I just finished an ARC copy of Bound by Firelight the second book in the Wickery series by Dana Swift. It was a fun, action packed read that just kept building throughout the book. Unfortunately this did lead to a rather quick and abrupt ending. It feels like the series was originally plotted out to be a trilogy but the publisher wouldn’t greenlight a third book so the author gave us a quick ending that wrapped up a lot of the storylines but left some big ones still open in the hopes they can get a third book ok’d. It was enough of an ending to be mostly satisfied but not completely. kind of like taking a bite of cake only to have the rest of your slice get taken away. Yah you got cake, but you wanted more. That’s what this ending feels like. Not only does it feel rushed but I like happy endings, not this tipetoe around it and just alude to a happy ending we got. The last quarter or so of the book feels like it should have been part of a third book with a more fleshed out ending.
Our main characters, Adraa and Jatin spend most of the book apart. One of the best parts of the first book was their banter and interactions between them that this book lacks. Unfortunately this lead to Jatin not having much to do other than obsess on how he would free Adraa leaving him with very little character growth. You would think this would mean there wasn’t much romance in the book and you would be right. What was there wasn’t much, but it was there and in the weirdest way possible with a extremely awkward and forced feeling love triangle that comes out of nowhere. It almost feels like it was thown in just to try and give Jatin a little more on the page. Adraa on the other hand is great throughout the book. She learns to embrace who she is and the fact that she doesn’t have to be perfect, to be enough.
It may sound like I didn’t like the book but I did. Like the the first book it wasn’t great and won’t be topping any charts for me, but it was an enjoyable and fun read with great action and likable characters. I just wish it was more. More banter, more romance, more story, and mostly more ending.
