South Asian fantasyyy. It immediately gets added to my cart. The culture, the food and the action I loved all of it.

A great start to an intriguing series!

The first half of this book was slow for me with heavy world building which I can struggle with but the second half really picks up & brings you in. I am looking forward to seeing how this series progresses! Slowww burn though, so know in advance.

3.5 🌟

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me hooked from the beginning. There were parts in the middle that I was not as interested in, but that quickly changed towards the end. I just finished reading the last half in one sitting. I hope that this book reaches the right audience, as I know many people will enjoy it. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an adventure, or who is familiar with the feeling of being trapped or looking for something more in life. The writing felt a little jumbled which took me out of the story, but the story itself was fun.

OK, so I absolutely adored this book. It was well written and I connected with all of the characters. The world and magic system was absolutely fascinating. I immensely enjoyed reading about the culture and mythology, while learning and discovering alongside Zaraya. The descriptions in this book was top tier, especially about the food. I can assure you I had to have quite a few snack breaks while reading this. I loved Zaraya more than words can describe,and that she's a hopless romantic like all readers who read romance novels. This is a fantasy romance with romantic relationships but it also explores friendship and it was adorable. The story felt like it was just getting started so I cannot wait to read book two.

A truly great beginning to what is sure to be an amazing new fantasy series! For lovers of Wheel of Time, you will surely love this series as well! I love a good woman coming into her power book and the twists near the end of this book lead into a great second book I can't wait to read!

Thank you @netgalley & @secondskybooks for early access to this book. It publishes today (9/15)!!

Guys! This book was so good. For lovers of ACOTAR and Fourth Wing, I highly suggest you pick it up. It was truly epic!

There were quite a lot of details and characters that I had a little trouble keeping track of. Although, I suppose that’s typical for fantasy. Despite there being a lot of them, I loved these characters.

I also absolutely loved the Asian mythology theme which was super unique and well done. Plus, there was tons of Asian culture thrown in through clothing, food, etc.

It was TRULY a slooooow burn romance, and it wasn’t really the main focus of this book. However, I have a feeling it’s going to ramp up quickly in the next book. I cannot wait to read more about Rabin 🤤

All in all, there were a handful of great twists and an ending that had me on the edge of my seat. I can’t wait for book 2 of this quartet!

This is more of a 2.5 star read for me than 3, it did not quite live up to my expectations.

There is a blight on the land that is spreading that no one knows where it came from. The Chiranjivi are emissaries from Rahajhan and are the most powerful magical beings on the continent who are trying to solve the problem of the blight.

Zarya is an orphan and has lived by the ocean in a cottage with her guardian Row and his apprentice Aarav where she’s spelled to stay and can never venture outside of the small area around the cottage. One morning, her and Aarav wake up to find Row gone, but his sword and horse are still there. Aarav leaves to find him, and Zarya tries to leave and finds out she can, that the magic holding her back is gone. So, she takes advantage of it and leaves.

What I did like, is the diverse representation in this book, I loved reading about the clothes, the food, and the culture. I loved the different mythical creatures, the mythical beings, and the different magic and people that are in this world. There is definitely a world in this book, with different types of people and beings, and a magic system that is based on elements. I just wish there was more world building than there was. There are a lot of characters, that are all very different and diverse, different types of beings who use different magic or different elements for their magic.

Aside from that, I basically did not really enjoy the rest of the book. The primary reason I am unable to give this more stars as the main character Zarya. I did not like her from the beginning. She is just mean, just a plain mean person. I understand that she was basically kept in the cottage for 20 years, but her guardian told her there’s a reason, he’s protecting her, and that he had made a promise to someone. Instead of being grateful for being taken care of all these years, she always kept talking about how she wanted to unalive her guardian and her basically foster brother. She is supposed to be 20, almost 21, however, she acts like she’s 13 years old, acts very ungrateful, very disrespectful to everyone, and has a very hot temper that she just allows to run rampant and just be mean to everyone. And for some reason, everyone likes her. I cannot comprehend why all the characters liked her, and would say I’ll unalive him for you, when they don’t even know her as a person.

Which brings me to another thing about this book that was hard for me to accept is the pacing and how the characters meet and how the relationships are developed. When Zarya is taken to the Palace, they let her live there, and they all become friends, which made no sense to me because what makes her so special? Why her? And everyone just liked her. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, except for Yansen, he was the broody moody male character that I always like, and I actually like the way their friendship developed, but he’s literally the only character that I actually liked. All the other characters weren’t developed well enough, it felt very rushed, a lot of the characters just didn’t make sense to me with how they interacted with Zarya, and everyone just seem to think that unaliving someone was the answer to everything that went wrong or bad.

