Starting right where Nightbirds ended, the girls are all separated, each following their own way they think will bring peace and safety for all the magic girls. There is so much tenseness and I was frustrated and angry at the way those in power (great houses, royalty, and the church) kept saying that the magic girls belonged to them, or needed to be killed in order to give the Wellspring back the magic. So of course I was rooting for the Fyrebirds and hoping they would get the band back together and change the world in one fell swoop!

Tons of action, destruction and mayhem on the way to peace but the Fyrebirds are up to the challenge, both in changing peoples' view (most of them) about magic girls not being a danger and when a new drug shows up (super scary) that takes away the will of magic girls, the stakes got even higher. It was a well written story because although the Fyrebirds are super powerful (alone and even stronger together), they also had their weaknesses and it made for a more enriching story to see. Fen with her addiction, Æsa with her struggles about whether using magic was the right thing to do or was it too destructive, and of course Sayer coming to terms with violence not being the only solution to driving out corruption. A lot of the book was about Matilde because she was trying to change things from the inside by Dennan's side. I wasn't quite as interested in those parts but I did enjoy the book on the whole and will be looking forward to new books that the author might write.

Go Fyrebirds!!!

Fyrebirds is a great continuation of this politically motivated story where the powers in control want to control the magic hidden deep inside young women. Women who have grown up as nightbirds giving away there magic but as we learned in book one they are not meant to do that they are meant to use them themselves and when they use their powers with other nightbirds they are so much more then a party trick. This knowledge has woken other women with this magic and now they have to fight to be stronger then those who want to quell there magic and control. I love it and it hard to say for sure if we are getting more or not.

fyrebirds picks up months after nightbirds, with matilde, sayer, æsa, and fen still separated. with their magic no longer a secret, different factions within the city and further abroad vie for control of the nightbirds and other magical girls, and the nightbirds themselves must decide if they will come together to embrace their shared power and connection like the fyrebirds of old.

while still a very paint-by-numbers YA fantasy, armstrong’s writing is stronger here than it was in nightbirds. i enjoyed the limited exploration of duty (and i would have liked to see more of that, particularly in the context of the original fyrebirds’ sacrifice), but i’ve spent close to 900 pages with these characters now and i think it’s safe to say that this series is just not for me. while there was more character development in this book, it was so predictable and i didn’t love how fen’s addiction was handled.

ultimately my issue is that i think armstrong relies too heavily on YA stereotypes and clichés and that makes her own story less memorable. there’s potential here, but it’s largely lost beneath what seems to be a “throw everything at the wall to see if it sticks” approach.

After reading Nightbirds (this authors beautiful debut novel, and part one in this duology) I was beyond excited to read this one. To be back in the magic, to be back in the joy. However, this one did fall a little flat. I found myself questioning how things were happening, really arguing with the plotline in general, which doesn't make for the best reading experience. Sayer is still my absolute favorite character, followed closely only by Fen. The majority of this book tended to be focused on Matilde and I just wasn't as giddy. Matilde is just there, nothing special. Kate's writing continues to be atmospheric however, and her prose is so lyrical and beautiful that it just flows. I really do love and fully recommend this series as the feminine rage, and the truth of how powerful women are is truly one of the best and most inspiring things to read about.

Thank you Kate Armstrong and NetGalley for this e-Arc in exchange for my honest review!

I had high expectations for Fyrebirds after really enjoying Nightbirds, this wasn't what I was expecting I guess? I still enjoyed it but I wasn't 100% into it. I still couldn’t put it down. The story is packed with action and twists, but at times it felt like there was just too much happening, making the pacing a bit uneven and hard to stay fully connected. It wasn’t until I was about 75% through that it finally started to draw me in.

The writing is beautifully atmospheric, and the character development stands out. The story picks up right after the events of Nightbirds, following Sayer, Fen, Matilde, and Æsa as they each fight to save the other magical girls in their own ways. We see them come together again when magical girls start disappearing and a dangerous drug is discovered that forces them into submission.

It’s a multi-POV third-person narrative I loved how well each character was portrayed. However, I did wish there was a more balanced split between the characters' perspectives, as Matilde’s POV felt the most featured.

Overall, this was a great ending to the duology, filled with action and lost of twists

I really wanted to love this! I just could not get into this sequal. I am not sure if I just needed to re-read the previous book. But my brain refused to really get into it and I just pushed through the read.

Although this wasn't for me, I still think it was well written. The author is very talented and I will still love to read more books from them in the future.

