Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley Blog Tour

We’re very excited to be a part of the blog tour for Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley! Erin’s going to share her review with us in a bit, but first, here are the book details!

Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley
Published by Simon and Schuster on November 22nd 2016
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Magic, Friendship, General, Social Themes, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: ARC

Four girls with the power to control the elements and save the world from a terrible evil must come together in the first epic novel in a brand-new series.

When Phantoms—massive beasts made from nightmares and darkness—suddenly appeared and began terrorizing the world, four girls, the Effigies, each gained a unique power to control one of the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, four girls across the world have continually fought against the Phantoms, fulfilling their cosmic duty. And when one Effigy dies, another girl gains her power as a replacement.

But now, with technologies in place to protect the world’s major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms.

Until the day that New York City’s protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy.

Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn’t much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together.

Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?

Erin’s Thoughts

Fate of Flames is book one of the Effigies series by Sarah Raughley and as soon as I read the summary on this book I was intrigued. This book has a mix of action, some supernatural, and of course a problem to solve.

The world that Raughley has developed is interesting. It isn’t very different from our world today but the things that are noticeable are that they have to have needles. They are supposed to protect the people in the surrounding area from the Phantoms, living nightmares that attack and destroy. You will notice I say supposed to…because something is going wrong and they keep having issues and allowing the Phantoms to get into the major cities and creating issues. It is clear Raughley put some thought into the Phantoms but I wanted a bit more of how they came to be. They definitely set the stage for the reason why Effigies are needed and how they help.

The story begins by introducing us to Maia. In this world, the Effigies are stars and have a huge fan base. Maia happens to belong to (and appears to be one of the biggest fans of) the Effigy fan club and she knows just about everything about the 4 people who make up this group. I only mention this because this was the first thing I really learned about Maia and it happens to have an impact on how she looks at the other Effigies at first. Not only because of what she knows but also what the Effigies meant to her and her sister. The story of the Effigies is that when one Effigy dies, another is called. In this case, unbeknownst to everyone around her, Natalya (the Fire Effigy) has died and Maia just happens to be the one who becomes her successor. Maia is definitely on borrowed time because she knows the Sect will come for her and she is trying not to freak out about it.

Maia has had a tough year which is part of the reason why she hasn’t told anyone that she is the next effigy. Her parents and twin sister died in a \fire and she was the only one to escape. After that, she went to live with her uncle and things have just started to settle for them but now things are definitely going to change. Sure enough the second the Sect finds her, Maia is yanked into a world that she could never have expected.

As she begins to learn more about her power, she also learns more about the past Effigies. As Natalya’s successor, Maia not only gets the power of fire, but she also gets the memories of the prior Fire Effigies and she begins seeing some things in her head that make her believe that the determination that Natalya committed suicide is wrong.

Another piece of the puzzle is Saul. We meet him early on in the story and while he comes off initially as someone Maia connects with, he quickly turns things when he attempts to kill her. I’m not going to say why, but Saul’s story ties to Maia and he definitely makes things difficult for her.

As Maia works with the other Effigies to stop Saul, they are also trying to solve the mystery around Natalya’s death and what Maia is learning is mostly unexpected. I admit, I wanted to know more about this piece. Yes, before the book ends, we learn something key but it doesn’t really go anywhere and then boom…the book is done. I assume we will learn more about this in the next book but there wasn’t even a conversation which made me a little annoyed.

The other key characters are also interesting. Belle, Lake, and Chae Rin are the other Effigies and they all have their own issues. As they all come together to stop Saul, they also learn more about each other and find out they can rely on one another, despite their differences.

Rhys is part of the Sect and ultimately the boy who helps protect and fight with the Effigies. We quickly see that there is an attraction between Maia and Rhys but they also disagree on some things which makes it tough for them to wholly connect. Rhys for sure has some secrets and I want to more about them. We find out he grew up in the Sect but that is about it. Of course, I love a bit of romance with my stories and this one dips it’s toe in but doesn’t move any further than longing glances with these two.

Overall I thought this was a good book one in a series. While the story felt like it dragged at times, there were also parts that flew by. There were a few open storylines at the end of the book (Seriously…how come she never got to speak to Uncle Nathan again??) and it read a bit young at times, I thought the story flowed well and I am interested in seeing where Raughley goes with the next book. This one has a good mix of action, mystery, and danger and if you are looking for something along those lines, check this one out.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!