Fire Falling

"This was a hard book to read. It's depressing in a lot of spots and it has a dark undertone to everything. This is set in the military and I think there were two wars. It was fairly compelling, so I was able to finish it. <br/><br/>The writing wasn't the best. There was quite a bit of telling and very limited showing. I also got confused at the sentence order occasionally. One sentence would say something, then the following talked about the topic even better and would have been better if it was first. <br/><br/>The characters were probably the best part. I didn't really like the main character, Vhalla, too much. I pitied her often and occasionally enjoyed her narrative but I just couldn't connect with her as I did the first. I think there was too much character change in the first book. She was a completely different character. I mean, it makes sense, considering what she went through. I just didn't enjoy it too much. <br/><br/>I liked the crown prince and the main character's friend much more than the mc. The friend was sweet and relatable and the crown prince was funny and interesting. <br/><br/>One thing I absolutely hated was the romantic encounters. Every time they had a moment, the crown prince would say something along the lines of "you should probably leave." In response every single time (I'm not joking, it really did happen that much), Vhalla would say, "I suppose." <br/><br/>The ending was pretty pointless and cruel. I don't see the reason why it had to happen. It's so bad it makes me not want to read the next book. <br/><br/>I really like the cover. It's done quite well and looks good.<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>Edit: <br/>I totally forgot this until now but it needs to be said. The consistency is pretty bad. I'll give you a glaring example. (Probably spoilers, so watch out. I tried not to spoil anything but I did quote some lines.)<br/><br/><br/>Page 19-20 says, "Vhalla had never been taught how to properly ride... From a young age she'd rode astride, so sitting in a saddle seemed a natural stance." <br/> Okay... What? <br/> First of all, that's confusing. <br/> Secondly, the author is contradicting themselves. <br/> Thirdly, I don't think it works that way. You need to learn how to deal with the saddle and the reins. It's not going to seem like a "natural stance" because she's ridden bareback before. <br/><br/><br/>So, continuing on page 20, there's a bunch of horse stuff that contradicts what I said above. And then on page 21, I really got frustrated, enough so that I slammed the book shut and had to take a breather. <br/><br/>Here's the line; "You're holding the reins too tightly," Vhalla advised quietly over Fritz to Larel, who seems to be having trouble controlling her horse. [pg 21]<br/><br/>Vhalla, that's a no. You don't know how to deal with the reins. You weren't trained. Please stop. <br/><br/>So there's a glaring inconsistency that I found. I personally have not ridden a horse before, but I do know that you need training to control horses properly. <br/><br/>The author just got lazy in this point. The author could have said that the group went through horseback riding lessons for a month or so prior. But they chose not to say that."