Review by serendipitor -- Igniting the Phoenix

[serendipitor]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Igniting the Phoenix" by Alethea Stauron.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Although advertised as a science fiction story, Igniting the Phoenix: Weapon of War by Alethea Stauron is more of a romance novel with supernatural elements for young adults. The story is about a dark and mysterious hero from another dimension that has become somewhat jaded by tragedy. Meeting the heroine of the story brings new life and positive change for him. The only problem with this is that she is not supposed to see him or know when he is there. However, the heroine also has some supernatural gifts, and a romantic story emerges from this between a young girl and the hero who was sent to protect her.
   
At first, I was disappointed with the direction this story appeared to be going. I was expecting something that could be considered science fiction and this is not what I got. However, as the story continued, I found more appreciation for what appears to be the intention of the author, and there were several attributes that I enjoyed in this story. The dialogue between the hero and heroine is engaging, and the book is fairly easy to read. There were some incredibly unique supernatural elements present even if they were few. The ending was also unexpected and I feel like this story has tremendous potential because of this.  
 
Unfortunately, even when I accepted the story as more of a love story, I still found it lacking in this genre as well. The back story for the hero was just not sufficient in creating an emotional connection. This made the dialogue sound more like you are watching an extended Folgers coffee commercial after a while. I feel like this is probably because the writer is somewhat inexperienced and there was an absence of constructive criticism during the editing process.

There were no real issues with grammar and punctuation in this story. The main problem with this story was plotline development. There were probably a hundred pages of dialogue that could be removed to make the story more concise. The setting for the supernatural dimension needed more development to help the reader understand what the hero was communicating with his comrades from a different realm. The villain's plan of sabotage was never resolved as part of the story’s conclusion. This made it very confusing for the reader to understand what was going on and why they should want to continue reading this series.
   
As a result, I would give this book 2 out of 4 stars because it had substantial potential, but this potential has not been realized even if it is considered in a different genre. For myself, as much as I was able to connect with the characters through the dialogue in this story, I do not think I will be continuing on with this series. The hero and heroine make a sweet couple, but I am not all that interested in reading another 400 pages of them whispering sweet nothings to each other. If you like that kind of thing, this book might be for you, but I am just not much of a fan of romance novels, to begin with.

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Igniting the Phoenix
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