I could not put this book down. From the very start we get action from the Queen trying to kill Siria ;our main character. Which sends her on a journey to awaken her true power that will either save her kingdom from darkness or destroy herself and everyone she loves.

My biggest complaint is the romance. Like .... I guess young marriage in this time frame is acceptable...but she was brought up a lady, but still ends up sitting in this boys lap? I get "you love him" "we might die" but.... Her being a 16 year old I did not care for all that.

I really liked the premise of this book as it reminded of me dark elves empires. And I had a good time reading it. It is a standalone, which is always a plus in fantasy because we so rarely find fantasies that are complete in a single book, but I also think that kind of affected this book's potential.

I found the overall storyline to be interesting, but the magic system could have been more nuanced. I have come to dislike systems where 'things are the way they are', I require more reasoning and history behind it; which I felt was missing from this book. The protagonist is a typical YA heroine, but she is enjoyable to read nonetheless. Although, I would have liked the relationships that she is tangled in, whether they be friendship or romance, to have more foundational strength.

Overall, it was a okay, light read; but the pacing, the unexploited potential and the unnecessary romance made it a little annoying.

3 stars!

Ignite The Sun is a good debut and an entertaining read.

Siria Nightingale has never seen the sun. Not because she is locked away somewhere but because in her world, there is no sun anymore. It's been 15 years since Queen Iyzabel has established the Darkness and since then no one has seen the dangerous sun. Siria, however, hates the darkness and wants to know all the stories about the sun and the times when light was around.

Ignite the Sun had the opportunity to be outstanding but I believe some things just weren't feeling quite right for me. The pacing is good and the world building and magic system is intriguing and captivating.

I know the whole 'there's no more light in the world' thing has been overdone a little recently, but this one actually makes sense and is interesting from the very start. The magic system and the world of this was what saved this book for me and kept me interested until the very end.

Overall, it's a good debut with a good premise and it's an entertaining read.

Ignite the Sun's concept drew me in right away. I loved the idea so much. I also loved the world that Hanna Howard created.
The other characters were also unique and a good quest story always keeps me interested, especially when its heroes taking back 'the light' from dark powers.
It's a sweet book I'd recommend for younger audiences 13-14 years old.

*received audiobook for free from netgalley for honest review* Really liked this book! it sounded really good but i wasn't sure how much it like it but i loved the story and the characters, the ending wasn't my favorite but mostly bc i liked the book so much lol

Siria Nightingale is 16 years old. She always felt out of place and she don't know who she is until something happened and the truth was revealed. She is in danger because of who she is. I don't like her at first because she is annoying and whines a lot but then I grew to like her.

Btw there is a different kind of creatures including herself and goshh that is interesting af! But there is only a little information about those creatures. Linden, Yarrow and Merrell were the one who helped Siria throughout her journey and I liked all of them!!

Siria passed out whenever she used her power goshhh I mean this story need another pov so that I can experience the tension over what happened whenever she passed out.

It was an easy read and kinda predictable but I like it anyway! Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for Ignite The Sun ARC!

One of the best aspects of this novel was the worldbuilding. In fantasy, there is almost nothing quite as important. I have read many fantasies where the story would have been so much better if the worldbuilding was done right. I also really enjoyed the main character, Siria. It was interesting to see her grow, even though her constant questioning of everything did get old after awhile. This seems to be something that occurs quite often in YA fiction nowadays.

I will say that there were some parts that were boring or the pacing was just too slow. This always knocks at least one star off for me.

In the end, this book fell right in the middle for me. It was good, and I enjoyed reading it. But overall, I couldn't give it a 4-5 star since I generally save that kind of rating for books that just completely blew me away.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a very fast paced adventure with just the right about of fantasy. I loved how each of the characters contrasted each other so well. Each character was very unique and came from very different places. I could not seem to put this book down. I thought the plot was very fresh and unique but it wasn't very hard to understand or figure out which I enjoyed. Now on to the complaints. In the first 1/3 of the book the main character complained A LOT. And I mean Harry Potter in the Order of the Phoenix a lot. But once you get past that it is a pretty good book overall. Also a couple times I thought there were some plot holes but I'm not quite sure. They were very small if there were any (or maybe I just misunderstood what was happening which is also very likely haha.) And for the final one, there could have been a little more depth in some of the plot details or characters but it wasn't an obvious lack of depth. All in all a good read and I would recommend.

