What happens when a demon sibling power struggle goes horribly wrong?”Packed with everything I could want in a book! Emotion, swoon, world building, and flames! Aidan and Keegan will stay in my head for a while! Highly recommend it!”-Candace Robinson, bestselling author of TinWhen Keegan’s father, the Demon King of Fire, attempted to produce an heir, a surge of light energy interrupted the … process. One tiny piece of the newly forming demon broke off. That piece is Keegan. For years, he has attempted to lay low, watching from the shadows while his monstrous brother, Aidan, the true Prince of Fire, is groomed for the throne. Yet Keegan’s shaky status quo is shattered when one of his father’s power-plays goes horribly wrong.He is cast to Earth and forced to work with a suddenly powerless Aidan. The two brothers must cooperate to complete an impossible task and avoid being cast forever into the abyss. As if having to spend time with his beastly other half wasn’t bad enough, Keegan must adapt to living on Earth, wielding his new human vessel, and dealing with his demonic appetite without harming the humans for whom he has always cared.As Keegan and Aidan work to save themselves, questions arise. Can Aidan be trusted in his new human form? Why are so many demons suddenly invested in the outcome of the brothers’ trial? The only thing Keegan knows for certain is that if he fails, the consequences for the Demon Realm and Earth will be catastrophic.
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Sons of Fire of by Tracy Auerbach turned out to be one of the bigger surprises of my 2019 reads. I’m generally not a frequent science-fiction or fantasy reader, but a friend recommended this author. Since the book is geared toward young adult readers, I thought perhaps it’d work for me… and wow, did it ever! I truly enjoyed my first Auerbach read, and now I’ll be checking out her earlier works to see what else is out there waiting to be devoured.
The plot is simple. Two brothers. One seemingly good, the other seemingly bad. Except… they basically live in that eternally damned place. They are sent to Earth to accomplish a mission, by a father who needs to be knocked around a few times. When the ~17-year-olds arrive, nothing is as it seems… since I don’t want to spoil the plot, I’ll leave it at that. Once they make it to Long Island (yeah… where I grew up, another reason to read it), we encounter the typical high school jock versus nerd scene, but it’s not all that typical. When everything comes to a powerful crescendo, the waves ripple so much, the shocks will keep you floating to safety.
The chapters alternate (mostly) between Earth and the fiery pits of… well, it’s never quite named, so I’ll leave it there. The first few tell the backstory, and I was a little hesitant. When the Earth section began, it pulled me in immediately… even with the fantasy and science-fiction components. A good writer can weave together those elements, and to me… this was both a character-driven and plot-driven book. That might be why I enjoyed it so much! The brothers are both very appealing, and how they change over the course of the pages is truly magnificent. Not everything we see on the surface is what’s really going on.
So… if you’re looking for a fine balance of YA / Suspense / Fantasy, you’ve got a great start with this book. Blending the various settings and other-worldly creatures with things we’re both familiar and unfamiliar with has made this a big win for me. I definitely recommend it for any reader, especially newbies to this genre and those who crave the imagination of a solid writer.
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
I’ve been duped. Or rather, I’ve allowed myself to be duped. And if you know me, you understand this is almost an unheard of occurrence.. but let me explain, while I try not to spoiler anything for you either.
I’ll tell you up front that I really enjoyed this book. Not because it’s a spectacular display of writing ability, in fact.. at the start, the writing appears weak.. not unlike one of these lovely twins. It’s never poor, mind you. It’s simply.. imbalanced. There’s a wealth of character depth which is slow to reveal itself, a fascinating underworld, and yet.. initially the writing feels.. unformed. Both language and dialogue seem stinted, names seem unimaginative and actually too human for a pair of demons, and interactions come across as cliché.. as the story opens.
After reading further, I could only assume that this was done with some intent. The story, like the brothers’ relationship, is just toddling. There’s an awkwardness to it that could be the result of Auerbach trying to separate that world from ours in the most basic way, but I prefer to think it’s more reflective of the characters at that point. They have limited understanding, they have history that neither of them fully grasps, and that awkwardness stems from everything standing between them.
At the start of my journey with the Sons of Fire, Keegan and Aidan, I was conflicted about choosing this read. I’m always intrigued by the use of theological entities in modern urban stories. The author displayed a penchant for making interesting choices as to which entities to employ, from the ancient Semitic god known here as Adramelech to the loyal King of Hell, Paimon.. the mighty Lucifer and a host of other various named demons. Each of which play an important role in the ultimate outcome of the story.
I’ll admit, I’m always a sucker for a couple of things.. creatures that we as a society believe are evil exhibiting absolutely opposite behaviors and individuals that might be entirely different if they were pitted against each other by some outside force. This story has both.
