I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately 40% in, I am giving up.

We follow three POVs and only one of them did I find interesting and that’s king Leo. The story starts off great, each character has an entertaining introduction that reels you in but theme things begin to fall flat.

King Leo is the only character that seems to be thought out and given dimension. His character’s goals, actions, and motivations are clear and his story line actually moves along. We know he is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his throne. Unfortunately the other tow POVs are quite boring after we first meet them.

Princess Elena is presented as strong, smart, can handle herself in a fight but most of her chapters just feel very much the same. Her father doesn’t want to teach her, she complains, she doesn’t trust. It’s just different vatiations of the same internal dialogue and interactions,

Out assassin Yassen seemed interesting at first but once again after his initial introduction he POVs start to feel all the same. He wants to be free, his home will never welcome him, he’s in pain. That’s just gist.

Overall the pacing is off. There are things happening but it all feel so dragged out and slow.

The world building is nice. I enjoy the sci- fi and fantasy blend of it. When the action happens I was here for it. The writing itself is well done, unfortunately it just isn’t for me,

Maybe at some point I will pick it up again but as of right now I’m bored and can’t continue to push through.

Thank you Netgalley for the change to read the ARC.

I had initially gone into this book hopeful, as the premise seemed interesting enough and I have always loved a good main character with connections to fire. However, I found that I could not quite connect with the characters enough to make this an enjoyable read. Elena did not stick out to me much beyond being the portrait of a typical YA princess: naive and a bit spoiled. While I did like her at first, that like slowly became indifferent, and I found myself wanting to read more of Leo's chapters instead. Leo felt like quite the contrasting and complex character, showing love toward his daughter yet still not ready to relinquish control of his power to her. His chapters, to me, swung by quickly, unlike that of Elena and Yassen, which dragged on a bit.

The pace of the book was quite like how I felt reading Elena and Yassen's chapters—it felt slow-paced up until the last few dozen pages. It was then that the pace picked up a bit, but the characters as a whole did not feel developed enough. While I liked how Elena and Yassen connected and conversed, alone, I found them lacking. Further, I thought that their relationship was a bit too fast for my taste. To me, it seemed that they went from disliking each other to suddenly loving each other or at least having undisclosed feelings for each other. That is not to say that I did not like all aspects of this book. On the contrary, there is one aspect that stuck out to me and did hook my interest throughout the book: the worldbuilding.

Being quite picky about worldbuilding and how the novel is classified as fantasy, I was unsure, going into this book, how this worldbuilding would compare to other novels I have read and enjoyed immensely. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I also enjoyed the worldbuilding of The Phoenix King. The idea of the Phoenix as a somewhat vengeful deity was delightful, and it was interesting to see how each character connected to this deity. It was refreshing to read how Elena struggled in commanding this fire, as so many other main characters seemingly learn how to wield their magic startlingly fast.

Overall, while I did not wholly dislike this book and there were some aspects of it I loved, I do not think I would re-read this book. I am indifferent to this book, if anything, a bit bored from reading it. I was not left shocked at the ending and am not particularly longing to read the rest of the trilogy, but it is also something I would not be completely against, as I did enjoy the worldbuilding. As long as I see a faster pace throughout the book and more complexity regarding some characters, especially Elena, I think I would continue with this story, if only to see how it builds from this first book.

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I received an eARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC! My rating would be more of a 3.5/5 for this book.

I did enjoy this book as I was able to read it in just a few days, but I did have a few complaints. I thought this book had a very good premise, it is about a kingdom where essentially fire is magic and it is connected to the Phoenix which is Ravence’s god. Leo is the king of Ravence and the ruler of Ravence is supposed to be able to control the flames. Elena is the daughter/heir and she is trying to learn the secrets of the flame as she is supposed to inherit the throne when she turns 25. But at the same time there is a war building up between another nation, there are the assassins who are trying to destroy Ravence and Leo does not want to give up control yet, and to top it all off there is going to be a prophet who has foretold the destruction of Ravence but no one knows who the prophet is, only that he/she is in existence at this time. There was a lot going on and the pacing was consistently engaging.