And the romance is basically nonexistent. There are some moments between Zarya and another male character, but that was just her needing affection, or just wanting that intimate moment with someone and so she just chose the first person she meets even though she says she’s smarter than that and wouldn’t just fall head over heels for the first male who looks at her, but which is what she did. The romance may develop more as the series continue, especially since there’s clearly an obvious character that would become romantic with her, but it was barely touched on in this book, even though it says that it’s a very addictive, slow, burn romance, so I guess it is a very slow burn, because it didn’t even happen in this book and must happen as the series progresses.

I’m really bummed that I did not enjoy this book as much as I was expecting to. I love the author’s other books, but this one just felt very rushed, like there was a deadline to write this book and it’s very obvious. Maybe the series gets better as it progresses, and maybe the main female character becomes more tolerable, but it was so hard for me to get through this book and so I don’t think I can continue reading the series.

This is not saying that others won’t like this book, I think a lot of people would actually really enjoy this book, but it just wasn’t for me based on the way it was written, and when I don’t like the main character, it kind of ruins the book for me.

I received a feee digital copy to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely LOVED Heart of Night and Fire! Nisha J. Tuli did an incredible job with world building & bringing these characters to life. I also appreciated that this story was inspired by Indian & South Asian culture - it brought something really special & made this book stand out!

I found Zarya to be a delightful FMC - she’s funny, headstrong, & determined to find out the mysteries surrounding her past. I loved watching her come into her own throughout the book and can’t wait to see what else we learn about her as the series goes on.

I also can’t wait to find out more about Rabin in the next book - I would’ve loved to see more of him in this one, but I’ll impatiently wait to see how he fits into Zarya’s world.

This cover DOES NOT disappoint.
Fantasy ✔
Strong Woman ✔
Magic ✔
Hidden Secrets ✔
Slow Burn Fantasy ✔

Zarya finally breaks free from the spell of her childhood - and travels to the city of Dharati. Overwhelmed but quickly adapting, Zarya finds her place. Until the city is attacked.
Zarya fights but can't help but feel involved.
The imagery. The slow burn romance. Zarya herself. I ate this book up! Great start to a new series.

#bookreview || HEART OF NIGHT AND FIRE (The Nightfire Quartet #1) by: Nisha J. Tuli

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"𝓢𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓷. 𝓦𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓮𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓴 𝓽𝓸 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓸𝓻 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓲𝓽."

Ever since I started seeing Nisha's book on TikTok, I knew that I needed to read her books. When I read The Trial of the Sun Queen, I was obsessed with her writing; thus, my love for her books exploded.

Heart of Night and Fire is the first book in the Nightfire Quartet series. It's about a girl named Zarya, and the rest is history! Hehe, I'm not spoiling the story because it is so good.

At first, I thought the story was kind of similar to the trial of the Sun Queen, but in the end, it was completely different. I had a lot of eye-rolling moments while reading this book and was so ready to dnf it at 31% percent because I couldn't handle Zarya's attitude. She was mad all the time, and her sarcastic answers just infuriated me. She really pissed me off, but I still continued reading until I felt somewhat relaxed and my feelings towards Zarya changed.

I can really see Zarya changing for the better, and I love how mature she is in accepting everything, and that's one of the reasons why she's my favorite strong female character.

The story is clearly and beautifully written. It captures you right from the first page to the end. The words just absorb you and make you feel like you are inside the book, witnessing everything that's happening. It's definitely the best story I've read this month.

Wow! This was something new and unexpected. The story draws inspiration from Indian mythology, creating a familiar yet unique world. It also has some of my favourite tropes, like enemies to lovers, found family, fated destiny and an amazing female main character.

In addition to a complex world, the characters are also multifaceted. Many of the characters have great character arcs and evolution during the story. The main character Zarya is strong, independent, naive, optimistic, caring… and so on. She and the other main characters feel like real people, not just empty shells.

The balance between action and more character driven storylines was great. There was a LOT happening but you still got character growth and experienced all of the feelings. The pacing was good and the chapter lengths were perfect for binging the story.

I’m very hooked on this world and need to know what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Zarya has spent her whole life trapped in a house in the forest with Row and his apprentice, Aarav. Desperate to be free, Zarya is sick of her questions not being answered, not being allowed to leave the grounds, and being restricted by Row's magic. She dreams of exploring the world but it seems like her dream will never be able to come true until one day when she wakes up to an empty house. She goes outside and finds that the magical barrier being upheld by Row is gone and so she leaves. Unfortunately, Aarav catches up to her and they begin to head back to the house but are interrupted by Vickram and Yasen. Since Zarya and Aarav have been living in the wilderness, they are immediately seen as suspicious and are brought to the capital.

Like any fantasy book, the first few chapters are filled with worldbuilding and introducing us to the characters. Since the book is being told from Zarya's perspective, I wasn't super impressed with Row and Aarav but the more you learn about their motives, the more complex you begin to feel about those characters. Once Zarya gets to the capital, it feels like the action is starting and the pace of the book picks up. It's difficult to put this book down as we learn more about the world and the secrets that have been kept from Zarya.

