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193rd out of 927 books
—
2,834 voters
Fire Logic (Elemental Logic #1)
Earth * Air * Water * Fire
These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition.
But now, Shaftal is dying.
The earth witch who ruled Shaftal is dead, leaving no heir. Shaftal's ruling house has been scattered by the invading Sainnites. The Shaftali have mobilized a guerrilla army against
...more
These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition.
But now, Shaftal is dying.
The earth witch who ruled Shaftal is dead, leaving no heir. Shaftal's ruling house has been scattered by the invading Sainnites. The Shaftali have mobilized a guerrilla army against
Mass Market Paperback, 373 pages
Published
March 1st 2004
by Tor Fantasy
(first published 2002)
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I both really enjoyed and yet was disappointed by this book at the same time. I liked the setting and admired the bold society she set in place, but at the same time parts of their culture was grating.
I think the main reason I was disappointed was that over the years I've really raised my standards regarding fantasy novels. I tend to only read weird-fiction fantasy these days, and I was expecting this to be a bit weirder -- the third book in the series is printed by Small Beer, Kelly Link's pres...more
I think the main reason I was disappointed was that over the years I've really raised my standards regarding fantasy novels. I tend to only read weird-fiction fantasy these days, and I was expecting this to be a bit weirder -- the third book in the series is printed by Small Beer, Kelly Link's pres...more
The Elemental Logic series was recommended by skadi in coffeeandink's recs thread:
Laurie J. Marks has a fabulous Elemental Logic series that I've been recommending to everyone I know who enjoys fantasy/sf. Most of the characters are white, but Zanja (who is the hero of the first book, Fire Logic, and a big player in the following books) is a character of color. She is amazing. She's an example of a book character you grow to love and respect so much you find yourself forgetting she's not real....more
A
Gritty elemental fantasy with a focus on interesting, well-developed female characters who happen to be queer? Sign me up, yo.
I knew Zanja would steal my heart, because the crux of her character is that she is a diplomat! A learner of languages, crosser of borders, and traveler to strange lands! That she is a warrior also doesn't seem to negate this, which is neat considering that usually characters like her get slotted into pacifist roles, since they understand other people so well and all tha...more
I knew Zanja would steal my heart, because the crux of her character is that she is a diplomat! A learner of languages, crosser of borders, and traveler to strange lands! That she is a warrior also doesn't seem to negate this, which is neat considering that usually characters like her get slotted into pacifist roles, since they understand other people so well and all tha...more
This is a good solid fantasy novel - well developed cosmology, a steady march of plot that makes sense, and complex, believable characters. The elemental magic bit is a little muddled (earth/water witches very powerful, fire/air ones just "intuitive"??).
The strength lies in the political and personal sub-plots. The author creates a very robust society and inter-personal dynamics, and the ethical dilemnas within them are interesting to follow as they play out. The author reminds me a bit of Heinl...more
The strength lies in the political and personal sub-plots. The author creates a very robust society and inter-personal dynamics, and the ethical dilemnas within them are interesting to follow as they play out. The author reminds me a bit of Heinl...more
Fire Logic disappointed me, and not only because I found it difficult to connect to any of the characters on any meaningful level. The book had an interesting premise - a world at war, the rebels against the overbearing Empire (uh, sounds familiar, but it really was thought-out!), and even an interesting-if-overdone elemental division.
The writing was just not good enough to bring all of these elements together. It improved near the end of the book, but then fell off again for the denouement. Th...more
The writing was just not good enough to bring all of these elements together. It improved near the end of the book, but then fell off again for the denouement. Th...more
All in all, this is a satisfying fantasy read. The action is good and the world of "fire logic" is very original and well thought out. The beginning of the book was a little slow for me. There seemed to be a lot of time where the main character was either loosing her mind or drifting along in a kind of a indecisive haze. This was difficult for me as a reader - perhaps because I'm so used to books where there is either rich content or constant action. Things finally picked up about five chapters...more
3.5, I think. My attention wavered during this from time to time, and I don't think the author quite got the emotions of the characters across how she meant to (the main characters all felt the same to me -- quite cold and practical -- even though they were described as being different, I just didn't get it from their POVs). Yet I really like the world and how it was built: almost no reader hand-holding, very cleverly disguised exposition, no idiot audience stand-in character from furrin' parts...more
One-sentence summary:
Half-fleshed out book with water/fire/air/earth elementals ("logics") running around.