I sped through Ignite the Sun. I didn't want to put it down and I was so 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 by the many, many magical creatures in this world. We have Mages, Naiads. Elves, Pixies, Satyrs, Shefauns, Wyrms, Witches and Banshees. I especially loved the different quirks each creature has, and ways they are identifiable.

Ignite the Sun is set in a world where the sun is but a distant memory, believed by the public to be a dangerous force of evil.. Instead, their world is shrouded in darkness by Queen Iyzabel. When Siria attents the queen's choosing ball, what she discovers will change her life forever.

I really appreciated that our MC, Siria isn't a typical YA protagonist in the sense that she isn't trained in combat, nor is she especially strong. She's also incredibly emotional, and I loved how the author allowed her (and other characters) to feel and express emotions. This book is heavily centred around friendships, and the lengths you would go to save the people you love. Siria did start off with a 'woe is me' attitude that made me dislike her at first, however I grew to like her by the end of the book.

I do wish we had seen more of Queen Iyzabel in the beginning. She was a very textbook villain with the odd bit of context here and there. Naturally, I disliked her. However I like my villains to be a little more than just 'evil.' I also found the dialogue to be very simplistic, however it was easy to read and follow. I would recommend this book to the younger side of YA, beginners of fantasy, or if you're just looking for a fun, fast-paced adventure with elemental magic!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read this all in one sitting! Stay tuned for an interview with the author, Hanna Howard, below!

This was a fantastic, magical debut! At times, the "romance" aspect was a bit cheesy, and there were some aspects of the plot that didn't make sense to me, but the action moved along quickly, and I never felt like the story dragged. I was completely engrossed in the story! If you like books with magic, you will probably love this.

I'll keep this review short and sweet so you can enjoy the interview.

In Ignite the Sun, there are many different characters with some sort of magical powers (elves, mages, naiads, sun children etc). If you could choose to have one magical power, what would you choose and why?

HH: Great question! I am very attracted to the idea of elemental magic in fiction, because I think the idea of natural power being wielded is really cool, but I confess I wouldn't really find it very useful in my day-to-day life. :) So from a boring, practicality standpoint, I think I'd have to go with teleportation. I am always running late--and I hate airplanes--so if I could just zap myself somewhere without the bother of travel, I would be really jazzed.


What were some alternative ideas for Ignite the Sun ?  Are there any scenes that you liked but eventually had to take out?

HH: For most of its existence, IGNITE was called SUNCHILD. When my agent took it on submission to editors, we renamed it SOMETHING LIKE THE SUN, and then after she acquired the rights, my editor started the process of finding its permanent title. Some favorites in that process were, A FLAME TO SPITE THE DARK, SET THE SUN TO RISE, and BREAK THE DARK, but in the end IGNITE THE SUN won out. :)

And yes! This book has actually been through more than a dozen revisions over the course of nearly a decade, so there have been many, many scenes that have eventually been axed, and quite a few that I loved. Two of my favorites were early moments in which Siria, fueled by emotion, finds herself airborne by her power without yet understanding how. One of these was during the group's escape from the royal city. I had a really clear image in my head of what the scene looked like: Siria, glowing like a torch as she rose above the boat on the dark river, her light the only illumination for miles, and my sister in-law recently told me she had always imagined that scene as the book's cover. But for several very good plot and character reasons, we had to cut it.


Which part of the book did you enjoy writing the most?

HH: Any scene in which Siria uses her power I absolutely loved writing. Light and dark imagery has the most compelling and powerful language for me, and I loved being able to use it in such a literal sense. I also love writing flying scenes, even though I am myself afraid of heights. :)


What is your favorite writing snack?

HH: This isn't really a snack, but tea is absolutely my favorite accompaniment to writing. I prefer the English brands--PG Tips, Yorkshire Blend, or Typhoo--and I usually make a large pot of it and drink it with a splash of milk. I don't know how many thousands of cups I have consumed over the course of this book's writing and revision, but it must be many...


What was your favorite book as a child?

