The Fires of Vengeance: 2 (Burning)

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I absolutely loved Evan Winter's first contribution to the fantasy genre, and ever since I finished the Rage of Dragons I had been counting the months to the sequel’s release and holding on to the hope of maybe even getting a chance to read it earlier. When I was offered an ARC, I jumped at the chance to read more about Tau and his journey on the path of vengeance and immediately made space in my schedule. I love outlining, I think it is possibly the most important part of my personal process, and I learned to both do it and value it from having worked in film. Image courtesy of Orbit Books I said it in my review of The Rage of Dragons Prentice Onayemi is amazing. Both of the audible narations for the The Burning books are the BEST I have listened to. I have probably listened to maybe thirty audiobooks so far but none have yet claimed the title of my favourite audiobook over these books. THEY ARE AMAZING. The events in this book happened six months after the first book, not only is the kingdom facing external army, civil war is also brewing. We follow Tau, Tsiora the queen and his friends try their best to win the war.

As I was writing Fires, my father passed away, and going through that pain and loss was the most difficult thing I’ve had to do in all my life. I wasn’t anywhere near normal for an entire year after his passing and that alone was enough to make the experience of writing these two books vastly different. I wrote Rage just for me, while hoping that a few other people might care. I also wrote Fires for me, but it was now also for so many other people too, and one of those people is my father. The Fires of Vengeance is dedicated to him. The most glaring grievance I had was an apparent inconsistency regarding a relatively serious injury Tau sustains during ones of these fights early on in the story. One moment he is laid out flat, completely unable to move due to the sheer agony... the next he is up and hobbling about. Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing! A sequel to the extraordinary Rage of Dragons, the Fires of Vengeance escalates the threats facing the main character Tau to an insane pitch. Creating challenges for the hero in every dimension a protagonist can be challenged. It was very frustrating. I have never wanted a fictional character to show signs of being tired more than I did here.Nyah told me that life, like love, is meant to be shared and that we are least linked to our own selves when we have no one with whom to share what we are. None of us are meant to go through this life alone.” It was great getting to know the side characters more in this one as well. Queen Tsiora was a huge highlight as we get to see the weight of the crown on her head, while also getting to see the real personality behind the monarch’s mask that she is forced to wear. Hadith, Uduak, Themba, and Yaw are great as usual. Watching this band of brothers struggle together, grow along side and support each other was another one of the highlights of this novel. Each has their own distinct personality that adds value to the story and their loyalty and love for one another is moving. This was a fantastic continuation of the tale of the Omehi people and their struggle for justice and survival. I cannot wait until book 3 comes out so I can see where this story will go next! With Rage, that wasn’t the case. There was no pressure. I mean, I wanted Rage to be the best book that I could make it, but no one knew about it, no one was waiting for it, and there were zero expectations. But I wouldn’t be doing right by you, reader, if I failed to mention the battles.Evan Winter has a penchant for writing brutal and exhilaratingly well-executed action scenes — perhaps some of the best of any fantasy writer working in the field at the moment. The climax of The Fires of Vengeanceis the sort of battle that’s a fantasy nerd’s dream. It achieves a perfect balance between utterly epic and deeply personal, with the push and pull providing a ton of tension. It almost feels like the sort of battle that George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Firewas always leading up to, but had yet to arrive at. It’s that big and crazy, and the fact that Winter was able to deliver it in only his second book is a testament to his skill and the series’ heart.

The Fires of Vengeance delivers, and it gets the Burning by Evan Winter up to my 4th favorite series of all time, and for the first time since Wheel of Time I am considering replacing something in my top 3. Then, the second thing I must do is make the language rush and flow. My intent with these sections is to write the action as I see it and then to go over and over and over them until the words disappear. The scene is not done until I can read it without faltering. I must tumble through it without effort while also being drawn to each subsequent moment, beat, and blow. By the end, I must be breathless. It should feel like I’ve run a heart-pounding race, and, to make that work, the words need to disappear because letting them have the presence they often want will make the scene stumble when it should soar. Image courtesy of Orbit BooksThe Fires of Vengeance is the second instalment in The Burning, by Evan Winter. So far, this series is what I would call a masterpiece. I enjoy most books, but rarely do I have no complaint at all. The Firs of Vengeance accompanies The Rage of Dragons in providing a perfect reading experience for me. I really enjoyed Rage of Dragons, but didn't really connect to Tao as a character because of how his single minded focus on his objective drains away any other element of his character, this isn't really a criticism as it's a very intentional choice on behalf of the author, but it did hinder my enjoyment slightly and I was definitely more invested in the side characters than Tao. This was my most anticipated read of 2020. Book 1, The Rage of Dragons was my favorite book of 2019 so being able to get an early copy was like a dream come true. I really enjoyed this book.

