Tuesday, November 13, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Element of Fire by Martha Wells




Readers of this blog will know of my love for Martha Wells, who's my fourth most read author over the past three years.  The Element of Fire is where it all began as her first published novel (from 1993) as well as being the first book in her Ile-Rien setting.  I've read every other Ile-Rien book, some of which referenced the events in this book (so I was very mildly spoiled), and loved them all, so I was really excited to read where it all began.

As expected, The Element of Fire is very good, with its world filled with quite a few interesting characters in a really well done fantasy setting featuring Fae, Sorcerers, and Sword Fighting.  It's probably my least favorite of the Ile-Rien books because its main protagonist is the least interesting of the three such protagonists, but it is still incredibly absorbing and the secondary protagonist, heroine Kade Carrion, is up there with the best of them.

More after the jump:


--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
The Country of Ile-Rien is a dangerous position.  The current King, Roland, is a weak-minded cowardly young man who hangs on the every word of his sycophant power-hungry cousin, Denzil, the Duke of Alsene.  The real ruling power behind the throne is Roland's mother, the Dowager Queen Ravenna, a strong respected ruler, but Denzil is slowly turning Roland against her and a power struggle between the two seems inevitable.

But when a powerful and monstrous sorcerer Urbain Grandier comes into the Country, the tension in the Country changes from something hidden in the shadows to something that could destroy the country entirely, as Grandier wields not only powerful magic, but an allegiance with deadly Fae against the Country and its rulers.  And there is some sign that Grandier is being aided by someone inside the Ile-Rien's Castle Walls, for their own nefarious purposes.

It falls to Thomas Boniface, captain of the Queen's Guard, and Ravenna's former lover to deal with Grandier before he destroys them all.  But Denzil has turned Roland against Thomas and is maneuvering the King in order to hinder Thomas' investigation.  And then there's the mysterious Kade Carrion - the Sorceress Half-Fay sister of Roland who was exiled years ago after her magic caused havoc as a teenager - who has returned to the castle for her own reasons at seemingly the worst of all possible times.  Can Thomas trust her to help against a foe with such magical might?  He'll have to if he wants to get out of the situation alive, and to save Ile-Rien from destruction....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Element of Fire is told mainly through the third person viewpoints of Thomas and Kade, with Thomas taking up about 60% of the book to Kade's 30% (the other 10% includes some small parts from other characters' points of view, such as Ravenna, and Roland).  As essentially our main protagonist, Thomas reminded me a good deal of a bit more aggressive version of Caz from Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Curse of Chalion" - he's a lawful good hero who is not lawful stupid - he's very aware of others' scheming and is very willing to scheme himself in order to counter those acts and do what he thinks is for the greater good.  He's not a particularly fun character - he's a bit more boring than the Valiardes from the other Ile-Rien books in his certainty in what he's doing - but he's a decent hero.

Kade Carrion, our second protagonist, is absolutely great however and I love her so much.  A young woman traumatized by her past* in the castle and now without her alternate mother figure, Kade is thought of by others as dangerously unpredictable and very powerful, but inside her own head Kade is unsure of herself and struggling.  Kade's a bit impulsive (well more than a bit) and very capable of causing havoc through her impulsiveness, but it's not out of a sense of malice (as others seem to think) but more out of her own constant doubts about herself that make her act this way when she finally does decide to do something.  And while Kade does have a romance arc in this book, she's not defined by her relationship to that man, even as she falls for him, but more so by her own actions.

*A minor trigger warning should go here in that its implied that her background involves being abused if not raped (it's implied in a single page and never explained further, but it's enough).  

 The other characters are excellent as well - Ravenna makes a fascinatingly strong queen, unwilling to bend even to her son when she knows she's right and willing to do whatever it takes with her power to ensure the right decisions are made.  Roland also - a weak cowardly king is somewhat of a cliche but the book makes a convincing case for how he came about to be that way, and in the few segments from his POV, we see how badly he has it.  And the other side characters all work really well.

And the plot of this book is a lot of fun.  We have swordfights and duels, magical spells and Fae - the book might sound in such a description as kind of a typical fantasy type genre taking place in a Baroque-era world, but it's done so damn well that it never feels typical.  The book surprises quite a bit at times, even as things foreshadowed early come to pass (the identity of the traitor is never in doubt, and it doesn't matter because his actions themselves are less predictable).

I guess I have two complaints (asides from Thomas being a little boring in his character) with this book.  The first is probably more of a personal thing - the main romance in this story involves a woman falling in love with a man who saw her grow up, which is kind of squicky for me.  The second is that the plot, while excellent, does seem to turn around at the end very very quickly, going from "all is lost" to "crisis averted" very quickly.  It works mind you, and it's not a deus ex machina, but still.

Anyhow, as with all of Wells' books, and the Ile-Rien books in particular, this one is definitely worth reading.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)