I was intrigued by this book because of its description and blurb, but by 5% in, I had no idea what was going on. At this point in the book, I usually expect some world-building and character introductions, rather than being thrown into the story without any understanding of the world or the main character's role within it. The world-building was vague, and although I remembered that Teia was promised in marriage by her brother, the significance of this was unclear—I couldn’t grasp how important it was or what the overall stakes were. I initially planned to DNF at 10%, but ended up skimming through, hoping it would improve—unfortunately, it didn’t.

The pacing was off, and the relationships, especially the insta-love, felt rushed and unconvincing. Teia’s character was difficult to relate to—her motivations were unclear, and despite occasional mentions of fear, she came across as more manipulative than vulnerable. The world-building also lacked coherence, with confusing power dynamics and magical systems that were poorly explained.

I did enjoy the heist scenes, but overall, this felt like a YA fantasy with low stakes and none of the depth I expect from some of my favorite YA fantasy novels. It’s not one I’ll be revisiting or continuing with the sequels.

Rating: 3.5/5

This has a little bit of everything I want in a story: political intrigue, sibling rivalry, heists, found family, romance, banter, plot twists, and betrayal. The pacing was a bit choppy in the beginning, but the storyline began to gain momentum towards the middle and stayed steady until reaching the climax at the end. Some of the writing was a bit juvenile, but it is YA and not too distracting.
Teia is a refreshing character as she’s morally gray and willing to what it takes to get what she wants. When the story reached its climax, I was actually shocked by her decisions since it seemed like she was changing, but I’m excited to see how the story progress in the next book

this book was a really frustrating read. our main character has suffered a lot and has an abusive older brother who has full control over her, which is clearly not a pleasant situation to be in. however, she doesn’t actually want to take him out of power because of her family’s legacy? I guess? and so her brilliant plan is to infiltrate the rebel group and betray them to use that as a single, one-time piece of leverage over her brother????

if this sounds not like a brilliant plan, much less a moral one, that’s my exact issue with it. I’d accept a morally grey MC, or an unintelligent one, but both is kinda much.

my other main complaint is that I’m SICK of this trope in fantasy where people are like “democracies are a terrible idea! we all know the best form of government is monarchies!” and all revolutions much have absolutely evil leaders and everyone else is mislead at best… it’s just tired!

overall, there just wasn’t much keeping me in the book. I think the side characters would have been more inspiring leads, but we didn’t get to know them well enough.

Thanks to the folks at Bindery Books for providing an Ebook!!!
***
3.4 stars

It's like both six of crows and grisha trilogy had a child with a darker shade of magic and legend of Korra !!!
That was very good, I enjoyed t quite a lot. I really liked the pacing and the characters and their dinamics.
I still felt the ending very very rushed but I enjoyed it quite a lot overall.
Cannot wait to see what's in store for Teia and the Dawn breakers
This book may have contents that could trigger sensitive readers like: physical abuse, violence, abuse of power, light sexual harassment, death and weapons/guns.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!🔥💧

This book promises a morally grey FMC, heists, and found family, and delivers on all counts.

Teia is legit morally grey; I find that sometimes YA novels with "morally grey" FMCs shy away from depicting them doing anything actually bad, but Teia hurts people and is unrepentant about it. Jura also serves as a fantastic antagonist for Teia; while Teia occasionally feels conflicted about her actions, Jura is completely ruthless. The conflict between them creates high stakes, with each of them willing to do just about anything to achieve their goals.

The heists are exciting and well-paced, although I feel that some of the escapes were a little too convenient, although the author does also show consequences for not succeeding, which kept me on the edge of my seat.

As for the found family... Teia certainly found them? This one is a little debatable, but the found family vibes are all there. The other characters all have their own tragic backstories and motivations, but I feel like they weren't as fleshed out as Teia, though I suppose that's fair, considering she's the protagonist.

I have to say I really did not care for Tobias at all. Like, he's okay I guess, but as Teia's love interest, he's just kind of... nothing-y. If I were feeling ungenerous, I would say he has all the personality and charm of plain white rice. IMO, Teia's love interest should have been Kyra, like their dynamic + the potential enemies to begrudging allies to lovers arc would have been amazing, but I guess since Kyra is maybe related to her it wouldn't work out.

This book was alright, but a bit slow to get going and not the most engaging. It was ok though and the ending was a bit of an improvement. Not sure I'd read a sequel though!

Thank you to the publisher for sending a copy for review

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Bindrey for allowing me to read this early! This book has a very solid structure and characters. This is a fun and fast paced read with excellent heist scenes. I think this will be an excellent read for those who enjoy heist/found family/morally grey characters!

There are aspects of Inferno’s Heir by Tiffany Wang that I enjoyed; but unfortunately, I did not end up enjoying this book.

