Book Review Wildefire by Karsten Knight

Title: Wildefire
Author: Karsten Knight
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: July 26, 2011
Rating: 3/5

Cover Impressions:  Oh so pretty.  I absolutely love this image.  The colors are dark, but stunning and the unassuming title font doesn't take away from the beauty of the smoke curls.  Even better, the physical book feels almost velvety to the touch.  I have no idea what treatment they used on the book jacket, but I love it. 

Review:

This is a re-read for me and I seem to remember enjoying it a whole lot more the first time around.  Perhaps my tastes have changed or, perhaps, most of the allure of the book comes from not knowing what is going to happen next.

When this book opens, we meet Ash, who seems, at first glace, to be a badass.  We are quickly shocked by her sister, Eve, who swoops in a creates a great deal of havoc and seems to thrive on violence.  It bothered me that, despite the fact that Eve becomes a very important character, we never really get to know Eve's backstory or why she is so angry with the world.  In the wake of Eve's destructive powers, Ash escapes to a private school and we jump forward several months to see her partaking in a night of debauchery.  When a mysterious call for help is only heard by a select group, she discovers that she may not be quite as ordinary as she thought.

I really enjoyed watching the kids as they stepped into their powers and using my (somewhat limited) knowledge of mythology to try and guess which teen would be which god.  I did think that the kids seemed to accept this whole god thing rather quickly and they went from using their powers during one catastrophic event to using them skillfully and at will.  I would have enjoyed seeing some of this progression as they practiced these newfound skills.  They also seem to jump straight from complete and total strangers to a tight knit group of friends a bit too quickly to seem realistic.  Even my beloved Raja, queen of the withering looks, morphed into a dress-lending, advice-giving uber bestie.

Some of the kids are awesome and I had entertained the thought that perhaps the next book would follow a different teen (come on Raja!) but, alas, we are to leave those kids behind and continue to listen to Ash whine.  She is not a particularly interesting character and I quickly bored of her woe is me attitude and her lackluster flirting.  The relationship between her and Colt is not exactly insta-love but it does progress rather quickly and I could not quite get over the fact that he is an adult man and she is a 16??? year old girl.  That is far too creepy for me. 

I am definitely on board for the next book, Embers and Echoes because I have a copy of the third book waiting for review. 

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender:  Both
Sex: Sexual Activity (no intercourse) and vulgar language
Violence: Violent Death Scenes, Gunplay, Knifeplay
Inappropriate Language: Piss, Bitch, Whore, Pussy, Fuck, Dick, Ass, Bastard, Shit,
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage Drinking