The Fires of Vengeance (The Burning Book 2) Kindle Edition

This is the second installment of The Burning, an epic fantasy series by Evan Winter. Like the first book, this one was powerful, intense, inspiring, and heartbreaking. These two books have been forever seared into my soul. Also, the heartfelt book dedication to the author’s late father tore me up.Tau continues his epic journey of vengeance and survival. Tau and his Queen, Tsiora, are fighting their way through a 200 year old war while also trying to reclaim her throne after facing political schemes and betrayal. I loved that we got more history of the Omhei people in this book. It is action-packed with perfectly written battle scenes with demons, dragons, and the people of Xidda. I thought about it so much I had dreams of slipping into Isihogo. There is slow burn romance. Very slow. The world building, magic system, and character development is unparalleled. I am emotionally attached to the main characters and I will be impatiently waiting in agony until the third book is released.

So I JUST read the last page of this book and I can’t wait for the third one!!! I’m upset it isn’t out yet! We need an update! Admittedly the book is slow in some parts but it speeds up in others. All the twists and turns are not predictable and that’s what I liked most about the book. Sometimes you can tell what’s going to happen next, I didn’t get that in this series. That’s what kept me going past the slow parts. Can’t wait for the third

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, from the in depth character development to plots twists. I can’t wait for the next book!

I loved the first book Rage of Dragons and thought it would be a tough act to follow.Well...The Fires of Vengeance was even better. Tau and his sword brothers have amazing arcs and growth as characters. I was pleased to see the other characters develop and become richer and not just play the same notes as the first book. Evan does a great job with making you feel like you know the primary characters and major secondary characters very well. The new characters introduced were woven into the story lines nicely and enriched the overall tale.I feel like the world building was a little stronger in this book. That's not to say it wasn't good in the first book. Its more acknowledging how Evan's writing is getting stronger and even more nuanced. I miss Zuri as a character and Tau's first love and I think Evan did a great job not forgetting this fact. Many books have the protagonist lose someone they deeply care about and then fall in love with someone else almost right away. Evan keeps Tau grounded and explores how he struggles with his loss of Zuri and his unexpected feelings and thoughts for Tsoria. It makes the potential relationship with them feel more authentic because of the doubts and even guilt he feels about all these mixed emotions. So Evan has him focus on what he does best to get himself on stable ground. Fight and feed his vengeance.Evan gives us more of the history of the Omehi and reveals even more about the Isihogo and the demons within it. The magic system truly is unique and complex and gets more interesting with every chapter in this book and plays an even larger role in events. Like the first book, the fight scenes are great and you feel pulled into them and get caught up in the excitement of it. Like all great fantasy books with amazing fight sequences, people die and no one is really safe. But that is part of the excitement of the book.Fires of Vengence is a page turner, just like Rage of Dragons. And like the first book, it ends with you wanting more. I can't wait for the next book to see how they confront the situation they find themselves in at the end of this one.

My only complaint about this book is that it ended!! Love the story, the characters, the writing, everything!! I'm excited to read the next book by this author!!

I adored the first book in the series. I find the universe created by Mr. Winter to be rich and interesting. First the good points. There is clearly a lot of thought that has gone into the building of this world. It is well developed with lore and history. I quite like the teases of information and trying to fill in the blanks where appropriate. The author writes fantastic action sequences and it is easy to imagine a limping Tau Solarin flexing his wrists while his blades spin.There are a plethora of interesting characters, and yes, they are a bit two dimensional, but for a fantasy adventure novel that is a good thing. I care what happens to Tau, Jabari, Tsiora, et al. I root for them and stay engaged with their stories.Now for the negatives. There were multiple underlying plots in this book. That isn't necessarily bad, but the story got disjointed, had fits and starts, and never really had the flow of the first book. Winter also had a great opportunity for creating a sympathetic antagonist, but gave the readers only a very short time to build up that sympathy. I really feel like portions of the back history and lore could have been told to us through the eyes of that character. Sorry for the vagueness, but I am trying to avoid spoilers. What winds up happening is the last 25% of the book picks up a pace similar to the first book, but unfortunately you have to slog through the first 75% to get there.I tore through the first book in a couple days, I picked away at this one for months, until I hit the last 25% and finished it in a night. Regardless, this is still a very worthwhile read, and I'd give it 3.5 stars if that were an option. I'm disappointed compared to the first book in the series but bear in mind, I will be pre-ordering the next book because I'm invested in Tau and his companions. I want to see how Mr. Winter wraps up this epic tale. What can I say, I've always been a sucker for the underdog.

I can’t stop thinking about the characters and story . I read this book in two days in between work. Tau and Tsiora , The Ayim, Hadith, Kellan ! Even the Hedeni and the Crull. The author Evan is amazing at making words come alive , I literally am so mad that book 3 isn’t out but I know it is worth the wait.

Excelente como o primeiro. Vale a leitura.O glossário no final ajuda na leitura de ambos os livros. Ansioso pelo terceiro.

