The Fire Sermon
Author: Francesca Haig
Publication Date: February 23rd 2015
Publisher: HarperVoyager
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
When Zach and I were born our parents must have counted and recounted: limbs, fingers, toes. We were perfect. They would have been disbelieving: nobody dodged the split between Alpha and Omega.
Nobody.
They were born together and they will die together.
One strong Alpha twin and one mutated Omega; the only thing they share is the moment of their death.
The Omegas live in segregation, cast out by their families as soon as their mutation becomes clear. Forced to live apart, they are ruthlessly oppressed by their Alpha counterparts.
The Alphas are the elite. Once their weaker twin has been cast aside, they're free to live in privilege and safety, their Omega twin far from their thoughts.
Cass and Zach are both perfect on the outside: no missing limbs, no visible Omega mutation. But Cass has a secret: one that Zach will stop at nothing to expose.
The potential to change the world lies in both their hands. One will have to defeat the other to see their vision of the future come to pass, but if they're not careful both will die in the struggle for power.
I will not comment on the whole The Hunger Games meets
______(insert whatever other popular book series that may or may not relate to this actual
book, here). I will not. You could say
it has an essence of it, barely, but when you come down to it, no. You're not
in districts, yes, you're separated in terms of 'class' which, is only two
forms of it. Alpha or Omega. The Omega lands are not that bad either, not like
District 12, I finished reading Finnikin
of the Rock by Melina Marchetta before starting this, and even that is more Hunger Games than this.
Secondly, The Fire Sermon has a great concept, I'm not saying it doesn't. But the reality of that concept is rather boring, when it shouldn't be. That for me, is all down to the writing. And the characters. So let me explain a little in the way I can explain it. The writing felt overdone. At first, the constant repeat of thoughts, over and over. In a matter of paragraphs. It's sunny today, though it's cold. I think I'll go outside, do some shopping, drink coffee. blah blah blah blah. Even though the sun is out, the wind is bitter, so I'm drinking coffee while shopping, hoping it'll warm up my hands
Secondly, The Fire Sermon has a great concept, I'm not saying it doesn't. But the reality of that concept is rather boring, when it shouldn't be. That for me, is all down to the writing. And the characters. So let me explain a little in the way I can explain it. The writing felt overdone. At first, the constant repeat of thoughts, over and over. In a matter of paragraphs. It's sunny today, though it's cold. I think I'll go outside, do some shopping, drink coffee. blah blah blah blah. Even though the sun is out, the wind is bitter, so I'm drinking coffee while shopping, hoping it'll warm up my hands
See? (this is
not an actual quote, fyi). Although in The Fire Sermon, in Cass's cell, it's
about her twin's decreasing visits. There were around three or four mentions of
it. In one page. Maybe that wouldn't have irked me as much if it wasn't for
every drawn out sentence for every little movement, in detail. Every sentence
is important, after all, the writing has to make you want to keep reading,
right? Instead, it bored me to the point I'd rather make 27 notes within the
first 30%, and none of them were nice. The constant mention of tanks, though we
know Cass is in a room full of tanks, but in case you forget that, The Fire
Sermon will remind you about it. I admit I'm being mean, but seriously, this
book just annoyed me so much, there was nothing that interested me, the conversations are just awkward, the
writing isn't smooth, and even when something happens that should be intense
and full of adrenaline, was slogged down by all of the above.
The Fire Sermon might've been saved by the characters
(although, if I'm honest, I don't think anything could've saved this for me)
but maybe I would've actually finished it, or even felt like continuing a
little further, if I just gave the slightest fuck about the characters- which,
I didn't. Cass, herself, is monotone. I didn't get her voice, not that I
would've liked it if I did anyway, but you know. She just existed, which, if
that was the whole point because of Omega twin thing, then it succeeded. Then
there's Cass's Alpha twin, Zach, who is one of the most pretentious little
pricks I've ever had the displeasure of reading about (maybe even beating Marguerite
in A Thousand Pieces of You) who thinks Cass is the reason he was never fully
accepted by the Alpha's because she tainted him. Newsflash asshole, a) the
world doesn't revolve around you and b) no one likes you because you think it
does. if Zach was my twin and, whether I was a perfect Alpha or a lowly
disfigured Omega, I'd rather kill myself just so I could kill him. Totally
would.
I'm DNF-ing at 35%, because I will lose my sanity, it's
mind-numbingly boring and I will literally die of boredom, just like Cass can
literally get pushed out of her own
mind, 'kay.
If you had a twin like Zach, would you kill yourself just to kill him? (Or is that just me?)
------
Just me? Okay.
