Spark of Defiance (Game of Fire 1)
by Autumn Brit
Reviewed by JMD Reid
Six months after the war that broke the Church of the Four Orders and freed the other temples from Solaire’s control. But the scars remain. Two events, both innocuous and seemingly innocent, spark off a new conflict.
When Zhao, an air elemental, returns home to visit his sister. His people fear elementals. Zhao had been kept confined to a shrine, quarantined from his people. When he arrives now that the war is over and elementals should be free, he discovers his new niece is an elemental and the chief of his tribe looks to inflict the same punishment. With his friend Laisseg, he rescues his sister and niece.
And sparks off a war between neighboring people. As the war spirals out of control, Zhao seeks help from his friends, pulling Ria from her search for the escaped Sinika, the villain responsible for the war and held as a prisoner for the last six month until his supporters freed him.
Meanwhile, Lavinia and her husband Darag have finished their pilgrimage to all the temples to allow Lavinia to touch all the spheres and use all the elements. Wanting to fulfill a promise to the Ashanti Jeif and Leifa, they visit the short-lived and mysterious Ashanti. Their message sparks off a chain of events that could forever change the world.
War has returned, but an even great threat looms and the survivors of the last war will have to reunite to stop the new threats to their world.
Sparks of Defiance (and the Game of Fire series) is a sequel to her Rise of the Five Orders series. It was great to return to her world and see old characters. The war haunts the characters, particularly the death of Beite. She does an excellent job reworking reminders of the previous plot without exposition dumps. The plot moves fast, keeping you reading.
Autumn ratchets up the tension as the book builds to its climax. All your favorite characters that survived the last series are once again in peril. I was on the edge of my seat through the climax.
Sparks of Defiance is a great start to another amazing Fantasy series from Autumn. If you enjoy great, fast-paced fantasy, then you’ll enjoy Autumn’s Rise of the Five Orders series and the start to Game of Fire. I am eager for Book 2 to be released.
You can buy Spirit of Life from Amazon!
I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review, though I had planned on buying it before the author sent it to me and have preordered it.