*Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Bramble for an eArc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own*

This was an incredibly fast read with an interesting world set in a reimagined Rome. The nobles in this world are dragon shifters. This is a very tough read, you have to be comfortable with a romance/relationship between a master and their slave. This is not slow burn at all, the enemies to lovers, hate to love is over very quickly and the spice happens within 100 pages. This is not a story for me, it was at times very hard to read. Please be aware of violence against slaves, SA detailed on page, extreme misogyny. I don't like the relationship that is being explored here. I know this can work for some but I just can't buy that you fall in love with someone who burned down your entire village, and killed thousands of innocents including your family. Even if he's plotting against the more vile emperor. Just not for me. Also, the writing is incredibly cringey, how many times can I read the word cunny...

I received an advance reader copy an exchange for an honest review.

NO SPOILERS!

A Roman dragon shifter and a powerful witch? Sign me up!

Even After reading Fourth Wing, Delicously Dark Fairy Tales, and the Kit Davenport series I’m still loving dragon and dragon shifter stories. I never tire of them so keep them coming.

Firebird is a dark Romantasy set in a Roman inspired world with powerful dragon shifter houses led by the cruel and corrupt Caesar.

My main critique would be there’s so much world building, info dumping and character soup at the start of this book. I found it hard to care at first, but eventually it found its groove.

Julian and Malina have an Insta love, fated mates relationship that I wish had been more fleshed out. Sadly, the fated mates trope can lead to a lack of relationship building.

Also some of the dialogue can be a bit cringy, especially during spicy scenes.

Firebird has a master/slave dynamic that might rub people the wrong way even though he doesn’t treat her like a slave and she doesn’t act like one. It didn’t bother me because I’ve read so many books with that trope. But keep it in mind if it’s not your thing.

I did enjoy the political intrigue so I’m excited to see where the story goes from here and I will be picking up the next book in the series.

Okay so this premise had me and I needed to know more about this book! I loved the concept, the idea of it, and the characters in their own spaces. This is a book that teeters on romantasy and a little bit of dark romance. You've got the dragons, the magic, and at the same time there's a pretty heavy master/slave dynamic, that you really have to take in stride in this book.

This is a book space that I didn't necessarily think I'd expect to see master/slave dynamics, but I was intrigued. I didn't love it, but I found it curious & I'm excited to see where book two takes us in this storyline! Mind the triggers in the beginning & buckle in for the ride!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

Firebird has a lot of great elements that I loved. However, I need to start by mentioning that this book has some dark and triggering elements that readers need to be aware of before starting, so make sure to check trigger warnings. When I started reading, they weren’t as readily available as now, so that did affect my enjoyment to some degree as I wasn’t in the headspace I would’ve been had I known. The darker themes make sense in the context of the story. Many of the themes are uncomfortable, but they’re supposed to be that way. This also features a fated mates scenario, but it was a little too insta lust for me. I also struggled with it based on the master/slave dynamic between the two MCs. I did find the dragon shifter aspect to be interesting. I also really enjoyed the magical lore and world building as well as the political intrigue. I had both the ebook and audiobook for this. The audiobook was narrated by Blair Dade and Kale Williams. I thought they both did really well with the narration and bringing both the characters and world to life. Their narration also helped keep me focused on the story. I do plan to continue the series to see how the story develops in book two.

Overall rating: 3.5⭐️

I really liked the world building and the dragon shifters. The only thing I didn't like was the spice in this book. I really love spice but in this story, it felt weird. I didn't like how he called her vagina "her cunny" and the writing felt YA.

I think this book would have been much better if it has been YA.

4.5 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💫

“We might burn for what’s to come.”

Firebird is the first novel in the adult romantasy series, The Fire that Binds. Written in first person dual POV, the story follows Julian and Malina, a witch and a dragon from vastly different backgrounds brought together by circumstances of fate after a chance encounter.

Years later they meet on the battlefield on opposite sides of the war - Julian as a Roman general and nephew to the emperor and Malina as a witch aiding the Celts. Yet a connection exists between them and Julian's dragon saves her knowing she is his. Malina is suspicious of this Roman general who is known for his fierceness but she senses secrets lurk behind his eyes and as she carries his secret talisman she realises the secrets he hides may change everything.

