The Seekers of Fire (The Masters That Be, #1)

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The Seekers of Fire (The Masters That Be #1)

by Lynna Merrill (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 17 ratings · 4 reviews

The Bers have ruled Mierenthia with fire magic and an iron fist for hundreds of years, but now their magic is failing. The firepipes are dry. The firewells gape cold and empty, and the factories are shutting down. Light, warmth, and food are scarce. Strange creatures appear not only in the distant forests but even in the cities, the Bers' own strongholds.

Amidst this chaos...more

ebook, 1st Edition

Published September 7th 2011 by Lynna Merrill

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Nov 26, 2011 PaulineMRoss rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-fantasy, price-cheap, 3-star, self-pub

This is a debut work by a self-published author, the first part of a trilogy. The premise is not an original one - in a world infused with magic (or Magic, as the author has it, many such words being capitalised) which is for some unknown reason losing its power, a young woman must learn to control her own latent abilities. More interestingly, the magic (sorry, Magic) is being used to control fire in its various forms of both heat and light, and ultimately all forms of manufacture and agricultur...more This is a debut work by a self-published author, the first part of a trilogy. The premise is not an original one - in a world infused with magic (or Magic, as the author has it, many such words being capitalised) which is for some unknown reason losing its power, a young woman must learn to control her own latent abilities. More interestingly, the magic (sorry, Magic) is being used to control fire in its various forms of both heat and light, and ultimately all forms of manufacture and agriculture, and thereby keep the entire population in subjection. There is also some kind of mind control in effect, and the whole setup tied into a religious cult based around a founding figure, called the Master.

The heroine, Linden, is probably intended as the conventional feisty, opinionated, independent type of female, and in the opening chapters that is exactly how she appears. In a difficult situation, with the population verging on rebellion because of the lack of fire, one of the fire-wielding Bers attempts to dominate the crowd by force, and Linden openly, although quite reasonably, defies him. Her reasons for doing this are not entirely convincing, but never mind, it's a rousing moment, which definitely has the reader rooting for her.

Unfortunately, Linden spends the rest of the book fainting and falling down and coming over all funny, and generally playing the weak and helpless female, needing rescue in the strong arms of the hero, who fortuitously appears in the nick of time. Now, later in the book it appears that there is actually a reason for all this, but somehow this is too late to save the character from the apparent role of useless wuss.

It has to be said that the hero, Rianor, is not averse to his own share of swooning and falling about, and the pair of them get themselves injured in more ways in a shorter space of time than I would have considered possible. So in between all the fainting and wooziness, there's a great deal of bandaging going on. They are both supposed to be interested in science (oops, Science), but frankly there wasn't much of this on display, and neither of them show the sort of observational skills one might expect from scientists.

One thing that drove me crazy with Linden is that no matter what anyone told her to do, she would invariably do the exact opposite. And there seemed to be no rational reason for it, either - she just 'had a feeling' or simply didn't want to be told. Sometimes I wanted to slap her. Having been rescued from her brave (if foolhardy) stance against the Bers by Rianor, a High Lord with undoubtedly more worldly experience than her, and agreed to become his apprentice, does she ever listen to him? Not a chance. I suppose this is designed to make her appear more feisty, but mostly it made her look silly, especially when her rebelliousness ended up getting them both into more trouble or injured (again).

One of the emerging themes of the book is that of insanity, and the possibility that those dealing with magic (sorry, Magic) are more prone to it. Much of the early part of the book (especially the escape through the secret passage (or rather Passage)) is written in a choppy, introspective style, so that there is a great deal about what Linden and Rianor are feeling and thinking and speculating, and numerous diversions into dream-like sequences or outbreaks of poetry. I found these very hard to follow. It was difficult to work out exactly what was happening, let alone why. At first I assumed this was just the author's style, but I suspect it was intended to show the effect of Magic on their minds. This might be very clever, but I would trade it any day for greater clarity of plot.

The best part of the book, for me, is the world-building. I couldn't read the map on my Kindle, so I don't know how much it helped, but most of the action is set in one city anyway. I loved the idea that the Magic-wielding Bers have manipulated society over the centuries to take control of almost every aspect of life, and that some parts of that process were only completed recently. The society is industrialised, to some extent, although it's not clear how advanced that is. Fire is supplied at fire-wells, or conveyed by pipes, like water (how, I wonder?). There are Factories and Mills and even elevators which are powered by Magic, but travel between cities is by horse-drawn carriage. I was taken aback, however, to read references to shopping bags and wire coat hangers, and even sports weights, which seem to suggest a very modern lifestyle, and the references to extreme diets seemed modern, too. I would have liked a little more description of the surroundings - streets, buildi ngs, clothes, furniture and so on, to help me visualise the setting.

The author is asking some truly interesting questions: where does science end and magic begin; and where does magic blend into religion? In my opinion, all fantasy authors should be addressing these questions, at least indirectly. The hints about the significance of insanity (and what is insanity anyway?), if the author chooses to follow this line of thought, would make the remaining two books in the series very interesting.

It is odd to reach the end and realise that only a couple of days have passed since the opening chapter. Despite all the falling down and bandaging and strange dreams, nothing much has actually happened. The escape through the Passage, in particular, seemed to go on forever, with very little achieved. Once Linden starts exploring Qynnsent, and especially once we meet some other members of Rianor's family, I found myself more absorbed and the pace seemed to pick up somewhat, although sadly I found the quite dull Jenne and Inni more interesting than our two heroes at this point. All that falling about wiped out any sympathy I might have had for them.

