Thank you, NetGalley, for early access to this book.
Political chess, female rage, romance. The Phoenix King had so many things that I love in a fantasy story.
The Phoenix King brings its characters and unique world to life in a way that made me feel like I was in Ravence.
I understood each character's desires. Some of the choices they made to achieve those desires made me want to throw this book, but I always felt they were true to themselves, which can sometimes be lost in storytelling but not in The Phoenix King.
I connected with Elena, who seemed to struggle with who she wanted to be and who she thought she needed to be as the next queen.
While I loved the story and vivid writing, I ultimately gave this book four stars because the beginning felt a little info-dumpy, which made the first few chapters a little difficult for me. But after understanding all of the new names, positions and kingdoms, I sped through this story with a fervor.
This book had so many twists and turns it felt like I was driving down a mountain road at full speed with my mouth wide open in shock. I can't wait to see what happens in the next two books of the trilogy.
This book made me smile, cry and kept me on my toes as I rooted for my favorite characters. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Avatar: The Last Air Bender or who just loves fantasy filled with unique lore and creative world-building.

This book sounded interesting but I was completely let down and had to DNF. It was a very slow read with heavy world building. Please leave something for the reader's imagination. Too much was going on that it could not keep my attention. I understand the author was trying to mix genres together but it just didn't work too well unfortunately. I was not attached to any of the characters

This was honestly everyting I was expecting and more. Absolutely loved the characters and this is going to be a really good start to a series!

I want to start this review off by saying the author must have a degree or something in advertising because she hooked me right away! After seeing a few posts on Instagram I immediately ran to see if I could swipe a copy.

That being said, it took a while to really get into the book and I feel like it can be divided into before and after the shooting at the market. Before was fine, it was a lot of worldbuilding and trying to make sense of how the world works. The main downfall was it felt like you were just constantly waiting for something to happen. After the shooting at the market the book picked up, and finally started acting on all the plans from the first bit. The author does really well at writing action scenes, it's just unfortunate we have to wait about 70% of the book for it.

Some things I liked throughout the book were the different points of view, and how well the author incorporates politics and religion into her writing. While it's nice to have Elena and Yassen's POV I was actually most interested in Leo's. It was interesting to see him justify his actions, and what he tries to hide from Elena. It humanized someone who otherwise would have been easy to write off as just a villain king.

The last thing I will mention about this book is the romance (this was one of the first things I saw on Instagram that got my attention). I left it to the end of my review because there isn't really much to say. Like all the action, the romance felt put off to the end. Elena and Yassen are cute together but they didn't interact for more than half the book.... There's definitely potential for them and we do get some cute scenes near the end, but honestly Elena had better chemistry with Samson for most of the book.

I'm gonna keep my eyes out for the second book, and I have high hopes for the author and her story!

The second Indian fantasy book I've heard of, and I'm quite impressed with the sheer range of voices that fantasy has been producing lately. This book is no exception.

I enjoyed this. I thought that the multiple POVs worked well for this story, and while I enjoyed everyone, I think that it caused the plot to start a bit slowly/late into the book. I think, too, that the book was very world-building-heavy, which isn't always a bad thing but in this instance it was at the expense of the character-building. So, I wish it was a bit more balanced. But overall I enjoyed this, the plot was fun once it got going and the characters, while a bit underdeveloped, still compelled me to finish the story. I think that, since I'm pretty sure this is the first book in a series, all subsequent books will be set up well since so much of the world-building is frontloaded. And I hope that we get to know the characters a lot better in the following books! Pretty solid entry to a new series, though!

“Sometimes, the moments that define us are the moments in which we spare ourselves. They force us to examine who we truly are, and what we stand for.”

rep // south asian MC

cw // fire, murder, death, suicide, abuse

the boy with fire is an incredible debut novel by Aparna Verma, and it captured me in a way that refused to let me go. Following the views of Yassan, a disgrace assassin for the Arohassin, on the run & Elena, who is about to ascend the throne from her father for Ravance, a kingdom that worships fire, which she cannot hold. A shame she keeps buried to herself deeply. Lastly, Leo, current king of Ravance, holds many dark secrets to himself, including one of why his daughter cannot hold the fire. However, the longer that one hold the fire, the more they lose of themself, Leo's mind and humanity are long gone, leading him on the path of the next mad king.

