Fantasy Review: 'Daughter of the Flames' by Zoë Marriott

This is a short but very readable young adult book, with the standard-issue feisty female lead, plenty of action, large dollops of angst and a romance at its heart. It doesn’t stray very far from fantasy conventions: the heroine is the heir to the kingdom, brought up in secret in a religious order, the only survivor of a massacre by the villain, and there’s no real-world messing about with giving him a believable personality or realistic motivations - he’s essentially barking mad. The plot is the usual series of set-piece narrow escapes and dramatic encounters, while the heroine gears up for her save-the-world role. This makes for a fast-paced roller-coaster ride, and it’s all fairly entertaining.