And just when it got interesting, there was a big info-dump of background, and the book stopped. Obviously, this is only part one of three, but still it would have been nice to have a bit more resolution than that. It may be that the complete trilogy will be a more satisfying read, and there is certainly a great deal of potential for some deeper themes to emerge. The world-building and the magic system are excellent and well thought out, and the decline of magic, while not an original idea, is still intriguingly implemented. Nevertheless, I am not particularly invested in any of the characters at the moment, and the uneven pacing and plot-obscuring writing style drag this down to three stars.
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Nov 04, 2011 Urban Fantasy Reviews rated it 4 of 5 stars

Check out this review and others on my site, http://www.UFReviews.com

I myself have no read an epic fantasy book in quite some time, in fact before this most of my epic fantasy reads have all been free literature sites, where people upload chapter by chapter as it is written. This book was a welcome reintroduction to this genre.

I think one of the hardest things to do in epic fantasy books is introduce the reader to the new world that an author has created. Sure it's hard coming up with that world...more Check out this review and others on my site, http://www.UFReviews.com

I myself have no read an epic fantasy book in quite some time, in fact before this most of my epic fantasy reads have all been free literature sites, where people upload chapter by chapter as it is written. This book was a welcome reintroduction to this genre.

I think one of the hardest things to do in epic fantasy books is introduce the reader to the new world that an author has created. Sure it's hard coming up with that world as an author, but introducing it to the reader is really the key, if the reader doesn't understand the principles behind how your world works, it won't matter how good your plot is.

Merrill dives right in with her book in introducing the reader, and quite effectively. The reader is really introduced to the world by one of her main characters, Lindon, and through her thoughts. This is accomplished largely because Lindon is at the age where her place in society is going to be determined. Because of this, as a reader, you are to get an explanation as to how this society works as well as be taken through how Lindon feels about what is going to happen to her.

A plus of the book is that it is a unique idea, which is refreshing especially for the fantasy genre as things can easily get repetitive. The books starts with the explanation that fire has become a direly needed commodity, and is only provided by the Bers (this society's highest people and they have the magical skill). This is unique, at least for me, because when you think of things you need to live, you think water and food. But in this world, they have water, but fire is limited.

Another reason I find epic fantasy books to be so fascinating is that they tend to focus on societies, and how they work and often times the question of those societies. I found it really interesting that the people of this society just take everything at exactly what they are told. And in this society there thoughts are even policed, those that think things that aren't in line with what society demands are subject to be punished.

Lindon and the Lord she becomes and apprentice for, Rianor, are both very interested in the science behind everything. While everyone else is willing to take magic as just a fact of life, these two are searching for the explanation behind how the magic works, and how science can explain everything.

One of the main issues I had with the book is often it moves too fast. Not necessarily on the action, but rather Merrill has something happen/impact a character, and then the character reacts so quickly it often times didn't give me enough time to understand those reactions, or made me re-read a few paragraphs to make sure I wasn't missing something. That being said having a book that moves quickly is a big help to keeping a readers interest.

Overall I would say this is a solid book. I would recommend it for anyone who likes epic fantasy books, or has and interest in books that search for the explanation of how things work or are. If you are looking for a more urban fantasy type book, this probably isn't your book, but might be a good way to introduce yourself to epic fantasy, epic fantasy is not for everyone but I think for those who like books that are an escape from real life should give the genre a chance.(less)

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Oct 27, 2011 Rachel Cotterill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2011, favourites, indie-and-small-press

The Seekers of Fire is exactly my kind of novel: a tale of Science and Magic (capitalized throughout the book), religion and politics, which is nevertheless focused on the personal stories of a few characters. Linden and Rianor are trying to study the Science of Magic - a worthy lifetime's ambition, in a world where magic really works, so it's not surprising there are several more books planned. The world feels well-developed and, since the author has a scientific background, I don't doubt that...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Jessica Buike rated it 3 of 5 stars

There were some grammatical errors that got distracting at points on my Nook. The characters and setting was interesting, but unfortunately they got drowned out by an overly complex plot and some confusing moments, especially in the middle. Perhaps with better transitions it would be a more fluid read.
The storyline itself was intriguing, but it could use a bit of tweaking in terms of writing style before I could give it another star.

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About Lynna Merrill

Lynna Merrill was accused at an early age that she lived in a world of her own. Since then she has changed the country, continent, and language—but she still lives in worlds of her own. As a result she is the author of the young adult dystopian novel Unnaturals and the fantasy series The Masters That Be (The Seekers of Fire, The Makers of Light, The Weavers of Paths).

In the real world Lynna has a...more

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Books by Lynna Merrill

The Makers of Light (The Masters That Be, #2)

The Weavers of Paths (The Masters That Be, #3)

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“Call it "a wonder" or "a mystery" and you have an excuse to never try understanding it - an excuse to not take responsibility for it. People knew about love no more than they knew about Science, but at least most did not jump into Science headstrong, with the hope that they would figure it out as they went, or that some "mysterious" inborn trait would take care of it.” — 2 people liked it

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