I am thrilled to be able to share with you my review and blog stop for Before She Ignites! This book has been near and dear to me this year because not only is it great, I got to help create many of the graphics used for the swag and promotional materials. One of my favorite book trailers I’ve ever made is for this book too! Enjoy and don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end!
Before She Ignites (Fallen Isles Trilogy #1)
by Jodi Meadows
496 pages
Expected publication: September 12th, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Synopsis:
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.
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My Review!
All I knew going in was something about a prison and dragons but that sounded very exciting, PLUS when I first saw the cover I was blown away and so grateful to see a beautiful black woman on the cover of a fantasy book! As someone who has 3 black children and a black tween daughter who is obsessed with reading (and DRAGONS!!!), I was thrilled. I am always on the look out for books that speak to her and help her see herself in books.
The Story:
Mira Minkoba is a girl who grew up being the face of the Mira Treaty. The Mira Treaty was created to unify but also give independence to all the Fallen Isles. Dragons no longer were to be kept as pets and would be kept in sanctuaries for protection. Mira, who also loves dragons and helped train one, discovers some truths that she wasn’t meant to know and then unexpectedly thrown into the worst prison within the isles.
What I loved:
Mira: Mira is flawed. From an incident in her past, she developed a coping mechanism of counting everything. I loved this. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in a book. She also has really low self-esteem. She’s told all her life that she’s not good for anything but being pretty. This plays into her struggles in the book. Mira’s growth is realistic because she does grow but still struggles with her weaknesses. I loved how WEAKNESSES CAN BE SEEN AS STRENGTHS, yet some weaknesses she knew she had to change. She never gives up even when all things seem lost.
Anxiety Attacks: Mira majorly struggles with anxiety attacks throughout the book. This element was so well written!
The prison/setting: I also wasn’t sure what it’d be like to read a book predominately set in a terrible prison but I actually loved it! There are flash backs of her before the incident but the majority of the story is set in this prison and it was dark, scary, terrifying at times, felt real, and many mental and physical battles were born. Mira meets other inmates and I love meeting unsavory characters, they’re also super interesting to me!
The romance: I do want to say that there is NO love triangle. Some people have wondered and no, there isn’t. But I will say there are a few moments in this book that made my heart soar and pages that were burning hot. 😉
The world-building: I LOVED the world-building in this book! There are multiple islands and each one of them has a different Fallen God they worship. And each of those Gods have certain characteristics (silence, warriors, kindness, etc.) that are valued. I do hope to see a map and possibly an index describing all these differences. I thought religion was woven in beautifully into the story and it influenced how certain characters behaved, thought and responded to situations. The magic is also a bit of a mystery and I like it when there’s more to learn. There are these noorstones that glow and provide light for inside buildings.
The Theme: I think one awesome theme in Before She Ignites is no longer letting others silence you. Mira spent her whole life being silenced and it’s something she deals with in the entirety of the book. I hate when I feel like my voice is taken from me and I found this book very inspiring to stand up and fight back.
Quick Read: Believe it or not, but I found this book rather quick to read through. I really wanted to know what happened to Mira, all the other prison inmates, her family and friends.
What I didn’t like:
I found it a bit long and slow paced at times, however I still found it to be a quick read.
Mira’s weakness of being disgusted when she felt ugly, made me a little frustrated at times. I wanted to slap her and say, “You are still beautiful, and get over yourself, looks aren’t everything!” But I also know this is one of her personal flaws. When you think your ONLY attribute to world (because others tell you so) is a pretty face than jeopardizing beauty can have major internal struggles. I have hope for her that this will be a flaw she’ll work through in the next couple books. No one overcomes insecurities in a month.
I enjoyed the scenes with the dragons but would like to see more! I think there will be in the upcoming books.
Overall
Before She Ignites was a fiery beginning to a stunning new fantasy series by Jodi Meadows! After finishing I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters and was left with enough questions to desperately want more. If you love flawed characters, fighting against injustice, dragons and new worlds, you’ll definitely want to pick up this book! I gave it 4.5 stars.
I created a Pinterest Board if you’re interested in aesthetics.
To our wonderful readers, Thank you for stopping by the blog for Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows Tour! As a thank you and appreciating we have a GIVEAWAY for you in ALL TOUR STOPS!
Miss Jodi Meadows was very kind and generous and donated 2 Finished copies of 🔥 Before She Ignites🐲 for 2 lucky winners!!! Giveaway is at the end of this blog post.
For more chances to win this amazing GIVEAWAY please don’t miss the all the stops. Which will be full of interviews, creative posts, reviews and an excerpt!
But first, we would like to introduce to you the outstanding book trailer for Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows
Book Trailer
Giveaway
Tour Stops
Monday 9/4 –TheLifeofABookNerdAddict – Guest Post
Monday 9/4 – TalesofTheRavenousreader– Creative Post
Tuesday 9/5 – BooksAndPrejudice – Review
Wednesday 9/6 – EaterofBooks – Interview
Thursday 9/7 – ForTheSakeofReading – Review
Friday 9/8 – ABackwardsStory– Guest Post
Monday 9/11 –MaryHadALittleBookBlog -Guest Post
Monday 9/11 – thatartsyreadergirl.com -Review
Tuesday 9/12 – TheYABookTraveler -Review
Wednesday 9/13 – AThousandWordsAMillionBooks – Interview
Thursday 9/14 – BookCrush– Creative Post
Friday 9/15 – TheReaderAndTheChef– Review
Monday 9/18 – YAandWine – Review
Tuesday 9/19 – TakeMeAwayToAGreatRead – Creative Post
Wednesday 9/20 – AphonicSarah – Interview
Thursday 9/21 – TheKindredReader – Review
Friday 9/22 – ReadWriteLove28 – Excerpt
Friday 9/22 – LoveIsNotATriangle – Guest Post
About the Author:
Wants to be a ferret when she grows up and she has no self-control when it comes to yarn, ink, or outer space. Still, she manages to write books. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy, the ORPHAN QUEEN Duology, and the FALLEN ISLES Trilogy (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen), and a coauthor of MY LADY JANE (HarperTeen). Visit her at Website: www.jodimeadows.com
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Such a lovely tour stop and review Sarah 😀 Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this one sweetie. <3 Hugs. I enjoyed it too, but didn't love it sadly. Sniffs. But adore Jodi 🙂 And loooove your graphics/swag for this book 😀 SO BEAUTIFUL. I.. about the romance. Well. I didn't really see the romance at all 🙁 Which is probably why I didn't enjoy the book all that much, haha. But loved the dragons 🙂
This post is full of so many amazing things. I love how much YOU love Jodi!
Your book trailers are always so amazing OMG And I love Jodi’s books, so I am super excited to read this. 🙂 Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3
I loved the book trailer! What a fun thing! It definitely made me want to read the book even though I’m not really into dragons! I guess I actually am! Lol