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The Firebird's Blessings #1
Blessings of the Firebird's Light
Audry Duvessa knows something about dark forces. She has been given the moniker “Dark Beauty� for her role in her mother’s coven of sorcerers. Audry is destined to take over and continue her mother’s work, but a surprising ally opens her eyes to the possibility of redemption.
When Audry’s mother tasks her to find a firebird, she meets Roei Shurwud, a hunter who follows the word of God. Roei hunts dark creatures and sorcerers like Audry and her family, but something about the young woman fascinates him.
These two very different people find their paths aligning time and again during Audry’s quest for the firebird, and Roei’s faith is tested by several calamities. He ends up partnering with Audry for his own reasons, and the two discover a conspiracy that could destroy both their homes.
Audry has a reason to hate hunters, but she’s surprised by Roei’s gentle faith and devotion. Even in the midst of destruction and disaster, Roei must decide whether this imperious young witch is ready for redemption—or whether her lack of faith will lead her ever further away from the path toward God.
When Audry’s mother tasks her to find a firebird, she meets Roei Shurwud, a hunter who follows the word of God. Roei hunts dark creatures and sorcerers like Audry and her family, but something about the young woman fascinates him.
These two very different people find their paths aligning time and again during Audry’s quest for the firebird, and Roei’s faith is tested by several calamities. He ends up partnering with Audry for his own reasons, and the two discover a conspiracy that could destroy both their homes.
Audry has a reason to hate hunters, but she’s surprised by Roei’s gentle faith and devotion. Even in the midst of destruction and disaster, Roei must decide whether this imperious young witch is ready for redemption—or whether her lack of faith will lead her ever further away from the path toward God.
340 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2017
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22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 9, 2020
3.5 stars
She revels in shadows and evil...that is until a certain witch-hunter catches her eye.
She learns that he is Roei Shurwud. And while he is spending every waking moment tracking her down to bring her to trial...she finds herself intrigued by his purity and goodness.
It's an interest that she just can't explain.
Meanwhile, Roei Shurwud is dead-set against Audry's firebird task. He doesn't quite know what will happen but he does know:
He finds himself falling deeper and deeper under her spell...
This was a fun ride for my first foray into Christian Fantasy.
I really liked how King interwove Audry's task into the plot - gathering the twelve feather had the potential to be a really repetitive task but King made it so much fun!
Audry had to travel across different world to grab the feathers - with my favorite world being the storyland.
Audry was a breath of fresh air in that department - she knew what she wanted, how to get it and was NOT going to let anyone get in her way.
One thing that I found more than a little amusing was how the characters moved in this novel.
There were a couple of things that took me out of the book. For example, the dialogue tags:
In addition, I wish the novel was a bit more developed in areas - King has a really interesting concept and executed it pretty well, but I did get a little lost regarding why Audry is considered "evil."
As far as I can tell, she used magic but is not inherently evil (hence why Roei tries to redeem her).
But it felt a bit muddled from the reader's perspective. And the redeeming/conversion but came off a little forced in my opinion.
BUT there is a second novel coming up - fingers crossed that we get more background and a more in depth account.
Really looking forward to it!
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
| | | | | Snapchat @miranda_reads
Audry Duvessa inherited her mother's dark coven.
"So...can anyone truly be saved?" I said.
"If they want to be...it has to be in their heart..."
She revels in shadows and evil...that is until a certain witch-hunter catches her eye.
Misty vapors and thunder claps. Through winding sway and clicking paths. A life of me.Audry is sent on a quest to find all of the firebird's feathers and along the way, she runs into that certain hunter again.
She learns that he is Roei Shurwud. And while he is spending every waking moment tracking her down to bring her to trial...she finds herself intrigued by his purity and goodness.
It's an interest that she just can't explain.
Meanwhile, Roei Shurwud is dead-set against Audry's firebird task. He doesn't quite know what will happen but he does know:
"If she goes too deep down that windy path, it could be catastrophic for all of us."And, despite all of his misgivings, Roei finds himself doing the one thing that he swore he would never do.
He finds himself falling deeper and deeper under her spell...
This was a fun ride for my first foray into Christian Fantasy.
I really liked how King interwove Audry's task into the plot - gathering the twelve feather had the potential to be a really repetitive task but King made it so much fun!
Audry had to travel across different world to grab the feathers - with my favorite world being the storyland.
