Blog Tour: Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift

Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for having me as a part of their Cast In Firelight tour (and for Delacorte and Netgalley for making it happen)! Make sure you check out the rest of the tour by following that link so you can see everyone else’s great posts! Also! even better! With this amazing tour, there’s a giveaway for a finished final copy of the book, so make sure you go enter that (unfortunately, this giveaway is US only, so to my international readers, I’m sorry about that).

I really enjoyed this book- it was such a fun, easy fantasy read and it had so much great Indian-ness in it, which I loved. My stop on the tour features both a review and my top five reasons to read Cast in Firelight, so I’ll do my review first and the reasons second!

Cast in Firelight 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

The first book in an epic, heart-pounding fantasy duology about two royal heirs betrothed to be married, but whose loyalties are torn, and a ruthless enemy who threatens their world, perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir, Hafsah Faizal, and Renée Ahdieh.

Adraa is the royal heir of Belwar, a talented witch on the cusp of taking her royal ceremony test, and a girl who just wants to prove her worth to her people.

Jatin is the royal heir to Naupure, a competitive wizard who’s mastered all nine colors of magic, and a boy anxious to return home for the first time since he was a child.

Together, their arranged marriage will unite two of Wickery’s most powerful kingdoms. But after years of rivalry from afar, Adraa and Jatin only agree on one thing: their reunion will be anything but sweet.

Only, destiny has other plans and with the criminal underbelly of Belwar suddenly making a move for control, their paths cross…and neither realizes who the other is, adopting separate secret identities instead.

Between dodging deathly spells and keeping their true selves hidden, the pair must learn to put their trust in the other if either is to uncover the real threat. Now Wickery’s fate is in the hands of rivals..? Fiancées..? Partners..? Whatever they are, it’s complicated and bound for greatness or destruction.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It was a fun, quick fantasy romance with great characters, a super interesting magic system, and so many great bits of Indian culture, from the food to the clothing. Anytime Adraa was talking about wearing a sari or a lengha, I was like ahhh! I have those (it makes me ridiculously happy every time I see anything Indian in a book because there were like no books with anything Indian in them when I was a teenager). The plot was interesting- I liked that Adraa had created the firelight and that she was selling it for pennies so that everyone had access to it. I love that she was a spy. It was a little weird to me that she was closer to her intended fiance’s dad than she was to her own family and she would go to him for advice, but to each their own. I love that both her and Jatin were pretending to be someone else when they met each other and just kept going along with that. The pacing was great- I never felt bored or that things were moving too fast or slow. Overall, I was a big fan of everything about Cast in Firelight and I can’t wait to read book two when it comes out!

5 reasons to read Cast in Firelight

1. The characters: I loved not only Adraa and Jatin as main characters, but all of the side characters like Jatin’s dad and Adraa’s parents and sister were great and added a lot to the story. The villains also added a lot to the story and I can’t wait to learn more about the main villain in book two, because I’m sure there’s so much more to that story.
2. The magic system: I like how the gods gift you with a certain power and each god is associated with a color. I also like how the god’s name is their element spelled backwards (like Erif is fire backwards and Dloc is cold backwards). I also like how the tattoos on your arms mean that you have been “claimed” by a god and you can have up to all 9 of the powers. It’s definitely an interesting magic system and one I haven’t really seen before.
3. The skygliders: Skyglider seems to be the main way that Adraa and Jatin like travelling and it sounds like a really cool way to travel! Makes me wish I had a skyglider.
4. The adorable love story: Adraa and Jatin started out hating each other (which makes sense- they were 8 and 9 when they met each other and were told that one day, they would be getting married). Then, as they got older, Adraa kept on hating Jatin and Jatin began seeing Adraa as an adversary and using her to push him harder at the Academy. Then they met, but they didn’t know who the other was, and they started falling in love and it was so freaking cute. #MeantToBe
5. How much the book sucks you in: Cast in Firelight is one of those books that’s really easy to read and really easy to get completely lost in- I started it on a Friday and finished on a Saturday. It completely sucks you in, and by the end, you’re ready to be reading book 2.

Cast in Firelight comes out tomorrow, January 19th, so make sure you go grab it then Amazon|Barnes and Noble|Book Depository|Indigo|IndieBound

About the Author:

Dana Swift started making up fantasy worlds when she was eleven years old and hasn’t stopped since. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned degrees in English and Advertising. While in college, Dana competed as a saber fencer and learned a thing or two about fighting, parrying and how it feels to fall in love with your sparring partner. She currently lives with said husband in Miami, Florida.

Website|Twitter|Instagram|Goodreads|Facebook