Inferno’s Heir tells the story of Teia, a princess of the kingdom of Erisia and half-brother to the crown prince, Jura. Their father died some years ago, and Jura is weeks away from his coronation, having reached the age at which he can assume the throne. Rather than living in royal luxury as the sister of the crown prince, Teia is an enemy in her own home. She is of mixed blood, her mother being from the kingdom that rivals Erisa, making Teia an enemy, not to be trusted. Jura tolerates her presence for the sake of optics but arranges for Teia to be married off to an abusive man to be rid of her forever, sparking Teia to use any means necessary to change her fate and free herself from her brother’s rule. If lives or even the kingdom get in the way of her freedom—well, they should have gotten out of Teia’s way. The plot of the book revolves around Teia collaborating with a rebel organization which seeks to dismantle the crown, and a heist to steal a fabled jewel that may hold the key to the land’s greatest power.

The positives: The world building did a good job of being interesting while also being fairly straightforward. There are five kingdoms, each with an elemental power; in all other kingdoms, that power has been dispersed through the kingdom, though in Erisa, the power is held to just the royal bloodline. Teia is a Halfblood, possessing water powers through her mother. The backstory of Teia’s upbringing is very well built, especially in her relationship with her parents and how it shaped her powers in adulthood. The book is very readable, and while I did not enjoy the overall book a ton, I always found it compelling enough to keep reading just to see what would happen next. There is also interesting political intrigue that motivates much of the book.

The negatives:
- Teia’s characterization: The book paints her out to be someone who always had to do all she had to survive; someone desperate, clever, and willing to do anything if it means saving herself. However, the tone of the book disconnected from this characterization. She does some blackmail and other evil deeds, but there’s always an asterisk—she could have done worse, she could have been more evil, as though the goal is never to paint her too poorly. She never really comes across as fiercely self-motivated, but she also never really comes off as nice. She works with a rebel group and has a sort of found friendship with them almost immediately despite her ulterior motives. Yet, she also does pull some awful actions out of nowhere, and it catches you off guard. The whole thing makes it really difficult to figure out what her actual motivations are, and there is a lack of consistency with how she is characterized. I couldn’t connect with her, but I also couldn’t see her as the plotting morally gray protagonist that the book tries to paint her to be.
- The threat: Jura is the big bad of the book, a cartoonishly evil prince who has said to have spent his entire childhood burning animals alive or trying to kill his sister (as in, apparently, assassination attempts are so common as to no longer scare Teia). He tortures prisoners using a card deck to decide their fates, he schemes and lies and smirks his way out of everything. Yet he also talks to his sister a lot to share important details of his plan. Teia is described to be terrified of him, but their conversations never really show this—she always has some quips ready, and he never really pulls his punches. As the reader, its hard to take him seriously.
- The dialogue: There is a sarcastic quip in every. single. line. I swear, every exchange had at least one (though statistically many) sarcastic one-liner. I had trouble feeling as though any conversation was deep or impactful because I just couldn’t take it seriously. Tense conversation with an enemy? Have some quips. Lighthearted exchanges to show budding friendships? Have a few sarcastic one-liners. Middle of a tense action scene where time is of the essence? Let’s pause for an entire conversation of back-and-forth one-liners. I don’t mind similar quips used well; I found their presence in a book like Six of Crows to really add to the overall story and help color the relationships between the characters. In this book, though, I felt that they were just so overused to have just lost all impact.
- The logic: Too much of the plot of this book falls apart under any scrutiny. For example, Teia gets her information for blackmail by sneaking around the palace’s many secret hallways. Apparently, her brother was also taught about the hallways, but he never seems to catch on that she’s using them because he…forgot? Didn’t think about it? Many things had that level of depth—secret plans are discovered because they’re written out in full on a hidden document, characters miss important clues because they assume someone had a random psychotic break rather than actual reasons to believe what they do. The good plot elements that were present in this book are less impactful when what they’re built on doesn’t hold up to critical thinking.

In conclusion, I just didn’t find this book that enjoyable. However, I also can see that my opinions are in the minority, and that plenty of people have really liked it—and that’s great! I can see why someone would enjoy this book, as many of the twists are interesting, there’s a lot of good in the worldbuilding, and it is fun to have a protagonist who you are never really sure if you can trust. If this all sounds good to you, I do recommend this book. The book did not work well for me, but it was still a quick, compelling read with some interesting plot twists.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

What a debut! Inferno's Heir is an immensely fun read that has everything I look for in a YA fantasy. It's fast-paced and action-packed. The characters are diverse and all bring a unique voice and backstory to the table - no one is left feeling like a cardboard cutout or a walking trope. Everyone is painted in a different shade of morally grey, so you never quite know how far you can trust them, which makes for excellent reading. As for the writing, the descriptions are vibrant and immersive, while the dialogue has a natural flow and is packed with quiet humor. The plot feels high-stakes and compelling and the twists are effectively twisty.

