Impossible to Describe: Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks
Fire Logic (Elemental Logic, #1) by Laurie J. Marks Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic Indigenous-coded MC, biracial sapphic MC with a fantasy drug addiction, MLM MC with a limp, F/F, M/M, queernorm world, normalised group-marriage
PoV: Third-person, past-tense; multiple PoVs
ISBN: B00E5LUOSI
Goodreads
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Laurie Marks’ Elemental Logic series introduced readers to the realm of Shaftal, an intricately imagined land whose people operate within the boundaries of their basic natures—here defined as logics—which sometimes bequeath them with access to magical, elemental powers and sometimes embroil them in unsolvable internal conflicts.
Fire Logic centers around the strong female character Zanja Na’Tarwein, a fighter and last survivor of her people in an occupied country. Alongside her is Karis, a powerful half-giant, who is a drug addict and lives in obscurity, hiding her considerable powers. Surrounded by incomprehensible loss, Zanja also forms a bond with Emil, an officer of the army she joins.
Battling the complex forces of power, desire, and obligation, follow along as the trio work together to try and change the course of history.
~books are precious
~a most excellent raven
~plot-relevant fireworks
~careful who you cut with those
~the past is never coming back
Fire Logic is a book I’ve tried to read at least four times before this, and I’ve always bounced off the plain, dry prose – but for some reason, I had the impulse to pick it up again recently.
And this time, it swallowed me whole.
I was so wrong about the prose being plain and dry. What it is is simple – but it’s the elegant, perfect simplicity of clear water flowing over last year’s leaves, unadorned because it doesn’t need to be, hypnotic in its clarity. It tells little, and shows everything, full of natural imagery and similes that draw on comfortable household tasks – which reinforces the worldbuilding, or maybe is influenced by it, or both, because the culture of Shaftal seems imbued in every word choice. We don’t see this often – worldbuilding and writing style usually have nothing to do with each other – but it’s wonderful; it brings Shaftal, and the characters, alive in an incredibly vivid way. We learn about this place and these people as much from the words used to describe them as from the acts of the story itself, and it’s as impressive (and effective) as it is subtle.
the town’s largest tavern, into which the townspeople packed, elbow-to-elbow, like beans standing in the pickling jar.
Then the lake had glowed like a jewel; now it was gray, with the muted colors of tree and canyon bleeding across it like ink on a wet page.
the sun split the clouds open like a bright hammer upon gray stone.
The plot is relatively simple to explain, but that explanation doesn’t do Fire Logic justice at all: the country of Shaftal is overcome by brutal colonisers after its leader dies, and its warriors spend 15 years fighting a guerrilla war. Zanja, a foreigner, joins the guerrillas after the colonisers wipe out her people, eventually crosses paths with an enemy seer, and is directly entangled with the future of Shaftal and its leadership.
But that tells you nothing about how this is a book of grief and healing, of forging a new place and new purpose for yourself after you’ve lost everything. It’s a book about hate and rage and what to do with those things, those feelings. It’s about factions and responsibility and care, about ways to lead and ways to rule, ways to be. There are secrets within secrets here, layers upon layers; quiet, wry humour and earth-shaking emotion, vows and honour and very unexpected love, intuition versus insight.
It’s a familiar story told in a very unfamiliar way; there’s a war, but the enemies aren’t invaders, because they’ve lived in Shaftal for a generation at this point; there’s a war, and it’s an actual war, not a flashy cinematic battle that revolves everything in one go; there’s a war, and it’s been going on 15 years. As a genre, Fantasy isn’t great at realistic depictions of war, but Fire Logic is an excellent one – without being gory or grimdark. The exhaustion of it all comes through beautifully, and the schisms within the guerrilla forces are all too believable. Both sides are depicted as very, very human, making so many mistakes for such understandable reasons.
And none of what I’ve just typed out does the book justice, gives you any idea of what reading it is LIKE. It is so strangely, inexplicably soothing, far more readable than you would ever think a story with these themes could be. The characters are magnetic, and only grow more so as you get to know them better. Fire Logic ought to be a challenging read – not least because Marks does challenge the reader’s preconceptions about things like war and enemies and The Other – but somehow, it isn’t. It’s – easy, easy on your heart, even though it clearly shouldn’t be. If I laid the plot out for you, point by point, you’d never imagine that this book could feel straightforward, and gentle, and disarmingly serene. It makes no sense!
And yet.
Like a great wheel the year turned; and now the sower dropped to the horizon, and up rose the gatherer with her arms outstretched to capture the ripe stars and put them in her basket.
Can you just trust me? That this is a book you really, REALLY need to try? Even if it sounds like nothing you’d enjoy? Fire Logic is so much more than the sum of its parts; what Marks has done is transformational, alchemical, in a way I have been failing to describe for MONTHS.
I don’t think it can be explained. It needs to be experienced.
I really hope you’ll give it a try. As for me, I’m diving straight into the sequel!
You can read an excerpt of the book here!
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