Before She Ignites

I have received a digital copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating in any way.

UPDATE 8-13-20

Decided to dock the review score down after reading Melody's review. How did I miss that? Everyone being abusive to Mira, servant fake friends, strong black woman trope? I guess I got too caught up with the protagonist being black.

I still like that part along with the whole dragons theme. I'll still continue to read the rest of the series to see how Mira, more importantly, the people around her, develops. As much as I liked the book, I cant recommend to anybody because of the problems above.

It's important that we look beyond bias and our emotions because one sits doesn't fit all. Not all black people are the same. We are all different with different personalities, different interests, and different backgrounds. One personality or behavior isn't the concrete for all black people.

#blacklivesmatter✊

Ok

I want to start this review off with just a simple checklist of what you can expect:

1. dragons, dragons, and more dragons – check!
2. political intrigue – double check!
3. mystery – check!
4. amazing diverse characters – check!
5. great friendships, both old and new – check!
6. unexpected twists and turns – check!

This book was so unexpectedly amazing. I went into it excited to finally read a Jodi Meadows book and intrigued by the idea of dragon trafficking. But this book is so much more than that. The world that Mira has come to know is actually entirely different, but she comes to know this as you do, which is a refreshing plot point. I love finding out about secrets and alliances as characters do rather than through off-hand comments to keep you as the reader in the loop.

Before She Ignites completely blew me away in terms of the level of detail that went into creating both the world and the political scene around it. I absolutely loved watching as Mira tried to navigate her changing world view with the political scene as it unravelled. It was fascinating to see how other characters dealt with similar situations and how Mira as our main character navigated the tricky situations she was placed in, politically, emotionally, and even physically.

I know Jodi Meadows is notorious for cliff-hangers and horrible endings making you regret reading book one before book two (or even three is available), luckily I did not find the ending to this book to be too bad. I obviously cannot wait for the next book as this one has become a new favorite, but it was not a cruel horrible ending.

I cannot wait to see where Mira journey takes her next, plus we obviously need more dragons!

Thanks to the publisher for an early copy