Review: The Fire Within is...an experience
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2013
I caught this book while it was free, and with free books, I tend to have lower expectations.  Not of the stories, those are still alright, but the quality of the publication.  I'm a bit of a stickler for correct grammar/spelling, and there are *so* many points in this book that throw me off when reading.  For example, instead of minute, you typically see 'minuet.'  At one point, the main character had 'her curiosity piked.'  There are also multiple spots where it just seems like the last letter got dropped.  Worst of all (imho), there are *tons* of silly mistakes that anyone who speaks English and has completed schooling should not make.  Things like distinguishing [there, they're, their], [its, it's], etc.  Hopefully in the future, the author will push an updated version that's more polished.On to the story.  It's a bit all over the place.  The story follows multiple people, but it can all be reduced to how this Underworld with all its paranormal residents is impacted by the arrival of Anna, a human.  There are multiple POVs per chapter, but those don't overwhelm the reader.  The author is just trying to let you see into the heads of others/what's going on elsewhere in the world.  What throws me about the story though is that it seems like anything and everything paranormal that the author could think of got thrown into this story.  Vampires, werewolves, mermaids, fairies.  At one point, a character uses something similar to gillyweed from Harry Potter.  These don't necessarily make the story bad, but with the writing style used, it's a lot of information getting presented in a single book.  It's further exacerbated by the author using a rather concise writing style (some exceptions to this, mostly dealing with redundancies).  The paragraphs at many times do not feel like they fit well together, or there are major jumps in the story similar to a Disney romance - the female lead tends to go from zero interest to being in love with a snap of one's fingers.  In the story, Anna very quickly changes her opinions of her preferred suitor.  Perhaps another reviewer was right in commenting that the book should be split into a few books, so the stories can be more flushed out.All that sounds pretty harsh, I know, but the story is still readable despite its flaws (trust me, there are books out there where free is overpaying).  I think the series holds promise, especially since the characters in this book are so varied.  Give it a try if you're looking for something that casts a wide net in terms of paranormal components to the story.