“Peace is still worth fighting for.”
Notice: thank you to Penguin Teen for sending an advanced reader’s copy of this book through the Penguin Teen Partner Program. This does not affect my opinion.
Notice: this is the sequel and finale to the Chaos & Flame duology. Read my review for book one here.
Blood magic. Ancient fury. A single kiss set Chaos ablaze.
Picking up months after a kiss transformed Darling into the long-lost Phoenix and every House regent into their empyreal form, Darling struggles to make sense of her destiny as a legendary creature. How can she, an orphan with no family, truly be the one to reunite the fractured houses and bring about peace, if she can’t control the magic of her new Phoenix body?
Talon Goldhoard, still in love with Darling but wounded by her betrayal, is tasked with ending the vicious war that his family instigated. With the Phoenix reborn, Talon is hopeful that the bloodshed will end swiftly. Instead, the kingdom grows more fraught, with the threat of violence ever present – especially from dark, conniving forces within the walls of his own House Dragon.
As Chaos reigns, Talon and Darling must find their way back to each other to not survive but save the kingdom. Can Darling harness the power of the ancient magic that runs through her blood to bring about a new peace? Or will the fury that House Dragon fueled for a hundred-year war be too strong to break?
We have arrived at the finale of the Chaos & Flame duology. The ending of book one left me curious to see where Gratton and Ireland would take the story. Blood & Fury begins with a short prequel featuring Talon and Caspian’s aunt Aurora from 30 years earlier. In retrospect, the decision to begin the finale with a prequel of Aurora was clever foreshadowing for how important—and dangerous—she boded to be in this novel.
After the prequel, we are reunited with Talon and Darling who are both contending with unique struggles. Talon is busy trying to end the House Wars as Caspian declared before he transformed into the Dragon Empyreal and literally flew off of radar. As it turns out, it’s not exactly easy to command an army that was effortlessly winning a war to suddenly stand down and surrender.
Meanwhile Darling is…confused. She awakens as her human self but is immediately aware that she is not entirely in control of her body. She quickly learns that she now shares consciousness with the Phoenix Emypreal—that she is the long-lost Phoenix, the one who is supposed to be the heart of all Chaos. And let’s just say she’s not exactly thrilled about it.
Lucky for Darling, she is aided by Vivian Chronicum, the Gryphon Empyreal, who awakened some time before her and has gotten her bearings quite smoothly. Together, Darling and Vivian begin hatching a plan to locate the Empyreals of the other Houses that have yet to appear, which to review are House Sphinx, House Kraken, House Barghest, and House Cockatrice.
Darling’s goal is simple: find the others and figure out what the heck Caspian did. Except she—and/or the Phoenix—can feel that something is…wrong. Something sinister is festering, and all signs lead back to Aurora.
My opinion on Blood & Fury is similar to how I felt about the previous book: it was fast-paced, the storyline was easy to understand, and it kept me engaged. The political conflicts between the different Houses intensify even more in this book, partly due to Caspian stealing each House’s special artifact to complete the ritual and unleash the Empyreals. I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing how each Empyreal begins to explore the connection between themselves and their new entity. (There’s that human-animal connection trope I love so much!)
Even though I found this book easy to read, I feel that the authors could have explained the concept of blood magic more. Blood magic was introduced in Chaos & Flame, but the extent of its danger was not fully explained. Blood & Fury explored it more due to Darling’s ability to sense the blood altars, but even after the final page I was left still not completely understanding how it works. For it to have been such a crucial plot point, and the source of the main antagonist’s power, I feel that the portrayal of blood magic was rather lackluster.
Another disappointment I had with this title is the lack of character development. Darling spends a lot of time in turmoil about how she is supposed to be the one to “fix” the world. But despite this inner turmoil, she rises to the occasion time and time again without fully owning her own power. It feels like the “arc” of her becoming the Phoenix got stuck in the rising action phase, and she never fully settles into trusting herself.
Talon also felt very stagnant in this sequel. His entire personality over 350+ pages is feeling remorse for betraying Darling, hoping she forgives him, and trying to find his aunt. He experiences very few trials throughout the book that push him to challenge himself, his loyalty to Darling, or his aspirations for the future beyond the war. Overall, he felt more 2D and like Darling’s sidekick rather than the second main protagonist he’s supposed to be, and I wanted him to want more for himself.
In all, Blood & Fury is the simplest and most tame ending to a YA fantasy duology centering on political drama/house wars, blood magic, and creatures of various mythologies. If you’re looking for a two-parter that has any of those elements and will be easy to get through, these are probably the books for you!
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