YA Review - Ignite - young adult fantasy

Guide to Categories – YA Review – review of books for teens

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About the Book

Book: Ignite

Author: Kara Swanson

Genre: YA Fantasy

Release Date: August 20, 2024

Can Mara survive in a world where the fire in her veins is worth killing for?

In a frozen wasteland suffocating beneath a dying sun, Mara is a young phoenix raised by her father to explode at his command. He’s the only one who can help her control her fire, and Mara desperately follows his orders to protect their phoenix family from relentless human hunters.

Her sheltered existence is shattered when her family mysteriously vanishes, thrusting Mara into a perilous quest to find them. Along the way, she unravels a devastating truth: her people may not be the innocent victims she’s been taught to believe.

When she comes face-to-face with the kindhearted Eli, she begins to wonder if the humans aren’t the monsters she’s always feared. What if the greatest danger doesn’t lie in the icy world outside—but in the truth of who Mara really is?

Fire and ice collide in this thrilling tale of a phoenix girl born with the power of a dying sun.

Click here to get your copy!

My YA Review

Swanson, Kara. Ignite. Carol Stream, IL: Enclave Publishing, 2024

The Phoenix Flame, book one

Ignite is the first book in Kara Swanson’s The Phoenix Flame. As the story begins I wasn’t sure what type of creatures were represented by Mara and the others in her family group. We come to learn that there are 2 different types of creatures – humans and Phoenixes.

At the start of the story Mara is very committed to her father and the rest in her family group. As the story proceeds everything Mara has been taught is brought into question – she isn’t sure who is telling the truth and who she can believe.

Swanson ends the book in a cliff hanger – leaving reading wanting the second book to be out soon.

Ignite would be a great addition to the fantasy section of a K-12 Christian school library. It is appropriate for older elementary and up.

I received a complimentary copy of Ignite. This is my honest review.

About the Author – Kara Swanson

Kara Swanson writes stories about fairy tales and fiery souls. She spent her childhood a little like a Lost Girl, running barefoot through lush green jungles which inspired her award-winning Peter Pan retellings, Dust and Shadow.

She is also the cofounder of the Author Conservatory (authorconservatory.com) where she has the honor of teaching young writers to craft sustainable author careers.

You’ll find Kara with her toes in California sand as a SoCal resident, belting Broadway show tunes on weekend drives to Disneyland with her delightfully nerdy husband, or chatting about magic and mayhem on Instagram.

More from Kara Swanson

This story is one that has lived a hundred lives, a little like the phoenix it’s about —dozens of iterations and nearly eight years discovering Mara’s story. In this icy world beneath a dying sun, I was able to craft a story of a young phoenix girl who was more terrified of her own fire than the dangers of the frozen wasteland outside her underground hideaway. Who has been convinced by the father she loves that her flame is only capable of pain and damage — until suddenly, he disappears. And for the first time, she ventures out of her hideaway to discover that the frozen world outside is actually dying for her flame. And that the parts of herself that she has feared and run from…that there may be beauty, even there. That she can choose to rise from the ash of a world that doesn’t understand her, and use the fire in her veins to bring warmth and healing.

I hope you enjoy the adventure!