In a world where dragons rule and a cruel emperor seeks to dominate all, Malina and Julian must decide whether they fight for the bond that grows between them...or collapse under the burning world.

I devoured this book over a plane ride! I could not get enough!

Malina is a mortal gifted with powers of emotional persuasion. A dancer by trade she has lost everything under the Roman empire. She demands justice and challenges the powers that be. She is curious and methodical and an easy character to fall into. I also found her capacity to love and sacrifice to be powerful.

Julian is a powerful dragon in his own right and a male who plans for the long term. Meeting Malina changes everything and his acceptance of this was something I was obsessed with. He loves with such power and is desperate to find a way forward. You can see what he has had to endure and even he recognizes his privilege here.

There are additional side characters that really drew me in from the adorable Stefanos to the gruff but kind Kara. They helped highlight aspects of this world and gave us windows into who Julian is.

This book does contain spice. I would say 2.5 spicy peppers out of 5 spicy peppers. This novel is a slow burn romance as these two enter the story with a pretty big power imbalance. We get to really see these characters find common ground and I loved how smooth it felt. The romance is an instant connection and grows more powerful as the story progresses. Spice starts with some foreplay before we really get into this in the second half (around 55% mark). The spice is romantic and explicit with some dirty talk and lots of play. I felt it worked for the passion that grows between these, too.

“Before you came, all of this was easier.”
“What do you mean?”
“I never cared about losing my life.”
“But now you do?”
No…I care about losing yours.”

The story itself follows Malina as she attempts to rebuild her life after once again losing everything to the Romans. As a slave she struggles under the shackles...until she realizes Julian is not the master she thinks. Meanwhile Julian is playing a knife's edge game in the forum of Rome that could burn his world down and seeing Malina again forces him to change things. As this is a series there is the additional overarching story around the emperor and his war as well as the rebellion that is building. We get a taste of this plot in the story and I am very curious. This appears to be interconnected standalones as this story does end off happily for now. What I enjoyed the most about this story was how much these characters worked together. There are these beautiful intimacies between them, a sense of urgency to act, court intrigue, action, and very careful games. I had an absolute blast and cannot wait for book 2!

This is my first Juliette Cross book and it will not be my last! Thank you Bramble for this arc!

this one didn't work for me. Majority of the story was based around a romance I didn't care about. I found it to be very much insta-love and that never feels like a super strong foundation or something I want to root for. I didn't really care for either MC and thought there was just no development for their characters. If I didn't read the chapter headings I genuinely couldn't tell who's voice/perspective I was reading from half the time. I think conceptually an ancient roman fantasy with dragons sounds great but the execution left me confused and honestly, wishing it was longer so more things could have been fully fleshed out instead of half way done and lacklustre.

I really enjoyed this read. Side note: Read with caution, check triggers. A handful of scenes are hard to read due to vulgar or brutal detail. The author’s writing flows beautifully and held my attention the entire book. The intrigue, the danger, the character dynamics are all well written. I loved the Roman aspect, the dragon shifter elements, and the hood MMC vs the evil ruler. The romance of some side characters is on the dark side, and due to illustrating the brutality of the Roman conquerors, there are a handful of scenes that are heavy. The romance between the main characters is on the sweeter side of dark and is more instalovey. Although it is a captive x captor relationship, the insta love vibe made it not feel dark or heavy. The brutal side of this war is described in great detail which could be upsetting for readers. It does illustrate the need for a rebellion in this world really well, and sparks all the emotions that would go along with this war and rebellion. This was an exciting read and held my interest the entire time. I feel like readers who loved the GOT or Vikings kind of world would enjoy this read.

This audio narration is perfection.