Enter, Samson, leader of a rebel army that wishes to provide Ravance the manpower they need against both the Arohassin secret agents and their ongoing war with their neighbors. In return he asks for Elena's hand in marriage, which she accepts. However, a prophecy of the Phoenix, a legend that will burn the world to the ground for their sins is starting to play out. And with his daughter at risk, Leo will do anything to find and kill the prophet before they come to rise. As Elena continues to search for answers, it leads her down a path that might destroy them all, if Yassen doesn't first.

While I loved EVERYTHING about the cast and setting of this story (who doesn't love a mad king and a killer assassin turned good?), I found the pacing to be very lopsided. During the first 70% it was incredibly slow building, leading to a sheer explosion afterwards. I also was not a huge fan of the romance that was on their especially near the ending. I felt that it was rather forced and unrealistics between Yassen and Elena, as I didn't pick up on any tender moments beforehand. However, I'm hoping more of that can happen in book 2, because the ending of this nearly broke me. This book did an entire 180 from the start and left me in a whirlwind state of heartbreak.

The rep in this book was incredible as well, as the Yumi were inspired by the female warriors the Hindu goddess Kali created (called the chandikas) after her epic battle against the demon Mahishasura. While Yassen is biracial, the rest of the cast firmly falls in the South Asian equivalent category and it was so nice to see that representation.

Overall I found this to be an incredibly rich and intense adult fantasy, with morally grey characters I fully fell in love with. Cannot wait for book 2.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'd like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

It came to my surprise that I already owned a copy of it after I requested it / was approved. I had not dipped into that book, but I decided that this was the published / official copy and I should read that over the other.

I made it through 30% of the book and decided - there is too much going on and not enough explained. Which appears to be a huge thing that a lot of readers and reviews state. There are a lot of good things but they come across as a mish-mash of tropes without any coherency. Also, I can't envision this world... it seems like a blend of both pre 1900's middle east with futuristic skyscrapers and what not.

I just don't think it's very clear to the reader and therefore, I'm unable to finish this book.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma.

The phoenix king is an enjoyable read, with multi-POVs. The plot line is enjoyable but takes a little bit to get into. Once you do get into this book it opens up. The book is slightly flawed and fell short in some areas. Overall, it is a decent/good book. My biggest issues are, I wanted more from the characters and less world-building but for me, it sits at 4 stars.
I believe that the future books are going to make the series even better and I can not wait.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to like this book, as it seemed so interesting and right up my alley, but unfortunately, it didn't capture my attention the way I really wanted it to, and I had to DNF it at around 30%.

However, there WERE a few things that I did enjoy about the book, and the main thing is the worldbuilding. Verma certainly has much talent in this area of the book, and the way she's crafted her world was executed very nicely and was both complex and full of wonder. Paired with her vivid writing style, it really seemed to bring the book to life.

But when it comes to pacing, plot and characters, this is where it fell flat and what made me DNF the book in the first place. While I don't mind slower pacing and I understand why some writers do it, this book just didn't seem to grasp me. Especially because I don't quite know what the plot is or where it's going to go, which doesn't give me much to look forward to and be excited about. In fact, I was actually quite lost around the 25% mark and had no idea what was going on. As for the characters, I just felt detached from them and I couldn't really understand them the way I wanted to. From the premise as well as the beginning of the book, it seemed like they contained a lot of promise and would be the type to root for. However as the book progressed, I lost sight of who the characters were and couldn't care for them the way I wanted to.

I'm definitely very disappointed with this book, especially as it was one of my most anticipated reads, but the execution wasn't my favourite. However, I AM willing to pick this up again in the future when I'm feeling up for it and who knows? Maybe it'll become my next favourite book. 2/5 stars.

The sci-fi combined with fantasy elements were an interesting take and Elena’s struggle with her fire was well-written. Also kudos where kudos are owed, because the three POVs were juggled really well.

