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Elemental Logic #1
Fire Logic
"Beautifully written."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
The martial Sainnites have occupied Shaftal for fifteen years. Every year the cost of resistance rises. Emil, an officer and scholar; Zanja, a diplomat and last survivor of her people; and Karis, a metalsmith, half-blood giant, and an addict, can only watch as their country falls into lawlessness and famine. Together, perhaps they can change the course of history.
Laurie J. Marks' first two Elemental Logic novels (Fire Logic and Earth Logic) both won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award and received multiple starred reviews. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and teaches at the University of Massachusetts.
The martial Sainnites have occupied Shaftal for fifteen years. Every year the cost of resistance rises. Emil, an officer and scholar; Zanja, a diplomat and last survivor of her people; and Karis, a metalsmith, half-blood giant, and an addict, can only watch as their country falls into lawlessness and famine. Together, perhaps they can change the course of history.
Laurie J. Marks' first two Elemental Logic novels (Fire Logic and Earth Logic) both won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award and received multiple starred reviews. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and teaches at the University of Massachusetts.
336 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
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December 4, 2013
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 press, and until I picked up Fire Logic I didn't know that the series started out at Tor, a very mainstream fantasy press.
What I liked about the setting was the realistically poor and dirty medieval feel to the world. This is not a high-fantasy setting at all: there are no knights, no castles, no silk wearing nobility. The closest you get to a castle is a wooden fort on a hill, and the paladins spend the time between battles hand-sewing their torn clothes and oiling their rare and precious blades. Most people are peasants, even those forced to fight, and battles result in death, amputations and infected wounds. More fantasy needs this gritty realism.
I also liked the "clash of civilizations" the plot entails -- our heroes are insurgents fighting off a technologically superior invading force that believes it is bringing law and order to an oppressed, backwards society. But what starts as a "one-man's freedom fighter" model then begins to lend a bit of emotional depth to the invaders as well; however, instead of merely going to the easy end of "both sides are human," the book hints more at the evil of conflict and dualistic simplicity -- the struggle perpetuates violence and we need to look outside the simple modes of "good/evil" for a solution. A bit hippie "subvert the dominant paradigm," but basically well done.
The most notable and infamous aspect to Mark's world, however, is the complete fluidity of gender and sexual-orientation, with all the primary characters being queer. Some people have complained that it feels forced, but that's just a testament to how straight-oriented most of our reading experience is -- we read countless fantasy books where every relationship is straight, but that never feels "forced" or a "conceit." In Mark's world, families are sprawling, polygamous communities centered around community and child-rearing, whereas romance seems to be reserved for members of one's own sex. And why not? Readers of fantasy can accept almost any far-flung societal ideas, and yet the most alien society is still expected to have our hereto-centric relationship norms? And for the few who have called it "unbelievable", its not too far removed from the Roman idea of romantic love, especially among soldiers. Its also nice to see a book where women and men share roles in all aspects of society, from ruling to fighting to farming, without it being mentioned as unusual at all.
What grates a bit, however, is the whole "elemental" conceit. Certain, special individuals have magical abilities linked to the elements, and here the book gets a bit touchy-new-agey and somewhat stereotypical. Fire elementals are passionate, romantic, lacking in logic but strongly intuitive. Air elementals are highly logical, dispassionate to the point of cruel, but well-intentioned. Earth elementals are slow, solid, loyal in their friendship and linked to healing and plants. I'm still not sure what water elementals are, but you get the point. Here's where the "give peace a chance" themes can get a bit heavy-handed.
All in all, however, it was well done, just not well done enough to make me pick up the next three books in the series. As my standards for fantasy have gone up, my tolerance for the multi-book sagas (which are so prevalent in the genre) have gone down. Give me a good one-volume tale so I can move on to something else. Few plots, characters, or worlds, deserve 1,200 pages; this isn't one of them.
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 press, and until I picked up Fire Logic I didn't know that the series started out at Tor, a very mainstream fantasy press.
What I liked about the setting was the realistically poor and dirty medieval feel to the world. This is not a high-fantasy setting at all: there are no knights, no castles, no silk wearing nobility. The closest you get to a castle is a wooden fort on a hill, and the paladins spend the time between battles hand-sewing their torn clothes and oiling their rare and precious blades. Most people are peasants, even those forced to fight, and battles result in death, amputations and infected wounds. More fantasy needs this gritty realism.
