Flamefall Also in this series: Fireborne Series: The Aurelian Cycle #2
Published by Penguin on April 12, 2022
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Dystopian, Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / General, Young Adult Fiction / Politics & Government
Pages: 512
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
Goodreads
Revolutionary flames ignite around Annie, Lee, and a brand new character in the follow-up to Fireborne--now in paperback!
After fleeing the revolution and settling into the craggy cliffs of New Pythos, the dragonlords are eager to punish their usurpers and reclaim their city. Their first order of business was destroying the Callipolan food supply. Now they're coming for the dragonriders.
Annie is Callipolis's new Firstrider, charged with leading the war against New Pythos. But with unrest at home, enforcing the government's rationing program risks turning her into public enemy number one.
Lee struggles to find his place after killing kin for a leader who betrayed him. He can support Annie and the other Guardians . . . or join the rebels who look to topple the new regime.
Griff, a lowborn dragonrider who serves New Pythos, knows he has no future. And now that Julia Stormscourge is no longer there to protect him, he is called on to sacrifice everything for the lords that oppress his people--or to forge a new path with the Callipolan Firstrider seeking his help.
With famine tearing Callipolis apart and the Pythians determined to take back what they lost, it will be up to Annie, Lee, and Griff to decide who--and what--to fight for.
Review:
FLAMEFALL is the stunning and enthralling sequel to FIREBORNE and the second in the Aurelian Cycle trilogy. The book continues to follow Annie and Lee, who grew up at an orphanage and struggled to place their relationship; now, they have risen to the highest status of Dragonriders in Gallipolis. After a brutal revolution, their country has been rebuilding on a new principle of worth. Instead of ruling families with complete control, the new government has instituted a metals test. This standardized test supposedly defines your abilities, and the results will determine your jobs, lifestyle, and even food rationing.
This book also adds a new perspective of Griff, a dragon rider who is also a servant and lives constantly under threat of his well-being and that of his family. Though he had been somewhat protected by the head of the Dragonriders, Julia, her death sparks even more dangerous changes for New Pythos and him as her cruel and vindictive brother, Ixion, takes the lead. As a lower-class dragon rider, Griff’s dragon is muzzled, and he can only follow orders. He also spends all the time not riding, tending to the higher-born dragon riders. Although it may have seemed like a great opportunity, it was another form of oppression.
All three are evaluating, fighting, and trying to do their best for their countries and friends – with political plots, rebellions, and the dangers of power, this is no easy task.
FLAMEFALL is so much more than just a middle book in a trilogy. This book is fantastically written and thoroughly plotted. It is riveting from the start and keeps the reader turning pages until the shocking cliffhanger ends. The characters are beautifully developed with complexity, realness, and multi-faceted personalities. The reader can understand their motivations, the difficulty of the decisions they face, their reasons for their paths forward, and the complexity of the paths to get there. In an uncertain world with problems on every side, the enemies here are less clear than they may have seemed.
The themes of the book were really thought-provoking and beautifully displayed. These included discussions around war and the balance of win/loss, where even a “win” may feel like a loss with the toll and lives it can take. The stratification of society and systematic oppression were also evident. Although no longer determined by socioeconomic class, the mental system of Gallipolis introduces a new form of systematic oppression for people who do not take standardized tests well. It simply has a different veneer. In New Pythos, we see another example where those born into higher socioeconomic classes have all the power and control simply because of their birth. The discussions around these are anything but simple, and the book raises some great discussion questions about equality, distribution, and the trouble with politics/political power.
Classism is also pervasive throughout, and in New Pythos, this is confounded with race, where the Norcians are servants/slaves to the higher classes who have the dragons—but are the dragons merely the tools of oppression, or are they part of the problem? That is a question that all countries will have to answer, particularly considering how other surrounding countries are run.
This series’s complexity of rebellion, society, politics, and decisions is intriguing. Nothing is black and white, and I appreciated how the sides are presented and the understanding that leads the characters to decide where they will stand when everything collapses around them.
About Rosaria Munda
Rosaria Munda grew up in rural North Carolina, studied political theory at Princeton, and lives with her husband in Rhode Island. She is the author of The Aurelian Cycle (Fireborne, Flamefall, and Furysong) and the forthcoming Confessions of a Junior Spy (Feiwel & Friends, 2025).
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The first in this series was one of the award book nominees a few years ago, and so of course I have this second one for the students to read too. Glad to hear it was so good. Great review!