Semra has learned that as an assassin, there is only one person you can rely on, and that’s yourself. However, in E. A. Winter’s series, Blood and Flame Saga, she begins to question whether it is possible to trust others.

***Please Note***

In this post, you’ll find reviews for the series as a whole, plus each book individually. I do my best not to give away spoilers, but some details are necessary for subsequent reviews.

Before we dive in to the review on the book, here is a reminder of how I rate what I read (these will be on a scale of 1-10; 1 being low, 10 being high):

• Plot Structure: How well the story was put together.
• Character Development: Level of growth a character achieves and how well the author makes them feel “real.”
• Language: Level of swearing, innuendos, verbal abuse, and other triggers.
• Violence: Level of fight scenes and gore.
• Sexual Content: Level of physical intimacy.

Something new this year will also be my star ratings. As I’m a reviewing with Reedsy Discovery, I will be sharing more of those books here as well. They have a specific star rating system that I will be using when rating books.

Here are the star ratings and what they mean:

Anything less than two stars will not be posted as I don’t want to waste your time or mine.

If you would like an editorial review for your own book with content ratings, you can contact me directly, or request me as your reviewer on Reedsy Discovery.

Disclaimer: The more I write, the more I critique books harder on plot structure and how the various elements work together. Thus my reviews reflect this. However, if you see a book appear on the blog, it’s because I enjoyed reading and thought you, as a fellow bookie, would enjoy it as well. As always, reading is subjective and what resonates with me may not resonate with you. And that’s OK! We’re in this to discover new books that are family appropriate and worth taking the time to read.

Book Descriptions:

My Reviews:

Dragon’s Kiss:

This novel was a fun, fast-paced read. We jump right into Semra Baraka’s life as a teenage assassin. Growing up in the caves of Mount Hara, she doesn’t know much besides knives and the next mission. That changes when she runs away from the only home she’s had to become a better person.

I enjoyed the fact that she left to save a younger girl instead of the typical love trope we often see from the get-go. However, love is still part of the reason as to why she continues her path.

This book felt a little one-dimensional, as there are no major side stories. There’s war in the background, but everything is so focused on surviving the gala that all else fades into the background. This has the vibes of most thriller type books in that we are only focused on one event.

It was also a predictable storyline. Plus, her clumsy attempts to get surveillance don’t convince me that she’s done this before.

• Plot Structure: 6/10: The plot was very one-dimensional. Semra had a singular focus, and some of the ways she went about her plans was silly and illogical at times. At the end battle, there is a moment when she and Siler are doing a body count game to see who has the most kills. While I get that the author was trying to lighten things up, this felt coerced and unnatural.
• Character Development: 6/10: I really wanted to see greater growth and depth from the main characters in this series. Semra takes hold of this idea that she can use her assassin skills to keep good people safe, but we don’t grow much beyond this.
• Language: 1/10: No swearing
• Violence: 6/10: The violence doesn’t get gory, but there are battle scenes and times where Semra fulfills her assassin missions. These moments are not extreme in their descriptions, but they are frequent.
• Sexual Content: 1/10; Most of the intimacy of this novel comes in the form of simple touches such as hand holds and hugs. No kissing in this novel.

Broken Bonds:

This novel is much more complex than the first. We have multiple POV characters and we have more layers to the overall storyline, making this one much more intriguing for me as a reader.

The side stories add a lot to this novel as we get motivations for Semra’s opposition and why they want to eliminate her. We also see more of the landscape in the novel and the map at the beginning of the books (beautifully done) helped a lot. 

Semra’s nightmares signal that she is changing. The faces of her past victims continue to haunt her, adding an element of dealing with trauma to this story.

Semra’s character is flat through most of the novel until she starts trusting others and pulling away from her past near the end. 

One thing to admire about Semra is how tenacious she is in pursuing her goal of keeping the royal family safe. The ways her magic grows is also well done.

Plot Structure: 7/10: Broken Bonds does a better job of story set ups and payoffs. The events are logical and flow well together.

Character Development: 7/10: The growth of Semra and Avaya was well done. They both made the story stronger and intriguing. I would have loved to see Zephan step forward more and be less of a reactive character.