Thank you for Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The conclusion to Nightbirds with many twists and turns. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Nightbirds, I did find the world-building intriguing and the possibilities in a sequel to be enough for me to continue. This book picks up almost where the last book left off with the four girls in their own perilous situations. Marriage proposals, addiction recovery and violent attacks challenge the girls separately. They follow rumors of each other's positions, but it isn't until the catastrophic wedding that their paths realign. From there the plot is burdened with their individual stories plus an invading army and corrupt church. While there were many elements that were interesting and the characters were relatively well developed, the plot got messy and there were multiple instances where I struggled to figure out what was happening to whom. There were so many ideas jammed into this one book, I am surprised it was not released as a trilogy. It rushed elements, particularly with the invasion, that lessened the stakes. While the world, established rules and characters were well-developed and interesting, it was a bit disappointing as the conclusion to the story.

This is the second novel by Kate J. Armstrong (https://www.katejarmstrong.com/home) Fyrebirds was published last August and is the second book in her Nightbirds series. It is the 76th book I completed reading in 2024.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence, I categorize this novel as R.

The Farlands king, Joosten Tharda of Trellane, already has one girl with magic abilities. After experiencing what she can do he wants more. He wants the Fyrebirds and is willing to invade Eudea to get them. He prepares his fleet to conquer Eudea. Once in control, he will take all the girls with magical abilities he can find.

After the first novel ends, the four Fyrebirds go their separate ways. Matilda Dinatris, the Flame Witch, and her family live with Dennan Hain. He has become the suzerain. Under his protection, the city reluctantly accepts her. Matilda agrees to marry Dennan at the urging of her family, though her heart lies elsewhere. The union will merge their power, and Matilda hopes to be able to sway public sentiment and the laws concerning girls with magic.

Fenlin Brae, the Flower Witch, has returned to her gang. She is trying to rebuild them after what has happened. She takes on a risky robbery job to rebuild their coffers.

AEsa, the Wave Witch, has returned home, but the reception is not all she had hoped for. She must flee there, and her ship is attacked by a scout ship of the Farland fleet.

Sayer, the Storm Witch, continues to harass the elite and their efforts to take advantage of girls with magic.

The Red Hand and his religious sect have been plotting with Wyllo Regnis to gain control of the Fyrebirds and other girls with magic. Wyllo wants to take advantage of their magic, while the Red Hand wants them removed from Eudea. The Hand has developed the drug Sugar, which allows control of girls with magic. Wyllo is quietly selling limited quantities to the elite. The drug enrages the Fyrebirds.

Things come to a head at the wedding between Matilda and Dennan. The Red Hand and Wyllo have set a trap. The four Fyrebirds are captured in the chaos following the wedding. They are taken to the church and tried as witches. The Hand and Wyllo believe they have everything under control, but the Fyrebirds surprise them. No sooner has the trial been dealt with than the Farland fleet attacks the city. The only hope for Eudea is for the Fyrebirds to unite and become the power spoken of in legends.

I enjoyed the 8.5+ hours I spent reading this 381-page fantasy. I had the opportunity to read the first book in this series, Nightbirds a few weeks ago. I have enjoyed both novels. There are long periods of slowness with bursts of action. The Fyrebirds and their followers repeatedly find themselves in danger, and not all survive. I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4.4 (rounded to 4) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

As with the first installment Nightbirds I love the magic system and setting throughout the book.

The new characters introduced really added to the story. However, I did feel the pacing wasn’t as great as the first book. I felt it was a little slow until the 60% mark and then it really took off.

Other than the pacing, I really did like this book. And it wrapped up this duology well.

Rating 3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for this eARC.

This series has quickly secured a place in my heart. Kate J. Armstrong has crafted a story with complex characters I care about with my whole heart, unique world building, and intricate magic systems. My favorite part of this sequel is that the characters are all allowed to grow and go on their own adventures, but the core sisterhood is still there and at the heart of it all. It makes all the characters individually stronger and also better as a group as they all come into their own power and heal their past wounds.
This is the kind of book I love. A book about choosing your fate and your family. A book about not letting men (or anyone really) decide who you are. A book about all kinds of love being equally important.
There are some storylines I wish were more fleshed out and it did wrap up rather quickly, but overall I thought it was a fitting ending. And I'm going to be yelling about these books for a long time because more people need to find them!

Nightbirds was one of my top favorite books of last year. I still loved and enjoyed this book but it didn’t have the same magic as the first book. The girls were pinned into roles and forced to split, which left them fighting back on their own instead of a united front. It felt like the story went backward, to when all the Nightbirds were mired in their own misery – even though I understand why they had to essentially divide and conquer. The girls did grow stronger on their own both magically, knowing who they truly were on the inside, and finally accepting it.

