Fire and Heist Book Review

NetGalley gave me this book in exchange for an honest review.

The cover is what grabbed my attention. It is beautiful, don’t you think? Such rich colors. And DRAGONS!! I have a soft spot for all things dragon. I’ve read many books with dragons in it and enjoyed them quite well.  I have not read a book about a were-dragon before now.

Fire and Heist
by Sarah Beth Durst

 Sky Hawkins is a teenage girl whose mom has just disappeared, her long-time boyfriend just broke up with her in a very public manner, and her family has been disgraced. Sky, her three brothers, and her father are still in shock from these events. They are trying to move on and accept their new life minus their mom, position in the were-dragons society, and half their fortune is gone.  Nothing is the same as it was before. She is desperate to literally and figuratively put her family back together. Since money, specifically, gold is so very important to were-dragons, Sky plans her first heist.

In dragon society, leading a heist is a coming of age tradition. Sky cobbles together a team and a plan to pull it off. But of course, heists never go as planned.

Along the way, she uncovers family secrets and even societal secrets that will change her future forever.

The Writing

I devoured this story. The writing of this story is very clean and clear. The tone is fun and relatable. The pacing is quick but not breakneck speed. The characters are engaging and surprising, in a pleasant way. Durst has created an entire culture for these wyverns (were-dragons). These people, who used to be able to transform into dragons but have lost the ability over the last few centuries, are culturally more like dragons stuck in human form. The culture she has created seems extremely plausible given a dragon’s love of gold. It makes sense that the wyverns would base their society on the size of their hoards.

Another thing I like about this book: It is not an angsty romance. Yes, there is a boy involved, but she does not spend pages and pages merely pining over the boy who rejected her. She regrets what happened and she does spend some time working through this rejection and her future, but the author weaves it into the story very well.

Who Will Like This?

If you like dragons, you are sure to like this! If you like Rick Riordan’s stories about mythology with rich worldbuilding, then you are likely to enjoy this book too.

My Rating