Twelve gave up her name and identity to train in the art of hunting them--so she says. The truth is much more deadly: she trains to take revenge on those who took her family from her.
But when Twelve's new home is attacked, she'll find herself on an unexpected journey, where her hidden past is inescapably intertwined with her destiny--and the very fate of her world.
Twelve went through something so tragic that she was left completely alone. She made her way to the Hunting Lodge to become a Hunter because what else was there for her to do? Once there and accepted she has to give up her name and her identity to become only Twelve. If she can survive her blooding then she may chose a name and go from huntling to Hunter. But that’s not what she’s there for. Twelve wants to learn everything she can so she can exact revenge on those who took everything from her. When the Lodge is attacked, something unheard of, all of her plans start to crumble. Will she firm up her plans or adapt to her new situation?
Twelve is an interesting character. There is tragedy in her past and something else. She is determined and focused, but at what expense? She has no friends and even though she says she doesn’t want or need any, everyone needs at least one person they can count on. Her training helps considerably when she ventures out beyond the Hunting Lodge, but she has so much to learn. Enter her traveling companions…
Twelve knows intellectually that she’s not the only person to suffer, but everyone who joins the Hunting Lodge has to leave their identity behind. They pledge themselves to the Lodge and ALL the peoples of the land, not just their own clans. So, they aren’t allowed to talk about their pasts. Not even what their names once were or why they ended up at the Lodge. But she’s so focused on her own agenda she forgets that she’s not the only one with a tragic past. As she finds out during her travels with her unexpected companions.
I don’t want to give away details of their journey, it’s reason, or who her companions are, I just want to say that it’s a learning experience for them all. Each and every one of them. And, for the reader, too as we discover secrets and more secrets along the way. Some questions are answered and some things are put right, but at the end of Fireborn, we know the story is just beginning.
If you have an appetite
for Middle Grade Fantasy filled with danger, a journey, and learning opportunities
then Fireborn is a satisfying and
tasty treat.
Aisling was born in 1985
and wishes that she had grown up in a magical, mountainous kingdom, but was
actually raised in Surrey on a diet of books and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her
early ‘adventure’ stories involved surprisingly little action and her first
novel (3 pages long) was politely declined by publishers at age 11. After earning
a BSc in Biology and working as a support worker and then a nurse, the idea for
her debut novel, Fireborn, came to her as she moved back and forth between
London and the US. Now based in Hackney, when she is not reading or writing,
Aisling loves cooking and plotting adventures (for herself as well as her
fictional characters). Fireborn will be published by HarperCollins in 2021.
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