Title: A Shadow Bright and Burning
Author: Jessica Cluess
Series: Kingdom of Fire #1
Rich mythos, complicated characters, a great debut novel
A rare breed of magic ability, Henrietta Howel must find her place in a society full of prejudice and a world ravaged by war.
Beyond that one sentence, I don’t dare try to summarize everything that goes on in this book; there are too many facets and subplots that I believe I wouldn’t do it justice. That might make it sound like a jumbled mess with too much going on, but it really wasn’t. It was a wonderful mix of romance, teenage angst, fantasy, and YA women’s fiction—young women’s fiction, if you will.
I came across an ad for the second book in the series, and the blurb sounded interesting, so while I’m waiting for its release I wanted to read its predecessor. I should have done it closer to the release date, because now I’m very eager to continue the tale. I loved discovering Nettie’s powers alongside her, trying to figure out as she did who was friend and who was foe. Perhaps certain things reminded me of Harry Potter, or of Divergent, even of Pride and Prejudice and Downton Abbey; other reviewers have named other fantasy series and books I’ve not read or even heard of. So perhaps it’s a melting pot of many beloved characters and stories (what isn’t?), but by the end, I, for one, felt it was something completely its own.
The plot is nothing new, but it is the best kind of plot. A person who is looked down upon for her status, circumstances, and gender—none of which could be helped—endures everyone’s scorn until there comes a day when she saves them all. In my opinion, Cluess builds a rich world in which happiness and sorrow coexist in equal measure, where the struggle of life is real. She builds multidimensional characters that are at once villains and heroes as they make difficult choices and deal with the consequences. I loved and despised each and every character in turn.
Nettie might not be my favorite character ever, but I care about her. She’s frustratingly stubborn and incredibly courageous. Her fixation on her friend Rook got on my nerves a bit. While I understand that he was all she had for a long time, she has bigger responsibilities and a bigger picture to look at now. She doesn’t have to abandon him or grow apart from him, but she cannot risk her life and, more importantly, the lives of many other people, for him. However, I think this realization will come to her soon, perhaps in the next book. She’ll come to a point where she’ll be mature enough to recognize that despite her utmost faith in him, despite how much she loves him, he will be too dangerous to protect.
All of the secondary characters had purposes and affected Nettie’s choices, though some were more important that others. Master Agrippa (sorry if I spell names incorrectly, I listened to the audiobook) was the tragic mentor/father figure, a la Dumbledore. Jenkins Hargrove was shades of Sirius Black, a past acquaintance of Nettie’s father who takes her under his wing, and though he has good intentions, he doesn’t always behave himself.
I did find it super annoying that so many boys seemed to be in love with her, but as the story progressed, I got them sorted out. Rook loves her, I suspect as one loves a childhood security blanket, but there’s no way he survives the series, and he’s well on his way to spending the time he has as an evil being. Nettie has no future with him; in fact, she will probably be the one to kill him. If he were to survive and be good, I believe they’d eventually grow out of loving each other. They’d gain confidence and security in their individual strengths and not be so dependent upon one another. They’d remain fond friends but move on romantically.
Magnus made me nervous for a time, afraid that he’d succeed in seducing her. If he truly loved her, I’d have made peace with it, but turns out he’s a superficial flirt to the core, and while he’s madly attracted to her and maybe even loves her in his own way, and while she’s grateful for his steadfast friendship, to the point that she thinks she’s a little in love with him, she’s not going to end up with him, either. She’s not rich or highborn enough to suit him, and though her status can change, his personality would ultimately grate on her.
My money’s on Blackwood. He was set apart from the beginning, and we were given more insight into his mind and heart than any other boy. He was given an arc, humbled from being a prejudiced, arrogant jerk, while Rook and Magnus didn’t really change. Plus there’s the mystery of the ivy on Nettie’s stave; only Blackwoods have that marking. So either the ivy is signifying that they’re a matched pair and they’ll fall in love and she’ll be a Blackwood one day by marriage…or we have a Luke and Leia situation, which would be disappointing (and bring back bad memories of the Mortal Instruments series). After all, we still aren’t sure what the deal is with her father, and we know next to nothing about her mother. But I can see Nettie and Blackwood developing a deep, close friendship, and one day Nettie will realize how attractive he is, both inside and out, and start paying attention to him in *that* way. Odds are he’ll already be in love with her, having learned to accept and respect her as an equal.
Yes, I just overanalyzed and spewed conjecture all over the romantic subplot. Sue me.
It was well written stylistically, sophisticated and detailed, but not overly so or trying too hard. The pace dragged a bit in the middle as Nettie resisted admitting to herself what she was and struggled with lying to her friends; I could have done with a few pages less of the angst. Also, I had a hard time understanding the “rules” of what sorcerers and magicians could do. All the explanations and differentiations got a bit jumbled for me, possibly because Nettie could do both sorcery and magic, so as the line blurred for her, it blurred for me. But otherwise I think Ms. Cluess has talent and potential, and I can’t wait for book two.
