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Title: A Promise of Fire
Author: Amanda Bouchet
Sub-genre: Fantasy
Trope(s): Falling for the kidnapper…yeah
If you’ve been paying attention here or on Insta lately, I am having a real moment with fantasy romance. It’s like life sucks so hard right now I want to escape into fantasy worlds, but I also still need there to be lots of kissing and a legit HEA. I read Amanda’s sci-fi Nightchaser (and have its sequel on my TBR) and liked it so I decided to give this series a shot. I’m still working through my feelings about it, so we’ll see where I end up at the end of this post.
Cat is extremely powerful. Known as the Kingmaker, she has the ability to tell when people are lying (as she suffers an immense amount of pain whenever someone lies in her presence). Throughout her childhood, she was used as a tool for her powers, and eventually escapes and runs off to join the circus. No one in her circus family knows of her ability or true identity and Cat is able to live a somewhat normal life with friends and people who care about her. Until she is kidnapped by Griffin. Griffin is the second in command to the new queen, the first ruler in their land to not have any magical powers. In order to secure the throne, Griffin needs Cat’s abilities. Cat definitely doesn’t go willingly and she and Griffin spar (mostly with words) throughout their journey from the circus back to Griffin’s family home. Throughout their road trip, Cat starts to develop a soft spot for both Griffin and the other soldiers who are traveling with them, going so far as to risk her own life to save them. When they arrive back at the palace, Cat is surprised to find she actually really likes his entire family, and she can see the vision his sister has as queen and supports her direction in ruling. But the new queen is going to be tested, and there’s still the huge issue of Cat’s real identity and powers to deal with. But she and Griffin are able to admit their feelings for each other and live happily ever after (for now, I’m assuming some more shit is coming their way in books two and three).
So there is a lot I really liked about this book. Cat is feisty and tough and powerful and funny. In particular, I loved her relationships with the other soldiers who accompanied her and Griffin on their journey. The found family vibe was cool, and I really enjoyed all their banter. The world building is great (though it centers on Greek mythology, which is not really my fave) and the magic system is interesting.
The one thing that irked me is the whole kidnapping angle. I realize this is common in a lot of books, hello any retelling of Beauty and the Beast ever, and I feel like it has to be done just right in order for it to work. And I don’t know if this one really made it work for me. I mean, it is definitely clear by the end that Cat stays with Griffin because she wants to, but it takes a long time for him to fully “release” her and give her a choice in the matter. I also feel like the reason for kidnapping has to be life or death, and this one didn’t feel that way to me. There wasn’t a sense of urgency of if I don’t kidnap this girl people are going to die. It was I need to kidnap this girl so my sister can be a good queen. So that was a little tough for me. To be clear, I don’t love this trope in any circumstances, but in some cases it works better than others. I think the reason it really irked me in this particular instance is because I expect fantasy romance to do away with the common abuse the women plot lines we find in a lot of regular fantasy. There’s a reason I don’t read regular fantasy (I stick to YA and romance) and it’s because a lot of them treat women like shit. So I don’t want to see that in my fantasy romance.
With all that said, I don’t know that I will read the second two books in this series. I think if I came across them in a used bookstore I would probably pick them up, but I don’t know that I’ll go out of my way to seek them out. I love Amanda’s writing, and I’ll be reading her second sci-fi soon, so maybe I’ll just stick to that world for now.
Overall Rating: 4 stars (probably could have gone with 3.5 but I’ll round up for good world-building)
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