HH: When I was a child I didn't really read books about people (with the exception of Harry Potter and the Boxcar Children); I much preferred animal books. Some of my favorites were the Hank the Cowdog series, and anything by Bill Wallace. Later, as a young teen, I started to get into what we would now call YA (though at the time I probably just thought of it as teen lit). My favorite book became Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, and it remains my favorite standalone novel to this day.


What was the best part of the writing process?

HH: Drafting this book was really fun--watching the story unspool--but in general my favorite part of writing is the word-polishing stage. Once all the initial hard work of plot and character revisions is done, and it's just a matter of honing each sentence to a sharp point, and shining it until it glows... that's my favorite part.

You have so many fun character names! How did you decide what to name your characters? Were there any you liked that you didn’t end up using?

HH: Thank you! :) I like my names to have some meaning pertinent to the characters they go with, but of course that doesn't always happen. Siria is a tweak of the name Sirius, which is the brightest star in our sky, and comes from a Greek word that means "glowing" or "scorching." And a nightingale is obviously a bird that sings in the night--a metaphor for what Siria becomes. Yarrow is a hardy medicinal herb with lots of uses, but also sort of rambling and tough looking. Linden trees are lovely, with heart shaped leaves, and a lot of sort of broadly-appealing qualities. And an elegy is, of course, a lament for the dead. The one name I had to edit out was the name Iris, for the rebel leader who became Briar. My agent thought it sounded like a female name, but I really liked the sort of feminine, soft name on such a prickly, mean man.

What is your favorite quote from the book?

HH: Ooof, hard question! I've always been very fond of the closing line in the prologue: "Once upon a time," he said, turning back to us as the bowl glowed orange and a trickle of smoke crept from the corner of his mouth, "there was something called the sun."

If you could spend the day with one of your characters, who would you choose and why?

HH: I think probably Yarrow. I wrote a lot of my dad into him, and since we lost my dad to cancer in 2015, a day spent with Yarrow might be a bit like a day spent with my much-beloved father, with the added benefit of magic. :) I would probably spend most of the day fending off his thorny sarcasm and asking him to demonstrate the full extent of his mage power and/or reminisce about the days before Luminor fell.

Introduction To Ignite The Sun
Queen Iyzabel has shrouded the kingdom in darkness, leaving sunlight an old legend. Unable to satisfy her quench for lightness, sixteen year old Siria enlists the help of rebels so that lightness may return back to the kingdom. Full synopsis here.

Plot of Ignite The Sun
The concept of this book is amazing and I love the play on lightness and darkness. I especially loved the different mythological beings such as banshees, elves, nymphs, dwarves naiads and more. It was an interesting dynamic and whilst I wish we got to know more of the side characters, I understand that this is a chosen one story so the focus is on Siria. Whilst there were unbelievable aspects of the story, such as Siria being able to battle people who have had years of training, I did find myself fully gripped and immersed within the story.

I adored the relationship between Siria and Linden, with the childhood friends to lovers trope- this was done so well! Even Siria’s relationship with older characters, I got the teacher and student trope vibe from them!

The writing whilst easy to read, often played on show rather then tell. Because of this, I found I wasn’t able to connect to all of the characters. Also, some scenes were longer then needed whilst others were merely explained within a few sentences. The world building is my favourite aspect of this book, it’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to explore that more!

Characters
Each character had their own individual backstory which was so interesting. They all had a purpose and weren’t there for the sake of a plot device too. Although, I wish we got to know more of their personality and see why the group was so close knit. For me, I love it when character banter in books lightens up the tension, but there wasn’t much of that for me.

For spoiler reasons, I’ll only describe my thoughts on Siria!

Whatever she knew growing up has basically been a lie and so readers watch her internal struggle deciding between what is fact and fiction. A fierce young heroine, desperate to return order and happiness to her world. Siria’s character is relatable and realistic, I don’t think I ever felt frustrated with her in the book.

Conclusion Of Ignite The Sun
Overall, I’d rate this 3 stars. Whilst there are some flaws in this book, I did enjoy it. I’m sure Hanna Howard’s books to come will be bettered and improved. And I will be reading her next work!

I think this story had more to give. The beginning wove into this fascinating story but the ending felt a little rushed. I think this should have been a duology. It was not left open for more it ended and wrapped up. I just felt the pacing was already done so well and then the ending felt like it was very sped up. I really did enjoy this book and loved the story. I only knocked off 1 point for the quicker ending. It is definitely a book I will recommend to fantasy lovers and my students who usually prefer standalone's.

