DNF at 30%

While the pitch and premise for this book had me intrigued, I struggled to connect with the story. The writing was enjoyable, but a third of the way in and I could not name any of the characters if you had to ask me, nor could I explain what was occurring in the book. Maybe I will give this another shot someday, but for now, I am putting this down.

The Boy with Fire was a truly fascinating read. Growing up as an Indian girl, it was hard to find stories (other than mythology) that were inspired by a culture I see around me every day, despite it being rich and beautiful to the core. TBWF fulfilled this desire of mine, as I got to read a Desi-inspired fantasy which made my heart soar. Considering that this is Verma's debut book, it is very well written. I can certainly see the next volumes in this series going places. The pacing of the book felt off to me at points, though I can excuse that to being a debut book. The plot twists were truly astounding and had me at the edge of my seat. Will definitely check out the next book!

i love the setting of the book. i love the characters. however, it took so long for something to happen. i understand it is to build the world but nothing really happens until 50%.

I was thoroughly enjoying my read of this book, but my download date was fairly close to the archive date (and to publication!) and I was only able to do a partial read, and have been waiting on it becoming available at my local library to finish it. So this is a partial review that will be updated! The worldbuilding alone that I was able to experience in the first third of the book was rich, lush, and beautiful. Elements of Indian mythology, elements of sci-fi, a grand political house of cards, and of course magic come together to create a world I could imagine clearly, visualize like a big budget movie set. I am looking forward to my library's much requested copy to become available, though I may have to find a bookstore so I can finish reading sooner!

The Boy With Fire follows three points of view, for the most part. The king, Leo, his daughter and heir, Elena, and an assassin, Yassen. Yassen is defecting from the assassin organization he’s been a part of since they recruited him as an orphaned child. He’s been made a part of Elena’s guard. It’s almost time for Elena to claim the throne. Elena’s coronation is what most of this book is leading up to. Until the coronation it’s mostly world building and character building, as well as, the politics of the kingdom and the potential arrival of someone called the Prophet.
I thought the world building was interesting enough. I think fantasy is just not my genre lately. I had a really hard time focusing until more than halfway into the story. It wasn’t that the world building was overly complicated because it wasn’t. It was detailed and complex, but not so much so that it was confusing. It was interesting, I just wasn’t invested. I don’t think it was any fault of the story that I wasn’t invested either. The writing was really good. There were quite a few parts where the writing really stuck out as good and memorable. I think I just personally need to take a break from fantasy.
I felt similarly to the characters. They were all well developed and interesting. But I wasn’t invested. Again, I think this was a me thing and not really the fault of the book. I liked Elena the most because she’s about to become Queen and her father won’t prepare her in the ways that he’s supposed to. So, she takes it upon herself to train from scrolls and literature. She’s stubborn and very obviously loves her kingdom. Yassen was an interesting character too because he’s finally back home in the country he grew up in and that brings some tough memories back up. He’s also not looks upon very favorably because of the assassin organization he was a part of. But he proves himself loyal. I think the twists involving Yassen were some of the better ones in the story and also the twist at the end with Samson was totally a surprise.
Overall, this was a well written and well explained fantasy world with characters that were well developed. I don’t have any negative things to say about the story aside from the fact that I wasn’t really invested in any of it, the world or the characters. But, one last time, I think that’s a personal thing that I’m dealing with for the genre of fantasy at the moment and not the fault of the story.

LOVE this book! Aparna Verma's woven an intricate world that I loved exploring and characters that are just so iconic. I cannot wait for TBWF 2. Full review to come soon!

pretty good!!!!! definitely going to buy a physical copy so I can read it properly. 100 percent recommend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3.5 stars.
I loved the premise of this book and the fact it was an intricate fantasy starring South Asian characters, but up until around 70% of the book, nothing really happened. However, the last part was showstopping.
I definitely can't wait to watch the author grow and read more of her works later on.

