Narration by Nicole Poole
Born in Fire is the debut novel in the Fire and Ice Trilogy. Always being a lover of tough heroines and Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance titles, as well as Nicole Poole’s talented narrations, I decided to give it a try. What I found was a highly complex and original fantasy world which includes vampires, shape shifters, mages and even demons. I must admit that the unfolding of the unique world backdrop for this series does take up a good portion of this first book, so it did require some patience to get through and I found myself rewinding the story a few times to make sure I had grasped the setting correctly. Additionally, for the romance lover, while there is insinuation and a definite love interest in sight, Born in Fire, as is typical in an Urban Fantasy romance, does not itself contain much romance. So, the romance fans will definitely need to wait for future books in the trilogy to scratch that itch.
The heroine in this story, Reagan, is a bounty hunter. From the very beginning of the story it’s clear that she is not human, though we don’t know exactly what she is or what her powers are. She does seem to have the ability to channel her magic to help her with her bounty hunter endeavors to break spells and the like. Her magic, as the title indicates, seems to hail from fire. However, in the UF world that Born in Fire takes place in, supernatural beings must keep their existence secret from humans. Reagan, however, also seems to be hiding from magical beings, and the listener is left to sleuth through why as we move through the story.
Amidst this backdrop, one of Reagan’s bounty hunter jobs is interrupted by vampires. The next thing she knows the vampires have requested her services to track down a mark. Reagan is loath to team up with the vampires but, being left with no choice, takes the assignment. It is during this assignment that she is teamed up with Darius, an old and powerful vampire and one who little by little is won over by Reagan’s charms.
Just what do the vampires want from Reagan? What type of magic is Reagan hiding? Can this secret-filled mission possibly end in a successful bounty hunter mission?
Nicole Poole won my listener’s heart over in Dannika Dark’s Seven series. Ms. Poole has a deep voice which she can contort into so many different sounds that she is able to create highly unique voices for each one of the plentiful characters in this magical world. Not only can Ms. Poole sound like both genuine female and male characters, but she is able to infuse each character with personality appropriate features.
Ms. Poole is also great with her pacing. She uses this ability to guide the listener through the action suspense scenes, such that the listener can feel the mood of the scene changing just by her voice. Without a doubt Ms. Poole’s narration definitely helped bring this story to life and was one of its highlights.
All in all, Born in Fire is a good start to a new UF/PNR trilogy that is highly original. Though I struggled to stay engaged initially due to the background intensive nature of the beginning of this story, I’m glad I kept listening, since the pace of the story picks up in the last third or so of the book. I also would have wished for more of a romantic element to this story, but I can see that the groundwork has been set for the romance between Reagan and Darius to become more central in the books to come.
BJ
Buy Born in Fire by K.F. Breene on Amazon