I also liked the "clash of civilizations" the plot entails -- our heroes are insurgents fighting off a technologically superior invading force that believes it is bringing law and order to an oppressed, backwards society. But what starts as a "one-man's freedom fighter" model then begins to lend a bit of emotional depth to the invaders as well; however, instead of merely going to the easy end of "both sides are human," the book hints more at the evil of conflict and dualistic simplicity -- the struggle perpetuates violence and we need to look outside the simple modes of "good/evil" for a solution. A bit hippie "subvert the dominant paradigm," but basically well done.
The most notable and infamous aspect to Mark's world, however, is the complete fluidity of gender and sexual-orientation, with all the primary characters being queer. Some people have complained that it feels forced, but that's just a testament to how straight-oriented most of our reading experience is -- we read countless fantasy books where every relationship is straight, but that never feels "forced" or a "conceit." In Mark's world, families are sprawling, polygamous communities centered around community and child-rearing, whereas romance seems to be reserved for members of one's own sex. And why not? Readers of fantasy can accept almost any far-flung societal ideas, and yet the most alien society is still expected to have our hereto-centric relationship norms? And for the few who have called it "unbelievable", its not too far removed from the Roman idea of romantic love, especially among soldiers. Its also nice to see a book where women and men share roles in all aspects of society, from ruling to fighting to farming, without it being mentioned as unusual at all.
What grates a bit, however, is the whole "elemental" conceit. Certain, special individuals have magical abilities linked to the elements, and here the book gets a bit touchy-new-agey and somewhat stereotypical. Fire elementals are passionate, romantic, lacking in logic but strongly intuitive. Air elementals are highly logical, dispassionate to the point of cruel, but well-intentioned. Earth elementals are slow, solid, loyal in their friendship and linked to healing and plants. I'm still not sure what water elementals are, but you get the point. Here's where the "give peace a chance" themes can get a bit heavy-handed.
All in all, however, it was well done, just not well done enough to make me pick up the next three books in the series. As my standards for fantasy have gone up, my tolerance for the multi-book sagas (which are so prevalent in the genre) have gone down. Give me a good one-volume tale so I can move on to something else. Few plots, characters, or worlds, deserve 1,200 pages; this isn't one of them.
December 4, 2013
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 in her worth or her job. The second-in-command of the army is beginning to see that her people have to re-think what they are doing if they are to survive, as do some of the rebel leaders.
The characters are complex, facing complex problems. I not only love them and the world-building, but I was able to give this and EARTH LOGIC, which I also liked VERY much, to a gay friend who wanted a lesbian romance in which the fact that the women were gay was not an ISSUE, but simply part of the romance.
Definitely find EARTH LOGIC if you like this. Small Beer Press has published the third book, WATER LOGIC, which I will read as soon as I'm sure I'm ready for the next one. (Sometimes I overload on a universe if I read too many books in it one right after another.)
The characters are complex, facing complex problems. I not only love them and the world-building, but I was able to give this and EARTH LOGIC, which I also liked VERY much, to a gay friend who wanted a lesbian romance in which the fact that the women were gay was not an ISSUE, but simply part of the romance.
Definitely find EARTH LOGIC if you like this. Small Beer Press has published the third book, WATER LOGIC, which I will read as soon as I'm sure I'm ready for the next one. (Sometimes I overload on a universe if I read too many books in it one right after another.)
November 10, 2023
I liked how queer this book was and appreciated its themes related to colonization and subjugation. Unfortunately I found the writing style too “tell-y” and not “show-y” for me, it felt like a narration of events rather than the reader actually witnessing the plot unfold. One of my super cool Goodreads friends recommended this to me so even though I didn’t love it thank you so much for your recommendation (you know who you are)!
July 12, 2016
NOTES ON DIVERSITY
Hey, are you looking for a diverse book? MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ THIS ONE.
Seriously. Zanja, one of the POV characters, is a lesbian woman of color who also experiences an extended period of disability.1 Karis is half-giant and a smoke addict. Her addiction greatly impacts her functioning day in and day out. Emil is a soldier, and continues to be a soldier well into middle-age despite a consistent difficult knee injury. The lot of them are poor; living hand-to-mouth. Emil is classically educated, but many of them are not. And, so many of the characters are queer--and various flavors of queer.2
REVIEW:
When the leader of Shaftal dies without naming a successor, the country falls apart. The Sainnites take advantage of the power vacuum and slaughter the bulk of Shaftal’s remaining leaders, throwing the country into chaos and war overnight. Zanja, a trader in training from the northern mountains, witnesses this and witnesses in the intervening fifteen years the havoc the war wreaks across the land of Shaftal. But she can do little about it until the war comes knocking at her tribe’s door. It isn’t until then, that her own tribe is threatened by the Sainnites, that the story really starts. Because then Zanja’s fate becomes tied to Shaftal’s.
