Title: Spark of the Everflame
Source: Personal library
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In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village.
Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.
With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.
MY THOUGHTS
Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole has been everywhere on my FYP. Romantasy these days have been a real hit or miss but after reading the synopsis I decided to give it a go. In a world ruled by the descendant of the gods, there are only two sides, the Descendant and everyone else. Diem Bellator is a human healer who gets mixed up into the world of the Descendants when her mother goes missing. Diem’s mother is a renowned healer that cares for both humans and Descendants alike, so much so, that one of her own client is the King himself. With Diem’s mother gone, Diem decides to pick up where she left off. But she soon discovers that the Descendants and humans are not that much different, and she has a lot more in common with them than she thought.
The book dropped readers right into the action from the very first page as we see Diem wrestle and outsmart a group of men who tried to give her grief. I must say the story was fast paced and kept me engaged the entire time but the overall plot, at least for the first book isn’t anything new. Diem is beautiful and stands out among the human with her white hair and gray eyes. While most of the human population has dark or brown eyes. Right off the bat we have the snowflake trope. So of course, it's no surprise that she manages to catch the eyes of the prince but not just any prince, the only heir to the descendant kingdom.
The interaction between Luther and Diem didn’t feel natural, therefore I didn’t feel a connection to them. It seems like many authors lately are trying to stuff as many tropes as they can into a book to advertise to the readers. But like I said the main couple’s interaction felt disjointed, I got the enemies to lovers' vibe (likely since we weren’t completely there yet) but in my opinion it was done poorly. Everything felt forced, rushed or like the author was just going through the motion and steps of what should occur next. And there was a scene that I’ve already seen in at least three romantasy novels where the male protagonist freaks out and asks the female heroine; “Who did this to you?”, at this point it's almost laughable. I tried to keep myself from rolling my eyes but failed. More showing and less telling, please.
I was expecting more with all the raves reviews. The book was good don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t THAT good. The book ended on a major cliffhanger, and I’m still intrigued enough to pick up the sequel, but I know better now to tamp down my expectations. Did this book bring anything new and refreshing to the genre? No, but it’s a quick and slightly entertaining read. While I plan to continue the series, I probably won’t rush to read it right away.
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