My mouth hit the floor to see three bears eating porridge. Their eyes buldged, and porridge feel from their mouths.I also adored Audry's confidence - I get so sick of unsure, nervous and scared heroines.
"Why me?"
Audry was a breath of fresh air in that department - she knew what she wanted, how to get it and was NOT going to let anyone get in her way.
One thing that I found more than a little amusing was how the characters moved in this novel.
Roei strutted to a tree. I sashayed toward him, hair half-done, and my hands on my hips.The sheer amount of strutting and sashaying - whew. I don't think anyone walked normally even once.
There were a couple of things that took me out of the book. For example, the dialogue tags:
"A glass of water, please," I gruffed.It's not something I normally noticed, but there was so much scowling and growling and huffing and sneering that it actually distracted me from the novel.
In addition, I wish the novel was a bit more developed in areas - King has a really interesting concept and executed it pretty well, but I did get a little lost regarding why Audry is considered "evil."
As far as I can tell, she used magic but is not inherently evil (hence why Roei tries to redeem her).
But it felt a bit muddled from the reader's perspective. And the redeeming/conversion but came off a little forced in my opinion.
BUT there is a second novel coming up - fingers crossed that we get more background and a more in depth account.
Really looking forward to it!
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
| | | | | Snapchat @miranda_reads
January 14, 2019
I have read a few Christian fantasy novels, and each one seems to be different. This one has to be my favorite one yet!Ìý
Roei and Audry start off being mortal enemies. Roei is a respected hunter who has a strong relationship with the other hunters, and with God. He is living an honest life, he protects the people he loves, and he loves what he does. Audry is a witch who he suspects is up to something, but he can't help but be drawn to her in some ways. Once disaster strikes and he loses almost everything he loves, their paths cross again. Roei must help Audry on her quest to find the feathers that will lead her to the Firebird, and Audry must learn to trust both God and the men who follow Him again.Ìý
At first, things seem very black and white in the story. You know that Audry is evil and Roei is good. Audry is a witch, and Roei follows God. There's no way that there could even possibly be a grey area. That is, until they begin their journey. Roei learns about some fo the things that men like himself have done in the past, and Audry learns that not all people who follow God are the same. Not all people who follow God are the same as those who want to hurt her and other witches like herself.Ìý
The journey to the Firebird takes a long time, a few years it seems, and Audry and Roei have to learn to rely on each other more during that time. At first, they are mortal enemies. But the Firebird's feathers are not going to reveal themselves unless they work together. Once the stakes are heightened and both parties see what they have to lose, they quickly decide that they need to start working together in order to get home as quickly as possible.Ìý
This story element of the search for the feathers was such a good way to set these characters on a meaningful journey. I honestly think that it couldn't have been done any better than it was! And, believe it or not, this book has so much more than just that one journey. That is the main focus, but there are many other storylines weaving in and out of it.Ìý
As I got further into the book, the characters just began to unfold in front of me. You learn the truth about the backstories of both Roei and Audry, as they tell each other secrets that no one else knows.Ìý Many, many years pass as the story progresses, and you can see their bond grow stronger and stronger. It's truly a beautiful book, these two characters come to life as you read the story.
My only small complaint would be how fast the story moves closer to the end. It has a slower and more detailed format at the beginning, which really worked for this sort of novel, and then it had a lot of timeskips closer to the end. It didn't confuse me in the slightest, but I would have loved a deeper look into the characters' lives. This didn't really affect my overall reading experience though, I just really need to know more about these characters! I hope that more information and details about those lives are given in the second book of the Saga.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new, wonderful Christian fantasy novel.Ìý
I received a copy of this novel, and this is my voluntary review.Ìý
Roei and Audry start off being mortal enemies. Roei is a respected hunter who has a strong relationship with the other hunters, and with God. He is living an honest life, he protects the people he loves, and he loves what he does. Audry is a witch who he suspects is up to something, but he can't help but be drawn to her in some ways. Once disaster strikes and he loses almost everything he loves, their paths cross again. Roei must help Audry on her quest to find the feathers that will lead her to the Firebird, and Audry must learn to trust both God and the men who follow Him again.Ìý
At first, things seem very black and white in the story. You know that Audry is evil and Roei is good. Audry is a witch, and Roei follows God. There's no way that there could even possibly be a grey area. That is, until they begin their journey. Roei learns about some fo the things that men like himself have done in the past, and Audry learns that not all people who follow God are the same. Not all people who follow God are the same as those who want to hurt her and other witches like herself.Ìý
The journey to the Firebird takes a long time, a few years it seems, and Audry and Roei have to learn to rely on each other more during that time. At first, they are mortal enemies. But the Firebird's feathers are not going to reveal themselves unless they work together. Once the stakes are heightened and both parties see what they have to lose, they quickly decide that they need to start working together in order to get home as quickly as possible.Ìý
This story element of the search for the feathers was such a good way to set these characters on a meaningful journey. I honestly think that it couldn't have been done any better than it was! And, believe it or not, this book has so much more than just that one journey. That is the main focus, but there are many other storylines weaving in and out of it.Ìý
As I got further into the book, the characters just began to unfold in front of me. You learn the truth about the backstories of both Roei and Audry, as they tell each other secrets that no one else knows.Ìý Many, many years pass as the story progresses, and you can see their bond grow stronger and stronger. It's truly a beautiful book, these two characters come to life as you read the story.