If you like scrolling through BookTok, you might have noticed the hype building around Aparna Verma’s debut novel. Well, it’s been almost two weeks since I finished this book, and I still cannot stop thinking about it!

The Boy with Fire is an Indian-inspired adult fantasy/sci-fi that is perfect for readers who love enemies-to-lovers, prophecies, corruption arcs, and betrayals.

Going into this book as a person of Indian descent, I was extremely excited, but I was also worried of setting my expectations too high. My worries were quickly set aside, however, as I sank into the world of Sayon and the desert kingdom, Ravence.

The worldbuilding is beautifully detailed. From the desert to the city to the mountains, it felt like I was transported right into the story. The descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells made it easy for me to sink in and forget I was in my bedroom. And the intertwining of sci-fi elements? Amazing! I loved the blending of high tech gadgets with ancient powers at play. It also made me so happy whenever I came across details like chhatri, diya, and dhols, which reminded me that this world truly was made for someone like me.

Although the worldbuilding was well done, the story would not be the same without its cast of complex characters. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of Yassen Knight, an ex-assassin turned royal guard; Elena Ravence, heir to the throne; and Leo Ravence, Ravence’s current king. In full transparency, I’m completely biased towards Yassen and Elena, who both stole my heart from the very beginning. Yassen Knight can be best described as a deadly cinnamon roll, while Elena Ravence is determined and sometimes impulsive, especially when it comes to protecting her kingdom. Leo’s perspective was an interesting one to read as he struggled between morals and protecting his daughter and Ravence.

Two other notable characters that I loved were Ferma and Samson. Ferma is very much a mother figure to Elena, but she is also a strong Yumi woman whose hair can harden and cut through diamonds. In the book, the Yumi are a race of skilled fighters inspired by the female warriors (chandikas) created by the Hindu goddess Kali. Kali is a form of the goddess Durga, who is known to be both a fierce warrior and compassionate mother. I love how this perfectly matches Ferma, the ferocious and loyal warrior who cares for Elena like her own daughter. Samson, nicknamed “the Landless King,” was also an intriguing character to read about. I was quickly invested in his friendship with Yassen and I’m eager to learn more about his past.

Now that I have calmed my internal screams after reading that epilogue, I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of The Boy with Fire. As an accessible adult fantasy/sci-fi with beautiful South Asian rep, you won’t want to miss out on this first book in the Ravence trilogy!

This book boasts a very interesting world and characters. The pacing in the book threw me off. The first 50% of was quite repetitive for me; nothing big really happened, it was more on the intrigue and build up on the events that would transpire at around 60%. There were some parts I thought were rushed but since this is a series, maybe there would be more exploration in the sequels. As for the characters, this was said to have a corruption arc, but after having finished, I had my doubts. Characters could have used more depth, and more build up on the relationships. I didn't feel attached to any of them, and the romance ruined it for me; it wasn't exactly believable. I guess my main qualms here would be that so much was pitched for it but it did not deliver much of those. Apart from that, the writing was great, straightforward and easy.

Sadly I did not enjoy this as much as I wanted to. I don’t really have much to say except it was average? It wasn’t bad by any means, but it just didn’t hook me like I wanted it to

I never really recovered from the messy amalgamation of sci fi to fantasy to really enjoy the book. I can definitely see the allure of the book but when The Boy With Fire was said to be inspired by Indian Myths, I didn't see the influence in this. This is more of Its me not you situation with the book and I wish the author all the success

The Boy with Fire follows Elena Ravence during the time leading up to her coronation. During this time, she is focusing most of her time trying to figure out how to wield fire. This is one of the abilities required of her in order to rule the kingdom. The book is told from two other perspectives as well, her father Leo, and Yassen, who has come on the journey with his friend Samson, who is also Elena's betrothed. While Elena focuses on her coronation and practicing wielding fire, Leo is preparing for battle against the Phoenix.

