romance in this book did melt my heart a little bit and helped to bring some understanding and compassion to them characters but luckily the romance was just an addition to this story and not the main fuel.

This book is perfect for teenagers wanting to get into fantasy and romance as it doesn’t have too much lore that you get confused and has a linear storyline to follow. The messages in this book come across well and send a positive message to younger readers.

In the end I am happy I got the chance to read Hanna Howard’s debut novel and look forward to seeing what other stories she creates in the future.

The story of ‘Ignite The Sun’ follows a young girl Siria who lives in a kingdom constantly shrouded in darkness and can’t even remember seeing the sun. Queen Iyzabel says she shrouded the kingdom in darkness for the people’s protection years ago, but Siria hates the darkness and longs to see the sun that her best friend and his grandfather told stories of. But she’s desperate to please her parents, so she swallows her distaste for darkness and travels into the Queen’s court for a chance to take a place there, however what Siria discovers at the Choosing Ball changes her life and possibly the kingdom forever.

One of things I enjoyed most about this was Howard's ability to create a world rich with mythology and mythical creatures, that felt like it didn't follow the same rules or expectations of magic seen in traditional fantasy. Whilst the author took a quite literal take on finding light in the darkest of times, I enjoyed the idea of there being nymphs who drew power from the Sun, and in contrast there being a witch who drew power from darkness. It was clear Howard devoted a lot of time and creative energy into building the mythology of this world, you could see it in how she unfolded the Queen’s backstory as a witch, and from how as the characters travelled throughout the land Siria learnt more about what used to exist. I think it’s a world she could continue to write in because I’m sure readers would love to learn more about it.

it’s also important to note the exploration of family and friends in this novel. The author in particular seems to focus on forming female friendships, and that is seen through Siria, Merrall and Elegy. Whilst the former of the two at first hated each other their relationship did grow and develop into a friendship, in contrast to the immediate almost sisterly-bond we saw between Siria and Elegy. Whilst these relationships weren’t fully developed, nor do I think enough time was spent focusing on the dynamics of the three together just having fun or being friends, it was clear the author had devoted time to these friendships and I appreciate seeing any form of female relationships in YA fiction – especially as the genre seems to always lack it.

However, I was left feeling like our characters were underdeveloped and they felt at times more flat than round. Whilst they all had distinct personality traits and none of them bled into each other, which is a common problem when characters are underdeveloped. Whilst it was still possible to connect with them, I in particular connected with Siria and Merrall, this wasn't enough to save them from the fact they were underdeveloped and maybe be forgotten be readers.

As well as this, I would have enjoyed having a love interest that was flushed out a little more. Whilst I enjoy the best friends to lovers trope, and this was explored in 'Ignite The Sun', I felt like Linden was underdeveloped as a romantic interest. We didn't learn a lot about Linden and his hopes and desires, and it felt like he only existed to play the role of a romantic interest rather than be his own character.

Also there were some concepts I struggled with in the book. I felt like some of Siria's powers as a nymph, such as flying, overpowered her compared to everyone else and that ability in particular didn't feel like it fit the mythology of the world. Perhaps this a personal taste issue but I did find myself wondering if Siria had too much power compared to everyone else, and therefore defeated the purpose of the struggle Howard was writing about.

Overall, this debut novel had a lot of potential but unfortunately didn't meet up to all of it. Whilst it definitely had brilliant points such as the world building, it quite often felt overshadowed by the book's flaws.

The kingdom of Umbraz is ruled by an evil witch who fears and despises the sun. She has deemed the sun and all magical beings as evil, and has set out to destroy them, including Siria, the last sunchild - a nymph who can harness the powers of the sun and who might be the key to bringing the sun back to the kingdom.

On a whole I enjoyed the story, particularly the many magical beings and the fascinating lore surrounding them. I only wish that was explored further, I would have loved to know more about the mythology of this world.

I felt the characters lacked depth and weren't properly sketched out. I could not connect to and relate to any of the characters, especially the MC. Another thing that ticked me off was how the MC always conveniently fainted whenever some tension arises. This takes away from the adrenaline rush these type of scenes generally bring.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not going to lie, I couldn't put Ignite the Sun down. It was just so interesting and entertaining from the very first page. In it, you will meet Siria. She is sort of living a double life and doesn't know what is fact or fiction until people basically tell her. Even after finding out the truth of who she really is, and who her family actually is, still takes forever for her to believe it.

The amount of times she questions everyone close to her did end up annoying me in the beginning. I get it, they lied.. but they didn't know who to trust. Plus the whole magic thing about being forbidden to talk about it made it a smidge hard as well. Details though.

Besides that, this book also has a reunion or two, betrayal, magic, and a little battle. Her entire journey to the rebels and then her home was okay. Yes, it did have it's boring parts but the pacing and action were what kept me going. Oh, and the little romance that wiggled it's way into my heart. Yes, I had a ship and no I won't give anything away.

In the end, I am so happy that I got the chance to dive into this.