❤️‍🔥 Dragon Shifter
❤️‍🔥 Roman Conquers
❤️‍🔥 Witch FMC
❤️‍🔥 My Treasure
❤️‍🔥 My Dragon
❤️‍🔥 Conquerer x Captive
❤️‍🔥 Fated Mates
❤️‍🔥 Rebellion
❤️‍🔥 Brutal War

4.5 🌶️ (highly descriptive, open door spice, occurs enough to be a focus of the plot)
Check triggers (brutal war, brutal ruler, vulgar SA discussed and hinted at on page, mistreatment of women)

Thank you to Netgalley and Bramble for the eARC of Firebird in exchange for my honest review.

I am a HUGE sucker for the Roman Empire (it’s my Roman Empire lol) so I was really excited to read a romantasy that was inspired by that era. The setting really did work for me, it was brutal and unforgiving and with the addition of dragons? I was super excited.

However, I do feel like this petered out for me when it came to the romance and the politics. For all the talk of war and the time period that is obviously being referenced (I teach ancient world history), there was so little actual machinations like I had hoped for. The romance (if you can call it that) also leaves a lot to be desired. It ended up being a master/slave which felt gross and the fated mates lent itself to making the story very insta love.

I really enjoyed this book. The author had a really compelling writing style that made me just binge this book. Great characters and building of this world. My biggest complaint is that the romance seemed too easy to me. However, I would recommend this book who don't mind a slave/master relationship.

Personally, even though she is the slave and he is the master, he wasn't awful to her at all. Nothing close to what you hear from other dark romance books. It's just what they happen to be because of circumstances. I feel like the world in which our 2 main characters live in is the darkest part of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of the ebook and audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

The story’s mythology is unique with a roman backbone. However, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I adore fated mates and usually am completely on board. I think that the fated mates felt more like an instant lust situation. I am not sure if it was a lack of chemistry between the characters or if the distraction of the brutal world and master / slave power dynamic made authentic love hard to see. I appreciated that Julian hated everything that Cesar and his empire stood for.

I’d be remiss not to mention that this story has many aspects that are gory, painful to read and delves deep into slavery. There is also much abuse of power with sexual assault from side characters on page and focuses on master/ slave relationships for the majority of the book. It wasn’t listed in any of the marketing or description but needs to be included.

I so wanted to love the book especially with the unique magical system. A good comparison would be Game of Thrones where the world was cutthroat and lethal with a love story at the center. I felt uncomfortable while reading much of this and probably wouldn’t have picked up the book if those content warnings had been included.

The cover is exquisite and the final copy will have beautiful sprayed edges. Bramble sent me the physical copies and they are just as beautiful in person. I chose to read via audiobook from Macmillan Audio. These narrators; Blair Dade & Kale Williams did an excellent job bringing the world come to life. Very grateful for the gifted book, this is my honest review.

Thank you to Bramble for an e-arc of this book.

I didn't realize the dynamic (master/slave) of this book when I requested it, but after I saw some posts on social media I did. The dynamic isn't necessarily one I go for or totally avoid. I love Roman history (it's very intriguing) which is one reason I was interested in this book. I did like that it was a mix of "historical" but really kind of went its own way overall. I think giving it the background of Roman was helpful in grounding the story in a way that worked.

Juliette Cross's writing is addictive and easy to read. I think I powered through the first 30% without putting it down because I was intrigued. She brings the world to life, and made it feel vibrant and believable. Again, I think that was helped by the fact she has it set in a place that was real, and essentially just modified some things to make it work for fantasy.

I loved Mina as the FMC in this book. I liked that she was a complicated character with complicated feelings. She was honest with herself, and I don't always see that in FMC, often they're in denial or recriminating, and Mina didn't feel like that at all. Honestly, her nickname was perfect for her. Such a wonderful character, and one I can't wait to see more of.

This book was told from two POVs, Mina and Julian. I liked both POVs, although I think I did enjoy Mina's a tad more. But that is usually the case for me.

This book is definitely dark romance/dark fantasy/dark romantasy. While it's not pitch dark like a lot of other books are, it is there simply because of the theme of the book. There are definitely very dark and bloody moments in this book, so I can definitely see why they said for fans of "House of the Dragon" because this book also has a very political element to it between family. That was actually one of the best parts of the book, I really do love a good book that has fantasy politics. And even better, this book has dragons. Shapeshifting dragons as well.

