Rating: 
Summary: Indulge yourself in a great story
Review: I felt like I was taking a bit of a chance buying this, a first novel by an unknown author, but it looked interesting. I picked it up for the first time yesterday evening and if it wasn't 10:45pm now I'd be out right now buying the sequel right now.The story's heroine is Eliana, a violinist at a musical conservatory when the story opens. Eliana's new roomate isn't saying much about her past, and Eliana is pretty sure some of what she has said isn't true. The surprising truth will send Eliana out into a a dynamic and dangerous world, where the Old Way is vying with the new religion for dominance, and war and famine have turned the Empire into a dangerous place. If I hadn't read that this was Ms. Kritzner's first novel, I wouldn't have guessed it from her book. Fires of the Faithful is well-written and highly entertaining right from page one.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book from a very promising new writer
Review: I had the pleasure of listening to Naomi read the beginning of _Fires of the Faithful_ at a convention a few months prior to the book's publication. At the time, I was quite impressed with the reading, and I was disappointed that I'd have to wait six months to hear the rest of the tale. This book does not disappoint. The prose is elegant, and the story is compelling. Naomi Kritzer has a bright future as a fantasy writer, and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait!
Review: I just ordered this book, after having so many people tell me to get it!
I can't wait to read it!!
Rating:
Summary: amazing from the start
Review: i myself am a volinist so most of the musical terms she used in tell this tale were not unknown to me. i enjoyed the story line, the wit that the author gives her characters and when you read this book you have the ability to compare people you know with the characters from this novel. it was nicely written and i highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Book for a Pleasant Read
Review: I waited to read "Turing The Storm", the sequel to "Fires of the Faithful" before I decided to offer my review of this collected works. An independent review of "Turing the Storm" is also available, so be aware I am really reviewing both volume and not just the one. "Fires of the Faithful" is a decent first effort by new comer Naomi Kritzer. It is not going to set the literary world on fire but it is a pleasant read if like me you read for fun and not as work. The characters are fairly well developed, the story line interesting although at times somewhat implausible, (Kind of silly of me to even talk about "implausible" when the story centers around the use of magic, but given that magic works the human reactions and interactions stretch the imagination somewhat at times, I mean this is about a 16 year old after all.) However once you exercise your "willful suspension of disbelief" these small irritations are easily overlooked. Although I have seen it billed as somewhat of a romance it really isn't. The main character, Eliana, does have some romantic interestes, girl on girl type, but it is mostly inferred and never consummated. This book is tame enough to be billed as young adult literature. In brief: A good read, your time with it will not be wasted, don't expect too much just enjoy. This author does have some potential.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry! - Can't Agree
Review: I wanted to like this book, I really wanted to. Indeed, when the book first started I was interested in the way Ms. Kritzer blended religion, music, dance, and magic together. So often in these fantasy novels the author has religion and magic opposed to one another. It was refreshing to see the religious Fedeli and the magic caste Circle working hand in hand. Indeed, the students at the conservatory had to prove their religious affiliation to the Fedeli by conjuring a magical globe of fire. However, I started having problems with the book when Eliana entered Ravenna, specifically when the two rebel leaders where killed and almost automatically Eliana decided that SHE and only SHE was capable of leading. Fine then. Conceeding the point for the now that only she can lead, her confidence spills over into arrogance and like a steam roller flating a hill she runs roughshod over everyone who meekly accept her as leader. Eliana then firmly takes command and begins to plan an uprising informing everyone that this is serious and not a game. She makes everyone practice to fight in a 'cleverly' designed manner, her conservatory training giving her brilliant military tactics to go along with the physical self defense she learned from her brothers years ago. The fighting starts and she finds herself battling the rebel leader Teleso who, upon hearing from her, "If it weren't for your garlic breath, I'd have found you very attractive," immediately blanches, lets his sword sag in a state of stunned shock, and is then gutted. Come on! An experienced soldier and commander may get angry at this but to sag his sword to allow himself to be gutted? I don't think so. Overall, a story with some promise, but Eliana's sudden complete face transformation, incredulous writing, characters with no depth and substance, stretches the bounds of believability.
