Viento En Llamas: Son Del Fuego Book

Meh...much as I liked the first two, this one definitely wasn't up to scratch. Despite being pivotal to the world's salvation, Bowman and Kestrel's journey to the homeland was incredibly uneventful - no battles, no real 'world scale' drama. Not to mention Sisi seems to have had a complete character transplant from one book to another, losing a lot of much-needed humour. Character development is all well and good, but she was unrecognisable as the Princess from 'Slaves of the Mastery'. Her relationship with Bowman felt forced and I couldn't really cheer for them. She became flat and seemed to care less about Kestrel as the story went on, as though she had no need of her now she had a boyfriend.

Bowman himself was more irritating than usual. His angst and complete and utter passivity were annoying in previous books, but are amped to the full in Firesong. I was irked beyond belief that it was Kestrel who had to give her life in the end and not him. The implication that it had to be her because she had no interest in marriage and children was also unfortunate, as though someone is worth less if they don't intend to start a family. I'm probably reading too much into it (hell, I thought the first book was an ode to socialism at the ~annoyingly precocious~ age of 12,) but it seemed implied. Whatever the reason, she was a far more interesting character than Bowman - one of the better female characters out there, quite frankly - and the conclusion annoyed me.