Review: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Tell the Wind and Fire
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Clarion Books
Release date: April 5th 2016
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 2.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets.

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised. Lucie alone knows the young men’s deadly connection, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself? 

Tell the Wind and Fire is a retelling loosely based on the classic Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Personally I do like to read retellings, even if I have not read the original (as in this case) and sometimes I´m lucky enough to read a good book and other times simply I don´t connect with the story or the characters as in this case, even if the story or idea is good.

This book tells the story of Lucie Manette, a 17-year-old girl, she lives in a world where some people have white or light magic and others have black or dark magic; And those with light magic are the ones with the power, the ones that rule, the rich and those who occupy all important government posts, while people with dark magic live in walled cities, live in poverty, darkness and can only exit their city with an special permission from the light magic government. And Lucie was born in Dark New York, but two years before the beginning of the story she manages to escape and now she and her father live in Light New York. Lucie lives a very public life due to her "escape" of the dark city, for which she´s known as the Golden thread in the dark, as well as being the girlfriend of Ethan Stryker, son of one of the most powerful men in Light New York.

At the start of the book the lives of Ethan and Lucie intersect with Carwyn, a young dark city boy, he help them for unknown reasons but due ton him being a dark magician, they do not trust him but Lucie decides to do something nice for him, something that gets out of control and that could put her life in danger if it becomes known, so Lucie decides to keep quiet.

The story does not focus on the romance, as Ethan and Lucie had been dating for years and are completely in love with each other, and she could do almost anything to save him and he for her, but as their love is already established, I did not get to feel their closeness, especially since both keep secrets from each other, powerful secrets that could change everything.

And in the background of the plot a revolution is brewing and somehow this is indirectly linked to Lucie. This could destroy everything she had struggled to achieve, since her main objective is to survive. Lucie during the course of the book tries to save herself, her father, Ethan, her family friends and even Carwyn, so the next quote gives an idea her ultimate goal.

Ethan of the Light city, Carwyn of the Dark, and me, who was born with a foot in each.
This is the tale of who I was able to save.

Tell the Wind and Fire is a retelling that takes place in a dystopian world with magical elements, it has a good start, but after a while it slow its pace and it´s a bit boring, it couldn´t catch my attention, but I forced myself to finish reading it and towards the end it improves a little and it has a sad and abrupt end and I didn´t connect with the main characters. I didn´t enjoy the book.

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