IGNITE

A fantasy series opener presenting two different pathways.

Mara, a 200-year-old phoenix, must learn how to control the destructive fire inside her. Her adoptive father, Darkholm, instructs her to hide from the Hollow Ones, or humans, who use the phoenixes’ fiery blood for warmth to combat the cold due to the “sun’s slow death.” Father even tells Mara to cut off her wings for her own protection. When Father and the rest of their flock disappear, Mara sets out to rescue them. On her journey she meets half-phoenix / half-human Eli, who challenges her views of humanity. Eli, his human brother, Jude, and his phoenix father, Haven, also share a different side of Darkholm. Mara and Eli bond as survivors of tragedies and find healing in one another. Through her interactions with the phoenixes, Mara discovers that her fire can be an agent of destruction—or restoration. Mara and the phoenixes communicate telepathically; these conversations provide insights into gaslighting, manipulation, and psychological abuse. Religious links to sacrifice, worship, and temples support the worldbuilding and provide further commentary on the lengths people—or phoenixes—will go to in order to serve their own self-interests. Mara’s resistance offers glimmers of hope amid the darkness. Despite some cliched elements and disruptive changes in point of view, the messages of strength and self-advocacy resonate. Mara and her father are light-skinned, Eli has “bronzed skin,” and the humans in this world are racially diverse.

A fiery protagonist shines a resilient light in the darkness of complex family trauma.