Fireborn: Phoenix and the Frost Palace

by Aisling Fowler

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The second book in the thrilling Fireborn series finds Twelve, now named Phoenix, harnessing her newfound fire powers and setting off on an epic adventure to save Icegaard – and all of Ember – before it’s too late. Fans of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief won’t wait to miss this breathtaking series.

Twelve journeys to new lands and embarks on even more perilous adventures in this sequel to Fireborn, which B.B. Alston praised as "the best kind of children's fantasy story." 

Twelve is now a full-fledged hunter, with a new name worthy of her fiery powers: Phoenix.

But with her new powers come new responsibilities. When a plea for help arrives from the long-lost witch clan, it’s clear Phoenix’s newfound fire is their only hope. Phoenix and her friends must travel to Icegaard, the witches’ home, to combat the mysterious darkness there—one that grows stronger each day.

But deep within this darkness lies an enemy that could destroy Ember entirely . . . unless Phoenix can find the strength to stop it.

A thrilling adventure and poignant journey all in one, this second novel in the Fireborn trilogy—perfect for fans of The School for Good and Evil and the His Dark Materials series—will take Phoenix and her readers to enchanting new worlds, where unexpected friends, untold dangers, and a treacherous new enemy await. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062996756
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Series:	Fireborn Series , #2
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	98,563
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Aisling Fowler was born in 1985 and wishes that she had grown up in a magical, mountainous kingdom, but was actually raised in Surrey on a diet of books and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her early "adventure" stories involved surprisingly little action and her first novel (three pages long) was politely declined by publishers at age 11. After earning a BSc in Biology and working as a support worker and then a nurse, the idea for her debut novel, Fireborn, came to her as she moved back and forth between London and the US. Now based in Hackney, when she is not reading or writing, Aisling loves cooking and plotting adventures (for herself as well as her fictional characters).

Editorial Reviews

"Fireborn is a thrillingly assured debut that grips from the get-go. Featuring a fiercely charismatic heroine and a cast of extraordinary companions, it transports the reader to a fascinating landscape of ice and peril. Aisling Fowler conjures up the perfect balance of high adventure, breathless action and eerie wonder, mixing it all with scenes of genuine emotional power. Elegantly structured, endlessly exciting, Fireborn is the perfect introduction to a rich and magical new world." — Jonathon Stroud, New York Times bestselling author of the Lockwood & Co and Bartimaeus series

"Fireborn is the best kind of children’s fantasy story, thrilling and imaginative while packing an emotional punch. It’s sure to have young readers clamoring for more!" 
— BB Alston, New York Times bestselling author of Amari and the Night Brothers

“A quest that’s about inner knowledge and cooperation… Lovers of bloody fantasy epics will be glad to have another.”
— Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

The perfect balance of high adventure, breathless action and eerie wonder, mixing it all with scenes of genuine emotional power.”

New York Times bestselling author Jonathon Stroud

"Fireborn is the best kind of children’s fantasy story, thrilling and imaginative while packing an emotional punch. It’s sure to have young readers clamoring for more!" 

BB Alston

"Fireborn is a thrillingly assured debut that grips from the get-go. Featuring a fiercely charismatic heroine and a cast of extraordinary companions, it transports the reader to a fascinating landscape of ice and peril. Aisling Fowler conjures up the perfect balance of high adventure, breathless action and eerie wonder, mixing it all with scenes of genuine emotional power. Elegantly structured, endlessly exciting, Fireborn is the perfect introduction to a rich and magical new world."

Jonathon Stroud

2023-03-29
Hunters-in-training travel to the frozen wastes to defeat a great evil.

Phoenix (the tween formerly known as Twelve) has a new Hunter name and a shocking fire elemental power, but the world has changed for the worse since the great battle at the Hunting Lodge. When Headwitch Yelara appears, it’s the first contact any of the clans have had with the witches for 40 years, and she bears a dire warning. Phoenix and her friends Five, Six, and Seven, who read White, must journey to the great frozen wave of Icegaard to battle the Shadowseam, a terrifying hole in the world. The all-female band of witches have been entirely isolated in the decades since all the adult witches were killed by the Shadowseam; nevertheless, they have children (a diverse trio, one pale and blue-eyed, one olive-skinned, and one with dark brown skin and braids). Phoenix, trying to master her elemental fire and constantly trying to remember monster descriptions from A Magical Bestiary, doesn’t notice that Seven is acting strangely. Never fear, the reveal of Seven’s behavior at the end of this overlong adventure sets up Phoenix and Seven’s next adventure. Like Widge, Phoenix’s squirrel friend who exists only to chitter periodically on her shoulder, most characters feel like mere set dressing for Phoenix’s quest.

Sometimes entertaining but largely underdeveloped and forgettable. (map) (Fantasy. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews