Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst Review

Title: Fire and Heist

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Standalone

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

                Sarah Beth Durst is one of my favorite authors; I read Vessel by her a few years ago, and I’ve been hooked on her work ever since. When I found out that she was publishing a new book in December, as soon as I had an opening, I reserved it at my local library. As soon as I was finished with The Crimes of Grindelwald, I began to read it, and I devoured it in a little over four days. Fire and Heist is an urban fantasy involving one of my very favorite things: dragons! And not just any dragons, but weredragons! This book had everything that I love in a fantasy novel: a feisty, hilarious and independent heroine, forbidden love, dark secrets and perilous quests, strong family bonds; I loved it so much! Fire and Heist is one of my favorite books of 2018.

                In Sky Hawkins’s family, gold is everything, and that’s hardly surprising, considering that she, her brothers, and father are weredragons, or wyverns. But things have never been the same for them all after her mother’s mysterious disappearance, which everyone, even her own family members, refuses to talk about. To make matters worse, her boyfriend Ryan has broken up with her, and all of her friends aren’t talking to her. Lost, furious, and desperate for answers, Sky attempts to make her own rite of passage: a heist, engineered by her. But things become even more complicated when, during the course of it, she stumbles across a dangerous secret that could change the fates of not just Sky and her family, but all wyverns throughout the world. Determined to uncover what really happened to her mother and why her family has been ostracized by the community, she joins forces with her ex, brothers, and friends to pull off the most dangerous heist yet, even if it means risking everything…

                This book was wonderful, as warm and comforting as a cup of hot chocolate on a cold, dark winter’s day, and I really enjoyed it. It’s probably one of my favorites out of Durst’s entire body of work; I was drawn into Sky’s dangerous, glittering world immediately, and her voice was so funny and warm; I loved her, as well as her close, tight-knit family. The pacing was breakneck; as I read, it kind of reminded me of Ocean’s Eleven and Six of Crows, without all of the darkness. This book was a reminder of why I love urban fantasy. I also adored the other characters, especially Ryan and Gabriella, as well as Sky’s parents and brothers. I was laughing, cheering, and crying the whole time I was reading this; I felt as though I made some new friends by the end. I also really enjoyed the ending; it was bittersweet and surprisingly true to life. (Well, as true to life that you can get when you’re reading about wyverns, but I digress.) The only things that I didn’t like about Fire and Heist was that it seemed to take a long time for the big reveal to happen, but that was minor; overall, I really enjoyed Fire and Heist. A gorgeous, hilarious book about being brave, the bonds of family and friends, and the idea that some things are just more precious than gold and jewels, it is one of my favorite books of 2018. The bottom line: A hilarious, heartfelt novel that I will never forget, I loved Fire and Heist! Another knockout from one of my favorite authors! Next on deck: Onyx and Ivory by Mindee Arnett!