The world building was a little confusing at times. The setting is more a futuristic desert setting. Which was a little confusing at first. The described technology just didn’t seem to fit and honestly I think it would have been better without the technology. For a desert setting I would prefer the swords over a pulse gun and holopods. But it did make the story different from your typical fantasy setting. I just wish maybe the technology was described a little more. I did also find the world to be hard to picture at times, I think having a map would help (with the ARC I didn’t have a map) but I had a hard time picturing the different areas. There were scenes where they would be in desert with sand dunes, but then others where they would be in tunnels with trees. It felt like there wasn’t much description given for the scene changes.

The characters. There are three main multiple point of views including Elena, Leo and Yassen. I enjoyed their point of views and as I mentioned earlier the pacing was engaging and I never felt bored. But I never really felt like I connected with any of the characters. I didn’t feel like the characters matched the choices they made and their motives felt confusing at times. Leo seemed to be the only consistent character. I also never really understood if they want their religion or if they want to fight against it. There is a little bit of a building romance in this book, but it also felt off and inconsistent with the characters. Yassen and Elena really didn’t have a connection in my opinion and their thought processes/motivations felt weak. And since there was never a connection it felt like at the end the author wanted to hook readers by forcing a romance into the story and forced them together when it just wasn’t ready.

While I did enjoy this book as I was reading it, I do feel as though it felt flat in a few important areas but there are elements of a really good premise. The characters and the worldbuilding were the weakest in the book. After reading this book, I feel a little confused about what the goals of the characters are and why they are doing what they are doing. I am not really sure what the end goal is going to be. Will I continue this series? I am not sure at the moment. I do not really feel attached to the story because I never really cared about the characters, but I do think this story could have a lot of potential as I did enjoy it when I was reading it and there are a lot of plot points that if developed further may strengthen the story.

I would recommend giving it a try because it was engaging to read and if you do find yourself connecting to the characters, I think you will really enjoy this story.

For a book that's more sci fi than anything else, I have to say I was hooked. I normally read fantasy, almost never touching sci fi, but this book just had a hold on me from the very first chapter.

All of the characters are unique and memorable. Even though this world has unique faiths and various races of people, I still could connect with them and remember their culture. The mythos surrounding the Phoenix and the people of Ravence is at the core of this book. The mysteries embedded in these mythos are unraveled as the book goes on. Come the end of it, you're surprised to discover that some "truths" are still yet to be discovered!

Elena, Yassen, Samson, and Leo are all fascinating characters. All but Samson have their own POVs, so you get to explore the political turmoil through their eyes. Elena wants to wield fire and become a strong (and peaceful) queen. Leo wants to protect his daughter from the dangers of the Eternal Fire and from the political turmoil that is brewing. Meanwhile, Yassen simply wants to be free. Each are highly skilled and very goal-oriented, though they respond to adversity in their own way.

While I did read this book rather slowly (for me), I did so only because I wanted to savor every scene and exchange. There aren't a lot of high action moments until the end and any romance in this book is a slow burn. I'm okay with all of that. A book about fire deserves the chance to increase the intensity of it without you realizing you're burning.

I hope we don't have to wait long for book two! I can picture this as a movie. This is the kind of story that I want to see everywhere. I want everybody to be talking about it! I want special editions and for folks to chuckle at the Star Wars nods. (Yoddha Base. hehe)

For now, I'll gladly preorder the book and wait for it to show up in physical form. The ARC I read wasn't the final version, so there are absolutely things in the physical book that I would love to see. I cannot wait for its release! Thank you Orbit for picking up Aparna Verma, and thank you Aparna for this rich world of political turmoil. Oh, and thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this!

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

In their roundup of SFF titles to look forward to in the latter half of 2023, Christina Orlando wrote that The Phoenix King blends sci-fi and fantasy and is here to say that genre is fake, and honestly that is all I needed to know before starting this to know I’d love it. Because on some level, genre is fake and it brings me great joy when an author decides to blend things to their heart’s content.

Anyway.

The Phoenix King opens right as the country of Ravence is on the brink of a power shift, as Elena is poised to take the throne from her father (since the throne is given to the heir when they turn 25). She and Leo have ideological differences on how to rule the country, and it was fascinating to see their dynamic play out as two people who love each other and also fundamentally fail to understand each other. There is also Yassen, who was born an outsider and is a skilled assassin, and Samson, who is the leader of an independent militant group and is set to marry Elena. Also, there’s a prophecy that a Prophet will come along to burn the country to the ground to start anew, which makes sense considering the goddess they worship is called the Phoenix.

