Fire with Fire

This book was incredible! A mix of Burn by Patrick Ness and Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Lots of action, engaging characters and great writing combined to make a truly fun and brilliant read.

This novel is based in modern day America with modern day teenagers, technology and dragons. What’s not to love? The setting was very much Burn by Patrick Ness vibes but the dragon and human relationship reminded me of Saphira and Eragon in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. These are two of my favourite dragon books so Fire with Fire ticked all of my boxes.

I loved all of the characters for different reasons. Dani was the badass girl I wish I was. Tomás was the best friend everyone wanted. Nox was a sassy bitch and I loved every single conversation he had. Eden I hated. But in a good way. I loved to hate her. She was very frustrating yet so incredibly relatable.

I found myself angry that the book was over as I wanted to stay with the characters so much longer. This was easily a 5 ⭐️ book for me and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone wanting an exciting dragon story.

When I told you I ran, tripped and hit my head on the table trying to grab my phone to preorder this book! Dani and Eden are sisters that come from a long line of dragon slayers. Both handle the responsibility of that legacy differently and when Dani bonds with a dragon, Eden sees her chance to become the most accomplished of the two.

The book alternates between Dani and Eden’s POV’s and you get a real insight to their sisterly bond because of that. Both sisters admire but also envy the other and are oblivious about how the other feels. I think the book shows the pressures of being the eldest child and the need for a child to impress their parents really well. It definitely shows how oblivious families can be to the struggles of their kin.

What I absolutely loved about this book is the portrayal of Eden’s anxiety - which showed the more controlling aspect of it. She can’t control her anxiety and so she controls other aspects of her life e.g. Dani’s training and even how she uses her coping mechanisms. By the usage of the two POV’s it’s easy to compare the two and see how much pressure Eden feels by being the elder sister. Dani is her polar opposite; with a very carefree spirit and a life that seems to come easy for her. You can see she doesn’t feel the pressure by her rebellious nature.

The character development in this book is just astronomical. Honestly, it’s just so natural from their original personalities at the start of the book and we get to see the reasons why they each choose their chosen paths. The bonds between characters were also well written; I especially loved Dani and Nox’s and how natural Dani and Kieran’s also developed.

The world building is extremely good, with us finding things out at the same time the girls do. For dragon slayers in training, both were quite sheltered by their family and so we don’t quite know who the bad guys are straight away. The writing style is perfect and I think a story like this would be okay for advanced 10/11 year old readers.

Overall, this book is definitely my favourite read of 2021. And I’m hoping from that ending we’ll get another book because I’m in need of one! If you love Eragon or How to Train Your Dragon, you love this as it’s sort of a modern version of the two.

Thank you so much to Netgally, the author and the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, for the chance to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story focuses on 2 sisters, Dani and Eden, who were brought up in a family of dragon slayers. But when Dani meets a dragon, Nox, and they form a bond, it changes everything she's ever thought about dragons. Are they really the enemy?

Wow wow wow. Where to even begin. I loved this book! Sisters to enemies, magic, dragons, a bisexual POC main character, anxiety representation.. What else could you want? Would highly recommend!!

Overall rating: 4.5 stars

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC! I requested it mostly because it sounds like exactly my cup of tea and I was not disappointed.

The story is about Dani, who is the descendant of a famous family of dragon slayers. She isn't eager to continue the legacy, however, and is unhappy with all the high expectations placed on her. Her older sister Eden is unable to understand why Dani would rather live a normal life with her friends who don't even know of the exicstence of dragons. Eden is entirely focused on becoming the best slayer the world has ever seen, as opposed to Dani. Everything starts taking a more complicated turn, though, when Dani suddenly faces a real dragon and realizes that not everything is true that she had been taught.

It did not take long for me to start being emotionally invested in the characters. The complicated relationship between the sisters is absolutely fascinating, especially because their different motivations are both very relatable. This evolved into fantastic character developments and is a joy to read from the beginning through the end. My favorite aspect is, of course, the dragons. I love the worldbuilding and how those mysterious creatures are being imbedded into our modern world. I also appreciate that Dani's change from dragon slayer to dragon friend is not an overly dramatic affair; instead, it feels authentic and compassionate.

