ALC Review: Firebird (The Fire That Binds #1) by Juliette Cross
- Story Eater
- Mar 30
- 3 min read
Release date: 8 April 2025 (US)/10 April 2025 (UK)
Rating: 3/5
Narrators: Blair Dade, Kale Williams
Narration rating: 3/5 and 5/5
Book box(es): FairyLoot Romantasy
Synopsis: House of the Dragon meets From Blood and Ash in this epic, scorching dark romantasy.
A conqueror captivated…
A witch prophesied to save them all…
A world where dragons rule Rome.
From the moment Roman general and nephew to the emperor Julianus Dakkia laid eyes on Malina, he was enthralled by the Dacian dancer. Years later, the fierce beauty stands before him on a scarred battlefield, her life in danger. He instinctively shifts into his fierce dragon form to save her, an action that may mean his head on the imperial gate. But he and his dragon know one thing: she belongs to them.
Malina can’t believe that the centurion who had once bestowed a secret talisman on her is the Roman general of legendary brutality. His warrior prowess cannot be denied, yet they don’t reveal the secret he hides. All Malina knows is his protection and gentle touch. And she cannot deny how her soul has always seemed to answer his.
As they navigate a world where flying deathriders conquer and burn, their love will ignite a firestorm that can only end in heartbreak or death. Or both.
Review
As far as romantasy selections go, Firebird offers both good and not for readers. As for the not, it’s more repackaged dragon romance in the form of dragon shifters with some reimagined history. The good lies in the characters. We don’t get *constant lusting and leering and pining, but it’s still there in a lesser degree and annoying all the same. The power imbalance always worries me, as some recent very popular romantasy picks have made toxic things like Stockholm syndrome a romance trope; but the nuance here skirts past that (barely) and moves on to not necessarily great but some okay-ish things.
At this point, I’ve read so many romantasy books that I read them more like student papers, especially given they’re like reading hundreds of papers on the same topic. I look for the things that set the writing apart instead of make it just like the others. I didn’t find anything here, really. The characterizations and tropes mimic many others: tyrannical leader the main character(s) seek to overthrow, main character(s) with a tragic backstory, some kind of Adonis-type male love interest (the absolutely abundant body positivity for female mains but lack thereof for the males never ceases to astonish me), equally beautiful female love interest with some kind of magical power or enhanced abilities that artificially equates her in some fashion with a male’s physical strength, some kind of fae/dragon/wolf/etc. aspect to the characters, fated mates, bonding tethers, etcetera and etcetera. Sigh. Oh, and don’t forget the very out of place vocabulary in historical fantasies when profanity gets slung around, at least 1000 years before its recorded time; and the Romans recorded lots, so there’s that continual annoyance. I am a pedant, of course. Unapologetically, also of course.
I didn’t DNF this one perhaps because something drew me along the story despite the familiar content. Endearing characters remain ever my literary kryptonite, and I’ll read a train wreck of a story if it has older folks with a sense of humor and simultaneous abandon when using it and anything with an orphan who worms his way into the heart of a curmudgeon. Side characters stole the show in this one, including one of the adversaries, and I’m still going to let myself get strung along so I can see how all of that plays out. In the meantime, I’ll clean my eyeballs out with some Polybius, et al. and see how cranky I am when the sequel drops onto shelves.
I recognized the narrator for Malina almost immediately; I listened to Masquerade of the Heart in June of 2024, and the narrator is the same for that book. The narration is still very stilted and, just like before, sounds like each sentence has a period pause after every word or two. Williams, who reads for Julian, did a wonderful job.
Overall, a generous 3/5 for the story and an average of 4/5 for the narration. I guess I’ll keep playing Where’s Waldo till I find one that stands out?
Also, I can’t believe FairyLoot got Jeff Brown to do the dust jacket and edges for this one—I’ve been shocked before, but not to that degree recently. Whoa.
My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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