Created by Adramelech as an heir, Aidan is a dark, powerful force, while Keegan is an unfortunate side-effect of an outside interruption. Cast to Earth in unfamiliar bodies with needs neither of them is accustomed to, they’re sent to complete a task as a trial. Bound together by necessity, failing is not an option, but working together is an entirely new concept.
To explain my earlier statement about Auerbach’s well-crafted deception, I was probably 70% through the story before realizing I’d allowed myself to be mislead by appearances. Perceived weaknesses and strengths in the story, mirroring those in the characters, had set me on a path not to take this author or this novel very seriously. I was invested, yes. I instantly loved the brothers. But I didn’t realize the strength they or the author actually wielded.
I suddenly found myself looking around with a horrible sense of foreboding, not that someone had managed to fool me– I love it when that actually happens. But at the dreaded suspicion that was developing in my mind. I had allowed myself to read with complacency and unexpectedly intuited that I had followed Auerbach’s misdirection, looking at all the wrong things, which meant I was also on the precipice of understanding what the right things were.. and they were beautifully horrible.
Read this title. Ignore the poor looking cover art, it doesn’t do the title justice. Or maybe it does.. it plays right along with that sleight of hand. But bring a box of tissues because if you’re like me, you’ll be struggling to see the last pages. This story is exquisitely painful and I’m so glad I read it. You will be too.
Rating:
Interesting, Entertaining and Original!
Terrific story about Hell, demons, power, and humanity. I really liked this original story about two brothers that are demons from Hell who are sent to Earth to perform a task. The premise was great for a supernatural story and the characters were perfect. Though there is romance for each of the brothers, the story focuses more on their relationship as brothers, the relationship with their father (Adramelech, the King of Fire in Hell), and their task on earth.
The King of Fire is set on taking over and ousting Lucifer since Lucifer is weakened and trapped in a frozen lake in the deepest part of Hell. In order for demons to accumulate power, they feed on the souls in Hell. Once the power is too much to contain, the demons humanoid form will change into something huge and monstrous. Though Adramelech is vain and wants to keep his handsome humanoid form.
So Adramelech decides to create a heir who he can feed on souls and who will gain all the power Adramelech covets. While In the process of creating the heir using his hoarded soul power, Lucifer discovers the unsanctioned creation and the newly forming demon heir is hit with a ball of holy fire from Lucifer and a piece breaks off. It doesn’t stop the creation, but another son is created, one much smaller than the heir and containing a soul from the light of the holy fire.
The heir is named Aidan Fire and the other demon child named Keegan “little fire”. Aidan is taught to only speak to his father, using few words, and that his only purpose is to consume souls. All he does feed on souls. Keegan is largely ignored by his father, but talks to Aidan and spends time with him, though Aiden doesn’t talk to him and has no interest in Keegan.
The boys are banished to Earth after disappointing Adramelech and Lucifer. They have a task to complete and to do that they are enrolled in high school. They each have a separate task but they have to work together to get both tasks completed and when they return to Hell they will be thrown into the abyss if they fail. If they complete the tasks, one of them will earn a favor from their father.
“Aidan would almost certainly receive the favor. A favor promised by an upper level demon was a binding contract, and his brother could ask for anything, including all the power that was Adramelech’s to offer.”
I won’t go into anything that happens while they are on earth or after, but to say that Aidan and Keegan both have love interests and the story is unpredictable and interesting. There are several other characters they meet, but a lot of the book deals with each of the boys and the different struggles they have. I recommend this book and give it a solid 4 stars.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A debut young adult coming of age fantasy, this reads as an adventure story with a lot of heart. Two sons of a demon are banished to Earth to complete a quest together with everything to gain and everything to lose.
The stakes are high in this one, but you can’t assume you know who the “good” or the “bad” is in either the twin brothers or the secondary cast. Speaking of the secondary cast, I enjoyed the demons who made “guest appearances” to offer a multi-dimensional view of the brothers’ world as well as the other students from their high school. Well written and fast paced, this is a winner in the YA world.
Twin brothers Keegan and Aidan couldn’t be more different. For one, they aren’t human, but that doesn’t mean that Keegan doesn’t feel things like a human. He’s been tasked in life with one goal, control his brother Aidan. Aidan is tasked with growing stronger, consuming souls for one purpose set forth by their father. Until unwatched for mere moments, Aidan consumes too much, and the brothers are cast out on a mission, their only goal is to succeed if they want to live.
This book was such a pleasant surprise. I found gentle Keegan endearing, his quest to understand humanity made him more human than a lot of humans out there. I pitied Aidan who seemed aloof and uncaring at first. I was very pleased that this book did not end on a cliffhanger, as so many books are falling prey to these days (and while I understand it’s justified because of the genre, not everyone wants to read a series). But…I do believe Auerbach could easily turn this into a series as I’m not quite ready to let these brothers go. This was well-written, with excellent characters; a truly fun and engrossing read.