"She hates that men like this think they can take what they want without consequence. She hates that this girl, any girl, feels powerless to stop it."

Matilde wasn’t my favorite Nightbird, and unfortunately for me, a good chunk of time was spent with her. She did what she thought was best but her efforts resulted in getting her own wings clipped. The other three girls weren’t surrounded by as much political maneuvering and I enjoyed their story arcs much more. I really wanted to see more secreted Fyrebird history and we don’t get much of that either – only the tidbits Matilde and Sayer uncover.

I enjoyed the slow-build journey of the story but the ending felt rushed. The Farlands and Joost coming to Simta could have been written as another book. Overall, I enjoyed my return to Eudea but was hoping for more from the sequel. Many thanks to Penguin Teen for the opportunity to read the follow-up to one of my favorite books. I enjoyed this duology and the author’s writing style and will continue to watch for titles from Kate Armstrong.

While I still enjoyed this one, it fell as little flat for me after how much I absolutely loved the first book. Overall. still an enjoyable experience, but just let me down a little bit

I truly enjoyed this sequel to Nightbirds! This was a novel that saw the growth of each of the main characters, and I loved seeing this reaffirmation of female empowerment. Yes, there was quite a bit of turmoil and heartfelt sorrow, but this just added to the joy of seeing these powerful young women grow into themselves.

There were many thematic topics to explore including power, family, loyalty, betrayal, kinship, and sisterhood. I especially appreciated that most of the author's narration wasn't a blatant expression of these themes, but her writing gently led you to some positive conclusions.

This fantasy has a touch of romance, a huge amount of betrayal, and the undeniable force of sisterhood. The plot had enough twists and turns to keep things suspenseful and to keep me turning pages. Enjoy, my friends!

Thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was very eager to get back to the world that Kate created in The Nightbirds. I had so many questions that needed to be answered and stories to continue.
I don't know if it was because I LOVED The Nightbirds SO much that I had extremely high expectations for this book, but it didn't have the same spark that the first book did. The story was really enjoyable, but it didn't have that spark, magic, nuance that the first book had. There were questions in the plot that I didn't have in the first one, but it didn't take away from the story. I also felt that the end was a bit rushed, slow to build, fast to conclude.
Now to the stuff I loved about it; I was HERE for the feminine rage and the overall stories of the women. I loved having all of the Pov's of our Fyrebirds, it just added to the story.
All in all, I am sad that this story is over, that the world of the Fyrebirds is done. I will be forever picking up anything that Kate J. Armstrong writes...as should you.

Nightbirds was dark.
Despite the name, Fyrebirds is darker.

In the vein of many sequels, the second book takes a turn.
"To use your magic, you must own it fully. You must believe it's yours, and yours alone."

And in the darkness, usually hope is found. It takes some time in this one. A long time.
"No tree stands alone. Their roots reach out through loam and wave, braiding together."

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Teen Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eudea’s Nightbirds have long been a secret known only to the elite circles, but now, not only is does everyone know about them, but the four Nightbirds have been revealed to have powerful magic like the Fyrebirds of old, they can wield the elements themselves. The new suzerain is working to lift the prohibition on magic but faces opposition from both the church and the gangs. More and more girls with magic are appearing now that the secret is out and there is no lack of people trying to control them either. Meanwhile, the king of the Farlands who is desperate to acquire some magic for himself decides to take advantage of the unstable situation in Eudea and is preparing to invade. But one discovery the girls have chosen not to reveal yet is that when they stand together, their magic becomes even more powerful, capable of feats unheard of, truly like the legendary fyrebirds. With the threat from outside and their own people divided, they must decide if embracing this ability is worth what it might cost.

Fyrebirds was one of the sequels this year I was really looking forward to, as the first book, Nightbirds, was an interesting read (not to mention the cliffhanger it ended on), so I’m especially glad to have been able to read this a bit early!

This sequel had a very strong plot and it was what kept me reading. Magic intertwined with politics and religion in Fyrebirds and girls with magic are dealing with troubles on all fronts, with the church condemning them as witches, the nobility seeking to control them, the gangs who want to exploit them and a mysterious new drug made by an unknown party that can seemingly be used to command them and their magic.

The main thing I had trouble with regarding this book is that the only thing I recalled about book one was the magic system. Normally I like it when sequels dive straight into things, but with over a year between books in this case (more because I had an ARC of book one), I think a brief recap or atleast enough context in the first few chapters to remind the reader of the main events is not unreasonable to expect. I think it should be a standard across all books, but I’ll save that discussion for another time.

