Fire With Fire

Dani and Eden Rivera are two years apart in age but poles apart in outlook. All Eden wants to do is train to follow in her parents’ footsteps and kill dragons. All Dani wants to do is go to high school and live life as a normal teenager, going out with her friends and having fun. But despite being the younger of the two, it’s Dani who’s offered an opportunity that Eden craves – the chance to go to Stonecrest, the fabled stronghold of the sorcerers, invited there by the high sorceress herself, the enigmatic and powerful Calla Thorn.

What Eden doesn’t know is that her sister no longer views dragons as humanity’s biggest enemies, not since the night she encountered a dragon in person, forging an unexpected and at first unwelcome bond with Nox, the guardian of some of the last dragon eggs in the world, possibly dragonkind’s only hope after generations of being hunted to the brink of extinction by slayers like the Riveras.

Gradually, Dani comes to accept the link she shares with Nox, learning to communicate telepathically with the sharp, sarcastic presence in her head, sharing her thoughts and her emotions. With Nox’s initially unwilling help, Dani must extract her sister from Calla Thorn’s machinations and return her to the girl she used to be before she lost part of her own humanity on obtaining the powers of a sorcerous because of a cruel transference of power. Dani is up against formidable odds, with no guarantee of success and few allies.

Fantasy was my staple fare in the 1980s and 1990s although it’s not something I’ve read much of since. But I’m a sucker for dragons and couldn’t resist the lure of the creatures in a modern setting, rather than a traditional sword and sorcery romp in a faux medieval world. Destiny Soria pulls off the combination of dragons and an unsuspecting 21st century with considerable aplomb in her assured debut.

I was quickly sucked in by her characters, particularly the acerbic Nox, and the plot with its heart-breaking story of the attractive, enigmatic Keiran and Zephyr, the captive dragon horribly abused in Calla Thorn’s quest to bring more sorcerers into the world. Two sisters in opposition is a standard trope, played here to good effect. In addition, Dani’s friends are an engaging bunch and provide a slice of the normality that she craves in contrast to the high stakes world she’s been forced to inhabit.

Soria serves up plenty of tension frequently leavened by humour, particularly in the mental exchanges between Dani and Nox. The story hurtles towards an explosive climax in which old prejudices have to be set aside if there is to be any chance of saving Eden’s life and preserving a future for Nox and the eggs he has been guarding for so long. So, take a story of two very different sisters , throw dragons into the mix and yes, I’m definitely on board. This is stylish, entertaining YA urban fantasy at its best.

And, in the interests of full disclosure, when I was a young child, my dad altered the ending of the classic story of St George and the dragon so that the two of them lived happily ever after together. It was years before I found out the truth, and I still much prefer my childhood version, which probably explains why Fire With Fire was right up my alley.