I really loved the world building Verma did, especially in regards to religion. It was very interesting to me to see different characters be motivated by vastly different interpretations of belief (and also different levels of belief in general). I also thought that it was really cool to have holopods and hover cars in the same world as ancient gods and magic fire, and I thought that Verma did a good job in selecting who gets a point of view and in making each one unique. I do think Leo’s was the most compelling to me, though that might just be because he is already a middle aged man and has more life experience to work with; I thought that Elena and Yassen were also well done, they just focused more on the experience of preparing to rule instead of being on the throne. Verma also did quite a good job at keeping me on my toes and giving me interesting twists to turn over while reading. I definitely remained surprised throughout the latter half of the book, but these twists felt natural and believable.

There are a couple of things I felt a little more middling on, like the romantic subplot which I felt could have been a smidgen more developed. At times I found Elena to be a little too idealistic, but this is more about personal taste than a real flaw—it makes sense for her to be like that, especially since a lot of her POV deals with right vs wrong vs in a moral gray area. I also thought that it sometimes felt like the book was trying to do a smidgen too much, especially at the beginning. It certainly finds its footing and remains interesting throughout, but I had a couple of “everything happens so much” moments. Regardless of my tiny quibbles, I do eagerly await the next installment and I think Verma really stuck the landing for how she ends her debut.

Overall a lovely debut from an author I’ll be keeping an eye on. This was fun and fresh and I really enjoyed it!

Everything about this book was so good! The world building, the characters, their development! This is definitely a fantasy book I would recommend.

The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma, a good book. A little slow to start off but it was not a predictable storyline and was enjoyable.

I saw this book on Instagram and I was curious. This is the Author's debut book. The story is told in multiple povs, the characters are very distinct from each other. This book has a lot of potential, the world building is great and I enjoyed the mythology of the world. However the pacing is slow so it was hard for me to stay interested.

If you enjoy more traditional sci-fi books told by an Own Voices author you would like this book. I look forward to the author future works.

A fresh new take on fantasy/sci fi? in a vivid world. The descriptions popped off the page and I could feel the desert heat. The blend of science and fantasy was very compelling, especially in clothing choices, architecture and technology.

I wasn’t very curious about the characters, so I think that was the weakest part for me. As well, sometimes I lost interest in the plot as a whole. Still, I believe many people will like this book, so I would recommend it overall!

Wow this was a debut novel? Thoroughly enjoyed how this story and the characters developed. I am always such a fan of kingdoms and religious systems that aren't what they seem and Aparna Verma hit the mark!

I found this book to be quite enjoyable and intriguing. The world was different enough to keep me interested but still held familiar elements of the fantasy genre. I found myself constantly curious as to how the world came to be - how did each kingdom and place come about. I loved the slow burn romance tinged with a bit of the enemies to lovers trope and the morally grey characters that constantly surprised you. You never really knew who you could trust. I'm excited to see what happens next.

As someone of Indian descent, I highly anticipated reading The Phoenix King but had pretty big expectations regarding Desi representation. To my delight, I was enthralled by Verma’s storytelling from the start and loved her references to South Asian culture.

That being said, I did feel like it was long-winded and easily could’ve been 100 pages shorter. Though, funnily enough, I also thought that the relationship between the love interests was a bit underdeveloped (but that might just be personal preference).

Either way, this novel is a love letter to South Asian culture, and reading it filled me with so much joy. I eagerly await the next installment of this series and all of Verma's future work.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First, thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!

The Phoenix King has an amazing premise and some really great world-building. If you like fantasy, this is one you might want to check out for its unique world. The book follows the current King of Ravence, Leo, his daughter, Elena, and a disgraced knight, Yassen- it has all the makings of a great story! As their stories intertwine, you start to see how the prophecy of the next Phoenix King unfolds. Secrets, power, betrayal- it's the full package.

I will say, though, that about halfway through, I started losing interest. I found the book to be too long and the middle too slow. Which was disappointing since the beginning grabbed my interest fairly quickly. I was loving the premise of the story- the prophecy of the Phoenix and the fire - and political fantasies are always intriguing to me.

Unfortunately, the middle gets too muddled. I started losing interest in what the characters were doing. Leo and Sam especially lost me for a while. I think some characters stood out throughout the whole novel- like Ferma, Elena's mom, and the holy priestess- but those characters are background characters and we didn't get to see as much of their stories as I wish we had. Additionally, I didn't feel attached to our main characters. I found myself not caring about their interpersonal relationships to each other- which is never a good sign! Especially when part of the story depends on that. I wanted to like this book more. I just didn't feel very interested in the end.