I really enjoyed how this book was told from multiple different perspectives, especially ones that are so different from one another. It was interesting to see how the mannerisms and thinking processes would change from character to character as it switched points of views. I also really liked how the characters were easy to connect with. The author's writing style made it very easy to enter the world and follow along easily with the plot and characters. The world building and magic system in this book was also amazing. I think it was super creative and although fire powers may seem a bit basic, the author did an amazing job of switching a few details up to make it different.

I did find that although this book was interesting once you got into it, it was a bit slow for the first half as a lot of it was the same routine. I think that it was a bit unnecessary how long the first half of the novel dragged on for, although I do think that in the long run it helped with certain aspects. Those being, it definitely gave you a better sense of the world and the magic system before all the major action started, which I found helpful.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the other books in this trilogy when they come out! A big thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with this E-ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley got providing me with an ARC of this book! I was intrigued by this novel because it was promoted as "The Poppy War meets Dune" and The Poppy War is one of my favourite books ever, so of course I had to pick it up. The Boy with Fire certainly has elements of both The Poppy War and Dune, which made it an interesting read. There were times when the worldbuilding got muddled for me, but overall, an exciting fantasy book to pick up!

I LOVED the first few chapters of The Boy with Fire. I thought it was poised to be a new favorite series that I'd recommend to all my friends. The outcast mercenary reuniting with his childhood friend and returning to his homeland promised interesting characters and relationships. The king and princess who worship fire and fear a prophecy promised compelling plot development.

Buuuut by about 30% in, The Boy with Fire went downhill for me. There were a couple things I liked. Love to see Desi-inspired world-building and Desi protagonists. The ambiguity over whether the fire was good or evil, whether the religion and the founding myth of Ravence were true or fabricated were interesting enigmas. I also enjoyed the clear distinction Verma draws between the state and the everyday people, who were more focused on trying to survive to truly care about the mysteries that consume the king, princess, and religious leaders.

But I had a lot more cons than pros for this one:

I didn’t feel the chemistry between characters.
I wanted WAY more Yassen and Samson back story.
I didn’t get Yassen’s motivations or desires.
I didn’t understand how Elena, who supposedly cares dearly for her kingdom, didn’t realize earlier on that her Dad was an asshole and/or going crazy.
I needed way less (or really none) of the Leo POV.
I couldn’t get over the huge plot holes and ambiguity around Yassen returning to Ravence and the deals made to either exonerate or execute him.
I was annoyed that this world simultaneously had some super advanced tech and other super old school infrastructure.
I felt like the story was crafted to misdirect the reader from the huge plot twist at the end, which tbh made me annoyed that I read a whole book focused on not super relevant events and perspectives--what’s the point of a twist that you don’t see coming, but that renders the preceding chapters pointless.

Many thanks to NetGalley and New Degree Press for giving me advance access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars, absolutely loved it. The characters were so well written, and I loved how all of them were human on the way that they all had flaws and weren’t fully good people. The plot took a while to pick up the pace, but when it did, it was amazing! Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t even process my grief before the next thing happened Elena and Yassan were such wonderful morally grey characters, you could actually see their thought process and what led them to make a good or bad decision. I’m so excited for book two!

Aparna Verma has phenomenally woven a tale of love and betrayal, fear and bravery, and sacrifice and greed into this richly inspired sci-fi fantasy world. Her ability to make readers vividly conjure the world as you go through the pages is hands-down one of the best I've ever experienced. You'll see the Indian culture lavishly embodied in this story, but I think Verma has still made this story uniquely hers and hers alone.

I found myself rooting and simping for her characters, mourning alongside and for them. The character relationships anchored the love I had for this book, making me smile and breaking my heart. Their imperfections made them real and relatable, I wouldn't have it any other way.

The desires of a boy to earn his freedom, a father to impart the best for his daughter, and a future queen to fight for her kingdom.. They will drive you to stay and finish the journey with them hand-in-hand, to burn for them and with them.

