19 years ago a small baby with charred skin as rough as rock was found on Garlin. Vala grew up to be feared for her cursed skin, but the royal family welcomed her as a guard. When the High Kingdoms Queen and Princess are to visit, the prince needs extra protection after an assassination attempt. What Vala hasn’t revealed is that the final assassin who escaped has the same skin as her. Intrigued, she tries to find out who and what she truly is. Fallen Flame is the first in a trilogy.
There’s a lack of magic in this world after a war many years ago. What is most intriguing is that Vala’s skin looks to be some kind of magic curse. But how if magic is gone? This is one of the big questions in Fallen Flame and it really drove me to keep reading.
As with many YA’s there seems to be a budding love triangle. Which (obviously) I am not a fan of. I hope in the second book Vala chooses early and this isn’t dragged out throughout the trilogy. I also have a slight problem in that both the love interests aren’t particularly good for Vala. One she’s grown up with and is the prince, so it’s an unlikely and arguably and unhealthy love. The other she’s know for like a week.
Vala wasn’t a bad main character but she was alright. There’s not much to distinguish from many other YA fantasy female leads. She’s a bit different, headstrong and can fight her own battles. What I struggled with was that her sole focus was always Caulden, the prince. Like I mentioned above, it felt unhealthy even if it was her job. She seemingly didn’t do anything outside of her duty as his guard. In the book her focus does wane and moves to finding out who and what she is, but she never felt like a relatable person.
As a whole, the book is very fast paced and action packed. There’s not much in terms of filler chapters and I was never bored. Miller also included some nice surprises. I didn’t expect some of the plot twists and I enjoyed them when they came along.
I received Fallen Flame* by J.M. Miller as an e-book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review.