The Fire Children by Lauren Roy

The Fire Children by Lauren Roy

Goodreads Synopsis
Two children escape the darkness of their underground dwellings, to find adventure, magic and terrible danger await anyone who ventures above ground.

Fifteen years have passed since Mother Sun last sent her children to walk the world. When the eclipse comes, the people retreat to the caverns beneath the Kaladim, passing the days in total darkness while the Fire Children explore their world. It's death to even look upon them, the stories say.

Despite the warnings, Yulla gives in to her curiosity and ventures to the surface. There she witnesses the Witch Women -- who rumors say worship dead Father Sea, rather than Mother Sun -- capturing one of the Children and hauling her away. Yulla isn't the only one who saw the kidnapping; Ember, the last of the Fire Children, reveals himself to Yulla and implores her to help.

Trapped up above and hunted by the witches and the desert wind, Yulla and Ember must find a way free his siblings and put a stop to the Witch Womens' plans, before they can use the Fire Children to bind Mother Sun herself.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know where to start with this one. The premise was really good to me but the execution left me wanting more. There was a lot of information about the folk-lore and mythology, but it seemed like it just scratched the surface of what there should be. I wasn't sure that there was much in the way of plot either, but that could have been overlooked if some aspects had been better.

I felt that the characters had no depth. They all had very similar personalities and seemed to be so boring to me. I found myself not really caring what happened to them and whenever new things occurred, like the fire not burning Yulla's skin, I was like oh neato that is convenient. And the "romance" was weird to me. It seemed more like he wanted to experiment than actually liking her.

The world is so interesting and yet so underdeveloped in my opinion. There could have been so much more written and said about the world that I would have liked to know. I think if the plot had been more developed, the world would have been more developed as well. I found that once Yulla came above ground, I stopped caring. There was too much that wasn't explained and didn't make sense for me to follow the course of action and left me distracted and not really paying attention.

Overall: 3/5. I think this one could have been really good, but just ended up being sort of meh.