I'd recommend this book to fans of fantasy and adventure. The vibes are end of the world, last survivors, slow burn, adventure, and seeking freedom.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Zarya has spent her life stuck in a cottage in the swamp. When her guardian disappears and the wards trapping her broken, she makes her way to the city of Dharati. There she searches for answers, but the city is under siege from demons. In order to protect her new home and new friends, Zarya fights, but who can she trust? Who is the (extremely handsome) stranger in her dreams? And why does her magic need to be kept secret?

The worldbuilding in this book was incredible, drawing from Indian influences and Indian Mythology, the world Zarya lived in felt rich and colourful.

Zarya was a down to earth character who was craving family, love, friendship. She was a likeable character and I enjoyed reading about her self-discovery through this book. Yasen was a great grumpy character and his character development was great.

If romance is what you are reading this book for, it is a serious slow burn and there is not much of it in this book. That being said, Vikram and Rabin were interesting male characters. Vikram wasn't my favourite though, as charming as he may be. Rabin with all his mystery and mainly turning up in dreams was what I was interested in.

The plot was great, filled with action, mystery, secrets, angst, friendship and a little sprinkle of romance. I am a sucker for the found family trope, and this book was no exception. The book was initially quite slow going, but definitely worth it in the end.

I eagerly anticipate the second book in this quartet being released.

It is clear from the first page that Tuli knows how to write, for someone who enjoys atmospheric stories this was a treats. I also loved the way indian mythology was integrated because I mainly read about greek or norse mythology before, and I really enjoyed this.
This could've even been a 5 Star book for me, however, the action picks up a little to late. While I enjoyed the care Tuli took with the worldbuilding it was also quite time consumes and therefore left little room for action. I loved that Tuli still managed to flesh out the characters and we really see Zarya's growth, and I expect this book set up the world and there will be more action in the next book.

I want to thank Nisha J. Tuli, Second Sky, and Netgalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I will start this review by saying that I enjoyed this book, mainly because I liked having a main character with different facets, who has real feelings and evolves as the book goes on. I also liked this new fantasy universe, which breaks away from the now classic vampire, werewolf, or fae universe.
This book is inspired by Indian mythology and feels like a rich universe.

We follow Zarya who, after being imprisoned by her mentor for her own protection, is about to discover the world and meet new people following her mentor's disappearance.
I enjoyed watching Zarya discover the world, the notion of friendship and love, things she spent her childhood only reading about in her books.

I have to admit I struggled with the slowness of the book.
The action comes very late in this first volume, and the rest of the book is really about introducing the characters and discovering the universe through Zarya's eyes.
This book really reminded me of the Gild book by Raven Kennedy: in this tome, we feel the potential of the universe created by the author, but we're left wanting more because 80% of the book is a big introduction to the universe, and the discovery of the secondary characters.

For those of you who, like me, have trouble with slow-moving books, don't put this book down. I really think the author's universe is worth the effort, and that Volume 2 will be fantastic.

I was introduced to the beautiful writing style of Nisha in Artefacts of Ouranos, then in Wicked. This book keeps on with that style of world-building that wraps you in and feels like a dreamland or being inside a Disney movie, full of wonder and color.
The characters in Heart of Night and Fire are interesting, realistic, flawed, badass, redemptive, sarcastic, loveable, hateful, you name it! They evolve, especially Zarya, our amazing FMC, that grows from sheltered and somewhat naïve - but not lacking in intelligence - into a brave and cunning person, looking and finding eventually all the secrets kept from her about herself and her roots and her family, her past.

I’ve bever been to Asia, but Nisha made me feel like i did. Like good books do, it took me places and taught me things and made me dream. I definitely want to visit and know more, a lot more, about South Asian Mythology - it sounds fascinating!

The mystery man in her dreams is the cherry on top, sort of connecting all the mysteries in her life.
It’s full of small twists, but Nisha does a great job of making they seem flawlessly perfect, gently guiding you to see them for yourself before Zarya gets her confirmations.

I do have to admit that Zee/Yas relationship stole the show for me and Yas is my baby and i will mutiny and rage and burn the world if something happens to him! Nisha, please don’t stab my heart! Yas needs to be protected at all costs! Don’t go GRRM on us 😅

I don’t have the poetry streak i need to explain how engrossing this world was and how much i NEED the continuation of this story, that i am sure will compete with Artefacts of Ouranos on my favourite Nisha world 😄

Thank you, NetGalley and Second Sky Books for the chance to read this stunning novel!

