Inner Fire
R. L. Stedman
Published: 28th October, 2014
Waverley Productions
Summary:
‘Maybe it would be better if I started at the beginning.’ Gran watched me carefully. ‘This ability we have; my mother, me. You. We draw heat along our bodies; anger makes us flame.’
When her friend is assaulted, Corinne Peterson can’t help reacting. But she didn’t think and now her hands are burnt, Gran is coming to look after her and, scariest of all, strange men are watching her house. Could they be terrorists? Secret agents?
It seems that Gran’s idea of a solution is to introduce Corinne to Rowan. Okay, sure, maybe eighteen year old Rowan is gorgeous – but he has his own troubles. And right now, Corinne doesn’t need complications in her life.
But in a world of surveillance and secrecy, complexity is inevitable. And as the tension mounts Corinne realizes – maybe Gran can help her, after all.
Warning: contains coarse language and sexual references
Inner Fire is on sale this week during the tour! Staring at $.99 and gradually increasing over the week.
What I liked: Corinne’s grandma was really awesome, a bit strange and a seemingly shady character in the beginning, but she turned out to be my favorite of the characters. I also loved learning what I could about the people who have this mutation that could literally make themselves produce fire. Really awesome, and a really interesting I wish I had gotten to know more about this rare mutation! I could also understand Corinne’s aversion to her mutation (seriously if you set fires to things every time you got angry or stressed you would be wary of it too). I enjoyed Rowan’s character, I didn’t know how to react to him originally when I found out about him because I knew he was somehow going to be in the plot when Gran talked about him, but he did turn out to be a good character.
What I didn’t like: I was hoping for more action, more suspense, because that’s what this novel gave an air of when I saw it. Like there would be some big thing that caused Corinne to have to accept her mutation over time and see what a good use it could be. I was also expecting for more of Corinne being someone who accepts this strange mutation in the beginning, or at least being more inclined to use it when she needed to. It’s not something that put me off, it was just my expectations, and even though they turned out to not happen I’m not really disliking it, I’m pretty okay with it to be honest.
Overall Review: While it didn’t live up to my complete expectations once everything got rolling, I really did find this book to be a fun, quick, light read. It’s not very long, just shy of 270 pages, but it did have an interesting story with characters who I really enjoyed reading about and a mutation that made me wonder. Plus, people who can set things on fire because of a mutation, how much more interesting can it get? While I did want more about the mutation and what it is besides what Corinne’s dad tells us, when it was first recognized and all that, I was okay with what I knew by the end.
Recommend?: For fantasy lovers, if you like a bit of science on the side of your fantasy. Because that’s kind of what it is!
Goodreads: 3.4/5 Amazon: 4/5 Barnes&Noble: -/5 BookDepository: -/5
My Rating: 3.9/5
Rated Materials:
Cover: 4.6
Idea: 3.9
Story: 3.4
Characters: 3.7
About the Author
My name is Rachel Stedman. I’m a physiotherapist (physical therapist) by background, but now I work as a freelance contractor. I live in the wild and windy place of Dunedin, New Zealand, with my husband and two kids.
I write mostly for children and young adults. In 2012 I won the Tessa Duder Award for an unpublished YA work and my first novel, A Necklace of Souls, was published by HarperCollins in 2013 (available in the United Kingdom and on Book Depository from June 2015). This year, A Necklace of Souls was awarded Best First Book at the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards and won a Notable Book Award from Storylines. Inner Fire is my second novel.
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Review by Bri
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