I had so much fun with this read and can't wait to check out the sequel. I really can't believe that this is a debut author. Highly recommend without reservation, but especially if you're into heists, found family, political intrigue, secret rebellions, and elemental magic.

Very special thanks to Bindery and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for review.

Inferno’s Heir is a fantastic debut novel. This book follows Teia Carthan, a morally grey character. I found myself upset at the ending at first, and I think that’s a tribute to Tiffany Wang’s writing. Her prose is incredibly good and the characters all have good depth. I found myself truly caring about several of our protagonists here.

The book clearly sets up sequels that I am very much looking forward to. Teia has major flaws, but it feels like this is only the beginning of her long term redemption arc. I actually found myself really enjoying two of the supporting characters, Alara and Enna. I would eat up a spin off of those two, a thief and an assassin? Yes please.

Overall a great start to something that might prove really special when completed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC in return for an honest review.

I love how Tiffany's set everything up, I've never read anything like it!
A new favourite for sure, the characters were perfect

Thanks to Netgalley and Bindery Books for the ARC.

Rating: 4.25 / 5

This was a phenomenal read, unique like no other. Throughout the story we follow Teia Carthan (princess of Erisia) as she navigates through her survival, palace politics, betrayals, power, and finding family in the least expected places.

I absolutely fell in love with Teia's character since page 1. She's headstrong, and sure of her steps. She isn't flawless, but isn't annoying either. Her moral compass shifts throughout the book, and her actions always mirror her feelings and are justified by the choices she has to make at each turn.

The story is really well written with ample twists and turns along the way. Although not the main focus, it also has a very slow burn romance sub plot which I didn't care much about. In my opinion, it wasn't well developed, and fell flat. The character portrayal was done in a way where you could easily understand they choices they made. The found family plotline tugged at my heart strings, and I would have loved to see them together even longer.

Overall, it was an awesome read, with very vivid storytelling and suspense-filled plot line.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Inferno's Heir by Tiffany Wang is a third person-POV YA fantasy. As the half-sister of the future king, Jura, you'd think Teia would be standing by her brother’s side and trying to keep things running smoothly. Instead, Teia is doing what she can to bring about his downfall as he sadistically harms the people around him.

Jura is, without a doubt, a villain you want Teia to destroy until there's nothing left. His entire court is made up of sadists who don't care about anyone who isn't nobility, there's sexism, racism (Jura calls Teia ‘Halfling’ for her Asian-coded heritage from her mother), and there's blatant disregard for Teia’s autonomy. The story about the birdcage told me everything I needed to know about why Teia believes Jura needs to go down and I'm glad she can see that he does.

One thing I really liked was how we got Teia's parents personalities through their elements and the training they put Teia through. Ren, the father, was very kind and gentle as he taught her how to wield fire while Calla, the mother, was a lot more strict with water training. Despite their different styles, I could see that they were both teaching Teia how to be strong and prepared in every way they could. For Calla, this also manifested in discussing how Teia's heritage might make others look down on her.

Teia is something like a spy in her own home. She's running around in the town to talk to her network and keep things in motion while watching her brother’s moves. We get glimpses of how Jura and Teia are similar through Teia's espionage because she is willing to take things a step too far to achieve the results she wants. Even if I know her end goal is right, I can't agree with all of her decisions and I actually really liked that. I'd rather have a flawed character who makes choices I can't relate to than a character who only makes the choices I would.

Content warning for racism, dehumanizing language, and sexual assault

I would recommend this to fans of YA fantasy looking for element magic systems, readers of fantasy who like reading explorations of being biracial/bicultural in fantasy settings, and those looking for a YA fantasy that has a strong espionage element.

Inferno's Heir is a YA fantasy debut by Tiffany Wang. Seventeen years old princess Teia was in danger of being removed by her half-sibling crown prince Jura, who was to be crowned king in a couple of weeks. Teia was relentless in ensuring her survival, and she was not shy to using ruthless tactics for that. Running out of time, she planned to infiltrate a rebel group and sell them to Jura for the reward of being left alone. She was indifferent to the rebel group's cause, which was to overthrow the tyrannous monarchy entirely. But the things she heard and experienced while being with the rebel group were giving her second thoughts about her plans, and some even more dangerous thoughts about being a monarch.

The story immediately jumped into action, with decent worldbuilding interwoven into the story. The elemental magic reminded me of the one in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but less detailed. The writing was fast-paced and easy to read, but you can really tell it was a debut novel. I liked the story, there was a mystery to unravel, plenty of exciting high-stakes action sequences, political maneuvering. I did not sympathize with the main character in the beginning, but I grew to like her as she became more fleshed out throughout the book. Some of the rebels annoyed me to no end, though.

