Full disclaimer: I received an arc from netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I ended up DNFing this novel around the 20% mark. I feel bad for doing so but I don’t think this is for me. I love epic fantasy but the pacing is really off for catching my attention.

The story is told from the perspective of a six year old girl who doesn’t feel six years old at any point. She’s far too smart and well behaved haha. I did enjoy that childlike wonder but I felt that it caused her to be more passive as a character. It kind of frustrated me. I think if there had been more time to see her life with her friends at the house before the inciting incident then I would have cared more. Instead I was interested and then lost interest very fast. If I’d been pulled in to care about them I might have gotten more hooked. I don’t think I won’t ever finish the book but it was just too dense for me right now.

I suppose also my main complaint is the use of my cultures language. While not incorrect it does feel shoehorned into things. I feel it would have maybe made more sense to have short sentences in Gaelic or maybe in front of Theo so she doesn’t understand. I’m not sure but it just sat strangely for me.

I would be interested to read more from the author but for this reason I won’t be giving it a star rating since I didn’t read enough to justify it to myself.

The premise of this book is a very interesting one, but this was very hard to get into and I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel little bad for this, but I didn't like this book and it's a huge dissapointed for me.

When I read the synopsis I was very excited about this book because it sounds so interesting, fantastic and full of magic. But when I started reading and reached 20% I knew this is not going to end well.

I didn't like the characters and in my opinion it is a very confusing book. I couldn't imagine what the world is like and, honestly, I'm going to forget about the book very soon.

It just isn't for me.

This book had good ideas and I like the direction of the plot but unfortunately, the execution of this first book could have been better. Therefore, I didn't really enjoy my time reading this book. It was a bit too slow-moving for my taste and after a while, there were many time jumps during the book (at least during the second half) and I have to say those were frustrating. Every time, I never really knew where I was going to land or what had happened during the time we missed. Now, I know it helped the plot and to make sure Thea would grow older but it was annoying since it didn't happen only once. As for her age, in the first half, I felt like she was a lot older than a six years old. I think the beginning was my favorite part when Thea and Gunner met and spent time together even though it was slow and I didn't really understand the world around them (I still don't after finishing the book to be honest). Overall, I'm not unhappy I read this book but I'm not sure yet if I'll pick up the next book once it's published. I guess we'll see!

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Young Theodora was just a regular young girl until one night, something called to her and she wasn't the same after that. That night, she came into her powers, powers so intense that everyone is scared and baffled. Then a large man comes to take Theodora away to a new life and to help her control her powers. As she gets older her powers become more and more and she gains new powers over time. She has to find her place with her powers and goes on a journey to find out how to.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that enjoys this genre and I can't wait to read the next book.

Fascinating prologue to a new series…
J.F. Baptista introduces readers to her new series A Tale of Six Sources in the inaugural novel From Fire and Shadows. Set in an ancient magical realm occupied by both descendants of the foundational lines of power: Aite (power over time-extinct), Bas (power over death and the dead), Beatha (power over life), Inntinn (power over the mind), Nadarra (power over natural things, and Uine (power over space -extinct) and the ungifted and powerless. This story sets the stage for the age old conflict between those who use power to fulfill selfish and brutal ambitions versus those funnel their power to nurture and help the powerless. From Fire and Shadows is truly a prequel novel to what appears to be an epic series. It is told through two completely separate story lines, that of six year old Theo and hundred year old Kai and follows the progression of their lives that seem to be leading them to the potentially catastrophic conflict between the remaining holders of power.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself lost or not immediately comprehending everything you read. Committing to From Fire and Shadows is similar to receiving a passport to a new country you know nothing about. The initial feelings of confusion and lack of understanding go hand and hand with the intrigue and wonder at the exposure to all the new people, places, customs, languages, and politics. Over time you acclimate to the environment and your familiarity with your surroundings increase. While occasionally the experience can be overwhelming, I felt the investment of time in learning and keeping track of all the new details was well worth the effort and resulted in the story being truly engaging, captivating, and entertaining.

Baptista has you see and experience this new world simultaneously through the eyes of a young, innocent, yet powerful girl and an ancient in years but young in body dangerous assassin who commands both the realms of the living and the dead. Theo and Kia are so completely different yet share a deeply held sense of rightness and desire to not be pawns of those who would exploit their powers for selfish gains. Their trials and journeys fortify their resolve and prepare them for the uncertain future.

From Fire and Shadows is definitely not a casual read but most great epics take a commitment on the part of the reader to immerse themselves in a new world and learn the people, language, and realms that come with it. Book one of A Tale of Six Sources is a slow build of the story and main characters and appears to be laying a foundation for the coming conflict as well as the future interaction of a grown up Theo and Kia, which is teased towards the end of the book. The story ends with a perfectly executed cliffhanger which will leave you looking forward to the next installments of this fantasy series.

