Rating: 3/5

“I control you, he said to his fear, you do not control me.”

The story follows Veronyka, who is a war orphan and dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka is willing to disguise herself as a boy in an effort to finally be part of the riders. Veronyka soon find herself in a place of belonging but that peaceful doesn’t last long with the twists turns that follow her, especially when her older sister reveals a web of tangled lies that will change everything.

The beautiful covers always reel me in and this was one of those books that had a beautiful cover but the rest of the book didn’t do so much for me. I was really hoping more magic would be in the book and there was very little. I also felt like it was very slow in some parts and it was hard to get through it.

Characters and plot are always what I look for in books and sadly, the character aspect in this book didn’t have me loving them at all. I felt like while they were very unique in their own, there was really no development in their personalities. This is always a bummer for me because I did like the characters but the lack of development left me going meeeh.

I really want to like this book but sadly that didn’t happen. But, if you like fantasy and are willing to give this a try then go for it!