Lia is the princess of Locris, a dying desert nation cursed centuries ago by an earth goddess—one still worshipped by the thriving and adversarial nation of Ilion. Every year, Ilion offers the goddess a sacrifice: two Locrian maidens forced to compete in a life-and-death race to reach her temple. In a millennium, no maiden has made it out of Ilion alive. This year, Lia is one of the hunted.
An education in battle gives her a fighting chance, but the challenges are greater than she feared: Lia’s beloved but untrained sister Quynh has been put in the path of danger. The winding streets of Ilion itself have been transformed into a labyrinthine maze of countless choices and dead ends. And if the risks weren’t significant enough, Lia is reluctantly drawn to the commandingly attractive Jason, an Ilionian sailor she loathes to trust and desires like no man before.
The tribute game is on. It’s up to Lia to lift the goddess’s curse, restore Locris to its former glory, and change the fate of every young woman destined to follow in her path.
Nancy’s Thoughts:
A Tribute of Fire offers an intriguing blend of epic fantasy, action adventure, and steamy romance. The story opens with Lia, the central character, training to survive the race in Ilion. If she can reach the temple, she’ll be safe, and she’ll have a chance to save her drought-ridden, starving homeland. Legend says an artifact known as the goddess’s eye is hidden in the temple. If Lia can obtain it, she can save her people and possibly end the sacrificial tradition. While other maidens pray not to be chosen as one of the two sacrifices, she makes arrangements that will ensure she’s picked.
Lia’s courage and determination had me rooting for her instantly. The odds against her surviving the race are staggering, but her plan is her country’s only hope.
She has more to deal with than the race, though. She is betrothed to a prince of Ilion, so she must manage to be chosen for the race and to run it without anyone from Ilion realizing she is the prince’s betrothed. While that may seem unlikely, Wilson sets up the situation so it’s believable.
Another complication tangles Lia’s plans when she meets Jason, a handsome sailor from Ilion, in her family’s palace garden. They are both stricken with immediate and compelling attraction that has them making out in the palace garden. While this may not be a problem for some readers, it was for me. I’m not a fan of irresistible lust, and having Lia making out with this unknown guy in the garden when she knows she shouldn’t bothered me a lot. Even though she feels they’re destined for each other, she loses her head with this stranger.
Their attraction worked better for me as the story continued because Jason does a lot to help her and Quynh on the journey across the sea to Ilion. He and Lia gradually come to know each other as she seeks the goddess’s eye and he helps her, adding relationship layers that are not just physical attraction. They also meet in their dreams, in steamy, romantic scenes that are very well done.
Jason’s help is sometimes mixed, though, as when he gives Lia a cryptic warning about the dangers of a situation. Because of her military training, Lia shrugs off this warning. Instead of being more specific, which might’ve made her wary, he lets her go ahead. She runs into trouble, and that left me feeling he’d let her down.
They have a big confrontation at the end of the story, one he engineers and has known is coming for a while. Yet he does nothing in the runup to it that might sap any of her anger and, in the moment, seems not to understand her feelings of betrayal. He also has an irresistible card he can play, one he could’ve played at any time. But he didn’t. That left me wondering why he hadn’t acted sooner.
The story world is based on Greek culture, including its myths and legends. The settings are detailed enough to feel real, but Wilson skillfully avoids overwhelming the reader with descriptive detail. After I finished the book, I read the author’s note, which said the sacrifice and the race come from Greek history. I’m a history nerd, so I think that is really cool. While I was reading, though, I found the similarities to Greek myths in a story not apparently set in Greece distracting. I kept stopping to compare the similarities with the Greek myths I’d read. This also is something that may not bother other readers.
The supporting characters are primarily women, including those in Lia’s adelphia, a group like sisters. Wilson does a good job of differentiating them, and the way she builds and demonstrates their loyalty to each other is beautifully done. The other women are also well drawn and interesting, as is their closed society.
The story overall is smoothly written and moves at a good pace, and the world is well drawn. The characters are engaging, though I did have problems with some of their choices.
Despite my reservations, I recommend this book with the caveat that it does end on a cliffhanger.
3.5 stars
~Nancy
