Written by contributor Uma Shankari
Incendiary is a retelling of the Spanish Inquisition and filled with magic, vengeance and revenge. It keeps you turning the pages because you just HAVE to know what happens next. This is one of those books that came out of nowhere and took me by surprise and I’m DEFINITELY not complaining, so I am here to convince you that you need to pick up Zoraida Córdova’s Incendiary!
1. Complex Characters
Morally grey characters and characters with multiple facets are so incredibly interesting! Renata Convida is the most intriguing protagonist I’ve read about in recent days. She’s the girl who worked for the enemy as a child, now part of the rebellion to take them down. She can’t recall her memories from when she was used as a weapon at the palace, but vows to earn her peoples’ trust someday and atone for her sin by being an important part of the rebellion. I was rooting for her and her magic from page one. I love how her memories and her ability to steal people’s memories is a huge part of the plot and she’s an active protagonist. She doesn’t stand around watching things happen around her, but truly takes part in the plotline and that’s awesome.
“You’re a shadow. You’re steel. You’re vengeance in the night. You’re a Whisper of the rebel Moria.”
All the secondary characters are so interesting and while I hated some of them, I loved how well they were written to evoke such emotions from me. The most interesting character arc of all is that of the villain and *cue screaming*. It was done SO WELL.
2. World Building For The Win
The magic system was so amazingly crafted and I loved how the magic of the Moria worked. It was a magic system like no other I’ve read and I wanted to learn more about it. I can’t wait to learn more in book two because of a certain thing revealed at the end (I did think that might come up again and I was glad it did). This is also a good time to mention that I loved the author’s worldbuilding in Labyrinth Lost, which was the first book of hers that I read.
3. Plot Line To Keep You On The Edge of Your Seat
It was such a ride. Right from the start there is so much action and so many things happening that it left me breathless. There is a romance, but it does not feature for the majority part of the story and when it does show up (at the beginning), it’s really lovely and I just really really hope there is no love triangle in book 2!
“I will always come back for you.” Those are bold words, an impossible promise that he can’t actually keep. We don’t live in a world that allows for those kinds of vows. But I choose to believe them. I want to.
Plot twists are aplenty! I was expecting one or two of them but the rest just blew me away. The twists and the foreshadowing were so well done and I just felt so freaking immersed in the story.
4. Beautiful Writing I Want To Climb Into
I know that’s a weird description, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do; climb into the book and sit amongst the words because they’re perfect. The author makes you feel for the characters…makes you feel like you’re there right alongside them so you can picture the scenes and descriptions so perfectly in your head. I swear I’ll read anything written by Zoraida Córdova because it’s so beautiful!
5. Builds The Curiosity Throughout
The author makes us question everything from the beginning. She tells us about the world, but leaves out just enough to make us curious and it works splendidly. I can’t wait for the sequel so I can know more about the characters, the world, the tentative relationships the characters have built in this book, and so much more
