Sean GrigsbyRecensioni

I'm underimpressed. The idea sounded good, firefighters fighting dragons. And it starts out alright. But too much of it didn't make any sense to me. This whole 'sink or swim' business is ridiculous. Learning by doing is fine, but how on earth is it a good idea to send someone out into a dragon fight who hasn't had any practical training at all? Really, great moment to figure out how your weapons are working.
And why is everyone ok with being treated with such callousness? Being angry with someone after they got super injured when his wife got attacked. Makes no sense. Let's all just be pissed that this guy didn't wait for his friends before going to his wife's aid. Then withholding pain medicine to get an answer to a question? By a colleague, about a kiss? That's despicable. Telling someone their husband is dead when they're not? Equally despicable.

If these were all supposed to be bonding experiences, I would rather go join the dragons. Eugh.

And that's really too bad, because this could have worked. Story is nice, writing style nice. But despicable characters, and they're not being made out to be despicable. That's the problem. These are not the bad guys, these are the good guys doing despicable things and nobody's really commenting on it. Ok, the guy lying about the death got hit in the face. But that's it. We conveniently step over it, and nobody is taken to task for the other things.

Actually, now that I'm thinking it over again, I don't think this is worth 3 stars. I would go with 2.5, but since that's not an option...

DNF. I know a lot of people enjoyed this one, but I'm bailing at 42%.

I want to like it more, particularly the older, competent character! But the author's style bores me, and I just can't get around it when there are so many books I enjoy more.

One star for the concept, and another for the MC. But minus three because the action is uneven, and for all he's not stupid, the MC's missing something that to this reader is a flashing neon Impending Plot Twist Moment. Plus, the basic dragons vs. humans plus wraiths over time... I was never sure of the events timeline, among other plot issues. I wish I had figured this out soon enough to return it for credit.

I’m not sure why I picked this one up — it’s a little too cowboy firefighter grrr manly for me to fall in love with it, but on the whole it’s a solid post apocalyptic dragon disaster read. Liked the main character, most of the time, and appreciated that his heart is in a great place.

Thanks to NetGalley.com and Publisher/Author for the ARC in exchange for a review.

The Smoke Eaters are back again! I wondered if there were going to be any more stories of these dragon fighters, and was so happy to see another book come out. This one is centered more on a new-to-be Smoke Eater, who went AWOL from the New USA Army. While growing up he was a fan of the Smoke Eaters, who have now been disbanded by the NUSA. Gilly is surprised to become one of them, and finds himself on an adventure with his heroes.

Grigsby has done a good job in creating this futuristic apocalyptic US, and a new kind of hero the average American can do nothing but love. I wouldn't recommend reading this as a stand-alone novel, as part of the story line and characters are developed from earlier books. I was happy to see the return of CB, and the new twist that the Smoke Eaters have to face is not unexpected, though was curious how Grigsby was going to put it in story. Definitely recommend to others to read, if they start with the first one!

#FlameRiders #NetGalley

The premise, as I understood it when I picked up the book, was firefighters vs. dragons, a sort of urban fantasy spin on Reign of Fire. But its so much more than that - we get a futuristic post-apocalypse in which the United States has devolved into feuding city states, Canada has become nearly as isolationist as North Korea, robots serve as pets and droids can be found in the workplace, government, and police force. Its a world with odd barter systems, diaper tank medicine, electro ghosts, jetpacks, and laser swords. It is busy, eclectic, and absolutely bonkers.

The good: The setting is certainly creative. There's plenty of action, a few characters of color, and the pacing is quick.

The bad: Brannigan is a collection of wish-fulfillment cliches that makes him come off as a Gary Stu. The portrayal of women is equally cliched, outdated, and sexist. The world, while creative, has no depth, and is often explained with narrative asides and exposition dumps. A lot of the description in the book is quite shallow. It ends of being all over the place with lots of ideas that just don't deliver.

The passion is there, just not the execution.

for some reason on an over populated earth, girls are shipped off to a distance planet, or something and join gangs.

After period of relative calm, the appearance of the Phoenix livens things up for the Ash Kickers. The phoenix also brings a risk for all those who have taken dragon blood as a cure. But the politicians may win in the end.... A real page turner.

DNF at 31%. It took me three and a half weeks to get this far, and I just couldn't bear it anymore. Not when goodies like Women Talking and Exit, Pursued by a Bear are burning a hole in my Kindle.

Normally I'd blame this on a reading slump - and, to be fair, I am rather preoccupied with an upcoming cross-country move - but really, I've come to realize that's a cop-out, because I hate writing critical book reviews. That is, as long as there's nothing egregiously offensive to really earn my ire. Aside from some gendered slurs - twat, pussy, etc. - which get double-side eye from me when penned by a male author, I wasn't really insulted, just bored. (Though I do agree with other readers' assessments of Hurley Girley, the would-be sexual predator. I suspect I was too disinterested to get as worked up as I might have otherwise.)

