Maddie gets this golden gauntlet that helps her not be sick in other realms. Over the next 3 days while she’s plotting, and some people know she’s plotting, no one confronts here. When everyone else tells her sacrificing her mother is for the greater good, she stands up and says “No! I won’t let you do this” then she storms out, and no one chases her.

And she doesn’t get in trouble at all for what she did.īut probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard was Maddie’s willingness to sacrifice the lives of everyone, not only on earth, but in all the realms.įor what? All to save her mom who has been in jail for the last 15 years, was on death row, and made her peace with dying. Marcus actually apologizes for Maddie needing to feel like she had to deceive him. Deceive her uncle and destroy parts of Havenfall while fighting the big bad enemy? Not a big deal! The thing is, Marcus doesn’t ever even get upset at her.ĭestroy an entire building and kill a bunch of people? Oh it’s okay, someone else will take the blame. Maddie’s AttitudeĪlong the way Maddie ruins a fair bit, and even when her uncle, Marcus, is on board, she still sees the need to keep him in the dark about her plans. Maddie’s goal, which is contradictory to what every other level-headed person in this story wants, is to ignore the wisdom of her elders and do her own thing to stop it. But the soul trade that Maddie uncovered in Havenfall (that is that Solarian souls were being locked away in silver and then traded) is still going. The Silver Prince has been defeated and sent back to his realm in Byrn. There are still two weeks left of the summit and the entirety of Phoenix Flame takes place during that two week time period. The peace summit from Havenfall is still going on, though I believe a few days have past. Phoenix Flame picks up with Havenfall left off, I think. I’m not saying that existing scenes should have been lengthened, but rather that we could have had a ton of additional scenes to build up to big reveals. Phoenix Flame was rushed, and events that happen happen too quickly or too easily and they don’t give the reader or the characters time to process what’s happening.

If I’m going to take the time to get to know characters and a world, I don’t want it to be over in just 2 books. Personally, I’m partial to the 4-5 book series. And they’re fine when done well, but readers want trilogies or longer. I don’t know what it is with publishers these days, but I’ve been seeing a rise in the duology. The primary problem for is that the Havenfall series should have reasonably been a trilogy. Fans of the series will enjoy where Phoenix Flame takes them and the interesting twists that occur along the way. Everything that happens is perfect and I have no complaints. As a story, and a plot, Phoenix Flame is good.

Havenfall book 2