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[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [title] title The Flame [author] author Jaye, Skylar * [isbn] isbn 162380776X [isbn13] isbn13 9781623807764 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 162 pp [avg rating] avg rating 3.44 [num ratings] num ratings 43 [date pub] date pub Jul 02, 2013 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Jul 03, 2013 [rating] Cole's rating 3 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 2 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started Jun 29, 2013 [date read] date read Jun 29, 2013 [date added] date added Jun 28, 2013 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format ebook [29] actions view (with text) [review] 
review Review posted at The Armchair Reader. Skylar Jaye is a new author for me, and probably will be for most of you as well. From what I can see, this autho Review posted at The Armchair Reader. Skylar Jaye is a new author for me, and probably will be for most of you as well. From what I can see, this author only has a couple of short stories in anthologies and The Flame is their first solo publication. In a way, that shows in this book, but I also saw a lot that I liked and overall, I enjoyed reading the book. Jeremy Ashe is a sophomore at Samuin College, the mage college where almost all magi train. He's a private guy with just a couple of solid friends. He also has a secret… one that involves his family and all the trouble they have brought upon him, simply for being related to them. It's a drag, and so something he has kept secret from everyone. Jeremy is at the college studying runes, though he has an innate wind elemental ability, something that he clashes on in fundamental theory with his family and the general mindset of the magical community. He sees it as another way to work his magic, through the runes he casts rather than using his wind ability directly. And it does show in his versatility. It helps, of course, that he's a pretty serious student, but his arcane course of study is one of the least popular, and in a world where power is measured above all else (including even family lineage), he's seen as an unwanted castoff of a larger system of more important magi. "The Flame", or better known as Marcus Smith, is a fire elemental and a prodigy at the school. A senior and a TA, he's the most popular guy in school and it isn't really unwarranted. His looks and personality help, of course. But, owing to the nickname, his talent shines above all. He's one of the most powerful fire mages alive in the world, giving him unparalleled choices about his direction in life, though everyone knows that he's going straight to the top. It's enough for the magical community to overlook his non-magical parentage, a rare and sudden ability, especially for one so powerful. Jeremy and Marcus become acquainted through Jeremy's roommate Aiden and from there begin a slow courtship. Jeremy prefers to stay out of the limelight -- making his feelings for Marcus incredibly ill-fated -- and his history with his family has taught him that he's the unwanted shadow not good enough for someone who burns as bright a talent as Marcus. Their relationship seems doomed to fail, simply because Jeremy believes it so, when the two become caught up in an arsonist mystery around the college. To be completely frank, this story is a good one, but it could have easily been twice as long with the amount of plot involved here and all the various tangents that were brought in. In the shorter novella format this book is in now, there's simply too much extraneous information that really took away some of my enjoyment in the story. There were several details about the magic that were a bit confusing and stated outright without much explanation as if I'd understand them naturally. And there's a couple of plot threads that fizzle out and don't seem to go anywhere. While reading, I wanted this story to either pare down the detail and give a more streamlined plot to give the story focus and more drive, or either take all that detail and fill in the gaps, making a much longer novel. In that case, I would have enjoyed having that extra detail to flesh out the world, but there wouldn't be a rush to get it all in and the details could settle as the story progressed in a slower pace. A lot of this is really just novice writing issues that will flesh out the more Skylar Jaye writes and publishes, and I don't really hold it against them. Assuming that they are still a novice writer anyway, and that Skylar Jaye isn't a new pseudonym for another author, which you never really know, I suppose. Still, this seems like an author who has good stories to tell, such as this one, but which get a bit bungled up in the execution. I'm looking forward to future stories where Skylar Jaye has a bit more practice in getting the story down. Because more than execution problems that I had with this book, the core story was still interesting and engaging for me. And I had fun reading it. That makes this a solid So So read for me. ...more
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