"Everyone's afraid of things. It's how you react that makes you a coward."
Ignite the Sun's premise drew me in right away and piqued my interest in it. The magical world being built up in the book is something I would like to see explored more and expanded upon. The mythos being created is something that drove me to finish the story. I wanted to learn more about nymphs, pixies, and witches. The aspect of the witches and how they gain their abilities was the most intriguing part of all; I've never read of another thing like it. The pacing of the book was well done and brought the reader through the highs and lows they were supposed to experience throughout Ignite the Sun. The ending was sweet and the battle scene was well plotted out. I appreciated the more open ending. I believe that one book is all that is needed to tell Siria's story, though perhaps over a longer period of time there could have been more character growth. Ignite the Sun has a little bit of everything: magic, a new world, romance, the dualistic dance between evil and good, a BEAUTIFUL COVER, and tight ending.

The writing style, in the beginning, was too dry for me; it was flat out boring. Siria reminded me of the trope "I'm not like other girls" and that annoyed the hell out of me. However, throughout the book, she began to grow on me and I enjoyed her character more. All of the other characters were nice, but that's all they were. They lacked depth and I could not connect with them in the way I wanted too. I could see Howard tried to make them as real as they could be but they did not add anything more to the story. When they were in the story I enjoyed it and when they weren't in the story I still enjoyed it. They needed to add something to it with their characters, not just build up Siria's character. I wished we could have gotten more background on Queen Iyzabel, maybe a few POV from her would have given the story more depth. Ignite the Sun seemed too plotted out and stereotypical at times which I did not like but other aspects of the book helped me to overcome these feelings to give Ignite the Sun a three-star rating.

In a world dominated by darkness, where its inhabitants almost forgot about the sun and learnt to fear it while living completely with no lights, lives Siria Nightingale, whose purpose in life is to please her parents and become one of the loyal servants of the Queen Iyzabel. However, she quickly discovers she is the lost sunchild with the power to bring back the sun and defeat the evil queen of darkness. She is of course in complete denial about the reality she is facing, but she will embark on a journey to learn the truth about her powers, her world and herself.

It is very clear from the beginning where the story is going and for the rest of the book, this is a story with a very simple plot and predictable situations. However, I have to admit I actually enjoyed this debut novel. If I consider this story not from an YA-addicted adult’s point of view, but from a teen’s point of view, this is actually not bad.

There were a few things that made me cringe a little bit, though. Sometimes characters do or say things that are so over dramatic, which made me laugh. For example, the association of black hair with darkness and blond/copper hair with sun was a tad childish, or freckles being considered a clear sign of being a sunchild, it was too simple an association. I am just concerned it may send the wrong signal. The “banished banshee” called Elegy was the most simplistic character, and the writer could have come up with another name or function for this character, maybe? Yet, this gives a nice fairy tale touch to the overall story.

In conclusion, it has a solid structure and world building, it’s well written, fast paced, and overall entertaining. I liked it because of its simplicity – and of course the cover is stunning, it’s worth it just for that.

How do you ignite the sun in a world teeming with darkness? Howard explores the answer in this lyrical fairytale that feels at once familiar and fresh. Her innovative world is filled with fascinating characters that will stick in your heart long after you turn the final page. A vivid story, beautifully told.

The main thing this book lacked was exposition - the disruption occurred so immediately at the beginning of the book that we never got a chance to establish the normality and build the world, instead this was done through rushed info-dumping after main conflict had be revealed. As a result of this, the characters didn’t offer enough sense of determination because the constant action left no room for them to develop into dynamic people.
The antagonist of the novel receives very little dialogue which seems counterintuitive for such a significant role. It’s a shame that elements of fantasy such as nymphs don’t get the most coverage within the genre.
This being said, I didn't particularly dislike any elements of the book - the writing style had several lovely passages, it was just the structural pacing which was detrimental to my cohesive understanding of the plot.
Overall, the book seems like the second half of a complete novel which has been put in fast-forward to squeeze into 336 pages.

2,5 stars. The book was nice and it had potential but I didn't“t like it as much as I thought. I liked the world building and the growth of the main character who went from spoiled brat afraid of her powers to confident and brave heroine. On the other hand the other characters sadly didn't‘ have the same depth and the villain in particular needed way more page time, she was more like a device to move the plot forward instead of a real character. A lot of the events of the story felt too convenient which took away any kind of suspence, I never actually feared for the characters‘ safety. I was not interested in the romance because if felt unnecessary and I personally prefer to see the romance bloom and evolve instead of having people whose feelings were born off page before the beginning of the book. Overall, I think most the problem I had with the book were a result of this being the author‘s first novel so I‘m still curious to see what she will write next!

Fifteen year-old Siria Nightingale lives in a world shrouded in Darkness; an outcast at the Gildenbrook school for Girls with her unusual red hair, who longs for affection from her emotionally distant parents. If she can just leave behind her childish fascination with the mythical sunchildren, and ignore her growing fear of the Darkness she knows she could be chosen to serve the Witch Queen Iyzabel. She would finally fit in. Even if it would mean leaving behind her only friend, the gardener’s grandson, Linden.

