Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks

Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks

My 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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The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells

The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


More fantasy winged matriarchal hive creature adventure. This book had the crushing misfortune to follow one of the best fantasy novels I've read in a long time, and in comparison it just couldn't stand up. I enjoyed it, but the contrast between this book, in which a lot of plot nonsense happens and there's an occasional signpost to remind us that this is about community-building and homecoming, and the last book I read, in which plot and theme worked together like paired muscle fiber . . . well, it was a little painful.



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