Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks
Jun. 3rd, 2013 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Fire Logic by Laurie J. MarksMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this weeks ago, and for complicated reasons promised myself I would figure out how to review it before reviewing anything else, so at this point there is a ridiculous pile of books jostling behind this one, and none of them are even half as good, and I still don't know what to say.
It's a fantasy about a land overrun by foreign warlords, and elemental magic systems, and guerilla warfare, and it's not any of the things you are imagining right now because it is so much more. It is politically radical and personally harrowing. It is ornately but precisely written, and it is put together so well, it's one of those books where story and theme are actually the same thing. The best way to describe it is that I had the strong impression that Marks grew this book on a vine instead of writing it. Which is what critics say when they mean "organic," but I'm using more words because I really mean it.
Basically, it's a beautiful, complicated piece of art, and I loved it.
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Date: 2013-06-04 02:33 am (UTC)(I forget, have you read Rosemary Kirstein yet? Her worldbuilding is similarly perfect, and completely unified with her storytelling, and she is also doing interesting things with colonialism. I rec her books to everyone, but I realize that if I haven't specifically recced them to you, I have been doing you and them a disservice; you would love them.)
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Date: 2013-06-04 03:01 am (UTC)I have not read those yet, though they are on the pile. They have not been made into commercial audio yet, and my willingness to read something in straight text-to-speech is not very high lately. But I want to read them!
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Date: 2013-06-04 11:54 pm (UTC)I've liked Marks' writing ever since I read Delan the Mislaid.
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Date: 2013-06-05 11:47 pm (UTC)