Fireborn: Phoenix and the Frost Palace

Written by Aisling Fowler

Narrated by Kristin Atherton

The next action-packed FIREBORN adventure

‘The best kind of children’s fantasy story: thrilling and imaginative’ B. B. Alston, author of Amari and the Night Brothers

‘The perfect balance of high adventure, breathless action and eerie wonder’ Jonathan Stroud, author of the Bartimaeus trilogy

HOPE GROWS FROM THE ASHES . . .

Twelve has become a hunter and chosen a new name to reflect her elemental power: Phoenix.

Three months after the destruction of the Hunting Lodge, a witch arrives from the frost palace of Icegaard, desperate for Phoenix’s help. Icegaard is in grave danger from an evil force called the Shadowseam, and if the witch-palace falls, all the clans of Ember will fall with it.

Travelling north, Phoenix and her friends, Five, Six and Seven, must battle frightening new monsters and find a way to defeat the Shadowseam. But as Phoenix learns to control her new power, the faceless Croke begins to haunt her dreams . . .

Phoenix will have to fight with everything she’s got to save Ember from mortal danger. But the price of survival may be more than she can pay.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Mar 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9780008394219

Aisling Fowler

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).

Reviews for Fireborn

[avoraciousreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book source ~ TourTwelve went through something so tragic that she was left completely alone. She made her way to the Hunting Lodge to become a Hunter because what else was there for her to do? Once there and accepted she has to give up her name and her identity to become only Twelve. If she can survive her blooding then she may chose a name and go from huntling to Hunter. But that’s not what she’s there for. Twelve wants to learn everything she can so she can exact revenge on those who took everything from her. When the Lodge is attacked, something unheard of, all of her plans start to crumble. Will she firm up her plans or adapt to her new situation?Twelve is an interesting character. There is tragedy in her past and something else. She is determined and focused, but at what expense? She has no friends and even though she says she doesn’t want or need any, everyone needs at least one person they can count on. Her training helps considerably when she ventures out beyond the Hunting Lodge, but she has so much to learn. Enter her traveling companions…Twelve knows intellectually that she’s not the only person to suffer, but everyone who joins the Hunting Lodge has to leave their identity behind. They pledge themselves to the Lodge and ALL the peoples of the land, not just their own clans. So, they aren’t allowed to talk about their pasts. Not even what their names once were or why they ended up at the Lodge. But she’s so focused on her own agenda she forgets that she’s not the only one with a tragic past. As she finds out during her travels with her unexpected companions.I don’t want to give away details of their journey, it’s reason, or who her companions are, I just want to say that it’s a learning experience for them all. Each and every one of them. And, for the reader, too as we discover secrets and more secrets along the way. Some questions are answered and some things are put right, but at the end of Fireborn, we know the story is just beginning.If you have an appetite for Middle Grade Fantasy filled with danger, a journey, and learning opportunities then Fireborn is a satisfying and tasty treat.