Links: Author's Website / Read an excerpt / Show Article /

Fire Study leaves the reader with a sense of whiplash at times; the action is so fast and furious that the plot can be obscured. Yelena is confirmed as a mage, but apprenticed to the person who hates and fears her most bitterly—to the point of scorching her as an initial lesson. Every time she should be settling in to learn her craft, she's obliged to slip away and save the world. Her inability to master the basics is frustrating, but the power she does grow into as a Soulfinder is awesome and humbling in its own right. She will need every ability at her disposal to deal with betrayal, exile, Deviian vermin, and searing personal loss.

From Author's website: Yelena's new role as Soulfinder has made the Sitian Council uneasy. Worried that her new powers will corrupt her, the Council debates her fate. Yelena, though is trying to keep Sitia and Ixia from going to war. In the middle of political wrangling, Yelena receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by Ferde, the Soulstealer who murdered eleven girls and has escaped from prison with Cahil Ixia's help. Cahil believes if he joins with the new Daviian Clan, he will have enough support to regain the Ixian throne. Testing the limit of her skills, Yelena becomes embroiled in the desperate fight to stop Ferde and the Daviian Clan from siphoning enough power to unleash a Fire Warper on the world. That would be worst than war between the northern and southern lands. Especially since, of all the powers Yelena possesses, she couldn't set fire to a candle wick if her life depended on it. And there is more at stake than just her life.

(Source: Mira Books)