Ashes of the Phoenix (Phoenix Rising #1) by Jess Haines

Lyra runs a magical book store - despite having no magic herself. Still, she thought she was well protected against most of the tricks wizards can pull

Until a man stole one her more valuable books

And turned her into a bird. Neither of those are things she’s willing to let go

This book caught my attention because I haven’t seen a lot of phoenixes in the genre. And a book where the main character spent it entirely as a bird is definitely incredibly different and a completely novel concept. Things like this interest me as it points to an author thinking so far outside of the tropes we’re used to having

It’s also really well done - I can see this as the struggles a human would have when forced into such an alien body they don’t know how to pilot.

The world setting also is highly promising. Not just phoenixes and demons but a definite range of magic, magical creatures and big differences and implications with which with a clear rich and involved magical world.

The concept of the phoenix is also really original and curious - even if it’s only fully realised at the end of the book which is epic and is the main thing about this book that really drew me to wanting to see where this is going. There is a foundation for an absolutely awesome series here - so much can be developed in so many amazing ways

I did have an issue though - beyond the complete erasure of POC and LGBTQ people and any other minorities.

Unfortunately I kind of feel like a deadline was looming and the author had to get this book to the publisher like yesterday because it feels vaguely unfinished.  I know less is more (except when talking about bacon, of course) but in this case I could have used some more expansion

As I said, this book is here to introduce a new world, a new concept and a whole load of new characters. Which is great - and it does a good job of beginning to introduce these people, these concepts and this world (and I’m intrigued) but not enough for me to get fully invested in them (especially the characters). Everything, the world building, the creatures, the monsters, the magic, and the characters (definitely the characters) could use a bit more to get me invested in them

Ashes Reborn (Souls of Fire #4) by Keri Arthur

Emberley has already suffered losses in the battle against the Red Vampire plague – and has only just managed to resurrect her fellow Phoenix Rory from his ashes.

But even with the leader of the Red Vampires dead, the threat continues – rebel vampire Rinaldo is threatening to use them as a weapon against the city – and one city block has already been destroyed in the last conflict.

Still seeking the research which may be the cure to this threat, Embrley and Jackson have to work with the secret Paranormal Police Force, PIT to try and survive and stop the bodies piling up: and their own being among them

This series has so many original elements I love – starting first and foremost with the whole concepts of the phoenixes as protagonists. The whole concept of them as beings that resurrect and reincarnate but are far from without flaws or weaknesses is interesting how it’s done.

Emberley’s relationship with Rory is fascinating. There are so many stories out there where we have couples forced into a sexual relationship because of woo-woo. It’s an inevitable storyline which has two people who hate each other forced into a romance, with lots of anger and resistance followed by them finally giving and in and twu love follows. I’m not a fan.

So to have this –have Emberley and Rory care for each other – but not romantically. How they accept their bond happily, not as a burden or something which always drags them down; it’s really refreshing. That this is not pushing them towards romance nor is it some desperate dark sadness that dogs both of them with angst and tragedy

Not that there isn’t angst in the life of Emberley – but I also like how this broken relationship with Max is treated. Normally when I see that a protagonist’s love life is cursed I turn and run so far because oh my gods the angst that will follow! But here? Not so much. Oh it hurts Emberley and she’s not happy about it – but that doesn’t mean she can’t work with Max and isn’t quite happy pursuing other relationships rather than moping all alone hoping Max comes back to her. She likes Jackson, she has a good time with him. It is a bit overly sex focused (when, my gods, sometimes I just want them to get on with the plot and stop worrying about Jackson’s dick) and she has fun and a life even if her romantic life has all fallen apart that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a life.

The main characters, their conflicts and the world really make this book worth reading. And I really like the take on the elves and if anything needs expanding then it’s definitely the different kinds of elves and the powers and cultures they have.

