The Flames

Publisher's Summary

To survive incredible odds, one teen may have to trust both his former enemies and his fire-forged destiny....

Neil Vapros is one of the last free warriors of the great city of Altryon. He and his brother’s only chance of staying alive involves trusting an uneasy alliance with their former enemies. But in the world beyond his city’s walls, Neil’s life is much more dangerous than he ever imagined possible....

The Emperor has hired a ruthless madman and a vicious pack of assassins to hunt down the last supernatural survivors. As the allies attempt to hide from their enemies, the leader of a rebellion singles out Neil as the answer to a prophecy. Neil isn’t sure he believes he’s been "chosen", but he knows one thing for sure: their only chance for survival lies in sticking together. While treachery and pain wait around every corner, Neil and his allies may win the day, but victory without casualties could prove impossible....

The Flames is the second book in the award-winning Epic Feud trilogy of young adult fantasy novels. If you like rich fantasy settings, imaginative supernatural abilities, and tough-as-nails characters, then you’ll love Kyle Prue's electrifying adventure.

Buy The Flames to fire up the action today!

©2017 Kyle Prue (P)2018 Kyle Prue

A story that kept me on my toes

Although the book is meant for young adults, I’m 22 and found it thrilling. The storyline is so captivating and I loved listening to this narrator. Would definitely recommend this audiobook!

Enthralling

Wow! This narrator has done the voices so well you get chills up your spine. The way he does the doctor and the hyena is chilling. The characters are so strong and you are hoping that the lightborns that got away make it. This book ended in a cliff hanger. I will be buying the next book to see what happens. I would recommend this to all who love suspense, mystery and mayhem.

Despite it's few flaws, I enjoyed it greatly

Note: It’s best to experience Book 1 before diving into this book.

I really enjoyed Book 1 and Book 2 doesn’t disappoint. In fact, I may have enjoyed this book a bit more. The teens from Book 1 are in the wind for the most part. Some are in hiding, some are still dealing with evil characters, and some question whether they should join the rebellion. This tale reminded me a little of The Hunger Games (teens rebellion against the ruling government), Game of Thrones (scions of the ruling houses duking it out), and X-Men (these kids got skills but desperately needed a trainer). All around, an excellent mix.

Each of the kids that survived Book 1 undergo a bit of a journey in this book. In Book 1 they were all basically a result of their powerful houses, the values impressed upon them (or smacked into them) as kids. In this story, they are away from those influences and have to work stuff out on their own. Bianca and Anastasia were two of my favorites. While there is a tie between them, they each grew up very differently and have different battles. Initially, I really wanted to hate Anastasia but by the end of the story, I found her to be a very sympathetic character and a minor hero.

Rhys! Oh, my poor lad! Rhys will need therapy after this book. He’s our scholar with all his book learning, so of course it was easy to engage with his character. In some ways, he’s the glue that binds our little band of up and coming heroes. Everyone likes or respects him and doesn’t want to see him harmed.

There’s an addition of these sea-faring folk (Tridente, if I recall correctly) in the later half of the story and I really enjoyed the time spent with them. I can see potential for them in future tales. The brother & sister brought some much needed levity to the story as well as their own unique powers.

The villains are quite villainous, and for the most part, are archetypes. Sometimes, since the true villains were so very obvious, I just wanted to kill them and move on with the more interesting parts of the story. Yet they do play their part in the plot. The Hyena was the most unpredictable because you never knew if he would leave someone alive or not, and his reasons for doing so. The Doctor was a broken, driven, mad scientist that I looked forward to seeing put down.

While there were a few times where someone or something conveniently swooped in to save the plot, I still really enjoyed this novel. Even with my minor quibbles, I give this tale 5/5 stars for sheer entertainment value.