Overall, I don't think it's a bad novel. It just wasn't totally for me. I don't feel compelled to read the next book, but I wish Elena and Yassen the best!

“But don’t they say that dreams of fire lead to madness?”

🔥 This Indian-inspired fantasy (with some Dune aspects thrown in) blew me away! Enemies to lovers, fire-bending, and multiple POVs (each one I loved). I THROUGHLY enjoyed the aspects of Indian culture the author placed all over the story. It was beautiful imagery and I loved imaging the clothes and jewelry. There were also futuristic technology aspects in this setting, and I thought the combination of those two ideas were so neat.

Yassen: oh Yassen, the assassin of the Arohassin. 😭 He was my favorite from the beginning. Despite everything, I see that he is loyal to his core, for those he loves. And that cliffhanger???
Elena: I feel like she is the EPITOME of growth in a character. I love her and how relatable she is. Her passion and courage drove her, and by the end of the book there was wisdom from everything that she went through backing her as well. Wisdom that only comes from grief and life experience. I can’t wait to watch her burn through her enemies.

The plot twist as well… 🤯 I had a thought that it would be great if (plot twist) happened… and at the end when it DID I was like 🫢🫢🫢😱😨

There may be one or two times I thought the pacing was a little inconsistent and I was a little confused in some parts and had to read those parts again (totally may have been just from me reading all hours of the night though lol), so overall, I thought the author did a WONDERFUL job. I have already preordered this book and am so sad that I have to wait EXTRA long for the second one 😭

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you so much NetGalley, Orbit, and Aparna Verma for this ARC!

Comes out August 29th — preorder now! There’s a special art image on the inside of the cover as well 🫶🏼

Aparna Verma’s first installment of the Ravence trilogy follows the royal family of Ravence and an assassin brought to atone for his crimes. King Leo, the current monarch of the Ravani, works to strengthen the divine right to rule as he hands the throne over to his daughter, Elena. With war imminent on their borders, Elena must keep close watch on a former assassin (Yassen) who sells secrets for his freedom.
My favorite part of this story was how much love Elena has for the desert and her people. Throughout the story, I felt Elena grew in the ways she needed to, while still maintaining a strong hold over who she wants to be as queen. She never loses sight of the fact that she will rule for the people, not rule the people.
I also loved watching Yassen float in and out of Elena’s orbit as her personal guard. They matched wits pretty quickly, and although it was definitely not a “love at first sight” kind of feel, there was still an attraction, or at least an acknowledgement of attraction, early on.
One thing I struggled with while reading was the pacing of the relationships. As a fantasy reader who loves fantasy with a subplot of romance, this was a perfect balance. However, towards the end, I felt like I needed more tension between Elena and Yassen. I loved how Yassen got comfortable with Elena, it felt right for his character and his past, but I think Elena’s characterization got a little muddled in some aspects (there is one huge part that I was like “girl you did not just forget about that easily”).
Overall, I loved the story. I cannot wait to have this book on my shelves as I have been following Verma as she gets her copies via Instagram. Currently waiting to see where Elena and Yassen go from here because I devoured this story and now I keep thinking about them.

Fiuuuuuhhhhh it was one hell of a book. I have mixed feelings about it. It started with a very great premise and I love the beginning. Halfway through I found it hard to finish the story. It's not like I didn't like them, I just sort of felt flat towards the characters. It doesn't ignite the sparks it initially did.

Let's start with what I love:
- The world building
I love it. It's rich, detailed, diverse, and very atmospheric. The author navigated it well. However, my small brain sometimes find it hard to keep up where or who. All fault on me. Hopefully in the final copy there will huge map detailing the places.
It's a science fiction fantasy where the modern technology was blended into the antique world building.

- The characterization
We're given 3 point of view. Leo, the king, Elena, the Heir, and Yassen, the assassin.
I love seeing how their thoughts woven into the plot. It gave them the depth and well explained their behaviour and decision. None of the characters are insufferable. All of them are strong in their stance. Are capable of fight 👌

- Enemies to lovers are acceptable. It's a slowburn definitely. But the romance is definitely much little. It's a plus point for me. I felt it yet it's not overpowering the whole story. It's just enough.

- The writing style is beautiful 🫶🏽😭 I love when the authors create their own phrases and it becomes iconic 👌♥️ I can see the research and mastery it put through to create such a world.