I ended up giving this a 3⭐ rating because I did not vibe with the writing. It was just not there yet. And the ending was ridiculously rushed. There's also a big gap left for a sequel.

eARC provided by NetGalley and Bindery Books.

DNF at 26%, I've been trying very hard to keep reading this, but the fantasy setting is a little too simplistic, the pace is slow and the plot and characters are formulaic. I'm not so interested to find out what happens because it's not gripping me. This is billed as high fantasy, but it's really more palatable YA with a simpler political system and lore.

Thanks Netgalley and Bindery Books for a free ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review!

Wow. Wow. Wow. Was that a fun reading experience! If you are looking for a book that makes you feel like The Cruel Prince, pick this up now!

The pacing on this book was divine that it felt like there was going to be another 100 pages but there wasn’t. And that’s a compliment! Did I see things coming? Yes. But the way things were executed made reading it a joy.

Inferno’s Heir is a beautiful tale of what happens when someone is put in a fear position & stripped of power. What happens when after all that time of living in fear & you finally get to have a voice? What choices would you make?

The dynamic between Teia & Jura was thrilling. Dare say I actually found Jura’s character to be a very lively character to read in the book! Honestly all the characters were a joy to read. I do wish I got even more depth from the characters but I think that’s the nature of third person tho.

For all the happened in this book, it also felt like nothing happened. But I mean that in a good way! It makes me excited to see what can happen with this story! There’s so many ways that it can go & I just know it’s going to be fantastic.

The book was beautifully written & I will read anything from this author now! Highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley & Bindery Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher(s) for accepting my request for an honest review!!

i think this a great debut novel, especially for a fantasy novel. it's incredibly heavy with the politics and the inner-working of the government from both the past and the present. i didn't really understand the pacing of this book; the beginning seemed to go on for years and the end felt like it stopped in the middle of a half-written word. the world-building could've used a lot more work, too. i found that some lore seemed to be thrown in at the last minute and we were just kind of told to 'deal with it'. the plot seems to stray a little, making me get lost in the weeds of it all BUT WITH ALL THAT SAID, i enjoyed this. tiffany did an amazing job with the characters and the action sequences. all the characters are diverse and witty and so different from each other. i WISH there were more time spent with them all together because i was so excited when they would all be in the same scene. it felt the same as six of crows in the found family, though there wasn't really enough. a solid 3.5 star.

Lies, deception and sibling rivalry begin an epic fantasy in Inferno’s Heir by Tiffany Wang. With a fast-paced plot full of twists throughout, Inferno’s Heir is a high fantasy that I couldn’t put down. Between the betrayals, shaky alliances, and plot reveals that led from one twist to another, this book will engross and delight any reader. I had a lot of fun reading this story that was full of action and one that I would consider a top book of 2024. Each character is well written and given a lot of depth that makes them leap off the page. Their unique in their own way and I appreciated Wang telling each of the backstories in a thoughtful and empathetic way. I am definitely looking forward to more books by Wang and more of this series!

Let me just start by saying that I chose to read this ARC because of the cover first! The synopsis came in second.
It is just one of the prettiest fantasy book covers I've seen.

In this book, we follow our main FMC, Teia, an outcast princess, as she infiltrates the ranks of a rebellion for her own gains. She blackmails, extorts, and even kills! She is the epitome of morally gray. And it's not just her. Every character that we meet along the way, except for the villains of course, is a morally gray character.
I loved that for the story!

The plot of the story is fairly simple, with simple world building.
But that is NOT to say that the book is not engaging!
It truly keeps you hooked from the moment you start. Whenever you think that there was a breather, the writer would throw something new at you.
Even the ending is not an ending at all! It is just the beginning of at least a duology which made me soooo mad! On the cover, it is clearly stated that this book is a novel. And I honestly thought that that means it is a standalone. Or am I wrong?

Anyways, there's a bit, a very time bit, of a romance sub-plot, and a lot of found family.

I loved the heists. I loved the rescues. I loved the friendships. I loved the deception. I loved the betrayals.
I loved every aspect of this book and cannot wait to know where the story goes and how it progresses. Tiffany Wang does not have the right to finish the book the way she did!

100% read this book!
If you are new to fantasy or think you want to try reading fantasy, this book is definitely a good first book to pick up. It is not overwhelming.
Now, if you can handle unfinished stories, go ahead and grab it. However, if you are like me and need closure, I advise you not read that last freaking chapter until the next installment comes out.

LOVED THIS! Read this all the way through. Such a great story. You can easily visualize the story and characters.