Firewing by Jennifer Povey crawls, and scurries. It scrapes, and it plods. But unfortunately, despite some effective world building, the novel – unlike its protagonist – does not fly.
Cathren is a half-demon living on the world of Yirath, a world inhabited by two species (humans and demons). She is the subject of some tit-for-tat prattling going on between deities, as Cat was magically created to be a vessel for an evil god. This will be important, because the latter half of the story focuses on a quest to avoid an apocalypse centering around this fact. All of this happens after the murder of her teacher/jailer, and she is friend zoned by a love interest. In short, she has had better days.
Reading through my notes I was struck by one major thing – how unimpactful most of the events, characters, and themes were. Scenes progress and characters react without any emotional impact or real development. Motivations are unclear, or bi-polar; Cat for instance, moves from wanting to kill her mentor herself, to mourning the loss of someone she admittedly never cared for, or vice-versa. Moreover, the secondary characters we see are bland. They come to us as if on a conveyor belt, ready for their cameo, as if this were a popup book. Half the time they seem to only exist to be sized-up for a possible love interest (and the conclusion of this happens almost instantaneously). If this wasn’t enough, the rhythm of the novel is hampered by a serious dose of introspection that serves neither to advance the plot, nor establish the character.
This said, there is a story here, under the clutter. Povey has a mind for world-building, and I think with a proper editor – one who can cut out all the unneeded chaff – this could make for a good, if light, read. For the moment however, I would say this work needs to be tossed back into the fire, and reformed.
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