In other words, this book nails several things that I really love in a book. I will say this book is not going to be for everyone, especially if the main dynamic makes you uncomfortable. I did think the author in many ways did try to balance that out,

I can't wait to see what happens next in this series!

Dragon shifter “fanfiction-esque romance”, but make it ancient Roman with lots of political intrigue and fighting.

I was unaware this was a slave/dark romance. It wasn’t marketed that way which is a bit misleading. I also think some trigger warnings are necessary.

This was a fascinating fantasy world, with a basis in ancient Rome, but where the patricians are DRAGONS!

Malina is a dancer, along with her sisters and others, in a traveling troupe. One night, 3 Romans show up to their performance, and Malina is both scared by, and attracted to, their leader. They have an immediate connection, though Malina is reluctant to acknowledge it. She thinks she'll never see him again.

4 years later, Julian is now a general, and one of the most powerful dragons in Rome. He unexpectedly sees Malina again, in the aftermath of a battle he's just won. She's in danger, and he immediately reacts. He had an inkling of what she was to him the first time they met, but now, he knows for sure. He can't let her go.

The only way to keep Malina, and to keep her safe in Rome, is to bring her into his household as a slave. He is the emperor's nephew, and he cannot be seen to be breaking any laws. Malina wants to hate him, but the connection she feels to him can't be denied, and the magic inside her won't let her ignore their tether.

Their chemistry was off the charts, even when they tried to fight it. They cared for each other so much, and at times that was painful for both of them. As the reader, I suffered right along with them. And when they finally did connect, it was FIRE!

This story definitely dealt with darker themes, and power dynamics. The worldbuilding was obviously heavy, as book 1 in a series, but it all felt vital. Many of the side characters were wonderful, and the villains were truly heinous. It definitely made me feel all my feelings! I really enjoyed myself while reading, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next book already! Based on some things in this book, I'm really hoping I know who the heroine of book 2 will be...

I was super excited to read Firebird because of my love for ancient Rome historical fiction. I liked the fantasy element of dragons a lot, but I was disappointed they weren't specific characters from history. The complete turnoff for me was the master/slave to lovers situation. I'm all for spicy romance scenes, but their sexual relationship happened so quickly before Julian's complicated past was revealed, it gave me the icks which didn't go away.

I am a library associate and received an advance copy from #NetGalley.

Wow wow wow! This is a fantastic read. Romantasy done right. If you’re a fan of dragon shifters, who touched you, “mine” and much more possessiveness in your mmc, you’ll love this novel. I really enjoyed the loose inspiration from Roman mythology as well.

Thank you Bramble for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a mashup of two of my favorite things, dragons & Ancient Rome! The hierarchy of dragons based on their colors and lineage was really interesting. The history of Medusa & her sisters being given powers by Minerva to destroy men which were then passed down to other women through time was a great way to start the story. The plot and politics were my favorite part of this book, and I am excited to see how the story continues in the next book. The world-building was confusing at times and I wish it had been fleshed out a little more.

This may have been the weight of expectation as this was one of my most anticipated reads this year, but the romance fell flat for me. Malina & Julian’s relationship seemed to lack depth and I didn’t buy the insta-love. The fated mates concept might explain the reason for their quick burn, but I didn’t feel it while I was reading. The way the spicy scenes were written and some of the language used was cringey to me. The fact that he finds her with her new master but has to immediately sleep with her versus saving her is giving Tamlin a& Feyre under the mountain vibes.

Thank you to Bramble & Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this book and audiobook. This review is voluntary, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Unfortunately this really didn't do it for me. Some positives first? The setting had a lot of really cool potential! I haven't read any romantasy or really any book set in Ancient Rome, and I was really intrigued by that. Also this cover? Gorg. But then, the mish mash of period and modern dialogue (which I don't think was on purpose), plus characters that didn't really stand out, and kind of cringy language ["My treasure, Rawr XD" (Not a direct quote) and "Cunny" (???)] made me feel really disconnected and not at all invested in the relationship or the story as a whole. :( Rounding up to 2 stars.