The pacing fits perfect for the book. The plot picks up pretty quickly after only three relatively short chapters. I am actually struggling to find objective aspects to criticize for this review. One might be the fact that magic as a concept is not explained in depth. It plays an important role but is never clearly defined. While that is usually by itself a sign of an underdeveloped magic system, it doesn't feel out of place at all in this book, since the sisters, who are both the narrating POVs, don't really know anything about magic themselves.

Another thing I usually criticize in other YA is that Dani often acts like a typical reckless heroine. In this case, it never annoyed me as much as it usually does, probably because Dani has a character besides being unnecessarily stubborn. She is also aware of her tendency to be impulsive and knows her limits. She tries to become a better person and it becomes part of her character development. Therefore, I liked her a lot better and was rooting for her even when she made less-than-ideal choices.

All in all, I am a huge fan of this book. Love the dragons, the characters, the pacing, the world. I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes dragons and is looking for something similar to Eragon or How to Train Your Dragon.

I've always loved dragon novels and a book that combines that plus a siblings story and I'm pretty sure to love it.

Eden and Dani are two sisters who are opposed by many things. Eden the elder always wanted to be the best. She takes her dragon hunter heritage seriously. She has always trained and seeks recognition. Dani wishes to have a normal life, she trains hard but having never been in contact with a dragon, it seems far and not very concrete to her. Despite this she excels in her training and it creates a gap with Eden. It is also this complex relationship between the sisters that will be at the heart of the novel's plot and one of the triggers.

The folklore of the book is really deep, for a one shot we have dragons, wizards, a legacy over several generations and we feel that there would have been the potential to create more than one tome. I found the novel to be super well constructed on this point and very entertaining.

As for the plot, I found the book to be well paced. The author has been able to juggle between character development and action scenes. I really liked the two sisters and even if the dragons are present they are not the motors of the story it is really the personal motivations and I liked it a lot .

I loooved this book ! I adore dragons so it was a no-brainer when I saw it on NetGalley, I HAD to read it. Fortunately, my request got accepted. I didn't know it was urban fantasy so I was a little (a lot) surprised at the beginning when Dani is in a car, but I really liked it. I thought the world building was really great, and I really liked the characters, even the evil ones because they were so well invented.

I liked the fact that both sisters want to save the other one, it shows how much they love each other in spite of the low competition between the two. I also liked the fact that friendship was so important and the romance not so much (though it was present and enjoyable !)

I hope this wasn't a stand-alone !

Rep : the Riveras are latino-scottish, Eden suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, Dani is bisexual

TW : blood, torture, violence, panic attacks

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I've always loved books about dragons, so it doesn't surprise me that I really enjoyed Fire with Fire! Dragons became my favourite mythological creatures after reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini and I've been looking for more novels about dragons ever since! I also think that the cover is beautiful, I would definitely buy a physical copy for myself.

The plot: Dani and her sister Eden are both raised to be dragon slayers. Dani is told that it is her destiny to kill all dragons as they're the enemy, But everything changes when Dani meets a dragon called Nox and they form a rare and magical bond. Dani realises that everything she has been taught about dragons is wrong. Dani's sister Eden has always cared more about becoming a dragon slayer and turns to the mysterious and powerful sorcerers to help save Dani. Now the sisters are on opposite sides of an ancient conflict. How far will they go to fight for what they believe in?

I was hooked immediately and I love the idea of the story. I quickly connected with Dani who is the perfect fierce, badass main character. Eden has lots of insecurities and is jealous of Dani, so while I do understand Eden's motives, it is not that easy to empathise with her.

What I adored most about the book is the bond between Dani and Nox. They have both been told that they're enemies and need to learn to trust each other over the course of the story. That was beautiful to witness! I also loved the friendship between Dani and Tomas and that there wasn't a forced love story. Platonic relationships between people from different genders should be normalised. Another thing I like is that Dani is bisexual as I haven't read many books with bisexual rep. The main love story is with a guy (I won't mention the name to avoid spoilers) but I think that could have been explored in more detail. However, I liked that the love story wasn't the main focus.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to other people who love books about dragons and fierce female characters. I would love to read a sequel!