Many of the book's elements - an off-world, all-female penal colony (hello, Bitch Planet!), girl gangs, Amazonian cannibals, political intrigue, asexual and lesbian characters, an all-female presidential ticket, political corruption - are right up my alley. In theory, I should have loved Daughters of Forgotten Light. But it just felt like the author was trying too hard: at being edgy, yeah, but also in general. Like, for example, the descriptors, which felt hecka clumsy and cringe-worthy:

"Sharp shoes clicked down the hall, sounding like a deranged tap dancer shuffling off to eternity."

"Her eyes bulged like some junkie on high."

"She kept her eyes on the Amazons cooing over the baby, something Norman Rockwell would have painted if he were schizophrenic and dropping acid."

"thundertwats"

(I'll let that last one sink in.)

...........

Aside from this, the writing felt tedious and drawn out. What can I say, it wore me down. At the end of the day, not even the promise of Amazon biker chicks maybe feasting on soft baby thighs (or feeding said baby someone else's soft tender thighs) was enough to keep me going. *shrug*

Amazing- go grab a copy! So glad it is going to be part of a series.

I really had high hopes for this book. I liked the idea of why the dragons were appearing and I thought the idea of some people being immune to smoke was a unique idea. The writing was okay, but what turned me off was the attitude of the main character. He was kind of an ignorant bully, in my opinion. He seems to sneer at any solution other than simply killing and destroying and the smack he talked about Canada was annoying. No respect for any other ideas or perspective other than his own. He sort of came off as a an "ugly American" stereotype... a man who thinks talking about how many times he can have sex in one night and how tough he is is manly and impressive, when to me he really came off as a jerk. I kept hoping he'd be redeemed and recognize that not everything is about sex or smashing things to bits, but nope. It's too bad because the series, with a different type of lead character might have had a lot more depth and promise, but one book was enough.½

So what would happen if dragons -- fire breathing dragons -- became real? No other magic, just dragons. How would we cope? Firefighting would take on a whole new risk level. Cole Brannigan is about to retire, but his plans get derailed when he survives dragon smoke. He is the perfect person to take on the task of combining fire fighting with dragon fighting. Like his firefighting brothers too.½

I read a galley and blurbed it.

DNF @ 25%

This book had real potential, but it's too cliche to continue. It felt like I was reading a 90s TV show complete with the bad dialogue, no character development, and bad acting.

Very disappointed.

What an outstanding debut! Couldn't put it down.

What an outstanding debut! Couldn't put it down.

Firefighters vs. Dragons - that's what this book is all about. One hundred years or so in the future, dragons are awakened after tectonic shifts all over the world and are causing catastrophic fires everywhere. Enter the smoke eaters, humans who can breathe smoke, who use advanced weaponry to kill the dragons and allow the regular firefighters to come in and deal with the fires. It's goofy as hell, but still a fun read.

When I was three, we had a house fire. I was tucked in my bed in a tiny upstairs bedroom. A fireman rescued me, and when he set me in my mother's arms, I told her "he carried me out, just like Superman." I knew a good hero when I saw one. When I was offered the chance to read an ARC of Smoke Eaters, even though I wasn't sure if this was my kind of book, I said sure, because Firefighters vs Dragons? Heck yeah.

This was a good romp in a future world, where not only has the United States devolved into city states, but a plague of dragons is pretty much boiling up from the center of the earth, hellbent on feeding, mating, and consequently ravaging everything in their path. Cole Brannigan, a firefighter for 30 years, is just about to fight his last fire, when he finds out he one of the few people who are immune to dragon smoke. He is recruited into a group called the Smoke Eaters, an elite cadre of people who can withstand the smoke, and fight the creatures destroying the civilization above ground.

Things get dicey as the dragons get stronger, and political intrigue, in the form of a dastardly plot to take over the city, is discovered. Brannigan and his cohorts spring into action to fight the baddies, be they scaled or human. It's a pretty entertaining story. Oh, did I mention there are also wraiths? And robots? And some kick-ass battles?

Aside from my early firefighter interaction, my knowledge and appreciation of these men and women grew when my own son, also age three, developed a major fire truck (and firefighters, by extension) fascination. From that experience, and the inside views a hero-struck boy was given by very kind firemen* the details Sean Grigsby used in the novel all ring true, thanks to his firsthand experience as a firefighter.

It's my understanding that this may develop into a series. If so, I think it could be something fun to follow. I'd like to see a little tightening in the descriptions and rules of the world as it unfolds (but, I do like the cicada theory) and the interactions between the former US and Canada or other countries. The strengths of the book lie in the realism of the characters and of their work in fighting fire. One can extrapolate that the techniques applied to fighting dragons also rings true, but personally, I hope we never find out. But it settles one thing. I do want a robot dog.

I received my copy from the author's agent, for which I am most grateful.

*There were no women that we met as firefighters in the early 1990's, though there are many now.