Midway Review—INTO THE FIRE (BIRTH OF THE PHOENIX)

Note: a midway review is one you write when you started a book you’re so excited about that you can’t wait to discuss it, even though you haven’t finished reading it. Unfortunately, I had to stop reading this gem to work. But I couldn’t wait to tell you how good it is so far.

INTO THE FIRE, written by Ashelyn Drake, aka Kelly Hashway, and published by Month9 Books, grabs the reader with a firm grip.

Cara is a phoenix, and she’s falling in love at the worst time imaginable, right before her rebirth. Once reborn, she’ll forget having ever met Logan, let alone that she had loved him.

The book is fast-paced, the dialogue is consistent, and the tension never lets up, at least not so far. (I’m not quite halfway through it.) I’ve got so many questions in my brain, and I can’t wait to find out the answers. For instance, who is the Hunter and why is he or she after them? How will they fight the Hunter? Does the Hunter have unique powers?

Another question concerns the number of lives each phoenix gets. If I’m understanding the book so far, with their rebirths, phoenixes get five lives. Cara, 17, is nearing her first rebirth, and her younger brother, Jeremy, has just undergone his. This made me think phoenixes live between 85 and 100 years, just like regular people; starting out so young with the first rebirth, it’s easy to assume that the next one will be 15 to 17 years later, and so on. So, you see where my math is going. But then Cara’s mother mentioned that phoenixes live to be around 500 years old. I got confused, thinking that each life should then be about 100 years, multiplied by the five lives they get.

Yet that doesn’t make sense if Cara and Jeremy are already experiencing their first rebirths. But the math is just one more question I’m anxious to get to the bottom of once I have read the full book.

Phoenixes are part bird, but they don’t have wings or beaks or anything like that. I’m wondering what their connection to birds is, and how that will come to play in this novel. I can’t wait to find out. I’m also wondering about Cara’s powers with fire. I’m anxious to learn why she has these powers, when she will be able to control them, what she can or will do with them, and what other powers she might have. So you see, I have multiple questions lined up from reading the first third of the book, which is why it’s really frustrating to put it down. But you can bet I’ll be staying up late tonight. When a novel raises questions almost page after page, a reader can’t help but want to devour the book in one gulp; and yes, I am assuming the rest of the book will be as good as the start. Have you read it? Did you like it?

Happy reading!