4.5 STARS

“Dani and Eden Rivera were both born to kill dragons, but the sisters couldn’t be more different. For Dani, dragon slaying takes a back seat to normal high school life, while Eden prioritizes training above everything else.”

Dragon slayers sisters turned into enemies.

Dragons? Sisters fighting each other? That was enough to make me read this book.

Let’s start with characters. They were amazingly fleshed out and portrayed from page one. I loved both Dani and Eden, but Eden’s character was always more interesting to me! The way she struggled with anxiety and the desire to be the BEST made her so unique.

The plot and the writing style made me read this book in one sitting. It was just so easy and quick, I genuinely had so much fun. The pace was just perfect and when you combine all of this with interesting characters, it is a perfect book.

Despite everything being so enjoyable, I feel like the plot lacked some depth (unlike the characters) and the magic system was a bit… meh. A lot of stuff at the end of the book didn’t really make sense BUT it also didn’t stop me from having fun! (also, the romance part of this book just didn’t do it for me...)

Overall, I think this book was really charming, magical and really easy to follow! I would DEFINITELY recommend it to anyone if you’re looking for a quick and fun read!

Rep: Bisexual mc, mc with anxiety, Mexican American mcs, mlm side characters

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria is an urban fantasy story about two sisters who come from a family of dragon slayers. And this sounded great, so I just had to read it and this book surprised me in the best way because it is amazing.

The book is set in our world with the exception that there are dragons and sorcerers. The Rivera family was always part of this and they are the one’s protecting the world from the dragons. So the sisters Dani and Eden train to follow in their families steps and responsibility.

While Dani just wants a normal life and to hang out with her friends and to have a good time in highschool, she has immense talent in the dragon slaying. Her sister Eden contrariwise is dedicating everything to it and she feels like this isn’t enough. They always grew up with seeing dragons as something evil and bad until one day Dani is face to face with one and sees that maybe not everything is as she was taught. At the same time Eden approaches the sorcerers more and more.

The dragon aspect was also done phenomenally and I loved it. You got to see the perspective of one and also saw how people study these creatures.

Overall, this book completely captivated me and from the beginning I could connect to the characters. The story unfolded beautifully and I loved to follow this. Definitely one of the best books with dragons that I’ve ever read. 5 stars.

(ARC kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for a review.)

So I admit it said dragons so I wanted to read, what person doesn’t love dragons !!! This book is so different from what I expected though and it blew me away, the world building was brilliant, the characters so well constructed and developed over the course of the story, I loved the relationships of the sisters, very competitive and loving at the same time, felt a very realistic relationship to me. I loved how the author made you feel that a school was a completely normal along the world of dragon training , but basically the whole love of the story, my main focus was Nox, the dragon, he was an character , I love how developed his character and story was and I truly hope there are more books to come from this world

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Fire with Fire by Destiny Storia was a story I lost myself in completely and loved every moment of.

I mean first of all, there are Dragons and stories with dragons in them are always good in my humble opinion and Nox is no exception. I loved that we had a dragon with so much sass that I couldn't help but chuckle at the way he essentially eye rolls at Dani's somewhat naive view of the world she lives in.

The book is a little slow at first but the author's world-building is so well done that although not a lot initially happens? You get a good idea of what the Rivera family are like, and what is expected of them as the latest family members to be Dragon Slayers - and for Dina and her older sister, Eden? That means a lot of training on top of their normal lives as typical teenagers. I did like how their personalities come through both the similarities and the differences that lead to the sisters clashing and playing the all too familiar game ofone-up manship that for those particular teenagers can mean taking on a mechanical dragon that can and will burn you if you make a mistake. We see that Eden is the one who follows all the rules and is meticulous in her training, whereas Dani is led by instinct and passion - she fights to win and knows that lessons in their training setup don't always work in the real world and unfortunately for Eden makes Dani be the better prospective slayer...