Flameout (Souls of Fire #3) by Keri Arthur

Emberly and Jackson are still desperately struggling to find some answer to the Red Vampire Plague. Unfortunately, the notes that may have the cure are nowhere to be found and many factions are gathering around to use them, threaten them or worse

And her big secret is out – far too many people know she’s a phoenix, and have magic to counter her fire.

I love the whole concept of the phoenixes in this series. I love their fire, how their immortality is presented, the awareness of their age and their require companionship. I like the tragedy of them which their cursed romantic existence brings – because it isn’t overwrought and ridiculous

I even like the relationship between Emberly and Jackson. I like how neither side expects it to last forever between them (though I rather think we are moving towards monogamy despite everyone saying it’s not in Jackson’s nature and Emberly has already had a her one true love) and that isn’t a great source of angst. I also like how they have their priorities in order – yes they like each other. Yes they want to have sex. A lot. No they’re not doing it now, they’re tired. No they’re not doing it now, they’re busy. No they’re not doing it now, they have other things to do

It seems ridiculous to praise this – but this is a genre where I have repeatedly seen characters put everything on hold, everything paused because they simply have to hump right now. Books where characters will pause mid-escape to have sex, where they will literally stop in front of their enemies and argue over their relationship.

The relationship is good. The world building is excellent. The general pacing of the story is excellent, in terms of actual writing if not focus. I generally find her an intriguing character

I do have some frustrations. Firstly, I spent a lot of the book wondering exactly what the hell was happening, what they were doing and why. It could be that it has just been a very long time since I read the last books or it could be because there’s just sooooo many players involved. And this doesn’t get better now we’ve introduced another vampire faction and the werewolves

Which means we now have:

1) The Werewolves

2) The wererats

3) PIT (the police kinda)

4) Syndicati Vampires

5) New Vampire blokey

6) Angry former members of a vampire faction

7) The hive mind plague-end-of-the-world-scary vampires

That’s a lot of focus. So many factions. So many people to juggle. So many distractions. We get lost and a lot of this doesn’t seem relevant.

And there’s a reason why I’ve put The Red Vampires at number 7. It’s not necessarily related to how much attention they pay so much as how much attention it feels like they pay considering the overwhelming threat it represents (and this doesn’t just apply to Emberley and Jackson – I mean the vampires, werewolves et al as well). The red vampires are quite literally being held up as an utter threat to the country, if not the entire world. So… why isn’t everyone focused on this? Oh, sure they’re all looking for these long lost notes for cure – but they’re treating these notes like a spell or the Maltese Falcon or something. Is no-one doing independent research? What about finding head Red Vampire and putting a bullet in his head? Honestly if he didn’t chase them around and regularly launch attacks there’s a decent chance I’d forget about them all together. This is a terrible way to treat your big bad, especially when you get to the end of the book and we have the super, epic ending with so much damage – and that damage is justified because we have a whole end of the world spectre there – so we needed to keep that in mind and we didn’t.

While I like most of the magic system etc I have developed a major pet hate. Fire. Fire is a major part of the powers of the Phoenix. We know how fire works. It burns things. It doesn’t throw people around. You can’t pick people up with fire. You can’t knock them out with fire. You certainly can’t tie people up with fire. It’s fire. It burns. Don’t give your protagonist Swiss Army Magic when it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s not quite an Arse Grimoire, but still.

This book does sadly lack any meaningful diversity. I can’t remember any meaningful POC, any meaningful LGBTQ characters. And Emberly moves through an incredibly male world – with the only woman who was regularly mentioned both a) hating Emberly and b) dying. When we consider just how many characters and factions we have, that’s just an almost ridiculous lack.

Wicked Embers (Souls of Fire #2) by Keri Arthur

Melbourne is still under threat from the spread of Crimson Death – the vampirism plague that is creating ever more monsters. The research for cure and treatment is becoming ever more in demand from various shadowy organisations all with their own purposes

And in the middle of it is Emberly, the Phoenix, who many people think has the hidden notes for the cure research. On top of that, she’s having prophetic dreams of a new monster in town.

