My Review
Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for organising this tour and to the author for sending me a lovely package with the book. Most unexpected.
If you’re interested in what was in the package, I shared pictures on the Everything Is Better With Dragons Instagram, here:
I honestly forgot it was a romantic fantasy. As we all know, I sometimes have issues with romance in my fantasy, but I liked the rest of the premise so I decided to give the book a chance.
The sword bookmark is fantastic, love it. It’s currently in a dragon pen holder on my desk, with one of my Lamy fountain pens and some ink cartridges, because I’m fancy like that.
Aliwen, known as Wren or Feather, wants revenge on the kings and phoenix riders who killed her family and enslaved her people. As part of the rebellion quietly brewing, she becomes a book repairer, while her cousins become a dressmaker and a jeweller. The last three Annatalian royals have been hidden in the city of their enemy for 10 years and it’s finally time to fight. E
Except nothing goes to plan, no one is trustworthy and the three cousins get split up immediately. Aliwen is forced to go on the run, meets helpful witches, an old flame and two enemies who were once friends. After a series of adventures, she decides to take hold of her destiny and do what everyone said couldn’t happen, she bonds with her phoenix, Ash.
Then the sky burns. It is Rebirth, a thing not seen in a generation. Dead Phoenixes and Riders will return. Those mad with loss will regain their memories. And that could be really bad.
This is a story of life, death and rebirth, a chant used throughout the novel. It’s also a story of growing up. Aliwen and her cousins have been held in an artificial stasis while in captivity, an endless adolescence of apprenticeship, and a death time. By escaping they ignite rebirth and growth. In exploring her world, Aliwen discovers the lies they’ve all been told, with the help of Aster, her lover, and a little book hidden in a library among books meant to be destroyed.
It is a story of balance. The ‘curse’ is the result of the loss of balance – by killing women Riders off in the past and refusing to allow girls to bond with a phoenix, by forcing Riders to swear blood oaths to their kings – the kings destroyed the balance and blamed it on the witches.
The conflict between Aliwen and other major characters, who are mostly trying to control and manipulate her, drives the novel. Her desire to understand her world, get revenge and find out what the rest of them are up to makes for an interesting character. The first person narrative worked quite well, although I did work out that she had bonded with the ash phoenix fairly quickly and spent a lot of the story wondering when that would be revealed.
The author draws on mythology, amd modern interpretations of mythology and historical cultures, to build a world and magic system that is engaging and consistent. The kingdoms are petty and vicious, and the Riders turned cruel by their power, although Tor and Kit seem to be fighting back. They can’t knowledge and will ally with Aster, an old friend who wasn’t chosen when they, and Lex, Aliwen’s twin brother, were.
Tor’s Phoenix is funny, even if he only gets a couple of lines in the epilogue. More from that smoke phoenix please.
I’m interested in seeing what happened to Ember and Thorn (Aliwen’s cousins, daughters of the last king of Annataliya) and how they fix the mess their world is in.
About the Author
Isla Lockwood is the fantasy pen name of international bestselling and USA Today bestselling author C. L. Miller.
Inspired by the folklore of the Twelve Nights of Yule, Celtic and Germanic mythology, and the stories once told around winter firesides, she writes dark romantasy filled with cursed phoenix riders, ancient magic, impossible choices and morally grey characters.
When the Sky Burns is her fantasy debut and the first book in the interconnected Skyworld series.
Isla lives in a medieval cottage in Suffolk, England, with her family, where she is usually dreaming up new worlds or researching forgotten folklore.
If you want to join the Skyworld and learn more about it’s characters (and the hot phoenix riders!) visit her website and for bonus content and upcoming info on her books and events join the newsletter.
Hold on tight – this is going to be quite a ride!
A message from the author
Dear Reader
Are you like me and always skip the trigger warnings for fear of spoilers? If so, know this — When the Sky Burns is called dark midwinter romantic fantasy for a reason. The romance isn’t dark in a classical ‘dark romance’ way, but the Cursed Lands / the world Aliwen lives in very much is. You have been warned because your mental health does actually matter!!
Also — while we are on the topic — there is a cliffhanger at the end of this book. But it will be worth the wait for book 2…I promise!
This book is for those 18 years and over.
Triggers –
For those of you, unlike me, who care about your mental health more than spoilers!
This book contains:
Violence, aggression towards a child, torture, imprisonment, death, coercive control, references to sexual exploitation, references to war trauma, enslaved women, graphic injury, references to death, grief, death of birds, and psychologically distressing themes.
Tropes:
- Winter Fantasy
- Countdown to catastrophe
- touch = death
- Morally grey everyone
- Cursed phoenix riders
- Second-chance romance
- Slow burn
- forced proximity
- One horse
- Captive / captor
