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Author: Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland
Series: Chaos & Flame
Series #: 1
Genre: Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult
ARC?: Yes

Darling Seabreak cannot remember anything before the murder of her family at the hands of House Dragon, but she knows she owes her life to both the power of her Chaos Boon and House Kraken for liberating her from the sewers where she spent her childhood. So when her adoptive Kraken father is captured in battle, Darling vows to save him–even if that means killing each and every last member of House Dragon.

Talon Goldhoard has always been a dutiful War Prince for House Dragon, bravely leading the elite troops of his brother, the High Prince Regent. But lately his brother’s erratic rule threatens to undo a hundred years of House Dragon’s hard work, and factions are turning to Talon to unseat him. Talon resists, until he’s ambushed by a fierce girl who looks exactly like the one his brother has painted obsessively, repeatedly, for years, and Talon knows she’s the key to everything.

Together, Darling and Talon must navigate the treacherous waters of House politics, caught up in the complicated game the High Prince Regent is playing against everyone. The unlikeliest of allies, they’ll have to stop fighting each other long enough to learn to fight together in order to survive the fiery prophecies and ancient blood magic threatening to devastate their entire world.

Review

Thank you to NG and the publisher for an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Things I really liked about this book: the concept of “boons”. The way the world was structured was also well done. Gratton and Ireland do a great job of weaving this world together.

The opening really grabbed my attention. But in all of Gratton’s previous works, that was also the case.
Caspian. I loved Caspian, and I think I would have preferred if the series focused on him. Alas.

Darling was an intriguing character, as is the mystery surrounding her eyes. I just didn’t buy her romance with Talon as much. I don’t know, I think I am used to Gratton’s slow pace build more so than how fast paced this book was! With the caveat that the first half of the book felt more like building up and the second half where most of the action took place.

I’m very middle of the road on this one, I don’t feel strongly about it one way or another. It was a YA fantasy that I enjoyed.