My only small complaint would be how fast the story moves closer to the end. It has a slower and more detailed format at the beginning, which really worked for this sort of novel, and then it had a lot of timeskips closer to the end. It didn't confuse me in the slightest, but I would have loved a deeper look into the characters' lives. This didn't really affect my overall reading experience though, I just really need to know more about these characters! I hope that more information and details about those lives are given in the second book of the Saga.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new, wonderful Christian fantasy novel.Ìý
I received a copy of this novel, and this is my voluntary review.Ìý
June 15, 2018
When two young, seemingly totally opposite people, are approached by a representative of God to join forces and set off on a quest, they start to learn that much of what they believed about each other is not true.
Full Review On YouTube Here:
They come to a mutual respect for each other and in the process learn to care for each other but their love and relationship is forbidden.
Full Review On YouTube Here:
They come to a mutual respect for each other and in the process learn to care for each other but their love and relationship is forbidden.
September 12, 2018
First of all, I need to say props to Rose for all the work she put into writing this novel/series. She is self-published-- which in itself is extremely time consuming--and she reached out to me to review the novel, and I thought the story's concept sounded interesting.
Unfortunately, I wanted to like this book so much more than I did.
Let me start out by saying that I am an extremely picky reader when it comes to Christian fiction, sci fi, and high fantasy because I find that stories in those genres can very easily follow a direction that I either find cliche or confusing, so I very rarely read anything in these genres. And I would describe this novel as falling into all three of those genres.
I am not at all saying this is a bad book. I am saying it's not for me.
I thought certain aspects of the world were creative and unexpected; for example, the fact that Audry's magical weapons were alive and characters of their own was really cool and added depth to her person. I liked the characters' backstories and motives. The fact that Roei is morally and emotionally conflicted despite being a person of religious importance was refreshing and realistic. He comes to genuinely care about Audry even though their societies are enemies, which is something real Christians do have to deal with that on a daily basis, regardless of if they are trying to evangelize to an unsaved friend or not.
So I thought the main characters were very strong and well developed.
The plot itself, however, was difficult to get through. The book is only about 300 pages long and the primary action doesn't really begin until around page 180. It took way too long for Audry and Roei to get together for their quest. And yes, I understand that there needed to be foundation for each of their characters for the story to grow later on in the book, but the pacing of the story was really slow, and I found myself dreading to continue, which is never a good way to feel about a book.
Lastly, and sadly, the thing that bothered me the most about the book was actually the editing. As someone with a Bachelor's degree in English, I'm a bit of a grammar nazi, and unfortunately there were quite a few grammatical errors throughout the book. Again, I cannot emphasize how much I respect for all the hard work the author clearly put into writing and publishing this book. However, I found myself distracted, trying to edit the sentences in my head whenever I came across a grammatical issue.
All in all, I'm glad I read this book. I will pass it on to my husband, who reads exclusively Christian fantasy, and maybe recommend it to any friends interested in this type of series. It just didn't satisfy my interests in the way I wanted it to.
Unfortunately, I wanted to like this book so much more than I did.
Let me start out by saying that I am an extremely picky reader when it comes to Christian fiction, sci fi, and high fantasy because I find that stories in those genres can very easily follow a direction that I either find cliche or confusing, so I very rarely read anything in these genres. And I would describe this novel as falling into all three of those genres.