Language: 1/10: No swearing

Violence: 6/10: The violence doesn’t get gory, but there are battle scenes and times where Semra is still fullfilling missions, though on her terms. There is a moment in the beginning when she kills a fellow asassin by gutting her. It is not overly descriptive, but still a disturbing image.

Sexual Content: 2/10; There are more hand holding, hugs, and one instance of a kiss. There are no lengthy descriptions on emotions felt during touches.

Noble Claims:

The third novel in this series is just as action-packed as the first two and we turn the tables on our main-character Semra when she is framed for murdering a neighboring king. Semra is placed on house-arrest while they try to sort out what happened, but the ex-assassin makes things worse for herself when she runs away.

Noble Claims is a great follow up for Broken Bonds. We get a lot more growth from Semra as she learns to trust Zephan and her other friends. She is still plagued my nightmares from the last book, but is working through them.

Winters does a great job of keeping her characters consistent. Though at times, I would have liked to see more growth, as with the other books. Semra’s sickness drags on for the majority of the book without any real signs of doing anything about it. Then the resolution of the sickness is anti-climatic after all the build-up we had on it.

One other thing that bothered me, but does work in the series’s favor for the last book is how Siler, who helps to create a low tension love triangle, just backs off and let’s Semra and Zephan come together. For me, this was a let down.

• Plot Structure: 7/10; The battle sequences and the opposition of Belvidor and Jannemar add a lot to this book over the death of the Belvidorian king. The constant danger to Zephan and his family keep the reader engaged throughout as we worry about them making it to the end. Making Semra’s sickness really mean something at the end rather than just smoke from her fingers would have made this stronger for me.
• Character Development: 7/10; Semra is progressing on her path to be the right person for Zephan, but she still doubts herself. Avaya goes on a negative character arc and solidifies her place as Queen of Belvidor, setting the stage for the final book.
• Language: 1/10; No swearing
• Violence: 5/10; Battle rages on and Semra is at the heart of it. The battle sequences in this novel felt less intense as a reader.
• Sexual Content: 2/10; Most of the intimacy of this novel comes in the form of simple touches such as hand holds and hugs.

Crimson Queen:

The final novel in the Blood and Flame Saga remained on par with the previous two books. The action and stakes go even higher when Semra’s old father figure Azi is set loose from the dungeons and helps to usher in forgotten magic. Azi continues to pose a threat from the shadows throughout the novel.

There was great build up to the final battle. Things look lost for our heroes until they finally understand the prophecy and how Semra fits into it.

A few things that could have improved this story for me and helped it to get a five-star rating would be spending less time sitting in the forest with Firigibar and not accomplishing much.

It was also too convenient for Siler to be an officiator and have documents on hand to perform Semra and Zephan’s wedding while they were trapped in a cave.

• Plot Structure: 7/10; The hostile take over in the beginning worked well to get the plot rolling, but we lost a lot of momentum when Semra and Aviama spend so long in Frigibar’s treehouse. It was also hard to swallow Zephan and Semra’s wedding that Siler just coincidentally had everything they needed for. The ending battle sequence was also hard to follow at times.
• Character Development: 8/10; Semra finally comes into her own in the novel. She understands who she is and how to controll her magic. We also seem more decisive growth from Zephan which I had been cheering for the entire series.
• Language: 1/10; No swearing,
• Violence: 6/10; Most of the violence comes from the final battle sequence. Again nothing overly gory, but definitely Lord of the Rings style violence.
• Sexual Content: 3/10; We see much more snuggling in this book as Zephan and Semra build their relationship. There are more descriptions over what touches feel like and how they get lost in each other’s eyes, but nothing extensive. However, nothing goes beyond kissing

Conclusion:

The Blood and Flame Saga is a fast-paced, assassin dragon rider series that is sure to excite readers and leave them rooting for more. Winters does a great job handling epic stories with multiple POVs and building each book upon the other.

You can find out more about the author at https://www.eawinters.com.

She also has a new series out that follows Ariana’s story called the Melderblood Chronicles.