Review: Wildefire by Karsten Knight

Title: Wildefire
Author: Karsten Knight
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publish Date: July 26, 2011
Genre: YA, paranormal
Pages: 393
Series:
1. Wildefire
2. Embers and Echoes (Summer 2012)
3. Afterglow (Summer 2013)

Synopsis:
Ashline Wilde never received an instruction manual on how to be a 16-year-old Polynesian volcano goddess. If she had, it might have contained helpful warnings such as:

• Dreaming about your (thankfully) mortal boyfriend may cause your bed to spontaneously combust
• Oven mitts should be worn at all times during heavy make-out sessions

Instead, Ash has to learn these life lessons the hard way as her dormant powers erupt at the most awkward times. In the wake of a hometown tragedy, Ash transfers to Blackwood Academy, a boarding school nestled in California’s redwoods, where a group of fellow gods-on-earth have mysteriously convened. As if sophomore year couldn’t get any worse, her storm goddess older sister, the wild and unpredictable Eve, resurfaces to haunt Ashline. With a war between the gods looming over Blackwood, Ash must master the fire smoldering within her before she clashes with her sister one final time, which leads us to life-lesson #3:

• When warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

From Karsten's website

I’m upset with Karsten because of the ending of this book. I’ve heard that’s a common sentiment upon finishing WILDEFIRE. And not because it’s bad, but because it’s a huge cliffhanger. And not like, the last few pages, but just the last line. I’m pretty sure I yelled “NO!” and slammed the book shut. So, that’s my warning.

The beginning of this book is explosive. It starts out with Ashline kicking another girl’s ass over a guy. First of all, it’s awesome that she’s kicking ass. Second of all, she must have some issues if she’s doing it over a guy (probably both anger and emotional issues). The first chapter really gives you a great idea of who Ashline is as a person and what her family situation is. I liked how the novel started out explosive, and then took a big step down. It really sucked me into the story because I wanted to know how the events at the beginning would affect the rest of the story.

The characters were all pretty fun. Ashline herself is a hardcore girl. All of the characters were different in their own ways, which is great. I loved the group of the six gods and goddesses. They made a good team even though they all kind of came from different groups. The one thing that I had trouble with was remembering each of their powers. I found myself having to jump back to one part in the book to remind myself which character was which God or Goddess. Either way, I did like how Karsten included a lot of different Gods/Goddesses. It wasn’t just the typical Greek or Roman ones; There was a Norse God, an Egyptian Goddess, among others, and of course a Polynesian Goddess. It was great to see some other cultures getting some attention as well.

The story itself was good. There was definitely a lot going on when you look at the book on a whole: Eve, Colt, tennis matches, the weird black things with a blue flame eye, Central America… And the majority of it occurred in the span of a week. Now that I’m done the book, I kind of wonder about some things that weren’t fully explained. I suppose that the following books will contain more answers. At least, I hope so. EMBERS AND ECHOES, book 2 in the series, is due for publication Summer 2012.