As a private investigator I think Emberly and Jackson are also much more legitimately involved in the plot, especially since Emberly is targeted as well. While the last book she felt inserted clumsily, now she works as a much more central figure to the investigation.

And I do like that investigation. It’s a mystery with lots of questions and numerous factions and twisting plots involved. The central question is still the plague, the quasi-vampires and their terrible infections, possibly apocalyptic disease and any possible cure or vaccination that may exist. But there are so many factions looking for this cure and many motives between them – people trying to make a profit, the Sindicati, a vampire underworld organisation that is now riven in two – with both factions after the information. And being a major underworld organisation, they have their lackies and contacts who also have their own input into the story with their own agendas and organisation.

On top of that we have PIT, the surreptitious police force that challenges the supernatural with their own shady organisation complicated with Sam and his history with Emberley. There’s a lot of things going on and it works

In fact if I have any criticism of this story is that there are too many factions and independent figures. Sometimes a name will come up and I’ll have a blank moment because I can’t remember who they are, which faction they’re part of or what goal they have. There are a lot of characters here – so very many characters and I get more than a little lost occasionally.

Part of this is it actually makes the main plot line seem somewhat out of place. Why are we following this shifting creature that eats people? It’s not that it’s a bad story – it’s actually really fun and well written and interesting. It’s just that the meta is so huge that I don’t think it necessarily fits except, perhaps, to add some new shiny new creatures to the world.

I do wish we could see more competence from Emberly. Throughout the book and their investigations Jackson is the one with the ideas and the knowledge. He knows the city better, he has the contacts, he has the investigative skills. Which is fair enough in a way, she is the investigator. But she has lived for centuries upon centuries – so where is the skill set to back this up? It’s no that she’s weak or useless – far from it, she’s immensely powerful – but that power revolves around her woo-woo. She’s a phoenix and they are might, dangerous beings – and it is actually somewhat rare to see a female character be so overwhelmingly more powerful (and actively so) than her lover and partner – but I do think at times she slightly turns into a fire turret. At the same time, I quite like how she is a power. She’ facing off against all of these major, scary organisations because she is a scary person. Not overpowered and terrifying and certainly there is tension facing off against what these dangerous organisation – but still a sufficient force that they have to respect her.

Fireborn (Souls of Fire #1) by Keri Arthur

Emberly is a phoenix and has spent several lifetimes living under their curse – to never know love and to have their heart broken each lifetime. She’s also seen no end of bad results come from her attempting to save lives

But when Sam, the lover who broke her life this incarnation, is imperiled she can’t help but act despite all the bitter memories.

Now she finds herself facing something new even after all her lifetimes – humans infected with a whole new condition due to unwise human tinkering into vampires. They’re dangerous, contagious and must be stopped. And they’re gunning for her.

This book ticks a lot of boxes – a rich original mythology. A protagonist who is clever, capable and determined as well as sexual without shame. Throw in a setting we don’t see often and a storyline that is nicely paced and full of fun and it’s definitely pulling me in.

One element that really intrigues me is romantic and sexual nature of the phoenixes. They are paired together, sexually. They must have sex with their soul-mate – but at the same time they’re cursed never to love that soul mate. Inherently, if they want any romantic connection, they must seek romance outside of their partnership while also continuing to have sex with their soul-mate. They are inherently polygamous beings – but there’s no shame or angst about that. They know what they are, they are happy in the sex lives they have and even when Sam accuses her of cheating she doesn’t feel slightly guilty; she’s clear that he only accuses her of that because he is utterly ignorant of her nature.

It’s nice to have a female protagonist who is sexual, has multiple partners and doesn’t even have a moment of angst about this.

I will say that her relationship with Jackson is distracting. I can get they find each other hot and love that she’s eager to explore that – but their timing is far too often ill-advised when they’re already neck deep in other things going on

The whole nature of phoenixes in this is quite original, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it in any other book: the reincarnation, the many lives and lifetimes, the connected souls. It’s all very new – and that’s rare considering how much of the genre I’ve read.