Speaking of the magic system, it was what intrigued me the most previously, and it continued to be my favorite part of this sequel too. The discoveries the four girls made about their abilities throughout this book, and how they each learned to come to terms with and wield it was so much fun to read about.

The world building was still a little lacking on a broader scale in my opinion. Some of the characters did travel away from Eudea, but I feel like we didn’t get a good enough idea of those places as it was too brief. The main focus of the story was definitely in the city. There was some expansion on the lore and I did like the little excerpts before each chapter, but I was hoping for something more in depth.

The pacing was definitely off in this book. It wasn’t a very long book, but the first half still dragged a little, and nothing really started moving until the last 30% or so – and then almost too much was going on, like the story was rushing to fit everything into the remaining pages. I even checked to see if there was going to be a third book in the series as I wasn’t sure that the story could be properly wrapped up.

Where in the last book, all four characters’ POVs felt balanced, this time around, the narrative felt more skewed towards Matilde. All of them got equal page time, but outside of a few instances, Matilde’s arc was the most interesting.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed each of their arcs, and I thought Fen’s in particular, as well as Aesa’s was very well written. The romances on the other hand, I wasn’t nearly as invested in – I think if the book was a bit longer or if this was a trilogy, that would change, but when a book already has so much happening as this one did, I prefer the focus to remain on the plot.

As expected, the ending was hugely rushed. While the story was brought to a satisfying conclusion, and all the plotlines were tied up properly, I felt there were a lot of missed opportunities. The biggest one was King Joost – when he was introduced at the beginning of the book, he sounded like a promising villain, but his whole arc was underwhelming and was pretty much just squeezed in at the end when this could have easily been developed into a whole other book.

Fyrebirds was a decent read overall, and I’m glad I picked it up. This was a great conclusion to the Nightbirds duology, and I would recommend it for fans of the genre!

Title: Fyrebirds by Kate J. Armstrong
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pub Date: August 27, 2024
📖 381 pages

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Elemental Magic
Strong Female Protagonists
Secret Resistance
Multiple POVs
Fanatical Religious Cult

I loved this duology, and Fyrebirds was a great sequel! I wish there had been an extra few chapters because the end felt a little rushed but it was still so great!

I adore Armstrong's prose. The pacing she sets is perfect and the way she does multiple POV moves the story along so well. This book definitely focused more on Matilde's POV than the other three girls, and I wish that we'd gotten more Æsa and Willan (begging for a spin-off/novella, because they're so cute and I can't get enough!!).

Thank you so much, Penguin Teen and NetGalley, for the digital review copy ❣️

#penguinteenpartner

This was truly a wonderful addition to Nightbirds. Again Armstrong strikes the perfect balance of girl power energy and keeping the stakes high for our girls. There were a few threads of side plot that would have benefited from some expansion, but as it is they do not detract from the overall story. The worldbuilding continues throughout the second book explaining culture, the geography, history and religion of the region. There's scheming and fighting, laughter and tears. If you loved Nightbirds like me, this is gonna bring you joy. Thank you to @netgalley for providing this ARC for my honest review!

As word of magic spreads throughout Simta, long-kept secrets are revealed, and the Nightbirds must determine what this means for them and their newly discovered power. The Great Houses, the church, and the gangs are all vying for control, naturally ignoring the girls who hold it. However, more people are becoming aware of magic than they think, and a new development in this area is imminent. To become Fyrebirds, the Nightbirds must learn how to cooperate with one another.

Fyrebirds, the sequel to *Nightbirds*, brings back the magic and adventure of the first book but doesn’t quite hit the same high notes. The story follows Matilde, Sayer, Fen, and Æsa as they face growing threats, both magical and political, in a world where powerful men are determined to control girls with magic. While the writing is still beautifully atmospheric and the themes of female empowerment are strong, the pacing felt a bit off. Most of the action happens towards the end, leaving the beginning to drag a little. I also wished for more balance between the characters' perspectives—Matilde takes center stage, leaving Sayer and Fen feeling sidelined.

That being said, I still really enjoyed the journey. The multi-POV format kept things interesting, and the romances were well done without overshadowing the plot. If you loved *Nightbirds*, this is definitely a worthy follow-up, even if it doesn’t quite reach the same level of magic. With its themes of resistance, power, and feminine rage, *Fyrebirds* is a satisfying conclusion to this duology.