After reading the first book, I was quite excited to continue following Tau's story and The Fires of Vengeance did not let me down. It is undoubtedly faster-paced than its predecessor, but the amount of character development was not harmed in the least. A lot of new characters were introduced, some staying for a good while others had only brief, but satisfying, moments of glory.The interactions between Tau and Tsiora always had me excited and wondering about their future outcomes. Moments of happiness and peace are sparse throughout the book, as the themes addressed took a darker turn that, while not unexpected, still birthed several emotional moments that will stay in my memory for a long time. Amidst this heavy atmosphere, Themba made me laugh several times, and his recent interactions with Auset were something I never knew I was missing.Tau does not seem to catch a break throughout the book, and the increasing episodes of his decaying sanity suddenly had me wondering about the boundaries of reality and Isihogo induced illusions. There are greater powers at play, godly entities, their servants, and the consequences of his brash actions are all coming to bite him back. All that makes so the next volume can not come soon enough.Same as before, this is an expertly written book with characters and a world that are both immersive and complex, it deserves all the praise it gets. I've said it before and I'll say it again, The Burning is a masterpiece.

“The lie isn’t that we can’t be their equals. The lie is that they were ever anything but our equals.”Leah and I managed to wait a whole 2 weeks before picking up The Fires of Vengeance and I think it’s safe to say that we loved it just as much, if not a little more, than book one. You can check out Leah’s review here and, similarly to book one, I’m just going to jump straight into my review because these books are impossible to sum up without giving away spoilers! Please note this review will contain spoilers for the first book!Tau… Tau may just be becoming one of my all time favourite MC’s ever. He is such an incredibly complicated and relatable character. He thirst for vengeance, though somewhat tempered in this book, is what initially drives him to become the best fighter the Omehi have ever seen and, after the events of book one, he now finds himself as the Queen’s Champion, something no one of his ‘lesser’ status has ever managed before. He quickly finds himself facing multiple battles on multiple fronts, not all of them the physical kind, and I loved seeing Tau’s character growth, realising that depending on those around him wasn’t a weakness, acknowledging his own strengths and weaknesses. Winter brings back the majority of our side cast from book one, all of whom get to play a larger part in this story, but I think the character I enjoyed seeing more of was Queen Tsiora. She is someone we spent very little time with in the first book but, with Tau now being her champion, he spends the majority of the book by her side. Her inclusion not only gives us an insight into the political climate and scheming of the Omehi people, but also a deep dive into the history of their people. She’s feisty, more than willing to fight for what she believes in and, although I don’t think she necessarily tells Tau the whole truth, I enjoyed seeing their bond develop.While book one took a bit of time to get going, this story started at a sprint and never once let up the pace. It’s a story that you want to savour, but also one you want to fly through, especially because every single chapter seems to end on some kind of plot point or cliff hanger. Something that makes it the perfect series to buddy read, because that forces you to stop, to talk about everything that’s happened, throw out your wild theories, vent and rage . Winters writing style, while sparse in detail, definitely packs an emotional and atmospheric punch in places. There are no lengthy descriptions of places or people, no flowery prose or lyrical writing. Instead his writing style is blunt, aggressive and no word, line, paragraph is superfluous, they all play their part in the furthering of his story and I found it so refreshing to read.While The Rage of Dragons focused primarily on Tau and his development as a fighter, The Fires of Vengeance delves a little more into the political and historical elements of his world. We get to learn a lot more about the history of the Omehi people, more about the Cull (the elusive army they originally fled from), as well as how the caste system came to be in place and, while I’m not usually a huge fan of politics in my fantasy, Winters makes those scenes almost as brutal as the fight scenes. Full of sharp tongues and threats, I thoroughly enjoyed these scenes, especially because they allowed us to spend more time, and get a better understanding of characters that had previously not had as large a role to play. But don’t worry, there were still plenty of epic and brutal fight scenes if that’s your jam. In fact Winter gets the blend of the two down perfectly and I loved seeing the overlap of them blending together, and the character growth that comes from that. We also spend more time in Ishigo, a world filled with Demons where Tau went to train in book one. I have SO many theories around this place, but it is super creepy and deadly and the scenes when our characters went there were easily some of the most brutal of the book.I know I said there were no superfluous parts to this story, and there aren’t, but Winter does spend a little more time in this book building on all the relationships in Tau’s life, and I loved all the time we get to spend with them, seeing those relationships flourish, learning more about them outside of their battle skills. He creates an almost found family, albeit with the most bizarre group of people ever, but it just seems to work. Strong and silent Uduak, strategist extraordinaire Hadith, Noble Kellan whose sense of honour allows him to follow a ‘lesser’ into battle, Jabari who has a thirst for revenge and Themba who doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. The sense of camaraderie that these people share is something special and I loved getting to delve more into their characters.Tau and Tsiora are two idiots in love and I honestly laughed so many times at their antics. Being the Queens Champion historically means more than simply protecting her life, Omehi Queens do not marry, instead their children come from the Queen and her Champion getting down and doing the dirty, something that they are both overly aware of, but neither really want to acknowledge. There was tension, drama and plenty of emotions flying around them both and I just loved seeing their relationship develop over the story, especially with little digs and hints from our side characters that added a humorous side. But my favourite relationship, which I’m so happy was made canon, is one I wont mention for spoilers, but I loved how subtle it was. Especially considering it was m/m and Winter had never openly acknowledged any queer relationships or people in the world before.In case you couldn’t tell, I adored this book. Winter’s writing style is so incredibly refreshing and I need to find more books written like this because I love it (always open to recs!) My only issue is having no idea when we are getting book three because I need it asap. This series just gets better book by book and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.

Loved reading this second book in the series. Was waiting for this ever since I read book 1. Beautiful story telling.

Such a refreshing look at action and an interesting plot that kept me glue to the Kindle screen. It was very difficult not to care about all those conflicting elements, mysteries and trouble since the characters are an extremely powerful driving force in this book, in my opinion.