I believe this is one of the best stories out there as an introductory to adult fantasy for YA readers. It's a stunning debut and I'm excited for the next installment in this trilogy~ Support indie/small pub authors! This is worth every penny imo~

I have followed Aparna Verma on Tiktok for a while, and so was excited to read the ARC of The Boy With Fire. Though I read it just before release, I have held off on reviewing for a while in order to adequately collect my thoughts. I also didn't want my mixed review to cloud the excitement of release week.

I think the story of The Boy with Fire has potential. Aparna is a good writer, and her prose was gripping. To me, however, the book had several key flaws - including the way that it was marketed - that let me down.

The initial pitch of The Boy With Fire was "Dune meets The Poppy War". This has been pushed heavily by the publishers, to the point of it being the first line in the Goodreads summary. Additional marketing points: Adult SFF, morally grey characters, and political intrigue. Unfortunately, though I think the book had its positives, it did not deliver on what it had promised.

I see the superficial similarities to both Dune and the Poppy War - one of the most interesting aspects of the story was the blending of fantasy and sci-fi. However, the hallmark of these books is that they are sweeping, complex, adult political fantasies. Aside from the surface level, I do not see those hallmarks in The Boy With Fire.

Honestly, I think that for me TBWF was trying to pack too much into one book. The emphasis on religion was well-drawn, yes. But that left little space for the expansive politics, the worldbuilding, the characterization, which all suffered. It felt both rushed and bloated; though SFF often has a slower initial pace, very little actually happened in the first 70% of the story.
I can excuse slow pace if I see very carefully constructed characterization, intricate politics, or even thoughtful worldbuilding. TBWF laid the groundwork for all of these things, but many of them ended up falling flat.

I’m going to summarise my main thoughts here.

1) Religion
For me, TBWF’s greatest strength was the focus on religion. I very much had to squint to see the references to Hindu mythology, but the religion woven into the narrative was uniquely done. The inclusion of prophecies in fantasy is very much a hit or miss for me; but The Boy With Fire very much managed to include prophecy in a way that still allowed for the characters their free will and their own roles in the plot. That’s unusual for a fantasy, and I did enjoy it. The book also includes a fascinating twist on the Chosen One trope, and I’m excited to see how that plays out.

2) Characterization.
I would honestly say that Leo had the strongest characterization out of the POV characters. His goals were clearly fleshed out, and the onset of his madness, though sudden, was believable. The reasons behind what he was doing made logical sense, though the actions themselves were morally reprehensible.
Elena and Yassen however, were not given that courtesy. By the end of the novel, Elena was supposed to have experienced a moral decline; unfortunately, her initial motivations and characterisation were so unclear that it felt ingenuine, the reasoning behind her decisions flimsy at best. Elena felt, very fundamentally, like a Young Adult heroine. Her existing personality traits would have been compelling on a 16 year old, but on an adult woman naivete, daddy issues and a coming of age story arc feel almost incongruous. There’s nothing wrong with YA literature - some of my favourite books are YA fantasy - but TBWF was marketed as an adult SFF. It did not feel like one.
Yassen is a character who logically should have had a degree of moral complexity. There’s the very classic conflict in the trope of the reluctant assassin, which is always effective; the plot twist regarding Yassen’s allegiances gives it a unique flair. I do think, however, that this reveal would have been more effective had we not actually had his point of view in the novel at all. Since we did get to see his thought process throughout, it genuinely did not make sense that he has been keeping such a big secret from the audience. He’s not denying it to himself; so why doesn’t it appear in his inner monologue at all? This omission obscured key aspects of Yassen’s personality, making him feel generic as a character throughout the story and making it very difficult to feel invested in him.
The romance between Elena and Yassen also felt lackluster to me. Their romance was so slow burn that it felt nonexistent. There were practically no hints that they cared for one another by the end of the book, and their bonding moments felt almost shoehorned in. I could understand if the author wanted to develop a relationship between the characters, but I think it would have been a better fit for a sequel.
Personally, I would say that the biggest weaknesses of The Boy With Fire came with its characterisation. The characters were distinctly archetypal; other than Samson at the very end, they did not feel as though they evolved past those archetypes. It’s easy to forgive a novel’s flaws if the characters are compelling enough. Unfortunately, since I was not invested in the characters of The Boy With Fire, I found it difficult to enjoy the rest of the story.

