“Destiny’s Fire”, by Trisha Wolfe

The year is 2040 and two races are struggling to survive hidden from the human race. The Kythan are an ancient race of beings who were once guardians over the Egyptian pharaohs. There are two sub-races of Kythan, the Shythe and the Narcolym. The Shythe have the ability to create and channel charge, which is a kind of blue energy, and the Narcolym’s ability is to create and channel flame. Both races pass as humans most of the time but they do have Kythan forms that they can change into.

The Shythe live in a place called Haven Falls alongside humans and protected from the Narcolym by a magic barrier. Overseen by two separate councils the two races have lived apart and in relative peace for years. With both races facing extinction the coucils decide it is time to reunite the races. The barrier is taken down and the Narcolym are welcomed into Haven Falls and into the special Shythe student academy.

Our main characters in this interesting story are….

*Dez (Destiny) is a Shythe girl with a big secret. Dez’s three best friends are Jace, Lana, and Nick. They are triplets and the children of one of the Shythe council members.

*Reese is a Narcolym boy who has many secrets of his own.

                The author was nice enough to send me a copy of this book to review and I was excited about the steampunk feel of the story. (I was told that this book was written for adult readers, but I think it would do much better as a teen novel.) This book was easy to read and I liked the characters.

Reese was my favorite person to read about, he was interesting and complex; and I found myself caring what happened to him more then the others. Lana was very fun and carefree, a perfect contrast to the much more serious Dez. I felt like I didn’t get enough of a feel for Nick and what he was all about, but that leaves the author plenty of character development for future books. Jace was moody and impulsive, and I couldn’t help but like him. These teens had to deal with some tough issues in this book and some pretty big enemies. I loved the courage shown throughout and the determination to do the right thing. I found most of the reactions from the teens to be very realistic and believable.  

Dez, the main character of this story, made some decisions that were questionable and I felt annoyed with her several times in this book. However, by the last page she had managed to win me over and I have to say that I really liked this story. “Destiny’s Fire” had a sweet romance, plenty of danger, adventure, and some really original ideas.

“Destiny’s fire” is the first in what I assume will be a series and I look forward to reading the next installment. I think the author has a lot of material to work with in this inviting world she has created.