I will be here, when you think you’re all alone, seeping through the cracks, I’m the poison in your bones

The Flame Never Dies
Author: Rachel Vincent
Publication Date: August 16th 2016
Publisher: MIRA Ink
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

ONE SPARK WILL RISE

Nina Kane was born to be an exorcist. And since uncovering the horrifying truth―that the war against demons is far from over―seventeen-year-old Nina and her pregnant sister, Mellie, have been on the run, incinerating the remains of the demon horde as they go.

In the badlands, Nina, Mellie, and Finn, the fugitive and rogue exorcist who saved her life, find allies in a group of freedom fighters. They also face a new threat: Pandemonia, a city full of demons. But this fresh new hell is the least of Nina’s worries. The well of souls ran dry more than a century ago, drained by the demons secretly living among humans, and without a donor soul, Mellie’s child will die within hours of its birth.

Nina isn’t about to let that happen . . . even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.

If you said describe The Flame Never Dies in two words they would be delicious and evil. 

Deliciously evil, because Rachel Vincent isn't messing around, folks.

Really, she's not. *cough*

The Flame Never Dies is just as fast paced as The Stars Never Rise, though it did get off to a slower start, the action wasn't that far from it and you're hit with everything that made The Stars Never Rise so good, the character’s interactions, the relationship between Melanie and Nina, no relationship love triangle drama, no actual relationship drama between Nina and Finn, evil bitty demons and badassery, you get the picture. 

Nina's character growth in here is done so slightly that you don't see it at first, but the way she reacted and kept a level head and was willing to do whatever had to be done, says so much about this badass exorcist. We also get more of a backstory on Anathema, more specifically Finn and Maddock.

Which brings us to the plot. The way Maddock and Finn's backstory incorporated into the plot, I need to take a minute to say brava, because holy shit that was well done and evil in so many places leading up to it. The Flame Never Dies also ties up loose ends from The Stars Never Rise in an equally evil way, which was bloody fantastic, I'll tell you.

The romance is definitely taking a back seat to the plot, which thank you, because I was a little weirded out with the romance in The Stars Never Rise at first, but started to like it as it went on, and loved it a lot more in The Flame Never Dies because Finn now has a body for a while, and generally just how Nina and Finn casually act like a couple makes me much more happy than heavy romance, and this one is a lot more focused on the different type of families, the ones you have of blood, and the ones you choose, anyway.

The only thing I felt was missing in The Flames Never Die was the latter, because of the situation Nina finds herself in, the rest of Anathema take a back seat for a big chunk of the book, but it's such a small thing. 

If you enjoyed The Stars Never Rise, you're pretty much guaranteed to love The Flame Never Dies because it's badass female lead continues to be a badass female lead, and everything that was great about The Stars Never Rise is still great about The Flame Never Dies. 

Rating: 4.5/5