Nox the dragon is amazing and I loved him from the first encounter, he reminded me a little of the dragon from the BBC Merlin TV series with the attitude. He says it as he sees it and is fiercely loyal to his soul-bonded human and I loved their relationship as they strive to protect dragon eggs and humans alike. I promise you too will love him, and will be torn between encouraging him to destroy everything and leave the humans to their battles and wanting him to trust his soul-bonded companion. (You want to know more you know what to do)

Each and every character has been thought out so well, whether they be a main character or background - their voice is heard and adds something to the journey the Rivera siblings find themselves on. I especially loved Tomas, who is Dina's best friend who has no idea he doesn't completely know everything about the Rivera family as a whole. His reaction to the fact dragons exist felt so real, that his main problem isn't the myths are true but that Dina lied to him and it shows the bond of their friendship - you cannot help but want to hug him and tell him it's okay to be angry and feel betrayed...

Hmm... what else? There are awful people in Fire with Fire, and you want to scream at those who are completely unaware of what the reader can see that they need to run far far away. There is nothing about them that makes you believe they're capable of change, and they deserve every awful thing that can be cast upon them - Nox settling them on fire would be all top easy for example.

This is a brilliant book, one that if you love dragons, magic and a little inevitable trouble will be one to add to your bookshelves. You might also just wish that dragons were real after all...

Dragons! Magic! Out and proud bisexual protagonist! Slayer training in the barn! Unlikeable protagonist! There are so many excellent things that I love in Fire With Fire by Destiny Soria. Firstly, it’s just a really fun read. The plot trots along quickly, the writing style is engaging and entertaining, and the characters are super enjoyable to read about.

One thing I really loved was how unlikeable Destiny Soria made Eden. Since she’s one of the two point of view characters, I assumed that she’d want us to like Eden and feel sympathy for her – and I do, but that’s not all I feel. Eden makes some really, really bad choices, and I kept on expecting this time to be the time she recoiled and made a better choice. I was so impressed at how far into darkness Destiny Soria allowed her to fall, and honestly it made for a much more interesting story. If there’s a sequel, I really hope that we get to see some of the fallout from the decisions Eden made. Dani is more of a standard protagonist, but I still liked her a lot and enjoyed her story. I could live without the teenage girl/immortal romance, but I hold out hope for that not to work out in the sequel!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Fire with fire is possibly one of my favourite books this year. I just loved everything about it. The characters, the plot and the running themes.

It was a quick, fast paced book. I never wanted to put it down. I loved the theme of found family and strong bonds as well as a good diverse range of characters.

I felt the characters developed really well. There was no boring parts of the book, it all felt very fast paced.

I would never ever read a book with dragons as it’s not my usual type, this however has me converted!

This book has dragons, strong female leads and family loyalty. What more could you want? I really enjoyed this book. The story is set in rural Tennessee and I thought the world building was just brilliant. I loved how the author showed the relationship between the sisters and their live for each other and their competitiveness. My most favourite character was Nox, the dragon. I wanted to read this book because of the dragon. I loved seeing his character grow and hope to see more of this amazing world building. This is absolutely a fun YA fantasy book.

The main reason I fell in love with 'Fire With Fire' was the fact that it had dragons. And I personally love any piece of media that has or references dragons. In the world of this book, dragons exist in the modern world and are hunted by dragon slayers. Our two main protagonists, sisters Dani and Eden belong to one such dragon slaying family, in fact one of the more famous ones. My personal favorite out of the two sisters was definitely Dani, I connected to her more and I loved how her character arc progressed. That's not to say, I didn't like Eden; I just had a hard time connecting to her, though her character arc was also enjoyable to see. Another favorite was Nox, Dani's dragon companion. I just loved that dragon so much; he was such a fun character. The world building is simple, and easy to understand, and I love the incorporation of the ancient majestic creatures with the modern world.

All in all, I highly recommend this!

I rate this book a solid 4.5 stars! This book took a refreshing take on the YA genre, we follow two sisters who are training to become Dragon hunters to carry on the family tradition.

Dani is a chilled out teenage who wants to live a normal life and go to parties and hang with her friends. Whereas, her older sister Eden is solely focused on becoming the best hunter she can be. We can feel her frustration through the plot as she has to continually work hard to be at a high level. In comparison, Dani, appears to be naturally gifted. Which is a contentious point for Eden, who feels like she constantly falls short.

The plot is filled with dragons, sorcerers, teenage drama and family tensions which is crafted beautifully throughout the narrative. Destiny is all to weave this in the narrative by having multiple points of view (Dani and Eden). Which is a great technique as we experience both character’s thoughts and feelings and interactions with other characters.