‘In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets.
Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised.
Lucie alone knows of the deadly connection the young men share, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.
Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?‘
What I thought Tell the Wind and Fire was about is nothing to what I had expected. I originally expected that this book would be more apocalyptic. Instead what I read was a book following the story of Lucie, the main character of Tell the Wind and Fire, and who we read the story from.
As I said in the above paragraph, we read Tell the Wind and Fire from Lucie’s point of view. From her we learn what New York has come to be. We’re also given a little tid-bit of information on the rest of the state of New York. The story is always in Lucie’s little town, never really focusing on the outside world.
“My hobby is my job,” said Carwyn. “My job is my hobby. It’s a thing.”
— The sass that this boy has! I laughed at this scene. His responses were perfect to be honest. —
Tell the Wind and Fire, as I came to find out, is a loosely retold story of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I’ve never read A Tale of Two Cities before, so I cannot vouch for the authenticity. Although the author talks a little about this in her Author Notes at the end of the book.
I found Tell the Wind and Fire to be thoroughly enjoyable. The pacing of the plot was great and once you get into reading this book, everything seemed to happen right after the other. Like you know the saying “everything happens in three’s”? Lucie’s “luck” is pretty much like that, just, when her luck runs out, it really runs out.
‘My father told the truth and was punished. I told a lie and was richly rewarded.’
— This sentence was honestly such a strong statement, that when I first read it, I stopped reading and just thought about it for a little. —
Reading Tell the Wind and Fire took much longer than I expected. I read this book over the course of about a week, even though in my head it feels like reading Tell the Wind and Fire took waaay longer than that. Since reading Tell the Wind and Fire took so long, I can say that the book quickly lost its lustre. I definitely think however that if you read Tell the Wind and Fire in one sitting, its lustre would be there.
I actually thought that when I first stumbled upon this book, that Tell the Wind and Fire would be the first book to a series, but it isn’t! Which is totally surprising because there is a definite feel that the story could go on. Finding out that Tell the Wind and Fire was a standalone was pleasantly surprising!
‘The dead drift away from us, like reflections in moving water, hardly seen before they are lost.’
— Such a beautiful, heartbreaking sentence this was. I stopped to think about this quote too. —
By the time I finished reading Tell the Wind and Fire, I found that I really liked the book I read. The story is interesting (which is always a plus), and the Fantasy element to the whole experience of this book was great. Tell the Wind and Fire is a great novel, in my opinion. I loved how the rise and fall of the plot and action fit so well into the story.
There are two characters’ stories that a tragic and heart-wrenching. I won’t go into details, since doing so would result in some major spoilers!
‘I had made the decision long ago: better to be safe than good.’
— I loved this when I read it, and I still enjoy it now. I like this version of the sentence than the alternative: “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” one I grew up with as a child. With the above version, it’s like there’s a little of ‘it’s okay to be bad’ behind it all. —
With only having Lucie’s view on things we can only see this story through her eyes and thoughts. For me though, it was easy to se things from other characters’ perspectives too. Just thinking about one of the characters upbringings….breaks my heart all over again. I’m so saddened by that! Like I said before though, if I talk about it, it’d be a major spoiler! A cool thing about Lucie’s point of view is that she breaks the fourth wall. So she not only leads us through her story, but she also sometimes gives little pieces of her thoughts on the matter of things. Which I found to be incredibly unique.
‘People will come up with a hundred thousand reasons why other people do not count as human, but that does not mean anyone has to listen.
Nobody can ever tell me any different.
I know he did have a soul.’
— If you’ve already read Tell the Wind and Fire, then you know what part this is, and how heartbroken I am. —
I ended up giving Tell the Wind and Fire 3.5 of 5 stars on Goodreads.
Have you read Tell the Wind and Fire yet? If you have, what did you think? I would love to know!
Happy Reading!
Adele
Adele Is Reading 