Tell the Wind and Fire ~ Sarah Rees Brennan (earc) review [@sarahreesbrenna @HMHCo]

Tell the Wind and Fire
Clarion Books
April 05, 2016
368 pages
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In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets.

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised. Lucie alone knows the young men’s deadly connection, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?

Tell the Wind and Fire is a sort of dystopian, urban fantasy, magic filled re-work of A Tale of Two Cities. " That doesn't mean you have to love - or even have read - the Dickens classic to read this story. As the author says in the Author's Note, "Tell the Wind and Fire stands as its own story, and you don't have to know anything about A Tale of Two Cities to enjoy it." (pg 358) But, she does hope it might prompt you to read the Dickens tale.

"Once you lose something, it tends to stay gone. This is especially true with chances." (pg 3)

Lucie Manette knows you may never get a second chance so if you're going to do something, do it. When her boyfriend is accused of a crime and threatened with execution, she has to act. It doesn't matter if she knows he's innocent, if even the idea of it is absurd, Lucie can't wait for the guards to figure that out, too.

What she doesn't know, though, is how the unexpected event and the seeming stranger they encounter is going to change so, so much for them. Their entire lives, really.

The two cities, Light New York and its counterpart the Dark city, the Light and Dark magics, what is believed about each and those with it and how society is divided in Tell the Wind and Fire is revealed well. We get enough information in the beginning to know that there is magic, that there's the divide and the two cities. We learn more about the differences and the divide as we also learn Lucie, Ethan, and Carwyn's stories.

Each of the characters is keeping secrets - sometimes you're aware of things they're keeping from the others (especially in Lucie's case as she's our narrator) but often you're not. I liked that the action of the story, the societal and familial rules and power structures would seem to take precedent, leaving the characters feelings or beliefs behind. Only to have that, ultimately, not be true.

The relationship(s) between Lucie, Ethan, and Carwyn was fantastically messy. Elements of it seemed like they should be simple, cut and dry, but much like the world they live in, right and wrong was not as clearly defined as it appeared.

I loved when things started to come together, all that Lucie not only learned about herself but the different light she began to see others - form both her past and present - in, what that said about them and about her.

That last chapter, though? Oh. I don't even know what to say. I loved it, I hated it, I loved it again. So many emotions all over that one. It is a fantastic ending, that I do know.






received for review, via NetGalley, from publisher