3) Politics
The Boy With Fire packed in several different political threads. The most significant ones were domestic unrest in Ravence, tense international relations, and the increasingly fraught relationship between a monarch and his religious leaders. On paper, this should lend itself to a fascinating and rich and complex tapestry of worldbuilding.
This does not come through clearly in the novel. The bare bones are very much there, and it is absolutely possible for it to be fleshed out further in future novels. I don’t think that the novel spent the time to weave this tapestry effectively, making it hard to adequately feel the political strain that the country is under. The undercurrents were there, but at the end of the day there was simply too much going on.

Ultimately, The Boy With Fire has potential. Aparna Verma is a good writer, but I don’t think that this book was for me. I will still be buying the sequels when they release, and am continuing to support her works as I wish her every success in the future.

“May the sun dawn upon our lands. And the fire burn within our hearts.” // “Fire burns brightest in the darkness.”

The Boy With Fire is a South Asian epic fantasy inspired by Indian mythology. It's a cross between Dune and The Poppy War and the characters are fierce and morally gray! This story has fire magic, political/kingdom intrigue, an ancient prophecy, magical runes, war and conflict, a ruthless king, an heir with a burden, secrets and revolution. It's immersive and expansive and grand with great writing. And oooh the plot twists!!

We follow Yassen, Elena, and Leo - an assassin in search of redemption, the heir to the Ravence throne, and the current king of Ravence, respectively - as their stories become intertwined in a plot to overthrow as well as protect the throne and kingdom of Ravence. Yassen, a former assassin, is newly assigned to Elena's guard duty but is harboring a deep, dark secret. Elena, fierce and determined, is coming of age to take the throne from her father but must master the art of wielding fire first, but can she? And then there's Leo. Leo, the current and ruthless king on the Ravence throne, is on a quest to protect the kingdom from endless outside threats as well as internal ones - including the last prophet of the Phoenix, that elusive figure with fire, who he can't seem to find.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and loved getting glimpses into the world's history and past at the beginning of each chapter. I love little snippets from chronicles or other history tomes in these magical worlds! We also get additional glimpses into the past through a few unique chapters throughout the book.

READ IF YOU ALSO LIKE:
— sci-fi/tech twists
— fierce females + strong friendships
— assassins with secrets
— factions of people with gray lines
— phoenixes + dragons
— multiple POVs
— short/concise chapters
— adult fantasy
— a diverse cast
— slow-burn romance (closed door)
— enemies to lovers

I also feel like if you enjoyed City of Brass, this is a story you should consider picking up! Thank you to the author for my advanced copy.

Wow, I signed up for this arc because of the cover and the intriguing premise, and I ended up staying because of everything about it! The characters were rich, fully fleshed out and just full of depth. I love that the author did not restrict them into any one definable role; each person had an interesting background and reasons for their motivations. I also enjoyed how they made some questionable/morally gray actions because of their beliefs, and not necessarily because they were completely good or completely evil.

The world building in this story was top notch. The detailed descriptions of the settings, structures, and landscapes around made it super easy to imagine the environments where the characters lived and interacted. The kingdom was specially interesting with all of the components influenced by Indian mythology, culture, and folklore. I'm a huge fan of anything influenced by Asian culture and dynamics so it was especially interesting to me to read about these aspects in the novel. There were many new words introduced in the story and I loved the authenticity and originality that this added to the overall experience of the story.

I enjoyed the plot, the romance, and the pacing was well thought-out and never too much action or too much exposition. I loved the Dune vibes from the setting and the enemies to lovers and found family tropes that the characters gave the reader. This is a solid debut that lives up to the hype and I'm excited for the sequel. I will be following this author's work in the future.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and New Degree Press for this arc in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.