The Fire Sermon is the first book in a dystopian trilogy from Francesca Haig.
When Zach and I were born our parents must have counted and recounted: limbs, fingers, toes. We were perfect. They would have been disbelieving: nobody dodged the split between Alpha and Omega.
Nobody.
They were born together and they will die together.
One strong Alpha twin and one mutated Omega; the only thing they share is the moment of their death.
The Omegas live in segregation, cast out by their families as soon as their mutation becomes clear. Forced to live apart, they are ruthlessly oppressed by their Alpha counterparts.
The Alphas are the elite. Once their weaker twin has been cast aside, they're free to live in privilege and safety, their Omega twin far from their thoughts.
Cass and Zach are both perfect on the outside: no missing limbs, no visible Omega mutation. But Cass has a secret: one that Zach will stop at nothing to expose.
The potential to change the world lies in both their hands. One will have to defeat the other to see their vision of the future come to pass, but if they're not careful both will die in the struggle for power.
Book Review
The Fire Sermon was an enjoyable read despite the fact I'm a bit burned out on the dystopian genre.
The dystopian hook with The Fire Sermon revolves around twins. In each pair of twins there is an Alpha and an Omega. The Omega always has a genetic defect and is split off from their family and their twin. The twins are still linked, however, and when one twin dies, so does the other. It's an intriguing concept. I'll be honest - I didn't grasp how some of the twin phenomenons in The Fire Sermon could realistically occur, but it was easy for me to "go with it".
Since Cass and Zach were both seemingly born with no defects, their story goes far beyond the typical Alpha and Omega twin existence.
I'm not sure if The Fire Sermon is classified as a YA novel or not, but it is probably best suited for YA readers. It's unfortunate The Fire Sermon is being released into an oversaturated market. I can imagine it would have been extremely popular about four years ago, but it's going to have a tough time standing out against the crowd. The Fire Sermon is the first book of a planned trilogy so hopefully it can pick up traction and find a good audience.
Like most series books - especially of the YA flavor - my rating for the series will likely be higher than my rating for the individual books. As it stands now, The Fire Sermon is a solid 3-stars, with plans to read book two.
6/10: Good Read
Review copy provided by publisher
I believe this one is actually an adult release rather than a YA. I was really looking forward to this one - I'm not burnt out on dystopians at all - but hearing that it's not a stand out is a bit of a bummer. I'll be getting to it soon nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteHi Becky! I was completely expecting an adult book, but that's not what it read like. My experience wasn't a bad one, but maybe your's will be better!
ReplyDeleteToo bad this one will have a hard time standing out because it does sound good.
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