I have to say, this has one of the best introductory chapters I've read. It's compelling and evokes a lot of emotion and is so well written. After that, the story goes sort of stagnant, we have some world building and not much else until the halfway mark. Theodora is only six, so I understand that she's learning about her powers and this new magical world, but I would have liked more action or to get to part two quicker.

The second part of the story has a lot of time jumps, which I sort of expected but it made me feel like not much was happening if we were able to move ten plus years without issues. I did like learning more about Kai, he's an awesome warrior and his death powers are so interesting. I wish we'd seen him fight more instead of planning all the time, but I did like him bonding with the other warriors.

The ending made me hopeful that we'd see some romance and the war might finally be here. This was definitely an introduction, teaching us about the world and getting to know the characters. It would have benefitted from more action to move the story along.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

From Fire and Shadows took me forever and a day to get through. Or at least, that is how it felt. Which is beyond weird because what took me hours and hours to get through felt like weeks. Long story short, it wasn't fun for me to experience.

In it, you will meet Theodora, aka Thea, and Kai. The only thing that bugged me was how they never truly met one another. I mean with the ending, there are hints that they might meet each other in the next book but who even knows. That being said, I struggled with this book. I honestly don't even think anything really happened in it. Other than Thea learning more about her powers.. maybe.

In the end, I am so very happy that I'm done with the book. Not sure how I will feel if and when the next book comes out. I hope it would be better than this and something actually happens.. but if not, then I'm doomed. This series is doomed. At least for me.

This book was okay. There were an equal amount of what I liked vs dislikes. The world building was phenomenal, I could close my eyes and see everything. I love the entire concept and the bones of this book. I think the series can be great. I really wish this was done as 2 books. A prequel and then book 1. I think having half a book where the character is unrecognizable from the 2nd half throws off the rhythm and pace. I also feel by splitting up the books you could elaborate on big events that change her so drastically. I also think this book requires a map, I was very confused by the layout. Overall I think it's a good start to a series!

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been a while since I dropped a book midway through but I found myself finally reaching the mid-way point of From Fire and Shadows and wondering whether or not I should keep going. Despite not being a particularly long book, I’d been finding it a real struggle to get through. It seemed to be taking me a long time to read and I simply wasn’t enjoying it. I spent so much time being confused and not knowing what was going on, who certain people being mentioned were or why one form of magic was special while another was just normal that I couldn’t just lose myself in a fantastical story.
For me, having the main protagonist (of the first half of the book at least) be six years old and telling the story from her perspective was not the right move for introducing a complex magical world to the reader. Theodora is young and doesn’t understand the world around her or why anything is happening so as a result, the reader doesn’t and it makes things very hard to follow.

In the end, I did decide to DNF this book at 50%.

Unfortunately, I was slow in downloading this story and it was archived before I had the chance. I'm sure it is a wonderful read.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

i never ended up downloading this, i've been reading other reviews on this and it sounds pretty good, so i might go get it~

Thank you to Netgalley and BookGoSocial for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I ended up not finishing this book around four chapters in. I tried to get into the storyline multiple times but simply put, this book and I were just not clicking.

What I did read did however seemed to have potential, the plot seemed intriguing and the characters well developed, but just not for me. I would definitely try to pick it up again in the future to see if I would enjoy it more than I did this time through.

I’ll admit that at first I was just not drawn in to this book the way I had hoped to be. My mind kept throwing up words like “derivative” and “formulaic”, and I had a very adverse reaction to the age of the main character. As I read on though I found myself being dragged further and further into Thea and Kai’s story. In part one Thea is only 6 years old and for me the writing was a touch too mature for her supposed age, however as the book moves on Thea and the storytelling’s age levels begin to align. This shouldn’t be a problem in the follow up books!
I’ve seen many people comment that there were too many names, and places to remember and I’ll admit at first I was overwhelmed but the more the story grabbed my attention the less of a problem that became.
I have a note that if a book is going to use so many words of a different language (in this case Gaelic) perhaps it would be better to have the glossary at the front of the book as opposed to at the end where you don’t know it exists until after you’ve been confused throughout.
Definitely will read the next book in the series-which I don’t think I would have said early on in my reading of this one.

The story is written in two storylines, two main characters, who are linked to each other throughout the story. It takes place over a period of years and also in different locations. It feels like a well-founded fantasy novel/ world in which these characters find themselves. We follow the story of Theodora, a young girl with a unique and unknown power. On the other hand Kai, a warrior with an interesting and dangerous power of his own.

The author used Scottish Gaelic language as a base for a lot of names of characters, locations etc. It give this world and story an interesting sound. Although a lot of names were mentioned throughout the story, and it sometimes became difficult to remember who the character was, or what the places were named. It took me a while to get back in the story when I got lost, but overall it was interesting enough for me to continue reading.

The fantasy world has interesting elements, I've already mentioned the Scottish-linked names, besides that I find the way the powers are distributed, or the powers that characters have very interesting. There powers are linked to the color of their eyes, which I find a nice aspect of the story.

