Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole

Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole

Glow of the Everflame is the second book in Penn Cole's The Kindred's Curse saga. I read the first book, Spark of the Everflame, last year and was intrigued by the overall plot of the series but was concerned by the expected publish date of the last novel. It appears that Penn Cole self published the first three books in her series. Now that the books have gained traction (Glow of the Everflame is a USA Today Bestseller), a publishing company has purchased the rights for print copies of the book. I'm hopeful that now that the first three books in the series have been published in both hardcover and paperback formats, that we will soon get a new date to expect the last book in the series, Burn of the Everflame. As for Glow of the Everflame, it deals with body shaming and bullying, child abuse and death, adult death, violence, blood, grief, fire, toxic relationships, talk of war, injury detail, and classism.

When King Ulther died, the last thing that Diem expected was to have the Crown of Lumnos start hovering over hear head - making her the new queen. She's a mortal, and there has never been a mortal Crown. Or at least, she's supposed to be. Diem soon learns the truth about herself and the things that her mother has hidden from her. Now she walks a tightrope between the mortals, who believed that she was one of them and wonders now if she will continue to fight for them or leave them to continue to be persecuted, and the Descended, who in large part want the mortals eliminated and who distrust Diem because of her upbringing. All that, and she's not even queen yet. She still has to survive the Challenging, in which all Descended Houses that have issue with Diem becoming Queen of Lumnos can put forth their own champion to fight Diem to the death. And it seems like a whole lot of the Descended Houses have a problem with Diem.

When I first picked up Spark of the Everflame, I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. That being said, I did expect more from Glow of the Everflame, and I'm happy to announce that it delivered. We get to explore a part of this world that we didn't really touch in the first book and you learn a lot more about how the Descended work. I enjoyed seeing the politicking and the inner workings of the Houses with a whole host of new characters, many of which are entirely unlikeable but some of them I really liked. Diem is still naive about a lot, but she is coming into her own and finding a new kind of strength. She has spent her entire life hating the Descended and now she needs to learn to accept a part of herself that she did not really know existed. I enjoyed watching her figure her shit out, and Teller was a delight much of the time, although he really needs to learn to tell Diem to stop talking and listen occasionally. The secondary characters seem to have some depth to them that we haven't necessarily touched on yet, but you can see is there and I'm intrigued to learn more of their stories. And as for Luther, he gives one of the best declarations I've ever heard from a love interest. I was firmly Team Luther after that monologue.

I'm giving Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole 4.25 stars out of 5. It was better than the first and ended on a very exciting note. I'm interested to see where the series go and I really hope we get a date for the last novel in The Kindred's Curse saga. Spice level was .5, although there's a lot of yearning. For a summary of the books in The Kindred's Curse as well as a spoiler free study guide, check out our summary page.

For more from the author, check out https://www.penncole.com/

Pairs well with an omelet, like the Denver omelet, and asking a magic 8 ball a question.

My favorite quote:

"They want us to feel small, Eleanor. They want us to be quiet, be predictable, be unimportant, behave. Then they make us think we deserve it. But I think they're just terrified we'll stop listening to them and start listening to each other."

"Survive first... mind the consequences later."

"It's a reminder that no challenge can destroy the parts of us that truly matter. We're not reborn in the flames. We're revealed."

Review of Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole - The Kindred's Curse book 1