The Firethorn Crown

Firethorn Chronicles Series, Book 1

De: Lea Doué

Narrado por: Zehra Jane Naqvi

A kingdom of shadows. A soldier sworn to protect. A princess silenced by love.

Plagued by her mother's matchmaking attempts, Princess Lily, the eldest of 12 sisters and heir to a mighty kingdom, struggles to prove herself worthy of her inheritance while avoiding the attention of unwanted admirers. Tradition forbids marriage with the man she loves, so she would rather rule alone than marry someone who only wants the crown.

Fleeing an overzealous suitor, Lily stumbles into a secret underground kingdom where she and her sisters encounter a mysterious sorcerer-prince and become entangled in a curse that threatens the ones she loves most. She must find a way to break the curse before time runs out, or risk sentencing herself and her sisters to a lifetime of darkness.

©2015 Lea Doué (P)2020 Tantor

Princess of the Firethorn Crown

This is a story about the twelve dancing princesses with dragons! Lily is the eldest and is expected to choose her consort within a short period of time, Add in a mysterious underground kingdom with a dark brooding wizard and it makes for a interesting twist. Lily is in love with a dragon soldier and doesn't know if he will return her feelings, and if he doesn't then she and her sisters will have to remain in the underground kingdom forever. The narrator was amazing! she really reminds me of the female narrator in the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. I really enjoyed this one, and cannot wait for the rest of the series!
The story is clean, fun and filled with adventure and of course happily ever after.

AN ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL STORY !!!!!

AN ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL STORY. I LOVED IT. STORYLINE IS GOOD AND EASY TO FOLLOW. NARRATOR IS GREAT AND EASY TO FOLLOW. STORY IS ACCEPTABLE FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES. A 12 DANCING PRINCESSES STORY WITH A DARK TWIST AND DRAGONS.

Slow Start but a great story

First the negative:
So I was a little unsure whether I liked this book at first, because it was a little slow in actually getting to the main plot and then it threw too much information with too little information all at once. For instance, the girls are told they must return to the undergarden every night, and they agree, clearly afraid, yet they've not been told of what will happen if they don't. There isn't even an implied threat of consequences if they don't and so their immediate acceptance of the demand seemed odd and implausible. The story overcomes these issues after a while though, and it eventually makes more sense why they simply accepted the demand without asking why they should.
The other thing I didn't like was that it wasn't until around halfway through the book that we have any significant scenes between Lilly and Eban (her love interest) and I was afraid that the ending, when they presumably ended up together (since that's almost always how these stories go) would feel unsatisfying. I was wrong though -- while it took a bit for the author to show us the love between the two, I was quite satisfied by the end when they do end up together, so I guess that's a positive and a negative together.
The positive: I loved how close the sisters are. They're all very supportive of each other and care very deeply. For example, when Lilly can't communicate properly (I won't say why, because that would be a spoiler, albeit a minor one), all her sisters rally around her and go out of their way to help her, including interceding for her with their mother. And they do this without question. You quickly get the impression that the sisters are ALWAYS there for each other, without question, without having to be asked. Lilly is their unofficial leader as the eldest and they all follow her, not because she intimidates them or orders them around, but because they trust her and respect her. She quickly proves herself to be a very caring person worthy of this trust and respect, even though she doubts herself sometimes. There was a little of the annoying "let me sacrifice myself for my loved one without telling them" trope, but that's pretty quickly put aside -- almost as soon as she decides to do this, her sisters all show up with another solution, putting themselves at risk for her, but not nearly to the extent of giving up everything, as she was going to.
I do also like Lilly's character. She does have some self-doubt which gets a bit annoying to listen to, but it's kept to a minimum. I love how much she cares about her sisters but that she's not the kind of character who decides she has to do everything on her own to protect them. On the contrary, they help her probably more than she helps them, because that's what the circumstances required.
There was the cliché, "I love him and want to tell him, but there's no way he possibly feels the same" while he's thinking the same thing about her and it's obvious to the audience, mainly because it's such a common trope. This was also kept to a minimum though, so it didn't get annoying.
I quite liked Lilly's relationship with her father -- he loves and respects her and encourages her to make her own choice about who she wants to marry and when. I only wish he'd been in more of the story. He was absent for the majority of it, though we do get an explanation for why. Still, it did actually work pretty well to bring him in towards the end and encouragement her to make the choice she should have made months ago.
I didn't love the villain's character. He's introduced too suddenly and we get new information about him only in chunks without much build-up. I didn't really mind too much though, mainly because there are so many other characters.
Overall, this was a good book which I quite enjoyed.

wonderful world building. lovable characters. skilled narrator

really enjoyed the story.the author's depiction of the undergarden, the goose pond, the tower, etc. pulled me in and held my attention. I was/am also rooting for the Night Prince who I was more disappointed in than disliked. as much as I enjoyed the story I was frustrated with a few plot points: details of the curse and its eventual breaking. Runson's lies and offensive behaviors that went unpunished. the extent of the Night Prince's powers etc. I'd have liked more explanation to understand their respective actions. but i got over it.

Gripping Retelling

This is a really unique take on the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale that swept me in right away. The narrator does a really good job, and I already have the next audiobook pre-ordered!

Loved this romantic fantasy

Was a great story- such lovely twists?and turns. Suspenseful, not much to do with the original story but ever so delightful in the telling .

narrator wasn't for me

i just couldn't get into this one. the narrator -for me at least-. has a very high and nasally voice that grated on the last nerve. I'm sure she's a wonderful person in real life, but I just couldn't listen to a moment more of the voice. The story itself starts out slow and that's likely what also added to my not finishing it. they introduce the 1e sisters and go on and on about how beautiful Hazel is because she has blonde hair. excuse me? Is the author implying that only blondes are beautiful? ummm no. I may pick it up later again as an ebook, but for now, it's a DNF.