Review – The Thunderbird Queen (The Fire Queen’s Apprentice) by Jordan Rivet (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 330 pages
Publisher: Independently published
Release Date: September 20, 2019
ASIN: B07TWDXVBS
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Fire Queen’s Apprentice
Source: Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Tamri is finally free of the oath bond and apprenticed to the Fire Queen. Their first task: figure out how to seal up the newly unleashed Lightning. The treacherous substance is spreading, affecting the dragons, the Wielders, and Tamri herself—not that she’ll admit it.
With unfinished business back home, Tamri travels to Pendark to rescue her grandmother. But she’ll get more than she bargained for when she comes face to face with her grandmother’s captor, who wants the Lightning for himself. Saving Gramma Teall could condemn the rest of the continent.
Meanwhile, vicious thunderbirds attack the mainland. Someone is using Lightning to control the magical creatures. Tamri must discover their identity before everyone she loves perishes beneath the swarm.”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in The Fire Queen’s Apprentice trilogy. I borrowed this book through Kindle Unlimited.
Story (4/5): I didn’t like this book as much as the first book in this series. The first portion felt really long, as Tamri travels back to Pendark to rescue her grandmother. There is an ominous feeling over the whole story as storms get more frequent. The second half of the book was better than the first as we see the thunderbirds get more aggressive and aggression between the kingdoms build.
This story was much less about adventure and new magic than it was about politics between the kingdoms. I am much more a fan of adventure fantasy than politically driven fantasy. I think that’s why I didn’t enjoy this as much.
Characters (4/5): Tamri grows in leaps and bounds in this story and we get to spend more time with her and her grandmother (I love her grandmother). Heath is amazing. Him and Tamri start to act more like mature adults and begin to grow a relationship. Selivia is the other character we hear from a lot and I didn’t feel like she was as much a part of the story as Tamri was. I still feel like I am missing a lot of the background between characters because of not reading the predecessor series to this one.
Setting (4/5): Again this book takes place in a lot of very typical fantasy kingdoms. I did like getting to journey into the forest area where the dragons come from. Aside from that though the settings of the different kingdoms here are fairly interchangeable, it would have been nice to have a bit more description to help the reader separate these kingdoms in their minds.
Writing Style (4/5): This is decently written and easy to read. The book switches POV between Selivia and Tamri, which I felt was a bit more jarring in this book than the last. The pacing was also a bit off in this book, slow to start than almost frantic towards the end.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a decent read, but I didn’t adore it like I did the first book. Things just started off too slow and I didn’t enjoy Selivia’s parts as much as Tamri’s. The focus changed from magic and adventure to more political issues as well. I plan on reading the final book but am unsure if I will read more of Rivet’s books after that.