This is a difficult book to review. On one hand, it’s simply following a tried-and-true romantasy equation, almost point by point at times. On the other hand, within the greater context of the story, I think many of these tropes rubbed the wrong way for me. However, given how standard much of the language and tropes used in this book are to the genre, I fully expect my opinion of this one to be an outlier. Ah well. By this point, I’m well used to being on the wrong side of these dragon romance books. (But wait! I did like “Dragon Unleashed” by Grace Draven, so it’s not all bad all the time automatically or anything!)

As always, I do want to start with a few positives. For the most part, I did enjoy the setting of this book, being based on ancient Rome. I feel like this is a bit of a trend recently, and as I enjoy Roman history, it’s been fun seeing it pop up within the fantasy genre (largely because the history is so long and full of different highs and lows and focal points that you can end up with quite a lot of variety even with this focus).

That said, I don’t think this particular iteration did much with this concept. For example, this book was hyped as a combination of ancient Rome meets George R.R. Martin. Do you know what those two things have in common? A strong focus on political machinations! Do you know what this book had practically zero of? That’s right, political machinations. Anything you do see is so superficial as to be practically worthless. Instead, the comparison to Martin would more accurately come down to the book’s focus on the horrendous treatment of women in this civilization. Obviously, there is historical accuracy behind much of this. But that alone doesn’t justify a heavy focus on the subject unless it’s going to be addressed thoroughly. And, like Martin, there were times where this book seemed to be reveling in the horror of it all, rather than including them for any truly important reason. Pay attention to the trigger warnings on this one, for sure.

My real problem came down to the romance, however. In so many ways, this romance exemplified the many ways that romantasy tropes can go wrong if sprinkled into any old plot line without much care. For some background, an important feature of this book is the fact that the MMC (morally grey with tons of secrets, obvs) participated in the razing of the MFC’s people. Which, again, this sort of thing is a staple of the genre, and the obligatory reveals of his ulterior motivations can be expected. But, necessarily, that explanation has to be incredibly good to counterbalance the actual gruesome harm he participated in, something that cannot be simply erased. Some authors are capable of turning this corner with their MMC. Others…are not.

Beyond this, the entire set up of the book and the romance is based around the fact that the MMC captures the FMC and keeps her as a “body slave.” So, that’s a pretty heavy topic to manage in a romance, that sort of dynamic, where the power imbalance is so extreme. Again, this can be navigated, but it takes a careful hand on the wheel to do so. Unfortunately, we didn’t see that here. Instead, the romance starts up quickly and hits hard, without ever really dealing with the facts of this power imbalance. And for me, this left an inescapable sheen of ickiness over the entire affair.

Further, the inclusion of dragons into this story lead to a strong focus on mating bonds. Beyond the laziness factor of this trope (which allows authors to just handwave away any actual character growth or natural progression of romantic interest/feelings and instead justify instalove/lust), the language that accompanied this choice rubbed up incredibly awkwardly (to put it mildly) against the slave/master nature of the relationship. “You’re mine.” “Say you’re mine.” etc. etc., are all very common phrases in romance/romantasy, especially when you’re dealing with any sort of mating bond situation. However, when paired with the set up of this story and the dynamics between Juliannus and Malina, this all began to feel rather gross. And, again, this isn’t to say that mating bond books can’t be done well! I think “Bride” by Ali Hazelwood is an excellent example of how to navigate this trope, avoiding the instalove pitfall as well as the questions regarding consent. This book, however, did not do any of that.

So yeah, I really disliked this book. I think it’s a perfect example of the “plug and play” style of writing that is all too prevalent in the rising star that is the romantasy genre. Everyone wants to cash in and the results are books that feel as if the author/publisher simply drew popular tropes out of a hat and mashed them together, with no concern for how well they would work together. Mating bonds and the possessive language that often accompany it? Sometimes good! Pair that with a slave/master dynamic and fastburn intimacy? Absolutely not.

I don’t recommend this book. I think there are much better examples of all the tropes included to be found elsewhere, and I think the author’s inability to properly explore the power imbalance of her central romance ruins any attempt to enjoy it.

Rating 4: Tropes gone bad and a rather gross slave/master romance at its heart really ruined this one for me.

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