REVIEW: Firebird by Juliette Cross

I have received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review in any way.

Thank you to Macmillan/Bramble for sending me an Advance Reader’s Copy of Firebird!

I'm going to be completely transparent when I say that I wasn't planning on reading this book. From the controversial master and slave romance that this book features to the (unproven) allegations of artificial intelligence in the cover's design, there was too much drama surrounding this book for me to take a second glance beyond it. That was until Macmillan offered me an audio galley and I couldn't keep ignoring this book any longer.

Set in the times of ancient Rome, the story follows Celtic magic performer-turned-slave Malina and the Roman conqueror of her opposing country Julian. When Malina is captured by Julian, their forbidden attraction to each other threatens the fate of the war. (Also, there's dragon shifters, so that's fun.)

Firebird is a deeply intense and rich historical fantasy that all-but glorifies the times of the Roman Empire and spares absolutely no gory detail. There is quite the cast of characters, and the story is very politically-driven and interesting. However, this book being marketed as a romantasy was a mistake, as it's very much a dark romance with a forbidden, unethical, and immoral relationship between Malina and Julian. He treats her fairly for the most part, and there is no non-consensual spice between the two main characters specifically (though there is sexual assault between one of the main characters and a side character in this book), but it still put a very bad taste in my mouth. It took me quite a while to get through this story, as it is not for the average reader and comes with its heap of trigger warnings- which, might I add, were not made obvious enough to the reader.

It truly all comes down to this book being mismarketed. If you are looking for a dragon shifter romantasy, this is not the story for you. Might I suggest Sophie Jordan's A Fire In the Sky instead? But if you want a brutal, gruesome, dark historical romance with fantasy elements in line with Melissa K. Roehrich's Rain of Shadows and Endings, you might find what you're looking for in Firebird.

Unfortunately, the dragon shifters couldn't save this story for me. I'm abstaining from rating this book, as I could not finish it.

Firebird by Juliette Cross will be available on April 8th 2025.

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