The Narration: Jon Eric Preston did a great job with this story. All his character voices are distinct and his female characters sound like ladies. He also did a great job with the range of emotions the characters go through in this novel. His voice for the Hyena was absolutely creepy (as it should be) and I also liked how he did the mechanical lisp for The Doctor. Preston also took the time for the little touches, like making an echo-y voice sound that way, or when 2 people speak at the same time, it really sounds like that. An excellent performance and recording all around. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Kyle Prue. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

a very very good read

a very good book to be hauled and listen to I enjoyed it incredibly the family in the book was very interesting the interaction was incredible it's very very good listen to any age I loved it
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Amazing narration, amazing author!

This series is explosive, in every possible way! We have characters beyond our desires, we have intrigue (and lots of it) and we have action (unpredictable action). I gave “The Sparks” (The Feud Trilogy #1) 5 stars and I can only give 5 stars more to “The Flames”. Why? Because it’s amazing! But enough of that. Let’s try with some reasonable arguments:

Kyle Prue has expanded the world and the characters in book 2. We see how the people live outside the Industrial City more and we see our main characters adapting to life on the run. Each of them has to learn to cope with these changes and face reality and threats. And working together is the only way for them to come up victorious. They grow, each having something to learn or a skill to manage. They bond, each revealing secrets about themselves. Even the negative characters are so well created and a lot of them. Each has a personal agenda and each is willing to do all it takes to accomplish their plans.

Neil is the character that appears to be in the center of the action, but all he does it with the help of his friends, now becoming his new family. They settle into a nice routine which will be soon interrupted by reality. The ending is unexpected, as usual J I was expecting the “unexpectable” of it all. I was longing for that twist I found in Kyle’s writing.

Oh and let me tell you about the narration. Jon Eric Preston is more than great! I liked his interpretation of all the characters, but his voice acting skills are proven when he reads the negative characters. He is wicked! He is terrifying and terrific! So the audio format was definitely another plus to an already bag full of those.

Suffice to say I am a fan of the series, the author and the narrator. Read the series, go all the way because you will find yourselves wanting to know more about the story and characters. Happy Listening!

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Kyle Prue. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

3.5* review!

I remember really, really enjoying the first book in this series and was actually trying to find the second book to pick up (none of my libraries carried it) when I saw that the second book was also going to be available for an audiobook blog tour so I snapped it up. Honestly, I think I enjoyed the first book a lot more. This one was also good but somehow I just didn’t find myself as engaged as I was in the previous novel. I found myself often distracted and lost in the plot and it took me a long while before I found myself immersed into the story again.

I still enjoyed the major characters (Neil, Lily, Darius and Rhys) and was glad to see them working well together and learning to trust one another more despite growing up hating each other’s’ families. I thought that showed a lot of maturity on their end and really liked that aspect of the character development.

The main reason why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did for the first book was because a lot more characters were introduced and the author allowed almost all of them to have their own POV so it ended up becoming more distracting for me as a reader. And since I had listened to this book via an audiobook, too many POVs and not enough distinction between the characters can be really hard to navigate. This is probably the main reason why I found myself getting distracted a lot and being lost. I liked the new characters but didn’t really see a need for them to have their own POVs at time.

As for the plot, I am glad to find the plot growing more and more complex with the new Lightborns coming into play and realizing that there weren’t just 3 families. It is definitely getting more intriguing and I’m excited to read the third book (if it shows up in my library at some point).

Overall, I’m definitely invested to see how Neil Vapros will become this “savior” and how everyone else will turn out.

This book is a must listen

This time around, I truly enjoyed this book even more. I have now both read and listened to The Flames, and I am still very impressed with it. Neil was brought to life by Jon Eric Preston. I was captured into the story, which is fast paced. It's fantastically written. I am very happy to be bringing up that half Star rating I originally gave it.

The audio gave me a completely different reading experience. I felt like I was visiting it for the first time. I could not find a single fault or flaw. There just isn't anything for me to call out or say that I didn't like. I am definitely MORE ready for the conclusion of the story. I am really happy to have revisited it. I highly recommend this book. If you haven't read it, you need to get on it ASAP.