I’ve always been fascinated with magical beings so to have not only mages and witches, but water naiads, wood nymphs and even a banshee was what truly drew me to this book. Sadly, there’s not nearly enough about these characters and their interesting quirks. This fairytale is all about Siria. It made certain revelations and plot points inconsequential because they weren’t given enough build up. The same could be said of the world she inhabits. Early on, Siria sees “emerald-paned street lamps” in the misty green Royal City of Umbraz, a description which filled me with exuberant delight, to then be quashed without any further exploration. I would have loved to see more depth.

That aside, this book has its heart in the right place; the messages of acceptance, belonging, courage in action and the true meaning of family, are wrapped up in a cute fairytale with a classic good-versus-evil and chosen heroine storyline topped with a sweet first-love romance. I would have enjoyed this as a teen, and benefited from its positive message. Hanna Howard’s debut novel is a wholesome and interesting take on the fairytale story.

Full review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/48999856-ignite-the-sun

Ignite the Sun was a very enjoyable read. I loved the characters. I liked that the main character had some flaws to work on and ACTUALLY worked on them. Her development was great. The romance was adorable.

Ignite the Sun is a book about a world covered in darkness. There hasn't been a single moment of sunlight in 15 years, ever since the kingdom overthrow that ended up with many magical beings dead and the sun gone.

We learn about the way the people live through Siria, the heroine, as she goes through the feelings of wanting to make her parents proud, wanting the attention of the (evil) queen, learning about her powers, learning the truth about her country and her own history.

At first I wasn't expecting much, honestly, especially not when it seemed this would be a ~chosen one~ thing, with Siria being the oh so special sunchild. But really, I love Kingdom Hearts and the whole light/darkness theme, so is anyone surprised I enjoyed this so much after all?

The writing flows so well and for the first time in a while I didn't want to put a book down! I hope this cured me from that awful reading slump, really.

I enjoyed how Siria took a while to get used to the idea of having powers and using them. And the fact she had to practice them too, instead of being ~the best~ at using her magic after 16 years thinking she was normal and it was ~evil~. It felt a lot more realistic and relatable to see such a young girl go through her fear and anxiety regarding her own powers, the path she was put on, and even if she could be with the boy she loved or not, in fear of hurting him.

The romance wasn't a huge part of it, I feel like this mostly focused on Siria and her own development, which was actually nice despite me being a sucker for romance all the time. Linden was adorable, and their romance was so sweet and felt like a genuine friends to lovers (though I do think we could've gotten more scenes of them interacting before jumping to the confession and all that).

All the ally characters are also really cool and I've adopted Elegy in my heart together with Siria!!! She's a baby!!!

So yes I enjoyed this quite a lot!!!!! (also the cover is just so pretty I love it)

#IgnitetheSun
#NetGalley
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the E-arc copy of this novel. It has a great story. A lot of detail in one book though.

This book is about as blah as you could get really.

“Ignite the Sun” follows Siria as she works to gain the Queen’s favor only to learn that she is the lost princess whose death would allow darkness to reign forever and with the help of her friends she escape north to bring back the Sun.

The characters in this book are so one note that it seemed like cardboard cutouts slowly moving along a road to get from point A to point B and I’ve never been so bored. There were so many components here that if they were given the proper time and care to fully flesh them out this might have been a better read but instead we get brief instances of characterization only to fall back to this one dimensional view to the point that every triumph or downfall came across to me as a simple shrug.

To be fair near the ends I glossed over a lot because beach time I got excited thinking we were going to get something interesting it would get pushed aside for pages upon pages of nothing and I wanted to dnf so bad. We have someone who is brand new to the mythology and history of her people and yet I’m to believe she figures it out by herself right before it’s needed to take on the most powerful witch of all time? I don’t think so.

It’s clear the author was trying to breathe life into the idea that to defeat darkness one most be able to find the light and it’s even quoted here something along those lines but sadly the one holding the match in this book is someone so lifeless that it’s a wonder she ever managed a spark.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this book.
I have to say I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as I thought I would but that seems to be a theme with me lately.
Let’s start with what I did like. I loved the mythology and the creatures involved in the book. I really enjoyed the take on witches. I would have also liked to see more about the villains and maybe get their perspective. I found the overall plot to be okay but not memorable. The writing was okay but things seemed too convenient at times and I think the author has potential.
The characters didn’t have much development and I couldn’t connect with them. The main character is the typical chosen one and I found her to be annoying. The villain didn’t have that much page time and I wish there was more. The romance I didn’t like and it felt forced. I also didn’t think it was needed and I’ll be honest the focus on looks annoyed me.

I was pretty let down at myself but, I had to stop reading this around the halfway point.
I was very intrigued at the beginning and the world building was pretty great.
The plot itself had the potential to draw me in, but it all felt very predictable. Evil Queen, Chosen one. You get the idea.
I will say that I appreciated the writing. I was able to follow along nicely. But I just felt that, unfortunately, I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters on a deep enough level to continue.