For the past 20 years, Zarya has been trapped in a cottage surrounded by a growing dark swamp far from civilization. She is forbidden to use her magic, but she's unsure why it must remain a secret. Arav, one of her protectors, seems to despise her, and Rowe, the guardian who raised her, refuses to give her the answers she seeks. Zarya is ready to break out of the only life she's ever known.

One day her wish is granted as she finally escapes and finds herself in the dazzling city of Dharati. Along the way, she meets and befriends blood-drinking rakshasa, Vikrim, and Yasen. The magical Aazheri sorcerers within the walls have questions for her, but she doesn't know who to trust with her secrets. But there is a darkness outside of the city that threatens the safety of the people who live there, and Zarya joins the fight. Battling to protect the city and searching for clues about her unknown gifts, Zarya's dreams lead to more questions as she's confronted by a mysterious stranger. When the darkness threatens to destroy Dharati, Zarya and her friends band together and must do all that they can to protect the city. But if she is forced to reveal her magic, will it do more harm than good?

I absolutely loved this new world and story from Nisha J. Tuli. The world building she uses within this novel made me feel like I was right there walking beside Zarya. I enjoyed reading about Zarya and her grit and determination to help save Dharati despite just coming to it. She was such a fun female to read because she didn't put up with anyone telling her what to do now that she's left her "cage." I LOVED Yasen and the friendship that builds throughout the story. The forest meetings with Rabin were so intriguing and I'm excited to see how that storyline continues in book 2.

I cannot wait to see what happens with these characters in Book 2.

Thank you to NetGalley & Second Sky for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The first book in a new South Asian inspired fantasy, Heart of Night & Fire will appeal to fans of Carissa Broadbent & Raven Kennedy.

Our FMC Zarya has been raised in seclusion with her caretaker Row. Her childhood has been kept a mystery from her and what little magic she has is forbidden from being exposed to others. After Row vanishes without a word and the magic that has been keeping her within the boundaries of her home evaporates – Zarya takes action.
Escaping to a nearby city, Zarya (along with the help of her new friends) search for answers about Row’s worrying disappearance. But she soon uncovers more than she expected.

Dark creatures straight from storybooks have started attacking the city with rapid frequency. Zarya has been having reoccurring strange dreams involving a handsome stranger. Answers must be found about what her forbidden magic truly is, as it may be the key to saving – or destroying – everything she has worked hard to find.

I had such a fun time reading this. It was fast paced and engaging. The world building wasn’t too dense and was everything you’d need to draw you in considering its book 1 of a planned 4 book series. It was immersive and descriptive and there is plenty left to be explored as we continue on.

I’ve read enough fantasy books now that it can be quite easy to predict what’s going to happen. But at no point reading this did I know the direction the author was heading in. There were twists and turns in every chapter and I loved that.

The characters and their relationships were interesting. My favourite character in particular was Yasen and I really enjoyed his and Zarya’s dynamic. There are a lot of side characters introduced in this book so it will be interesting to see how this is developed on in book 2. I’m personally hoping that it will be at least dual POV?

There is romance which I did enjoy, but I’m not going to expand further than that as I don’t want to spoil anything.

Overall I am excited to continue the series and I would absolutely recommend if you love ‘romantasy’ books and want something a little less predictable!

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Second Sky for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have read a few of Nisha Tulis book and fell in love with her writing style, vivid imagery, and amazing characters. This book was no exception.

Heart of Night and Fire is a fantasy/ romance novel inspired by Indian mythology, containing a world of magical creatures, demons, and royalty.

I read/ listened to this book and found both experiences enchanting. The narrator articulated the story with perfect inflections and pacing that kept me engaged and unable to put the story down.
I loved exploring Zaryas exploration of a complex world outside of her protected and sheltered upbringing, as well as her spunk and ferocity as she faced so many overwhelming experiences and challenges.
The story establishes the world and character foundations, for what will certainly be explored in more action and intensity as the series progresses. As this is the first book of a series, it is a bit heavier on the world building which takes some patience but as always, Nisha works in these details within the flow of the story in a way that's not forced or boring. The names, places, and other aspects of the world - being based on Indian mythology - can feel a bit foreign and difficult to track but it just takes some patience to map it out in your mind and track the various words. I did find some of the names and places having similar sounds which made it a bit more challenging to navigate but in those moments I just referenced the ebook to make sure I had it right in my head.
The story ends on an exciting precipice and I am eager to see where the story goes in the next book!

I had applied for an ARC of this book through the author directly, but unfortunately did not get it. Imagine my joy when I saw it was up for request on NetGalley.

I’m keeping this review spoiler free and to the point. Go read this book! Seriously, go read this book. Add it to your TBR and move it up on your TBR. This book was so good! And it’s only the beginning in a series.

It caught my attention as soon as I read the blurb, and I’m so happy and thankful that I was able to receive an ARC for this,

I cannot wait to read more from this author, and from this series!