The Fiery Arrow by Bo Burnette (The Reinhold Chronicles; 1)

The Synopsis:

It’s been twelve years since the volcano drove young Arliss and her clan of Reinhold from their island home.
Now, things are changing in their newfound kingdom. Princess Arliss is almost sixteen. Her father, King Kenton, urges her to take more responsibility–and to find a young man to carry on the line. But Arliss, a skilled archer, begins to question the class boundaries that divide her city on a hill. When her father forbids her friendship with the young peasant swordsman, Philip, Arliss sets off on a defiant quest to the heart of the land. Little does she know that she will discover an evil more threatening and ancient than she could imagine…and a prophecy that speaks of a fiery arrow.
The Fiery Arrow is the first book in The Reinhold Chronicles trilogy, a series of Celtic medieval adventure novels. For young adults who love archery, swordfights, dancing, and a splash of fantasy.

I received this book from the author via Reedsy for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

“You pay a price for friendship, because you get more than a person. You get their hurts and their histories, too.” -Philip, The Fiery Arrow

The Fiery Arrow is a tale of family, legends, mistakes, and faith. It’s a mixture of medieval clans and fantasy kingdoms; a book that has high stakes, ferocious battles, and fulfilled prophecies.

Before I say anything, I’m going to comment on the fact that it was so refreshing to pick up this fantasy book and learn that the characters honored God and actively lived out their faith! I truly had not expected that in this book and I believe it was handled very well! It wasn’t preachy or “overly Christian” by any means, it was simply the characters believing as they did and acting in accordance to God’s will. I loved it!

Now as far as storyline, I enjoyed it. It was a captivating plotline with remarkable, unique characters, and a really interesting world. I truly did enjoy the story. But there were a lot of things that had me confused and just didn’t quite make sense in my mind, mainly on how the city/kingdom of Reinhold was founded and so advanced in only twelve years. I am usually not that person who picks apart timelines, but with this one, I just had so many questions on how this small, primitive clan who escaped (in the prologue) a volcanic eruption with almost none of their supplies, had built an entire castle and seemingly well advanced society in only twelve years–and they didn’t even know what horses were (so they’d have had to move everything by hand?)? And their citizens of people seemed to more than triple in that twelve years too. My mind just seemed to go from “okay, this is a small clan building their society” in the prologue, to the next chapter being “wow, they’re a downright kingdom, where’d everyone come from?”! Maybe my imagination just made Reinhold seem bigger than it actually was, or I don’t know, it’s just an issue that resurfaced many times in my head as I read– especially when the horses appeared and the children had never seen them…

However, The Fiery Arrow is a good book and I truly did enjoy reading it (finished it in a day because I couldn’t put it down!). I loved the dynamics of the characters, the adventure, the prophecies, the setting, all of it! I just had a hard time believing the timeline, but who knows, maybe that question will be answered in the next book?

I give it 4 out of 5 stars and do recommend it as a clean, entertaining fantasy. There is no cursing, no sexual content, and only mild description in the action scenes.