Book Review: Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

Release Date: September 12th, 2017
Read: August 27th-30th, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series: Fallen Isles Trilogy, #1
Format: ARC, 485 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for honest review

Description from GoodReads:

   Before

   Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the peace treaty named after her, an agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

   But Mira never felt perfect. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

   After

   Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit—the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

   No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles—and herself—before her very world begins to collapse.

Review:

   I was a girl again. Shivering. In the dark. In the soundless void. Alone. 

   I never finished Jodi Meadow's first series, Newsoul. There was something about it that in the end, that just did not hook my attention enough to go out and pick up that last book. But then I gave My Lady Jane a try, a book cowritten by Jodi Meadows, and I completely adored it. Thus, obviously proving that I needed to give Jodi Meadows another try, this time with Before She Ignites.

   Before starting the book, I thought I was getting into a book solely focused on dragons and magic. In the end that is what I got, although not in the way I imagined it. Before She Ignites is a fantasy novel that is focused on politics. The book referred a lot to how the 7 islands were ruled, and how the people lived their lives. With saying this, the story took great care in showing us the political corruption of the islands. I couldn't help but compare Before She Ignites' political mentions to the problems with politics that the US is facing today. I also couldn't help but think that this aspect became such an important part of the book, in hope of having readers question the designs happening around them, and try to make a change.

   For most of the book, our protagonist was locked up in a cell, because of this it felt as if a whole lot of pointless things happened. The book itself was fairly large, but with all that occurred in the novel, it's almost as if the book could have been cut in half, cutting out all the pointlessness. I understand why Mira was locked up, and the role that the prison played in furthering the plot but I feel as if the prison could have been a part of the novel rather than the whole thing. I hope that in the upcoming novels more things happen rather than being stuck in one spot again.

   I couldn't help but love the dragons in the book, I found it fascinating how many dragon types there were and how the society honoured them. This aspect of the novel really reminded me of the movie How to Train your Dragon. I really look forward to seeing what Jodi Meadows does with the dragons in the next book of the series.

   Before She Ignites was not what I was expecting, and it really surprised me how the story turned out. I did not end up loving the story, but I do intend on reading the sequel in the future. 

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

"I wanted freedom in the same way I wanted my next breath: an unspoken but constant desire."

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Fantasy, Dragons, Politics, Magic, Chosen Ones