Book Review: Heat of the Everflame by Penn Cole

Genres: Romantasy, Fantasy Romance, Magic, Adult
Pages: 1,026
Format: Ebook
Rating:

This review contains spoilers from books one and two.

Initial Thoughts

I was happy to finally be able to jump into Heat of the Everflame after having a two-book pause after reading Glow of the Everflame – which ended on such a cliff hanger. Questions needed to be answered and since Glow was a five deer-star read for me, I was hoping Heat would be the same.

If you would like to check out my chaotic, unhinged, unfiltered, raw thoughts of Heat of the Everflame, head over to my Deer Thoughts page for that. If not, let’s continue with my review.

The Plot (Spoiler-Free!)

After the attack on Couerile, Diem is on a journey back to Lumnos to take her throne. Think of Odysseus trying to make his way back home after the Trojan War. All Diem is trying to do is get back to Lumnos, but she is met with road block, after road block, after road block. During these road blocks she’s making stops in Umbros, Ignios, Sophos, and others. Along the way she is slowly uncovering pieces about her lineage, unlocking more of her powers, and attempting to gain allies for her fight in the upcoming war. Diem wants there to be balance and fairness, but it’s hard to get the Mortals, Guardians, and Descended to see that. Along the way, Diem faces trials of betrayal, power, and love that force her to confront what kind of queen she truly wants to be.

What I Liked (mild spoilers)

I have a lot of criticisms of this book, but despite that, there are still parts I enjoyed a lot. I liked the overall plot of Diem having to go to different realms on her journey back to Lumnos. I liked that the world-building and how the lore kept expanding. And Diem becoming OP was one of my favorite parts to watch – because who doesn’t like an OP FMC? I loved when she was in Ignios and its Gryvern was able to communicate with her. But I think my favorite realm that she visited was Umbros, because of their queen, Yrselle. I loved the traveling gang of Diem, Luther, Taran, and Alixe. They had a lot of funny moments together. Some of my favorite is when they’re all talking at the same time. When Zalaric was introduced, I found him to be so funny, especially with how he was calling Taran all these different names.

I welcomed the high stakes this book presented despite it causing my blood pressure to rise on multiple occasions. If Sorae would’ve gotten hit with that ballista and died I don’t think I would continue the series. I am just too attached to her. When Taran was battling his godstone infection, that was another time where I was like if he doesn’t survive I’m not reading anymore.

Luther is still my man even if he did annoy me at sometimes. But how can I be mad at him when he says the sweetest things?:

What Didn’t Work for Me (mild spoilers)

How much time do we have to get into my grievances with this book?

I don’t like feeling as if things are unoriginal, and maybe I’m reading too much into it, but the whole scene in the beginning with the Guardians having a ballista to take down Sorae, it seemed very much like Game of Thrones when the Lannister army was using the same contraption to take down Dany’s dragons. Is that the only thing in existence that can take dragons down? Remains to be seen I guess. This could also be nitpicky but another Game of Thrones connection I made is that they’re kind of making Diem out to be the Mother of Dragons with her connection to all the gryverns.

It was the most obvious thing in the world that Luther was hurt by the godstone, I can’t believe it was dragged out for that many pages. I don’t know if it’s bad writing or if Diem is just dumb. Someone on my TikTok said she had a questionable IQ and I fear I have to agree with that at times. Diem is smart, but girl, how was that missed?! Luther is telling her to get used to him not being around multiple times, his personality has completely changed, he won’t let Diem touch him, he’s fully clothed at all times, he has the same ingredients Diem used to cure Taran in his room, like let’s me so forreal right now. Diem even says “I was supposed to be a healer how could I miss what was right under my nose?” Girl, I don’t know. I truly don’t know how you missed this.

The ending also just didn’t make any sense. It has been established that Diem can use the Umbros magic to detect when someone is lying, so how she couldn’t figure out Doriel was going to betray her before getting on the boat is beyond me. As a reader it was so obvious, but I guess not to Diem. And then I’m tired of this trope of the FMC being trapped / tricked in a hole or on an island with no way of escaping.

Final Thoughts

What are my final thoughts? Hmmmmmmm. I really want to enjoy this series but between the familiar tropes that I’ve seen before, and Diem’s consistent ability to not see what is literally in front of her was rage inducing. However, I will definitely be continuing with the series – gots to see it through, my boy.