Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole book cover for the Book of the Day romantasy book review

Our Score4.4/ 5

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EDITION PUBLISHEDJune 2023

Genres

Fiction Romantasy Fantasy

Themes

Oppression and rebellionHidden identity and belongingPower between mortals and immortalsWit as self-defense

Spark of the Everflame

Name: Spark of the Everflame
Price: 4.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Penn Cole

Penn Cole

Spark of the Everflame kicks off Penn Cole's addictive Kindred's Curse romantasy: Diem Bellator, a sharp-tongued village healer, gets pulled into a palace of cruel immortal royalty, a brewing rebellion, and one infuriating, gorgeous heir she absolutely should not want. Enemies-to-lovers, a slow burn with real patience, and a mystery box that keeps rattling.

The Review

Our take

Let's set expectations honestly, the way Penn Cole does right up front: this is a slow burn, and I mean slowwww. You'll spend a good chunk of the book yelling at two people to get on with it, long past the point you thought you'd break. Good. That's the fun. Diem Bellator is a healer from a stomped-on village, yanked into the glittering and genuinely awful world of the Descended, the immortal children of gods who rule mortals like livestock. The friction starts on page one and never really lets up.

The enemy half of the equation is Prince Luther, and Cole plays him smart. He's cold and calculating in public, then cracks just enough in private that Diem, and you, keep leaning in against every scrap of better judgment. Their banter is the good stuff, quick and barbed, two clever people using wit as armor and mistaking it for hatred. On heat, since I never leave you guessing: book one lives mostly in the tension, charged proximity and near-misses rather than open door. If you're here purely for spice, know that Cole is running a longer game. What she's building instead is want, the sharp ache of it, which is honestly the harder thing to pull off, and she pulls it off.

Why you should read

Fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Fourth Wing
Slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romantasy
Feisty heroines with sharp banter
Rebellion plots tangled up with palace intrigue

What to expect

A genuine slow burn, tension over open door
Quick, barbed enemies-to-lovers banter
A rattling mystery box and rebel politics
Book one of a four-part saga

It works because Cole doesn't make you wait on everything at once. The plot moves: a vanished mother, a dangerous secret buried in Diem's own blood, a rebel alliance with its own agenda, a court where every kindness might be a maneuver, and a magic system with real teeth around the god-blooded and the mortals they lord over. There's a beat about two-thirds through, a choice Diem makes when silence would be the safe play, where the romance and the rebellion finally click into the same gear and the whole thing lifts. Cole knows exactly what she's doing to you. She lands book one on a reversal that leaves your hand already reaching for the sequel, and honestly, mine was.

Reviewed by Sloane · How our reviews are written

4.4 - Excellent

Buy on Amazon

Kindle$4⁹⁹ Paperback$10¹⁷$19.99−49%Hardcover$15⁹³$29.99−47%

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Filed underRomantasy Fantasy Browse the archive →

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Common questions

What is Spark of the Everflame about?: Let's set expectations honestly, the way Penn Cole does right up front: this is a slow burn, and I mean slowwww. You'll spend a good chunk of the book yelling at two people to get on with it, long past the point you thought you'd break. Good. That's the fun. Diem Bellator is a healer from a…
Is Spark of the Everflame worth reading?: We scored Spark of the Everflame 4.4 out of 5. Spark of the Everflame kicks off Penn Cole's addictive Kindred's Curse romantasy: Diem Bellator, a sharp-tongued village healer, gets pulled into a palace of cruel immortal royalty, a brewing rebellion, and one infuriating, gorgeous heir she absolutely should not want…