Before I continue, this is a spoiler-free review, but there might be a few references to The Rage of Dragons. If you have not read the first instalment in this series, I urge you to stop reading right now, and rather, go and buy it both of these books! The Fires of Vengeance melts expectations; burning even hotter than the Rage of Dragons and blazing a trail for Evan Winter to join an elite group at the top of the fantasy pile. I know a lot of people enjoyed this one, but I cannot see any possible way that I could justifiably give this the same star rating as the previous book.Tau’s time inIsihogo was a highlight of Rage, and I’m happy to say that Fireshas plenty more of the demonic plane. Saying anything more would be diving too far into spoilers, and this is a book I do notwant to ruin for you. Suffice it to say that, just like virtually everything else about The Fires of Vengeance, the underworld sequences are even bigger and better than in the first novel. What I loved the most about this book was Tau’s character. We saw him be this callous, blood-thirsty, revenge-driven character in the first book and he still is in this book but he starts to think before he acts, asks for advice where he needs it and is this him taking responsibility for his words and actions? We love to see character growth. Yet, despite the slight changes, he still remains this complete badass ready to tear down the classist institution with his bare hands if need be. I literally got chills during this scene.. The last thing I didn’t like was the outcome of queen’s sister’s story. Her character had a lot of potential though I didn’t like how the main instigator of the traitors was being painted as almost sympathetic in her eyes. Overall, nothing I mentioned dissuaded me from really liking this book. As a director/cinematographer, I also came to deeply value the pre-work that went into a good shot list. After the first two dozen projects, I could see that the more effort I put into my shot list, the better the finished product. So, I adopted a similar approach for The Rage of Dragons and I outlined the book extensively. One of my favourite aspects from The Rage of Dragons was the way Winter explored the themes of power, privilege and prejudice. In The Fires of Vengeance, I was thrilled to discover that Winter deepens these concepts and shows his readers that the history of the Nobles, the more powerful, and the Lessers, the weaker race, is not quite as they have been told. Throughout the beginning Tau, having to now shadow the Queen, is forced to navigate in a world of Nobles where he is constantly reminded of being a Lesser. He is a character you have to admire for his determination to prove to the Nobles that he can be just as worthy, strong and resilient as they are. No matter his birth. For that alone, I rooted for Tau every step of the way.

Another thing that I certainly enjoyed in both books was how fast paced the book are, Winter is good at writing action scenes and the book is full of those, there is not a dull moment but maybe we should have some time to breathe a bit and slow down. It makes the book hard to put down, I finished the book in 3 days! One thing I have loved about this series so far is that the character development is very believable and this continued to build throughout Fires of Vengeance. The plot also continued to expand while the pace slowed slightly, making me enjoy this one significantly more as I prefer my fantasy on the slow-side usually. Lady Gifted, as far as I know, the only path to becoming what others cannot is to suffer what others will not.” The fight sequences are a perfect mixture of dizzying and coherent. The supernatural horror is like a fever dream come to life, a PTSD nightmare ripping into our world to hunt for flesh. The rules of the magic and the lore are both mysterious and well established, easy to understand and thrilling and constantly surprising. The action scenes are like if you took the best fight choreographer on the planet and made him into a brilliant character writer. It's a perfect fusion of these two very different styles of storytelling that bring all the strengths of both and combine them.

The outline made me comfortable with the story I was trying to tell, it helped me see where I was likely to fall down in the telling of it, and it was a source of support and comfort when I was in the middle of a draft that didn’t seem like it was going as well as I wanted it to go. Tau’s desire for vengeance is a driving force for this tale, but I love that Winter has provided extra layers that make this more than just a story for revenge. It shows the rifts in friendships, combats social constructs and offers a multifaceted story that is not simply Good VS Bad. Tau now has increased responsibilities as champion of Queen Tsiora. He continues to seek revenge, but must make compromises to maintain his role. He is faced with a whole new set of trials and tribulations, as he must either prioritise his duty, or his revenge. He continues to be a fantastic central character who acts as the almost continuous perspective. Now onto to some of the things I didn’t like quite as much. The story in this book felt more cliched and as if the author wanted to appease the fans more as well. The romance story line was also cliché, and I could predict it blossoming at the end of the first book. So many events were happening right after another and those that didn’t experienced a time skip so that they could. I was surprised at how much was resolved at the story’s end with how many things were set up to happen. The author was cramming events into the story where I had to think about if characters were injured or not still.