Book Review: Tell the Wind and Fire

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Released: April 5th 2016
Read: April 2016
Publisher: Clarion Books
Format: Paperback ARC, 368 pages

Description from Goodreads:
In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets. 
Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised.
Lucie alone knows of the deadly connection the young men share, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.
Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?

Review: 
What I liked about “Tell the Wind and Fire”, was that it was a unique retelling of a particularly famous novel. It seems that most retellings are simply told in the modern day, or well into the future. This book tried to tell “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens in an alternate reality where magic is the law of the land. It was interesting to say the least, the idea extremely clever. Who wouldn’t  want to read about Light and Dark magicians battling it out in two halves of New York, both needing the other because the Dark use the blood of the Light for magic, and the Light need the Dark to do so because they may overuse their magic and die? But the Dark are kept in their own faction and are ostracized by the Light, while the Light live in luxury. And the Dark can make doppelgängers that are made to save someone from death, but only when they are almost dead, and those creatures are forced to wear hoods and to stay away from their real counterparts. Are you a little confused? Because I certainly was. The novel was built on a fantastic idea, and it kept carrying it to halfway through the book. However, then the world building and history came into play and it got confusing. It didn’t help that it seemed as if the world building went on and on for chapters. Yes, whole chapters at the very beginning devoted to building the world. Brennan tried to explain this in easy terms, but it came across as weird and forced. Had it been explained over time as the story progressed, it would have been more organic than stuffy and forced. And I have to say that the main character had very little emotional range, as when she was speaking of the time she saved her dad it sounded very insincere. Almost like a narrator telling the story, not a girl who had to risk her life to save her loved one. This book was really great to start off with, and it just unfortunately didn’t pan out. 

Favorite Quote: 
“I wasn’t showing what I really felt. Real grief is ugly and uncomfortable. People look away from grief the same way they look away from severed limbs or gaping wounds. What they want is pain like death on a stage: beautiful, bloodless, presented for their entertainment” 
- Sarah Rees Brennan

Rating: 4.5/10 Stars

Reccommended for people who enjoy: romance, magic, paranormal

Happy Reading,
Mari