Review: Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

Fallen Isles Trilogy #1

Before

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

After

Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.

I really wanted to love BEFORE SHE IGNITES. The premise of the blurb pulled me in, and the concept of the story was very intriguing. However the execution just left some things to be desired in my opinion. The story was told flip flopping in time back and forth between before and after the major change in Mira's life. I understand the intention was to slowly unfurl the secrets and the story, but in practice, this was more frustrating than not. Even by the end of the book I still didn't fully grasp the world, or what was truly going on, or at stake. I just wish more time had been spent setting things up rather than the continual bouncing back and forth.

Another difficulty I had with this book was my detachment from the heroine, Mira. She spends most of the book in a vapid state for lack of a better word. I hate to be so harsh, but until the very end of the book, she just didn't seem to have any substance to her. I realize she was literally raised to be an object for the counsel's use, but it just was incredibly hard to stay engaged in her plight. The only strength she showed throughout the book were her attempts to hold out against torture to keep the secret of the dragons. BUT unfortunately this didn't show real strength as there never seemed a reason for her to withhold such knowledge. Speaking of what she found is what landed her in the Pit in the first place, but upon imprisonment and torture, the cat suddenly got her tongue? It just range false.

While this first book in this new series started off rocky, by the end I was fully hooked into the world. I will be continuing on with this series to see what happens next in this fascinating world.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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Other Reviews:
     The Moonlight Library
     Gizmo's Reviews
     Du Livre