Review: The Burning Kingdoms (The Smoke Thieves #3) by Sally Green
I received a free ARC of the book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity.
The Smoke Thieves is a fantasy trilogy and you will need to read the first two books to make sense of this, the final book. Written from the perspectives of five characters whose lives intertwine, the point of view rotates from chapter to chapter.
Tash is a thirteen year old and has been raised as a hunter of illegal demon smoke, which can only be obtained by killing a demon. After finding her way into the demon world she feels sympathy for the demons and regrets her actions. Edyon is the illegitimate son of Prince Thelonius, ruler of Calidor. He has been on a journey to meet his father and become a legitimised heir. Edyon has a nasty habit of stealing things that gets him into trouble. March is one of the last surviving Abask people. He blames Edyon’s father for the Abask people being wiped out. He was part of a plot to kidnap Edyon and hand him over to King Aloysius, Edyon’s uncle and cruel ruler of the neighbouring country Brigant, but after developing feelings for the gentle Edyon, he changed course. Catherine is King Aloysius’ daughter, cousin to Edyon. She was sent to another neighbouring country, Pitoria, for an arranged marriage to Prince Tzsayn. This turned out to be a distraction so her father could invade part of the Pitoria that had access to the demon world. Catherine stood with Tzsayn against the Brigantines. Ambrose was Catherine’s personal guard in Brigant, now in exile in Pitoria, he is still deeply in love with Catherine.
It has been discovered that purple demon smoke harvested by killing young demons can, when inhaled, give excessive strength and stamina to young people. King Aloysius has an unit of soldiers in the demon world killing demons to farm the smoke which he plans to use to power an army of boys, in a plot to seize Calidor from his brother, Prince Thelonius.
As you might expect with five strong characters, I found some more likeable than others. Tash is the first character we meet in the first book and remained my firm favourite throughout. She is blunt to the point of obnoxious, and quite foul-mouthed, but her character development through the books is at times painful and emotional. In contrast Catherine, moved from being an oppressed if quietly rebellious young woman, to being a take-charge, do what has to be done character, but never really engendered much affection in me. Ambrose always seemed quite a weak character, but in this final book, his strength finally shone out. March and Edyon had a beautiful love story which won my heart.
In books with multiple points of view, it can sometimes be a problem for me distinguishing the voice of one character from another, but this was never an issue here as each character has very distinct narrative voice. I worried early on that one or more of the characters would become redundant as time went on which would have been frustrating as we get to know them so well. However, the actions of all five are essential to the plot so no character fades out before the end.
I felt by the end of the book that this world still had more tales to tell. I still had questions about the Edyon/March relationship and the minor character Prince Tzsayn remained a favourite of mine who deserved a story of his own.
It seemed to me, quite ambitious at the start to have five full points of view but Green has achieved it admirably. I was invested in the story from first to last and would happily welcome more from this world. The audible versions are also excellent with full cast performance.
If you haven’t read the early books you should grab them now. If you have read them, the final book will keep you on edge almost to the final page.
The Burning Kingdoms is due out 27th August 2020
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