What I have mixed feelings for:
- The palace and political instrigue
The conflicts were overlapping one another.
The international affair conflicts and war felt too rushed and cramped at the end of the book.

- The twist didn't work for me. Including the epilogue. It didn't make sense?????

- I would love it if the pace is a bit faster.

To conclude, if you're into adult SFF, slowburn enemies to lover, political + religion + international war conflicts, badass FMC, twist and turn with a detailed explanation and lengthy actions to get there, give this book a go.

I would definitely read the sequel!!!

Thanks so much Netgalley and orbit for the free arc in exchange for an honest review💖 the opinion is my own.

This book caught my eye on Twitter when author announced its being traditionally published, The Boy with Fire.

The book is character driven and I love how the author made Elena relatable. I understood her frustration about court politics and her desire to change things when she ascends to the throne. Unable to wield fire magic like her ancestors, she finds herself in a predicament how to rule the kingdom without the Phoenix by her side.

It’s a bit of a slow paced at the beginning but story picks up after some intriguing points, and when Yassen Knight joined her court, an assassin who is hated in Ravence Kingdom.

I love how to author made an interesting unique world and I was very much caught in surprised with the ending.

Already looking forward for book two and highly recommended if you love any fantasy lore.

This review will be posted in my blog two weeks prior to publication.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

With a vibrant and rich storytelling, The Phoenix King (Previously The Boy With Fire) tells us the story Elena and her struggle to earn her birthright despite being the only one in her family unable to wield the flame they are blessed with; and of Yassen, an assassin who longs for freedom more than anything in this world.

What I liked: The storytelling overall was very intricate. It provided us such an exact and detailed worldbuilding it was impressive. The setting and story is Indian-inspired, its culture richly woven into it, but at the same time it felt like such a unique story, setting it apart from everything else. The court politics and religion theme added to the already complex storytelling giving us more conflicts for the characters to confront besides their own raging wars within themselves.

Speaking of characters, the way each POV is written tells us a little bit about the world and the story. Yassen tells us the life of an assassin, of someone who has essentially no home, and someone who lives every day with the pain (physically and mentally) of his past. Elena's POV is someone who struggles to find a definition to herself, trying to be her own person, but also expecting herself to be the same as those who have preceded her. And Leo tells us the life of those who rule and the choices they have to make, even if those choices taint their morality.

Another thing I really liked was the fire-bending in this story. As an Avatar fan, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And the romance was also one I enjoyed reading. I appreciate a good slow-burn. The subtle looks, the gentle graze of touch, the soft short conversations...It definitely had me hungering for more.

What I didn't like: The pacing. It was painfully slow. Normally that is a bad thing for me and by 30% of the book I DNF since this generally gives way for little to no progress to happen. The way this story is told and build up, its mostly via the character's inner thoughts and how they perceive the world and others. Despite this shortcoming, the small details and the way the story was told kept me intrigued and I understood that the pacing was due to the story's intricacy. Perhaps a faster pacing would've left a world insufficiently explained and the character's inner struggles glossed over.

Overall, The Phoenix King was a rich-filled, complex story that kept me interested all throughout. Aparna Verma has a bright future ahead as an author if her debut work is this impressive book. I am looking forward to seeing what's in store in the next installment. Although I do hope the pacing is a bit better. If you're a fan of Dune and ATLA, you might find this up your alley.

3.5/stars
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Phoenix King has everything a reader should want in a fantasy novel. The worldbuilding was excellent. I was fully immersed in the kingdom of Ravence. It also had a unique magic system tied into religion, allowing for commentary on the relationship between religion and power. The characters were also written excellently. Elena proved to be a competent and well-rounded heroine, and it was interesting to see into Yassen's mind as well. My favorite perspective was from Elena's father, who was trying to do what he thought best both for his nation and his daughter. His motivations were the most interesting in the book. What was lacking for me was the pacing of the story. I felt like a lot of what happened could have been cut out. A more streamlined plot would have made the book a lot better. But overall, I did enjoy reading the Phoenix King, and the cliffhanger at the end makes me want to read more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for giving me arc. I’m sad to say that I got about 40% of the way in and there wasn’t much that kept me connected to this story. I was really excited for this but this story isn’t for me. The writing isn’t bad at all but the story wasn’t as gripping as I had imagined it to be prior to getting access to it.