Title: Bright Smoke, Cold Fire (#1)
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Released: September 2016
Source: Library
Summary: Romeo and Juliet meet. Romeo and Juliet fall in love. It all ends in tragedy. They shouldn't even have met. They come from two families that hate each other, in a world gone to ruin.
The scene is the city of Viaraya. The only city alive after The Ruining. It's protected by the magic of the Sisters of Thorn. The magic relies on blood sacrifices, which happen every six months, and feed the city's defenses.
Runajo is a Sister of Thorn, and she's determined to save the city. She doesn't need anybody, until through a twist of fate, she's bound magically to a girl named Juliet.
Paris Castreou has always been a disappointment to his family, never destined for anything special. Then The Juliet's Guardian dies, and Paris has been given the honor of being a replacement. It all goes terribly wrong. Paris becomes magically bound to a boy called Romeo.
In a dying city, with zombies and necromancy, these two duos must work together to save what they can.
My Thoughts: I don't know what I just read. I can say that I didn't really like it. The world made no sense. I didn't get it. Everything was just really confusing. The writing wasn't bad, but in a way, this just felt like a waste of time read.
This whole story was just very confusing. It made no sense. I didn't enjoy the world building in it. Everything just felt really random and not explained very well. It was a very information dump world set up. Lots of things were being thrown at the reader: magic, zombies, a dying city, a deadly fog, and necromancy. A lot of people and names were thrown about too. People I tended to forget almost immediately, and races that I got mixed up. It was just very confusing. I didn't get it, and I didn't really enjoy it.
The book contains two separate character journeys. It's Romeo and Paris, and then Runajo and Juliet. My favorite duo was probably Paris and Romeo. Their adventure was more fun to read, and I enjoyed their dynamic. Runajo and Juliet were just kind of blah. Both girls were just kind of difficult to like, to sympathize with. I really didn't like Runajo, she seemed really unpleasant and mean. I felt like all the characters were kind of bland too. I never really got to know them.
The ending was kind of crazy, in that WHAT IS HAPPENING?!? kind of way. And it didn't feel like it really ended. I wasn't given a satisfying conclusion.
This was just disappointing and super confusing. I didn't really like it. The one pro I have is that the writing is good. I kept reading to see what would happen. I just didn't really like the story. This will probably end up being one of the most disappointing books of the year. I'm just very confused. I started off confused in the beginning and am still confused in the end. This whole book was just a very weird experience.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 2.5/5
Nothing makes sense... nothing.
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