What would you do for revenge? What about a world in which you were fated to die? I thought I was going to love the sister relationship in A Consuming Fire, and I did, but what I loved even more was the world and the themes. Big surprise! Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Weatherell girls aren’t supposed to die.
Once every eighteen years, the isolated forest village of Weatherell is asked to send one girl to the god of the mountain to give a sacrifice before returning home. Twins Anya and Ilva Astraea are raised with this destiny in mind, and when their time comes, spirited Ilva volunteers to go. Her devoted sister Anya is left at home to pray for Ilva’s safe return. But Anya’s prayers are denied.
With her sister dead, Anya volunteers to make a journey of her own to visit the god of the mountain. But unlike her sister, sacrifice is the furthest thing from Anya’s mind. Anya has no intention of giving anything more to the god, or of letting any other girl do so ever again. Anya Astraea has not set out to placate a god. She’s set out to kill one.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The sister relationship of A Consuming Fire forms the foundation for the plot and for Anya. Her fierce love for her sister ignites in her a desire for revenge. To make sure she honors her promise to her sister that no other girl is taken to the mountain. And while this aspect – predictably so because I’m a sucker for sister stories – is heart wrenching. But what I loved more was Anya’s own character journey and the world she begins to get to know. The ways she discovers the world holds both worse and better than she thought.
The religion and world building in A Consuming Fire is captivating. Anya witnesses not only the world outside her home, but this idea that the world doesn’t have to be that way. Growing up, they’re all expected to be the sacrifices and their honor is tied with their piety. That when their sacrifice isn’t accepted, it’s their own fault. Talk about a large metaphor that ignited a fire within me. This idea that these girls are raised to be ‘pure’ so that they can sacrifice for the good of a society which can just as quickly turn on them.
A blend of piety and fervor. And A Consuming Fire deeply explores choices. About all the things we do because we are brought up thinking that’s what we have to do. Or that we cannot change. That we have to stand by silently and do nothing. At the same time, A Consuming Fire delivers some truly fantastic and complex characters. Unlikely friendships with truths hidden close and always monitoring the emergency exits. That it hurts to trust and to be trusted. It’s a story that examines exactly who we will make suffer for our actions. Who will pay our consequences.
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While I’ve been focusing mostly on the themes and the world, A Consuming Fire is also about hope. About the promises for a different future, the choices we can make to become someone else, and the good in people. If you love a fierce heroine who may be motivated by revenge, but ends up learning so much more about the world and herself, you have to read A Consuming Fire. It’s a story about power and choice love and vengeance and one of my recent faves. Find A Consuming Fire on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.