This couples with things like the fae connected to their elements and a whole lot of creepy difference with some vampires that brings a lot of unique aspects to the story. I say again, I’ve read a lot in this genre which makes me really value the original. I love to read something completely new and this book definitely brought the new

Mirrorfall (Require: Cookie series) by Grace McDermott

Stef, or Spyder, is a hacker, computer genius and an all round geek. Who has just been given a job that is compelling, fascinating and almost impossible – decipher indecipherable code. Code that resembles nothing on Earth. Code that she can almost comprehend and is driven to solve. Code that may not even be from Earth – nor her employers

At least until guys with guns show up and everything  becomes very confusing very quickly.

She’s always wanted to see magic and things beyond the norm – and now she’s plunged into the middle of it, torn between loving every second and running in terror of not being able to meet the challenges of her new world – or her new job as a field agent for the Agency. Police, facilitators – she’s joined the organisation that tries to bring some semblance of peace and order to a very chaotic supernatural world.

And her boss may be an angel. He certainly saved her life before.

In story terms I think there are 2 stories pushed together here. One is Stef discovering the world beyond the one she knows, being recruited for the agency and then actually joining up and becoming Ryan’s protégé. This is a good story and needed a lot of growth. Then there is the Mirrorfall which feels kind of rushed, addressed only in passing and to be made up of a whole lot of bad decisions and not very well explained. I feel the Mirrorfall could have been a separate story and we could have just focused on Stef joining the agency and proving herself and establishing he bond between herself and Ryan – things which badly needed doing.

I didn’t dislike the stories but they needed more development, and to move faster. We spend so much time on Stef’s internal dialogue and doubts with occasional lectures that not enough happens or develops. Which is a shame because with some development this could go from a good story to an excellent story. With some development the intriguing relationship between Stef and Ryan could have become powerful and fun and interesting and not a little rushed and with Ryan’s affection being understandable – but excessive in the brief period he’s known her.

Which is a shame – because Ryan, the man who is never remembered, connecting with the child he saved, the child he broke all the rules for, the child he would not die who then grew up and actually remembers him is poignant and powerful without the angsty monologues that are so often used to try and convey strong emotion in the genre. Throw in him not being seen as human or living by most people who see his true nature, but Stef’s unique outlook caused her to not only see that but embrace it joyfully and you have a powerful foundation. Or Stef and her past and thought processes negotiating this new world, bringing to it the unique perspectives of her mind and hobbies and how this brings new strengths and richness to her role and makes her a far better field agent than anyone expected. These are great stories, these are excellent stories and there are wonderful cores of them there – but they’re not developed to their full potential before we head off to the Mirrorfall and a whole new story setting.

There is very good ongoing presentation of Stef as neurologically atypical person. Her thought processes are extremely good and representative of that, how she thinks, the odd places her mind goes, the unusual way her mind works is really well expressed. Several of that bleeds over into her actions – things she does, things she can tolerate, things she can’t abide and odd behaviour that is explained a lot when you can see into her head. This is compounded by her upbringing and her father who wouldn’t tolerate his daughter and her different mentality, his cruelty and his harshness has left Stef with an extremely low self-esteem and zero sense of her actual self worth.

This leads to a lot of insecurity on Stef’s part. She is constantly going to Ryan assuming she’s not good enough, assuming she’s too much of a horrible person to be tolerated, assuming she’s too criminal or too useless or too embarrassing to keep around

And Ryan is very good in both acknowledging her mental illness and realising, along with                              , that accommodations need to be made for it. It’s all realistically and powerfully portrayed.

The problem is that Stef does have strengths – but they’re not shown, or rarely. Her main ability is that she is a technological wizard of extreme skill. Great – and he makes her a field agent. Great if he has seen some potential in her or that her way of thinking would be an asset in such an unorthodox setting– and in her testing it seemed like she did have.