Fireborne

The Aurelian Cycle, Book 1

By: Rosaria Munda

Narrated by: Christian Coulson, Candice Moll, Steve West

Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Fireborne is everything I want in fantasy." (Rachel Hartman, New York Times best-selling author of Seraphina)

Game of Thrones meets Red Rising in a debut young adult fantasy that's full of rivalry, romance...and dragons.

Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone - even the lowborn - a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders.

Now, they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn't be more different. Annie's lowborn family was executed by dragonfire, while Lee's aristocratic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the same orphanage forged their friendship, and seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragonriding fleet.

But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city.

With war on the horizon and his relationship with Annie changing fast, Lee must choose to kill the only family he has left or to betray everything he's come to believe in. And Annie must decide whether to protect the boy she loves...or step up to be the champion her city needs.

From debut author Rosaria Munda comes a gripping adventure that calls into question which matters most: the family you were born into, or the one you've chosen.

©2019 Rosaria Munda (P)2019 Listening Library

Critic Reviews

"Breathless action." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

"This series opener thrills with dragon action, from aerial tournaments to wartime battles...a near-perfect work of high fantasy with wide appeal." (Booklist starred review)

"From the beginning, this book pulls readers in...full of drama, emotional turmoil, and high stakes." (Kirkus starred review)

"Thought-provoking and full of social and political intrigue." (School Library Journal starred review)

Thrilling and thoughtful!!

This story is so gripping! With lots of action, twists, some romance, and a thoughtful challenge to what is fair and just that keep you extending that sleep timer (or at least I did). The narration took a moment to adjust to, however the emotion is written so well in this story and they really delivered in the end. Also really liked that romance was present in the book (loved every bit) but still secondary to the action and main plot of the story.
Loved it and can’t wait for book 2!

Well, nothing happens

This book lacks characters, world building, plot, or any other type of meaningful story. It came highly recommended but it was just a filler.

Updated Review

Because book 2 was such a letdown, I cannot recommend starting book 1.
This book felt like the bait for the trap that was book 2.

Mostly feminist and LGBT themes. The story gets repetitive, talkative (without saying anything), and predictable. Hard to recommend just a disaster.

Beautiful written

I loved this book. The characters are well developed and nuanced. The writing beautiful, and the story intriguing, suspenseful, and unpredictable.
I originally thought it was a fantasy book but I think it falls into the dystopian category. Although labeled as young adult, it is a sophisticated read- much of the plot coming from Plato’s Republic. I’m an old adult and found it to be an extremely satisfying read. Narration was good, and it can easily be listened to at 1.25. The narrator for Lee started out slow, but he ended up being quite good.

A Great Reminder about what Fantasy is all about!

I absolutely loved every twist and turn of this story. I hated the characters, loved them, cheered for them, and cried with them. Plus the dragons are so well written.

I have been reading for years and all tropes I spotted were refreshing instead of being the same old, same old.

Narration was perfection!

I faltered halfway through listening and thought this book wouldn't be good. Keep Listening! You will either be happy or surprised, or both, when you are done with this first book.

Not a bad book but

This is well written but not my cup of tea
Too many things missing from a book with dragons
It had more to give

Plato's Republic with Dragons!

I absolutely loved this book. It was a great story where the characters cared more about each other than being true to a mission or cause. It's kind of hard to find much fantasy writing like that. The characters were well written and relatable, and the story was nicely nuanced. I also enjoyed the references to classical greek literature.

The narration was great too. Having a different narrator for each of the characters whose viewpoints you see was really nice.

not well written or performed

it was just bad. not even worth going past chapter 3. I found it pulpy and contrived.

Beautiful and brilliant

Oh, wow, this was so well crafted. Every bit of it - from the politics to the feel of the country and it’s place in the greater world to each character - is well done. This is a book I wish had gotten more hype so I would’ve had more of an urging to read it before now but at the same time, I truly needed a distraction that took me out of the real world while I read it & this was perfect.

No one feels “truly & wholly” good or evil - each character lives in the grey area life thrusts us all into more often than not. And, in the end, if we are not careful in dismantling harmful status quos, we will ultimately find ourselves repeating the same evil committed against us with the same justifications, so complacency must always be challenged, power must never be allowed to be more important than lives.

5/5 stars; I cannot wait for more in this series.

A Whirlwind of a Book that had me HOOKED

I loved this so much that I didn't want to get to the end! It was Game of Thrones meets Throne of Glass meets Eragon in this fast paced read. I loved the struggles and the heartaches that Lee and Annie had to go through to get to were they ended up. I just need more!