Too much is going on in this book. I literally got a headache while reading it. Apropos, I suppose, that I suffered through a whole novel largely about suffering, sacrifice, and death... ( )

Among the three Hodge books I've read thus far ([book:Cruel Beauty|15839984] and [book:Crimson Bound|21570318]), Bright Smoke, Cold Fire is by far my favorite, which is interesting, given that it has the lowest rating on Goodreads by almost half a point. It's actually the lowest rated full I've finished.

In essence, Bright Smoke, Cold Fire takes place in the single remaining city after a zombie apocalypse. The city is protected by a giant protective bubble powered by human sacrifice. There are a few different kinds of magic systems floating about, one dealing with magic words left over from the language of the gods, the other (powering the bubble) based on blood magic. Overall, it's the same fascinating world building that Hodge put into both Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound, although in this case, it feels rather more fleshed out (pun intended).

Up until the last 10% or so of the book, I probably would have rated it 5 stars. It really is quite an enjoyable read. Unfortunately, in the same manner as her previous books I've read, Hodge doesn't write particularly strong endings. Everything happens all at once, several plot points are resolved, a few characters die, and then... then end. I would have loved to read a book about twice as long that actually dealt with the consequences of those last few pages. Perhaps there will be a sequel (Goodreads notes that there will be a second half)?

Plotwise, we're vaguely following the plot of Romeo and Juliet. All of the characters I remember are there. The forbidden love angle is there. Other than that... I think I last read or saw a version of Romeo and Juliet about a decade ago, so that's enough for me. Honest, I think the story would likely have been stronger had it not been so strongly based on Romeo and Juliet.

Characterwise, I actually did like the characters, in particular Paris, Runajo, and Juliet. I didn't care as much for Romeo, but he was fine. The idea of pairing Paris and Romeo and then Runajo and Juliet wasn't entirely unexpected just before it happened, but was quite amusing.

Overall, if you like death/blood magic and necromancy and both don't particularly need the romance aspects but can handle a bit of it... then you might just like Bright Smoke, Cold Fire. On the other hand, if you're reading this because it's billed as Romeo and Juliet meets Sabriel... Don't. ( )

For whatever reason, I found the book synopsis quite confusing. However, the story was anything but, and I love how the characters of Romeo and Juliet were always present yet secondary to the two main protagonists. ( )

I had such high hopes for this as I LOVED both Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound so I'm a bit disappointed to say that while I liked it, I didn't love it.

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire is a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet and is told through two different perspectives happening at roughly the same time - Paris and Romeo, and Runajo and Juliet.

Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou, heirs of Viyara’s most powerful families, have fallen in love. Their families are enemies but their relationship is further complicated when Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt in a duel. Magic laid on Juliet at birth compels her to avenge her people which means she must kill Romeo. In an attempt to save him Juliet decides to make him her “Guardian” - the one person able to control Juliet.
When the ritual meant to bind Juliet and her Guardian together goes wrong it leaves Juliet dead and Romeo bound to Paris - Juliets intended Guardian - instead.
Meanwhile Runajo - a new member of the Sisters of Thorn - brings Juliet back from the mouth of death which unexpectedly binds them together.
Runajo is determined to save her people from the revenants beyond the walls of Viyara and is willing to do so no matter the cost.
Paris, after overhearing Lord Catresou say that he revised the sacred oath and was conspiring with necromancers enlists Romeo to help get justice for Juliet.

The story itself is very complex which I loved. The world-building and writing are phenomenal as expected but I had some trouble getting into the story...mainly because the pacing fluctuated between being just right and too slow. However, after that ending I need more!
I will definitely be picking up the next part to watch the drama unfold and see how this story ends.

*ARC provided by HarperCollins/Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. ( )

The world was dying, and death did not care who mourned.

This was such a disappointment. I'd heard it wasn't as good as Cruel Beauty, which was one of my faves last year, but I didn't think it would be this...meh.

I guess I should also say that I don't particularly care for Romeo and Juliet to begin with.

The Writing and Worldbuilding

The writing was okay. The dialogue felt unnatural for the most part; half direct Shakespeare quotes, half incongruously modern-sounding speech. Juliet's dialogue was particularly bad. Mostly because she was always saying things without emotion. So she basically never expressed any emotion that wasn't righteous indignation. But more on that in a bit.

The two different plotlines worked for the most part, but for half the book, I didn't care about Paris's whatsoever while liking Paris himself, and was very intrigued by Runajo's but hated her guts. Paris's story got more interesting as time went on, but unfortunately, it kind of traded places with Runajo's, and left hers a convoluted mess. And the pacing of the emotional journey was truly dreadful. The exact same story beat would play out one chapter after another in each of the plots. In one chapter, Runajo realized she actually thought of Juliet as a friend and didn't want her to die. In the next, Paris realized he actually thought of Romeo as a friend and didn't want him to die. A little variation or at least some more time between these chapters would have been so much better. And a reason for any of these characters to like each other would have also been nice.

The world was cool, but so much of it is told to me through mindless exposition that I retained little of it and was scrambling later on to make sense of anything. Some set-pieces were atmospheric, especially the Sunken Library, but most were white rooms. The zombies were okay, but barely a threat; and the reapers were sort of cool, but lacked presence. I like necromancer stories, but this just felt generic. And I was so confused about what anyone looked like, even though it was said all the time. What culture was this world based on, because the terms all sound Indian to me but then some characters are blonde? It isn't that important to me, but it still took me out of the story, because to me, every character looked exactly the same and I had such a hard time imagining any of them, so I mostly just used a placeholder character in my mind. It was a struggle.

The Characters

Juliet, the robot girl, just wanders around, scowling and threatening to kill people the entire book, contributing little to the plot. She has no personality to speak of and the most unconvincing of love stories (which is hilarious, because it's literally based on Romeo and Juliet, the quintessential love story). Why anyone would fall in love with her, let alone the hopeless romantic that is Romeo, is beyond me.

Runajo, on the other hand, has too much personality. She's insufferable, rude, and a straight-up b the entire book. She judges literally everyone for the most shallow of reasons, has zero compassion, and is generally selfish, with no redeeming qualities. I hated her! The protagonist of Cruel Beauty had her issues, but she wasn't altogether the worst! Her faults made me like her even more, not make me want to slap her.

Paris was the only character I genuinely liked, and he sometimes got on my nerves as well. I appreciated his cowardice because it made him more real, but honestly, when the main antagonist points out that he supposedly trained for his whole life to be a Guardian and yet he sucks at fighting (except for when the plot needs him to be good, apparently), you know something is wrong.

I initially didn't like Romeo. He was annoying and boring, but he grew on me. He was sort of a cinnamon roll, so I liked him enough. But he and Paris have basically the same way of speaking, so sometimes I got lost in their conversations trying to figure out who was saying what.

All the other characters were ok. I liked Vai. The antagonists felt generic, but the main villain seems promising, so hopefully the next book is better.

Conclusion

This is being compared to Sabriel, and first of all, how dare you? Second of all, if anything, it copies more from Lirael, but cut out all the charm.

Also, what the heck is the title supposed to mean? Because I've read the entire book and I couldn't tell you. ( )