A Series Done Correctly

Hidden Fires
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
Bookviewcafe, 2010
Mobi format for Kindle,
Print Length: 304 pages
Rated 4 Stars of 5 Possible

Hidden Fires is the author's follow-up to The Fires of Nuala.  The adventures in Hidden Fires take place approximately ten years after those in The Fires of Nuala. Some of our old favorite characters are back with a completely different story, and we also get to meet some fascinating new personalities who happen to reside on Nuala. These novels form a character-based series that takes place on the planet Nuala, but the plots are not so inter-twined as to make reading the previous entries in the same series necessary. If one wishes to read only one story from the series, that is entirely possible without missing anything important. This novel is both a sequel to the previous book and an independently standing novel in its own right. It fits both roles very well. In my mind, this is a series done correctly.

This novel is not slow to grab the reader's attention and the plot moves along at an appropriate pace, with vivid descriptions of the planet Nuala, and enough action to satisfy the pickiest of readers. There is some violence in Hidden Fires, but it serves to move the plot along, more or less in the direction the author intended. I did not want to put Hidden Fires down, and I want more... I can hardly wait for Fire Sanctuary, in which we will be able to get a glimpse into Nuala's future, to be released in ebook format. Yet, hooked as I am on this series, I know that one more book isn't going to be enough for me.

Given the aforementioned violence, and the accompanying bloody mess attached thereto, this novel may not be suitable for some readers, but for those who don't mind the mess (both bloody and political) that the Nualan characters get into, I do highly recommend the entire series.  This book was provided to me free by the publisher in exchange for review. This review is being simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragon Views, LibraryThing and wherever else I can remember to post it.