Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all doing well! Today I’m posting my review of book one of the Fallen Isles trilogy, Before She Ignites by: Jodi Meadows.

Before She Ignites by: Jodi Meadows: Mira has a deep love for dragons, one that no one else really like or appreciates. She’s also always been sort of like a spokesperson for hope where she lives in the Fallen Isles. When she uncovers a secret, she’s imprisoned for it and left behind by everyone who knows her, including her family. Now she must fight to survive to tell the truth and defend the dragons she loves so much. This novel was an alright start to a trilogy. It didn’t really impress or wow the reader, but they also didn’t completely hate it either. It had interesting elements to it, but it also felt like it was lacking a lot. The pacing started off really quick and the reader found they were flying through the story, but by the time it got to the mid-way point and the end it slowed a bit and all the reader wanted was to figure out how it would end, which was on a cliff hanger. The overall story arc felt underdeveloped because it wasn’t really explained what was happening and why it was happening. There was a whole dragon plot, and we’re led to believe that our main character is in prison because of her connection to dragons, but it just didn’t feel like this reader understood the why of it all. The reader wished there had been a little more backstory and a little more dragons; we only got to see them in the flashbacks for the most part which were only two to five pages long. This reader will try reading the second novel to see if we get more explanations and world building than the first. Speaking of world building, the reader couldn’t help but notice some similar names being used to those in the Mortal Instruments series, like complete word-for-word names of places, people and societies. That felt like lazy writing; for a series as big as TMI, it’s not something that wouldn’t go unnoticed. As for the characters, they were good, if a little two dimensional. It felt like the author was trying to flip the main character energy on its head a bit because we always read that heroes/heroines are tough, strong-willed, willing to speak out and do anything, they’re very outgoing, this main character wasn’t really any of that. The reader appreciated trying to make her different, but they also understand why a main character is like that, it makes them interesting and entertaining to read. She was kinda meek and a bit boring. By the end she started to feel more main character energy and was stronger, but it took too long to get there. The romance plot the author tried to get going also felt so out of left field for everything going on, that hopefully that doesn’t take off in the following novels. In the end, this was an alright read. The reader would like to see more dragons, better world building, with more unique names for things, and stronger characters for the second novel. The way it ended felt like we could get that, so it leaves the reader feeling hopeful.