Dawn of the Flame Sea by Jean Johnson
Series: Flame Sea #1
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
They call themselves the Fae Rii, or Fair Traders. Elfin-like beings capable of wielding sophisticated forms of magic, they travel between universes exploring new worlds and establishing settlements for their people to live peacefully among the locals.
The humans of the White Sands tribe, refugees fleeing from powerful enemies, see the Fae as potential invaders stealing their newfound natural resources. Jintaya, the leader of the Fae travelers, manages to forge an alliance, promising to trade skills and knowledge—magical and otherwise—to build a lasting community.
But the Circle Fire Tribe has no desire to share those rich valleys and ravines with the people they’ve hunted to near extinction—or the supposed deities they worship…
So I made it to about 26%. My problems are varied in this book. It’s not bad, really. It’s just …. there’s nothing happening.
The fae arrive on this planet, in this place, that they thought would be empty. Except it’s not. There’s a tribe, refugees fleeing from agressors. The fae begin to use their magic to change their environment. And that’s it. That’s all that’s happened.
There’s a lot of world-building going on, a lot of details about the magic that the fae, and the tribes, use. There’s some discussions on both parts of how to deal with the other. Normally I love this kind of thing – give me a fully realized world and I’ll play happily there for years. But I apparently need more, too.
There’s little-to-no character development. The one character that is even remotely interesting is Ban. He’s a warrior and protector of the fae traders/travelers that have come, however he’s incredibly child-like in his devotion and thought-patterns. I’m intrigued and would like to see his growth (which I hope there is some), but I’m just not interested enough. Oh! And then there’s the weirdness with his magic. Maybe it’s fleshed out a bit better later, made more logical, but for now I’m left wondering – how does he live his life if any flexing of a muscle (and the magical tattoos are all over his body) means that a specific magic will happen? Muscles flex in daily activities. Using a muscle-flex to activate a magic doesn’t make sense to me. Anyway, the rest of the characters may as well be cardboard cutouts for all the attention and variation they get.
Added to that, there’s just no plot. Nothing happening in more than a 1/4 of the book.
I wanted to enjoy this book, but I think it’s just not for me right now.
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