However, ultimately the structure of the plot felt like it needed more editing to tighten pacing (some reveals/suspicions felt too staggered, which meant there was no real shock when it was finally confirmed) and erase plot holes/keep the logic (keeping this vague to avoid spoilers, but e.g. if the king’s going to feel so bad about doing this one inarguably bad thing, why not use the method that’ll cause less guilt and harm, which is what he uses later??). This made me start to drift a little, so I’m not sure if the plot had confusing moments or if I missed something, but at times I just had to nod and roll with it.

The romance also felt off to me in that the couple had very little chemistry and it felt more like the author was trying to persuade me of it rather than show them organically.

The big reveal at the end wasn’t bad, to be fair. There isn’t much, if any, foreshadowing, but the character it concerns definitely had untrustworthy vibes and there was some great misdirection throughout, which I enjoyed.

Overall, not a bad book. It had potential. If only the snarls in plot could’ve been smoothed over better.

This could be a result of a reading slump but I could not get into this, the story seemingly get started right off the bat but it takes so long for anything important to happen.

The relationships felt a bit sparse and not built up enough for me. I wanted a bit more from this but I can definitely see this becoming a TikTok fan favorite.

Will like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me arc to review and will be honest. I end up dnf the book I could not get into the story it was sometimes confusing and difficult to read, there were times in the story that I did like it and but this was not for me and hope someone will like it.

This was so good!! I am completely hooked! I am going to be on pins and needles waiting for the next 2 books!! This was absolutely enchanting.
I just reviewed The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma. #NetGalley
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This was an interesting read. The concept of this book was what made me want to read it. Prophecies and mythology are two of the things I love the most in books. I think this is a pretty solid debut, with my favorite parts being the writing and the way Aparna describes everything. The writing is direct but beautiful. It's easy to understand and yet, you can feel the emotion of it. I loved the way dialogue and action was written and the worldbuilding seemed so interesting.

I wanted to like this one so bad. I first saw it on TikTok when it was The Boy With Fire. I spent most of the book trying to figure out where that title came from, and was genuinely shocked by the end, but not in a good way. There were a lot of characters, a lot of perspectives, a lot of plot threads being woven. There was intricate world-building, complex politics, a heavy focus on religion and its corrupting influence, and a blending of fantasy and sci-fi. But, in the words of Ron Swanson, never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing. This book was trying to do SO MUCH, that it ended up doing very little. Even with a 500+ page book, it didn't seem like there was enough space to give every character, plot line, and theme the development they deserved.

That being said, the prose is beautiful written and the characters are likable. The world-building was interesting, if leaving something to be desired. As someone totally unfamiliar with Indian cultures in general, the desi-inspired parts were easy to grasp, and the glossary was a big help. I don't see myself reading the rest of the series, but I can see potential in the author.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. However, it was still an enjoyable read. Out of everything this book brings to the table - Multi POV's, an interesting plot line, and more - The political atmosphere is really what stuck out to me. However, the hiccups in the book were definitely present and most of them were due to pacing. I enjoyed the characters and I kept wanting more from the story and as I noticed the progression I was left with the feeling of "oh? that was it?" I cannot exactly pinpoint what I was expecting this book to give me, I just felt like it had the potential to be a bit more grand in execution. On the other hand, I think it was a good place to finish the first book and I'll be interested to pick up later installments in the future.

I absolutely love books inspired by different cultural mythologies. Often times, those cultures are rich with beautiful stories I've never even heard of, and it makes for a really fun reading experience. I was really excited about this book for that reason, and it did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the complex characters and the world building. I was a lite thrown off at first by the Sci fi elements, but I ended up liking that addition to the story, too.

Full disclosure, it took me a bit to get into this book but once I did...OMG. The world of The Phoenix King is so detailed and lush that it feels as if you can reach out and touch it. Verma's use of multi-POV, both in who got to share their story and what they revealed, was masterful. I cannot wait to read book 2 and see where Elena's story goes.

This book was a solid 3 stars. What I liked were the representation and the enemies-to-lovers theme. What didn't work for me was the pacing. Barely any action happened for most of the book, and it got to a point where I considered not finishing it. Also, the romance was so slow burn that by the time the characters got together, it felt rushed and underdeveloped. I was expecting a lot from this book but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. Hopefully, the next book will pick up the pace and turn out to be an exciting read :)