Book Review: Phoenix and the Frost Palace by Aisling Fowler (Fireborn #2)

 Let's take a look at book two. Spoilers ahead.

Now a known witch, Phoenix is called upon by the other witches to save the frost palace Icegaard from being destroyed by a creature known as the Shadowseam. Phoenix and her friends travel north, while their canine companion stays behind and travels to the human tribes. Phoenix will have to learn to master her powers in order to save Icegaard and its witches, but is this even the right solution?

I mostly enjoyed the first book, thought it didn't exactly grab me the way I'd hoped. That's partially the same for this sequel. I had a good time reading it and I'm semi-invested in the world and characters, but something just puts me off from being completely immersed into this world. I can't exactly put my finger on why that is, maybe the writing voice or so.

I also brought up in my last review how I don't like how this book uses the (sadly very common) fantasy trope of "ugly fantasy creature equals bad, human/good-looking fantasy creature equals good", with the trolls and goblins being considered pure evil here and there being barely any evil characters which are human. That trend does continue here, however since the evil goblin sorcerer is barely in this book it at least wasn't as prevalent-feeling. Doesn't mean the trope isn't there, but I'm just so tired of it. It's cliché and uninspired, and it gives the idea that being ugly = being evil which just sucks.

That said, there's some stuff in this book which I did genuinely enjoy. The world-building of Icegaard and the witches was decent (though I wish we'd gotten a little more into the witches' culture and all), Zenith was a neat new addition to the cast, and there's some good character development for both Five (now Thorn) and the stone guardian dog, who is slowly becoming more like a living being and less like an animated stone statue. 

He's also given some POV chapters this book, away from Phoenix and the others, and I quite enjoyed those, as they give more of a look into the human tribes, their cultures and beliefs. They don't feel too directly connected to Phoenix's story, but they still make for a nice addition to the book, and I found him to be a thoroughly enjoyable character and POV to read. 

I will have to criticize some of the newer characters for being rather flat, however. Aside from Zenith there's several other young witches introduced, but none of them really do much or have much of a personality, making them rather flat characters. I'd have liked to get to know them more, because right now they mostly feel like filler characters who exist to mostly up the cast a bit.

Overall I wouldn't call this a great book, but it did enough to keep me engaged despite the disconnect going on between me and the story. It is a solid installment and I'm sure that people who can really get into Fireborn will enjoy it. I'm not sure if I'll read the third book when that comes out, we'll have to see.

Rating: 3.5/5