The first chapters gave an introduction to the world and the main characters, but it doesn't have much substance in their characteristics. We don't really get to know them, but that due to the fact that years go by, and with that the characters grow, change and so do their powers and relationships with other characters.

The side characters we meet throughout the chapters are interesting, peculiar in their own way, and sometimes it's a pity that we don't read about them anymore. I find that there are a lot of fascinating storylines and relationships in the book, that I wish I could read more about.

The story kind of slowed down for me in the middle, but got very good near the last 30% of the book. The years went by faster, the storylines came closer together, it got very exciting to read. The story is captivating and the end of the story certainly makes me want to read more about it. I am looking forward to the sequel in the series.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of From Fire and Shadows in exchange for an honest review.

Fire and Shadows takes place in a world where the majority of people have some sort of magical ability, Theodora, our main character, being the odd one out until one day when her power overtakes her, resulting in a tragic fire. After that, she is spirited away to a new life amongst her people, where she learns more about her origins, and the strange magic she possesses. Along the way, she forms a connection with Kai, and they find themselves linked without ever having met.

To start with the good, the overall plot of this book is highly imaginative and fun. It's a decent opener and you can clearly see how this instalment can be built on to further the protagonist's journey, however I wished there was more going on plot-wise in this instalment instead to actually encourage me to care about the main character’s journey. I enjoyed what was provided in terms of the world building. There was an understandable layout of power dynamics, cultures and the world as a whole, although I did feel the magic system could have benefited from further explanations. I hope that this will follow the trend of most series, and really go to town on world building and developing magic systems in the sequel so that it can become a lot clearer.

My issues with this book are sadly based on the perspective of the protagonist, Thea. As we spent a large portion of the novel following Thea as a child before jumping forward, I struggled to fully connect to either version of Thea. The experiences of a young child and a teen are vastly different and so it felt at times like we were now following a completely different and new character rather than just an older version of our protagonist. This was especially evident due to the split narrative. Kai is much older, already fully grown, when he is introduced. This contrast could have worked very well to balance Thea’s perspective, however I instead found myself looking forward to reading his chapters much much more than Thea’s – especially an issue as his chapters are much shorter. I definitely think this book would have benefited from a reduced time spent on Thea’s childhood or at the very least of a streamlining of the time-jump, which could sometimes be confusing.

Overall, a perfectly average start to the series. Provided decent world building however it still left a bit too much to be desired. I enjoyed the world and the beginnings of the magic system described however, I craved more. I think a bit too much time was spent developing the backstory of the main character, which resulted in an overall lack of engaging plot. I can see how this was supposed to build empathy and engage us with the character, personally I still felt a bit of a disconnect. While I did not have a bad time reading the book, I didn't necessarily get excited for a sequel either. It established its world, characters, and magic system, but it didn't have enough plot wise to get me excited about the next book.

This is a very solid 3 star for me, however I can see a lot of potential for further books written by Baptista.

'From Fire and Shadows' by J. F. Baptista begins with a tragedy.

In a world where the majority has some sort of magical ability, Theodora was the odd one out until one day when her power overtakes her, resulting in a fire. After that, she is whisked away to a new life amongst her people, where she learns more about her origins, and the strange magic she possesses. Along the way, she forms a connection with Kai, and they find themselves linked without ever having met.

As a protagonist, Theodora was a delight to read. She's introduced at the tender age of six, and her curiosity for her new world is infused in the writing. She's playful and trusting, launches herself into new projects and friendships head first, which lends her chapters a lightness rarely seen with older main characters.
Kai, on the other hand, is fully grown when he's introduced, and quite cynical. His chapters balance Theodora's out in the beginning, and then go on to compliment them as she grows.

The book takes place over a decade or so, with the main characters only meeting at the very end. The audience experiences those years mostly through Theodora's perspective, as Kai's chapters are shorter and more action focused. However, keeping up with this was slightly confusing, as the time jumps happen suddenly, sometimes mid chapter. Kai's first chapters were especially confusing, as the events that lead to the first time jump are rather rushed.

The world was fascinating, with the world-building done rather well. Baptista uses modified versions of Gaelic terms for many of the central pillars of the world, so I had to continuously check the included glossary, but it does get easier as it goes on. I look forward to reading more of it, especially the history as only bits and pieces of that are included.

Overall, I enjoyed J. F. Baptista's 'From Fire and Shadows' and look forward to reading the sequel!

I’m sorry but I have never disliked a book so much. I couldn’t get into it no matter how hard I tried.

I really enjoyed this!!!! Theodora was a lovely protagonist and I haven't connected that deeply with a character and their struggles in a fantasy novel in a long time. She was very skillfully crafted, I have to say, which was a delight in a primarily plot driven story. I would definitely recommend, although I am unsure on what direction the series is going to go in, which is a little unusual (although not necessarily a bad thing at all!) One store docked for a bit of a clunky writing style, but to each his own!