I recieved a free copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


This book was amazing. It was full wonder, magic and love. With lots of danger, friendship, backstabbing and even a little romance. I loved Siria as a main character, she was different and learned all about magic and the sun children as the book went on. I loved how the history was revealed bit by bit.


I loved the suporting characters. They added a lot to the book, I felt as much for them as I did for Siria. The setting was amazing, it was well described and felt very real. The pacing was great and the ending was well planned and good. There was enough explanation about what happened after to leave me satisfied.


Overall it was a great fantasy book, that I would be happy to read again and again.


5 out 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ignite The Sun follows Siria and her ragtag gang of friends/found family as they all venture North to find the Sun which hasn’t been able to penetrate the magical darkness in her country for 15 years.

Overall I really enjoyed this book- and definitely look forward to seeing what else Howard writes. The found family aspects of the book were absolutely my favorite part and Elegy must be protected at all costs. It did feel a bit clunky at times, and definitely read like a fairly typical YA fantasy chosen one story but I did like the Sun/Darkness symbolism/storyline.

I would have liked to see a bit more of an exploration of the limits of Siria’s powers, because they felt incredibly heavy handed and limitless. It made the villains rise to power a bit unbelievable. If a nearly untrained sunchild can conveniently learn to wield her powers in a handful of months, how was the entire country of multiple magical beings overthrown seemingly with ease. Everything just felt too convenient and the logic was lacking.

That being said, I still gave it 3.5-4 stars because it was just fun to read if you’re able to suspend your disbelief and go with the story.

I was a bit confused by the Christian publishing imprint and seemingly random Christian quotes that lead off some of the chapters though- the story itself doesn’t seem to be religious at all (other than a very loose light vs dark dichotomy) so that was weird 🤷🏻‍♀️

What if you had grown up your whole life in a place of darkness and then you find out that what you been told about sunlight, sun children and the darkness you lived in are all a lie. That what happens to our character Siria Nightingale. She spends her whole life and those around her as well wrapped in a cloak of darkness. Like all stories like this on her 16th birthday everything changes. She learns the truth about sunchildren, she learns that the total darkness is the work of something evil and she is the only hope.

Ignite the Sun is the story of a lost princess who must harness the light she was born to wield to break a darkness that consumes her world and to defeat the evil Witch queen who turned her life upside down. Siria Nightingale has always felt like an outsider at her boarding school, dreaming about stories of the sun while her classmates worry about things like marriage and dresses. That's why she's shocked when she's chosen to travel to Queen Izybel's court for her Choosing Ball. But what seems like a dream at first soon turns into a nightmare that sends Siria on the run and reveals an entire identity and power she never knew about before. As Siria fights for her life and learns how to harness the sunlight that has called to her for so long, she's thrown right in the middle of a rebellion to free her country from the witch she once regarded as her queen and accept who she is before she becomes the darkness' next victim.
Ignite the Sun had quite a few things going for it. The concept that inspired this story was really great and original I loved the magic system and how it combined the elements of nature with mystical beings such as fae, naiads and elves. I also thought the backstory of Siria's family and their ascent from power at the hands of Izybel was really well done too. I love a good lost family/secret royalty trope and I felt that Howard handled that really well. I also saw influences of Scottish lore in here. Unfortunately, I didn't love this novel as much as I wanted to. For a good half of the book, I couldn't stand the main character. All she did was whine and feel sorry for herself. Now, to the author's credit, Siria grows out of that, but she was like that for enough of the book to permanently turn me off from her character. Another issue I thought this book had was with pacing. A lot of places in this novel really dragged on to me, and I had a hard time maintaining interest in this story in many places. So I would have to rate it 3 or 3.5 stars. Ignite the Sun is a story about a lost heritage and lost legacy, and how we sometimes have to choose bravery in spite of what we feel to claim our own destinies.

This was fine. I'd say it's a good read for younger YA readers as it's pretty safe in terms of language, violence and sexual themes.

While this kind of story has been done before I still thought this had the potential to be a decent read. At first I really appreciated how quickly it moved, but at some point it started to feel both slow and rushed. This tells me that a) the action wasn't captivating enough and b) I didn't care about the characters enough. I'll read characters I love doing literally nothing and love it, or put characters I don't really care about in situations with real stakes and I'll start caring.

