Dust to flame by hope ann

Well, it all started when Rafe was minding his own business. Just doing his storyacting thing at his half-brother's house like it was any other day. But then there was this old lady, and then there was this little girl, and then there were tunnels, and flame-spinning powers, and people who'd kill him to get those powers--
 
So he's had a bit of a rough day.
 
Rafe would be reason enough to love Dust to Flame. His outer snark disguises an inner hurt that could move him to look beyond himself. Rafe's questions and feelings made me as the reader stop and think, too. As he goes from the dust of the streets to the flame of his new powers, we watch the possibility of the same transformation happening on the inside. But will it?
 
As usual from Hope Ann, this book is deep. First off, the plot is just a brilliant concept. The plot has many more layers than you see at first glance, as many as the tunnels and alleys of Marsadon. Sometimes the plot moves you along at a dizzying pace faster than those spinning flames. By the climax, I had to sit back and try to sort out just who was evil and who was good--a conflict that gives her characters and plot a real quality, because life isn't always in tidy "you're good, you're evil" boxes.
 
That's all part of the epic landscape of Dust to Flame--a landscape I couldn't tear myself from. Some elements may seem dusty at first, a hazy mystery that draws you in. But in the end, it couldn't burn any brighter or any clearer.