Heat of the Everflame: The Kindred's Curse Saga, Book 3

Heat of the Everflame is supposed to be a continent wide war with lots of action and political interest. Diem and Luther are sent across Emarion to gather allies, uncover the truth about Diem’s bloodline, and challenge the Crowns controlling each realm. The plot sounds enormous and exciting. Instead, the excessive pages of unnecessary text made the story feel stagnant. Diem begins by dealing with the fallout of her disastrous coronation. Her growing powers make her increasingly important to both sides of the war. She travels through the realms with Luther, searches for answers about her heritage, rescues people connected to her past, and begins collecting crowns from rulers standing in her way. Diem is becoming one of the most powerful people in Emarion. Her transformation was supposed to be thrilling. I imagine Diem's story was supposed to be something like Daenerys Targaryen rising to power while inching towards The Iron Throne. I spent most of the time wondering when the interesting parts would finally arrive. The pacing was a big problem. Long stretches pass without anything that felt important to the central plot. Major developments disappear beneath political discussions, travel, explanations, and Diem analyzing every possible feeling she has ever experienced. Plot twists receive so much setup that they became obvious long before their reveals. Other mysteries reach resolutions that feel anticlimactic compared with the hundreds of pages spent building them. Diem also exhausted my patience. She has immense power and very little confidence in herself. Her guilt, ruminating anxiety, indecision, and constant introspection dominate huge portions of the book. Communication could solve many of her problems. She repeatedly chooses silence instead. Her rise from uncertain ruler to a queen holding multiple crowns should have been an interesting character build. I found the process too tedious. Luther did not save the romance. The series takes more than 2,000 pages to reach the long awaited library scene between Diem and Luther. There is some light foreplay before the scene fades to black. A closed door scene would not bother me in a fantasy with a gripping central plot. The romance had become a major reason I kept pushing through the slower sections, so that tiny payoff after such an enormous wait was disappointing. His secret Godstone injury frustrated me too. Diem has the rare ability to heal Godstone wounds. Luther knows this and still hides a serious injury from her. The book spends countless pages inside these characters’ thoughts, but his reasoning never felt convincing enough to justify keeping something so important from the literal answer to his decaying health. The political revelations did not fare much better. Diem’s family history becomes increasingly important as she learns more about her mother and the mysterious figure leading forces from the north. Several twists felt obvious long before Diem understood them. Her expanding collection of crowns also made her politically more powerful without making the plot feel more exciting. The final betrayal cliffhanger should have left me desperate for the next book. I was left feeling relieved that I had reached the final page. Heat of the Everflame is described as action packed, but that description does not match my experience. A war is happening. Crowns are falling. Alliances are shifting. Diem is uncovering enormous secrets about her identity and becoming an unprecedented political force. These events should create constant suspense. The excessive detail surrounding the twists drained their energy. Pick this up if you adore immersive high fantasy, extensive political maneuvering, deeply introspective heroines, and extremely slow romantic development. I wanted faster pacing, purposeful character growth, more action, and a romance that justified such a long wait. The final book is now available. I have no motivation to continue the series.

4.5⭐️

This book kept me on the edge of my seat!! Absolutely love Diem and the growth she is making. I love her aquiring more and more crowns. I’m disappointed in Doriel’s betrayal. And dear lord these kindred are cruel!!! Not loving the cliff hanger this is ending on though. We know she lives, she’s the main character!!

I genuinely love the character developments in this book. I love the inner turmoil and the improvements to each character. The plot can be very predictable because Penn Cole has admitted that she planned the saga before writing and littered each book with easter eggs. Going into the book with that information did little if anything to deter my enjoyment. The world building was well executed and seeing the lands through Diem's eyes while she's panicking about an impending war, that technically has already started, and still finding ways to think of others besides herself. Diem's bleeding heart is consistent throughout the entire saga thus far which is a wonderful character note. I am a character driven reader, so understanding what makes Diem tick even when I don't agree helps so tremendously.

I had struggles with this book. 50% of it was Luther hiding his injury... hate the no communication trope. Then Daddy dearest shows up. I just felt like there was a lot of fluff in this book. It was really fun to see the other realms but holy cow that cliffhanger. Not cool.