A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
Series: Kingmaker Chronicles #1
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on August 2nd 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Romance
Pages: 448
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Publisher
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

KINGDOMS WILL RISE AND FALL FOR HER…
“Cat” Catalia Fisa lives disguised as a soothsayer in a traveling circus. She is perfectly content avoiding the danger and destiny the Gods—and her homicidal mother—have saddled her with. That is, until Griffin, an ambitious warlord from the magic-deprived south, fixes her with his steely gaze and upsets her illusion of safety forever.
BUT NOT IF SHE CAN HELP IT
Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker, the woman who divines the truth through lies. He wants her as a powerful weapon for his newly conquered realm—until he realizes he wants her for much more than her magic. Cat fights him at every turn, but Griffin’s fairness, loyalty, and smoldering advances make him increasingly hard to resist and leave her wondering if life really does have to be short, and lived alone.

A great start to what is promising to be quite an original and new series!

Catalia “Cat” Fisa is a Magoi, a magic carrier. Not only is she a magic carrier, she is also the legendary Kingmaker who has escaped the clutches of her violent mother from Fisa and is pretending to be a soothsayer in a traveling circus.

Cat thought she was doing fine in hiding her identity until the non-magical Hoi Polloi warlord finds her and practically kidnaps her. Griffin is Beta Sinta and part of the non-magical family who somehow overthrown the last magical Magoi royals who ruled Sinta and now he needs Cat in order to bring peace to the land. Griffin knows Cat is the Kingmaker and knows that she is able to use her powers to divine the truth through lies and that she would make a powerful weapon for the new ruling family.

This was an interesting read. I picked this up because everyone and their mother’s were raving about this new series and I happen to be an old lover of fantasy, so I knew I had to read this and see what the fuss is all about.

A Promise of Fire is a great introduction into a new world that Amanda Bouchet has pasted together. I love that she uses Greek Mythology, I am a huge fan of Greek Mythology, so naturally I was excited to see what she can do with it.

I think it’s a bit hard to review the first in the series of the new fantasy books. There are a lot of holes to fill and it makes me as a reader a bit more frustrated. I also have to take into the account that even though this is a fantasy, it is not a traditional fantasy, but more of a romantic fantasy, so my expectations have to alter themselves.

We spend a lot of time following Cat and Griffin as they make their way towards Sinta and there is a lot of the same antagonistic play through the journey. As much as I enjoyed the bickering it was starting to feel a bit too repetitive and I felt like much of the book was spent traveling to Sinta and not enough of details of the world was given. I am a sucker for world building and although Bouchet did a great job with her first book, the details were murky at best.

What I did enjoy is the romance between Cat and Griffin and all the bickering between them. I do have to ask, is it just me or does Cat seem a lot younger than Griffin? A LOT. I get that she has a prickly exterior and for good reasons, but the level of maturity between the two was stark.

The humor alone was worth the read and Bouchet’s writing is just simply stunning. It really pulls you into this world and it’s hard to let go. It does make you want more, so much more and might be part of the reason I felt so frustrated. I wanted more details, I wanted to know more about the world and how Sinta, Fisa and Tarva function. the world and how Sinta, Fisa and Tarva function. I I think if readers who have no basic understanding of the Greek Mythology would find some stuff with the god’s mentioned a bit confusing to say the least.

I cannot wait to see how the secondary characters develop, the Alpha Sinta and her sister’s look like an interesting bunch. But, I was confused when Griffin promised Cat that once she meets his sister, she would understand why she was Alpha. I didn’t feel like Cat understood and neither did I to be honest. But, there is some potential for more romance between the princesses and the soldiers. I especially like the forbidden type aspect it’s got going here.

Also, Cat’s history is a huge background to this story and although no big reveal comes of it in this book (which I guess is really important moving forward) it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what is going on, and who she really is. It is a bit baffling that Griffin is slow on the uptake.

Although all of it aside, I LOVED Griffin the best. I think there is a sense of mystery with him that I hope gets resolved in later books. He is a Hoi Polloi warlord but there is something different and special about it and I wonder HOW it came to that.

Overall, I am happy I gave this a shot. The writing was great, talented, and the humor was just what I needed. So I am definitely looking forward to more. I am officially sucked in and need more books and details to fill that hunger.

Memorable Quotes

“She talks big, but she’s made of custard.”
“Fluffy and full of cream?” Kato wiggles blond eyebrows at me. Carver grins. “Think she’s sweet, too?”
My eyes spit fire. “Bite me. You’ll find out.”

“You are not tying me up in a cave!”

Flinty eyes swing my way. “I can’t have you attached to me while I fight.”

“Untie me, then!”

He snorts, and I roll my eyes.

“Two hours, then the cave,” Beta Sinta says. “Enjoy the sunlight.”

My jaw goes slack. “Unless you’re planning on knocking me unconscious, dragging me to the temple, and practicing ventriloquy, I still have to say yes!”

Griffin’s face shuts down entirely.

“We’ll discuss this later.”

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