Rating:
Summary: Not the average fantasy novel it looks like at first glance
Review: I was in my local bookstore the other day, holding a coupon in my hot little hand, looking for something new to read, when I came across a copy of "Fires of the Faithful." It didn't look *too* exciting -- fairly standard fantasy material, I thought -- but I decided to buy it anyway because, hey, I had a coupon. What a lucky purchase! This novel is an utterly engaging,
unputdownable read. Although this plot has been done before (evil religious zealots oppressing the masses until Our Heroine overthrows them and saves the day) and the worldbuilding is fairly standard, the novel itself manages to be original and thought-provoking. It's an interesting meditation on the nature of religion -- what it is, the purpose it serves, how it can be corrupted to serve political aims. [Side note: In most fantasy novels dealing with religion, the "bad" religion is pseudo-Christian and the "good" religion (if there is one) is pseudo-pagan. In Fires of the Faithful, it's exactly the opposite. At least one reviewer was turned off by that. Please, keep an open mind. It's not the religion itself that the author demonizes; it's its corruption into a political tool. And bear in mind that the heroine is young and sheltered; everything is black and white to her at first. The second books complicates the simplistic view of religion of the first book.] But, most of all, this book was just fun to read. Music and magic combine with adventure and an understated romance to produce a fine and highly enjoyable fantasy. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Not the average fantasy novel it looks like at first glance
Review: I was in my local bookstore the other day, holding a coupon in my hot little hand, looking for something new to read, when I came across a copy of "Fires of the Faithful." It didn't look *too* exciting -- fairly standard fantasy material, I thought -- but I decided to buy it anyway because, hey, I had a coupon. What a lucky purchase! This novel is an utterly engaging,
unputdownable read. Although this plot has been done before (evil religious zealots oppressing the masses until Our Heroine overthrows them and saves the day) and the worldbuilding is fairly standard, the novel itself manages to be original and thought-provoking. It's an interesting meditation on the nature of religion -- what it is, the purpose it serves, how it can be corrupted to serve political aims. [Side note: In most fantasy novels dealing with religion, the "bad" religion is pseudo-Christian and the "good" religion (if there is one) is pseudo-pagan. In Fires of the Faithful, it's exactly the opposite. At least one reviewer was turned off by that. Please, keep an open mind. It's not the religion itself that the author demonizes; it's its corruption into a political tool. And bear in mind that the heroine is young and sheltered; everything is black and white to her at first. The second books complicates the simplistic view of religion of the first book.] But, most of all, this book was just fun to read. Music and magic combine with adventure and an understated romance to produce a fine and highly enjoyable fantasy. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: MUST READ for all fans of exciting, intelligent fiction
Review: Naomi Kritzer's first novel is a skillfully written story bringing together elements of paganism, christianity, magic, and a mystical ritual involoving music, dancing, and healing energy. This captivating tale of a sixteen-year-old violinist begins with scenes from her life at a rural conservatory. After several unforgivable intrusions into her personal life by the cruel enforcers of religious law, Eliana decides she can no longer live in the isolated music school. The tale follows her transformation from an innocent, blind sighted girl whose greatest dream is to someday play for the emperor to a reluctant and finally adept leader. Captivating from the first page, this book will inspire you, and keep the pages turning late into the night.
Rating: 
Summary: This is crap.
Review: The characters here are completely unbelievable - Eliana is supposed to be 16? It doesn't even begin to work. Where did she get the military training and knowledge needed to begin this revolution? She's been in a tiny village and then a closed-off school her whole life.
Apart from those very basic problems, the characters themselves just didn't appeal. They were very stiff; Ms. Kritzer spent too much time making them "complex" and not enough time making them real, or bothering to make them consistent - it wasn't so much that they acted out of character most of the time as it was they never had a well-enough defined "character" to stay in. I never identified with any of them.
I also have a problem with all the religious themes; I don't have a problem with that sort of thing, but here it was awkward and distracting. The religions were too simple and too obviously an allegory for our religions. It was very obvious that Ms. Kritzer studies religion; apparently she felt the need to showcase her knowledge in her book.
All in all, I'd say avoid it. Usually even if I read a bad book, I want to read the sequel, just to find out what happens, but this didn't hook me at all. I never identified with the characters, I felt like I was getting a religious lecture wrapped up in a fantasy novel, and the plot itself was stiff and predictable. I have no interest whatsoever in any subsequent novels by this author.
Don't waste your time.
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