The romance was quite cute.

What wasn't cute was all of the coincidences and a lack of intricacy to the story.

Still, I tore through this in a day and I'd read the author again.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC, as well as the audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.

All opinions are my own.

Siria Nightingale has lived in darkness her entire life, but secretly dreams of the sun. She hears stories about the sun from Lunden, her childhood friend, and his grandfather to gain any knowledge she can about the "evil" that is the sun.
When Siria goes to the palace for a choosing ceremony, all hell breaks loose. She finds herself on the run, towards the sun, along with Lunden, his grandfather, and a few other outsiders. Siria must overcome the darkness, and "ignite the sun" in order to save the day.

"The light will always conquer the darkness" is the main gist of this story. It is marketed as an allegorical journey of depression and anxiety. Knowing this, having read the synopsis, and seeing the GORGEOUS cover, I was extremely excited to read this book. It however, left me disappointed.

The idea of light versus dark, using the sun, seems like a genious idea to me. This could have been so badass! The only badass part of the book was in the last 5%. During the journey to the sun, Siria is whiney, selfish, and weak. She only continues on her journey out of guilt. I am not a fan of a female main character that is weak and complaining nonstop. YOU ARE THE SUN CHILD!! THE CHOSEN ONE!! WHY ARE YOU CRYING??

Once Siria finally reaches the sun, she instantly becomes a different person. She sees the light, and allows it to fill her. (This is where overcoming depression comes in.) She is strong and confident. She knows what must be done. She forgives those that have wronged her on a whim. It just isn't realistic.

As someone that has struggled with anxiety/depression most of my life, I can tell you that it doesn't work like this. Do NOT say that you just have to look towards the light. One glimpse of greatness does not make everything else go away. Yes, it is a journey, but it is not a straight line. There are detours, backtracking, and times where you just need to rest.

I wish there would have been more details on the side characters and how they received their powers. In the end, I did enjoy the action at the end, as well as Siria using her powers to heal others (the one time she wasn't selfish). If there are other books to come, I will probably use the library, if at all.

Lasting Impressions

One of this book's greatest strengths is the uniqueness of the world this story is set in. What would it be like if the world was forever in darkness? The main character, Siria, grew up never seeing sunlight, and it shows through her nonchalant descriptions of what everything looks like cast in shadow. It's hard to believe that anyone could actually survive in such an environment, but the people in this book do, and I liked seeing he evidence of that. This story's world doesn't only include magical humans, but it includes other species of magical creatures as well, including elves, nymphs, banshees, and dwarfs. Learning about each creature and how they interact with the world was really interesting.

The reader sees all of the world through Siria's eyes in a first-person point of view. I felt an immediate connection with her in the beginning of the story as she yearned to fit in with those around her and earn the love of her parents, who chose to place the thoughts of their queen and kingdom before her. I sometimes struggled to have sympathy for her after the inciting incident since she tended to act selfish and thoughtless, but by the end I appreciated that this showed the progress of her growth and journey to become a more confident young woman. I also enjoyed reading about the other characters that joined Siria on her journey—their different powers and back stories fit well with the lore of the world and the general story over all. I do wish the villain's motivations were explored a little bit more as she didn't feel as if she had much depth until the very end.

I love that this is a standalone fantasy book! Everything is all neatly wrapped up in the end—the story is done. Another thing I loved is the fast-paced nature of this book. The chapters are short and drive the plot toward exciting action scenes. There are moments when exposition slows the pacing down, but for the most part, I was really interested in reading the next chapter.

Quick Thoughts
-I loved the found family relationships in this book as well as the actual family relationships. All of them made my heart so happy.

Overall Thoughts

This is a strong debut that I think fans of Joanna Ruth Meyer and Laura E. Weymouth will enjoy. I can't wait to see what else this author writes!

Ignite the Sun felt way too convenient. Every character ended up having just the right skill to face each problem, and that made this book feel lacking of suspense and tension. Also, the "there's no sun, we live in darkness" feels jaded, but I think it was a decent remake of an overused trope. Overall, the writing was decent, but the plot and characters just weren't it for me.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.