What a half-fleshed out book. What does fire logic have to do with fire? What is special about fire elementals, besides that they have some form of prescience? Are all air elementals truthkens? (Again, what does that have to do with air?) Are people just randomly born elementals? There is a connection between being an earth witch and manipulating earth (for Karis, at least), but the random u...more
Half-fleshed out book with water/fire/air/earth elementals ("logics") running around.
What a half-fleshed out book. What does fire logic have to do with fire? What is special about fire elementals, besides that they have some form of prescience? Are all air elementals truthkens? (Again, what does that have to do with air?) Are people just randomly born elementals? There is a connection between being an earth witch and manipulating earth (for Karis, at least), but the random u...more
I'm re-reading after some years away, and loving the book even more than I did the first time! Marks creates a realistic society in which women are the dominant sex. The home country has been conquered by an army with no home to return to, and its leaders have been fighting a long, guerilla war against them. What they need is the leader who is joined by her magic with the earth, but the one who inherited the office from the former leader is a drug addict and former prostitute who doesn't believe...more
An interesting background, but as a first novel in a four-part series, it spends too much time stalled in character introduction and development.
The book begins very well indeed. In the town of Kisha lives the seat of power of the country of Shaftal. Unfortunately, the single person who wields this power (referred to as an Earth elemental) has died, and left no heir to his power. With no delay, Shaftal is invaded by the Sainites, and the country falls to them.
The story follows three main charact...more
The book begins very well indeed. In the town of Kisha lives the seat of power of the country of Shaftal. Unfortunately, the single person who wields this power (referred to as an Earth elemental) has died, and left no heir to his power. With no delay, Shaftal is invaded by the Sainites, and the country falls to them.
The story follows three main charact...more
I'm waffling on how to describe this book. In some ways, it vastly exceeded my expectations. In other ways, it failed to live up to its potential. The book has a vaguely Count of Monte Cristo flavor (the book, not the bastardized movie version). Starts out a simplistic story of revenge, that isn't particularly well written. Then, midway through, the author starts throwing in the perspective of the bad guys, and with the new found empathy you find yourself having trouble rooting for them to get t...more
As I started reading this book I though it was an intriguingly different, although not particularly compelling, style applied to the tired fantasy genre. It spends a lot of time developing the personalities of a few main characters. It downplays or skips fight sequences that would be the mainstay of many fantasy novels. The elemental magic system is tacked on and inconsistent, serving primarily to indicate personality types rather than to do magic. The politics/history make no sense.
And then as...more
And then as...more
Yes!! This was so good! I love when sf/fantasy truly breaks the mold and this book does it. I've never ever before read a fantasy novel in which the author posits a world with NO gender issues at all. None! Every character's job or main role in life is based on their personality and motivations, not their gender. It's not just a flip-flop either. There are army commanders of both genders, farmers of both genders, raising-kids-focused people of both genders, family structures of all kinds, queer...more
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I really loved this book, but any description I can think of makes it sound really boring. It reminded me of a less fucked-up KJ Parker, sort of. Also please ignore the totally lame cover.
Just, if you like fantasy, and having people of various genders and races and sexualities where being of that gender/race/sexuality isn't the point of the story but just part of life, you should read this book!
Just, if you like fantasy, and having people of various genders and races and sexualities where being of that gender/race/sexuality isn't the point of the story but just part of life, you should read this book!