I am not at all saying this is a bad book. I am saying it's not for me.
I thought certain aspects of the world were creative and unexpected; for example, the fact that Audry's magical weapons were alive and characters of their own was really cool and added depth to her person. I liked the characters' backstories and motives. The fact that Roei is morally and emotionally conflicted despite being a person of religious importance was refreshing and realistic. He comes to genuinely care about Audry even though their societies are enemies, which is something real Christians do have to deal with that on a daily basis, regardless of if they are trying to evangelize to an unsaved friend or not.
So I thought the main characters were very strong and well developed.
The plot itself, however, was difficult to get through. The book is only about 300 pages long and the primary action doesn't really begin until around page 180. It took way too long for Audry and Roei to get together for their quest. And yes, I understand that there needed to be foundation for each of their characters for the story to grow later on in the book, but the pacing of the story was really slow, and I found myself dreading to continue, which is never a good way to feel about a book.
Lastly, and sadly, the thing that bothered me the most about the book was actually the editing. As someone with a Bachelor's degree in English, I'm a bit of a grammar nazi, and unfortunately there were quite a few grammatical errors throughout the book. Again, I cannot emphasize how much I respect for all the hard work the author clearly put into writing and publishing this book. However, I found myself distracted, trying to edit the sentences in my head whenever I came across a grammatical issue.
All in all, I'm glad I read this book. I will pass it on to my husband, who reads exclusively Christian fantasy, and maybe recommend it to any friends interested in this type of series. It just didn't satisfy my interests in the way I wanted it to.
December 3, 2017
Emosionaly uninvolved in Caracters
Great Immagenary worlds I believe the writer do understand well, eventhough there were no defenite goal, or none that made sense. The first half draged and I strugled to stay in the store. The second half reads better when Audry and Rioel traveled together. The romance could be better with suspense. I strugled to get emosionaly envolved with caracters due to luck of urgency /plot/emosion. I also found Audry 'snapped' way to much instead of just a normal 'said'. In the end I still didn't understand the quest for the feathers - what did she gain? What changed?
I wish Rose all the best as a writer and I do understand how much work it take to get this far.
Great Immagenary worlds I believe the writer do understand well, eventhough there were no defenite goal, or none that made sense. The first half draged and I strugled to stay in the store. The second half reads better when Audry and Rioel traveled together. The romance could be better with suspense. I strugled to get emosionaly envolved with caracters due to luck of urgency /plot/emosion. I also found Audry 'snapped' way to much instead of just a normal 'said'. In the end I still didn't understand the quest for the feathers - what did she gain? What changed?
I wish Rose all the best as a writer and I do understand how much work it take to get this far.
May 30, 2019
There were some interesting ideas and images but somehow the characters couldn't touch me as I expected.
The beginning was of opposites and fortunately, both of the characters grew and developed to a more likable extent.
I think it was just not my book but if you are interested in fantasy and Christian literature give it a try.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The beginning was of opposites and fortunately, both of the characters grew and developed to a more likable extent.
I think it was just not my book but if you are interested in fantasy and Christian literature give it a try.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 22, 2018
Really enjoyed the book. Looking forward to reading the next book. Did take a little to really get into the story but once it got going it kept my attention. I'm curious do Audry and Roie get together in the future; How will the Phoenix play into future stories; What will be the ultimate downfall of Apollo? Lots of questions.
December 29, 2018
I read the book a few weeks ago. And, I must admit, I shared with my coworkers that this book is definitely worth reading. I noticed that the formatting and editing were meticulous, and it inspired me to edit my own works with a fine-tooth comb. Anyway, the characters were down to Earth and I appreciated that the characters were minorities (or rather the majority in the book), nothing wrong with some diversity in sci-fi and fantasy novels. This book is a quick and easy read and takes a couple days to complete. There are some parts that you need to watch closely or you will mistakenly assume one character's POV is in charge when it's actually a different character. I definitely look forward to other works from this author! Keep writing. Keep reading!
October 2, 2018
Everything seems to be roses here, which for me is a good thing. It's clearly a Christian based tale but if your OK with that mixed with some excellent fantasy then I suggest it highly
See full review here
See full review here
May 30, 2019
Really enjoyed the book. Looking forward to reading the next book. To find out what happens go buy the book you won’t be disappointed.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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