It's dangerous to compare a book to Ursula LeGuin (which one reviewer did with this book) because no one can really live up to that level of excellence. This book didn't quite make that cut, but it was quite good. Interesting world-building and good characters --- substantially less fluffy than the title and cover make it seem.
A little slow to start (too many characters/ cultures/ situations introduced in the first 50 pages), but became gripping and hard to put down! Really enjoyed the quality of the writing and the ideas presented through the characters. As a side note, the seamless integration of characters' varying sexual orientations was refreshing.
This is a wonderful book full of LGB characters. Unlike some of the more quick and trashy fantasy novels I've read, this one is quite deep and compelling. It is truly a work of art and worth reading. The rest of the series has it's merits as well, but this book is by far the best! All I can say is READ IT!
This one of those mediocre books written after Lord of the Rings. The book took a long time to read. The book was soemwhat filled with uninteresting facts. The women in this book drove me crazy. I didn't like how the woman acted. I didn't want to know about some of this stuff in here. The woman in this book seem immoral. The author focuses too much on women and not men too. I felt uncomfortable reading this book, because it contained too much romance between two women. Whoa! Is this a lesbian so...more
Intelligent fantasy with an emphasis on culture and philosophy. Holds good examples of a binary logic / opposition where both sides are infact the same in their base essence, but when inverted, new and previously unseen ways of being are revealed.
While the story itself is nothing spectacular there are elements to it that I found extremely interesting. Airbloods are known for their perseverance and fairness is quite an unusual concept as Air is traditionally erratic. Furthermore, Marks doesn't set opposing magics against each other, instead it is Air and Fire disagree and Earth and Water, the same. Honestly, it makes little sense. The truly exceptional part of the story though is the homosexual relationships. I had to stop and reread the...more
So even though I pretend I'm not a fantasy reader, I think I totally am. This one snuck up on me - it took me a while to get into it, and I kept getting disengaged and putting it down - but then I kept wanting to pick it up again and keep reading. And then when I finished I felt pretty much immediately compelled to go on and read the two sequels. A lot of it is your typical mainstream fantasy stuff - pseudo-medieval-white-Europe setting, journeys and battles, olive-skinned tribes who are wise an...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
So in this world, magic can be fire, earth, air, or water. The protaganist is a fire magic user, so that gives you the title. A amusing world, I will look for more in this series.
This book quickly stuck itself into my favorites list. Way up at the top. It's engaging, beautifully written, and has a wonderful plot. I ordered the next books in the series immediately and I'm very impatient to have them in my hands. I highly suggest this book to anyone.
I tend to dislike the plotline of “band of patriots versus the evil invaders,” so one of the things I like about Fire Logic is that it does not really use that trope. I have also gotten slightly tired of the “lost heir” trope. Instead, we have “non-evil but slightly stupidly desperate refugee soldiers versus equally desperate patriots who are slowly alienating themselves from their own people because their own people are deeply sick of the fighting.”
There is also a “lost heir,” but the aforeme...more
I wanted to like it more. I really did. The characters are sweet, and the magic is interesting. I felt like the plot dragged and really spent too much time on troop movements or something like that.
This is the first of the Elementals series (followed by Earth Logic and Water Logic)--a wonderful science fantasy series. I can't wait for her to come out with the next one.
All the good heroic fantasy stuff--magic, legends, politics, danger--in a world with gender equality. I loved the damaged, struggling main characters; these are real heroes.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Bank Books L...: Fire Logic: Postponed Again! | 19 | 21 | Jun 05, 2012 08:22pm | |
| Left Bank Books L...: Announcement: Fire Logic Postponed | 4 | 13 | Feb 18, 2012 11:34am |
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“...how impossible it
is to really make a choice, when the best choice of all is an option you
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is to really make a choice, when the best choice of all is an option you
couldn’t even imagine.”
And I was especially won over by your description of Zanja...
Aug 16, 2012 02:08pm