This is a long and complex book. Zanja is not the only narrator--that paragraph is my paltry attempt to summarize the book without giving anything away, but it doesn’t get into the depth of the book. Karis, the half-giant addict is also a narrator. So is Emil, the old paladin commander Zanja winds up befriending. And Medric, a young seer who holds the fate of both the Sainnites and the Shaftalese in his hands. It is a fantasy epic, but instead of kings and castles, it is an epic about farmsteads and ironworkers.
This is a wonderful, thoughtful book populated by wonderful, thoughtful characters. It could have been tighter, but that’s ok with me. I don’t mind a shaggy book. Your mileage may vary. The thing that most irked me about FIRE LOGIC--and this is a fairly minor point, though it is enough that i am willing to knock it down a star--is an uneveness in the worldbuilding. There was such a fine and deep eye towards some elements, things like the historical use of specific words like porringer and dray horse that lent the book an authenticity I loved. The elements of guerilla warfare were intricately drawn with almost too much detail. And yet I still have little sense of the magical mechanics of the world. It’s stated that elementals are rare, but yet most of the characters I came to know over the course of the book are elementals. And if they are so rare, how are they handled? Would Karis really be left to be a blacksmith? Would Emil really simply be a paladin commander? Perhaps, this makes sense given the current state of disarray in Shaftal, but is there no specific training or guidance for people with these gifts? There was, at least, for Zanja among the Ashawala’i. It was because she was a fire elemental that she was first introduced to Shaftal as a trader, after all. Why are the elementals of Shaftal untrained? Or are they? It was a huge open question for me throughout the whole of the book given how prominent and important elemental magic turned out to be for the plot, and without some of these questions answered, the fire logic that drove the plot felt like contrivance more than once.
I also wanted to know more about the peculiarities of the elemental magic and how they impacted, specifically, the way these gifted people are perceived and embark into relationships with others. Yes, I understand that fire logic makes Zanja and Emil and Medric all very intuitive and prescient. All three of them seemed to be prone to fall in love awfully fast and awfully hard. Is this bad writing? Or is it a trick of the magic? I want to give Marks the benefit of the doubt here, but without some explanation, there is room to lean towards it seeming just like pat instalove. But then again, it could be that fire logic--that weird prescience, a kind of imprinting. I wanted more insight into how that works, if that was the case. How would Zanja or Emil’s prescience work when turned towards a person instead of grand events? Could it be turned towards a person? Is that healthy?
Beyond all of that, it is Marks’ handling of the way the big political shifts of Shaftal impact the formation of this found family that made the book really sing for me. Zanja and Emil and Karis and Norina and Medric and J’Han are all broken, wounded people. They love each other, and they need each other, and they are better and stronger together--and that is, ultimately, what family is. Marks allows for a great deal of space and breathing room for these relationships to develop organically, for this little family to form on its own against all odds. And when it does, it is so emotionally gratifying.
Marks has a way of cutting to the heart of the desperate human need for connection, and it’s this that propels the book forward:
"Annis talked to Zanja about her experiments with gunpowder and other unstable compounds. It seemed incredible that she had not injured herself when she clearly deserved to be blown to bits. In this community of huge, fantastically intermarried families, Zanja’s loneliness was becoming intolerable. She experimented with touching Annis’s arm, wondering if she herself would be blown to bits."
The characters’ decisions are hinged on their relationships to each other. I was gripped by how they interacted, what they drew from each other, how they pushed and pulled each other. All of the characters, from Zanja down to the antagonists--the xenophobic Willis and the arrogant Mabin--are drawn with depth and clarity and motivation. Each is a joy to read. Norina hit me too close for comfort. Karis is a study in paradoxes. Zanja is the heart that holds the book together.
A book could not ask for a better heart than Zanja. I have rarely seen as fully realized a character as her, or as agentic a character as her. Or one with as much respect for those around her. I love what she tells someone at the end of the book:
"Scholars like Emil and Medric will study the obscure history of your life a hundred years from now and never quite make sense of it. So what, so long as it makes sense to you?"
_____
1: Zanja’s physical disabilities are magically healed, but the experience leaves her profoundly shaken. Her life changes absolutely because of her experience of having had a disability. FIRE LOGIC does not fall into the trap of either pretending that being magically cured wipes away forever the experience of ever having been disabled in the first place or that other people with disabilities exist in the world. Other characters with disabilities do continue to exist throughout the book, some of whom are healed, and some of whom are not.
2: In the case of one character in particular, Marks does a wonderful job depicting a fluid change in sexuality that is at once honest and heartrending and deeply emotionally gratifying.
Hey, are you looking for a diverse book? MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ THIS ONE.
Seriously. Zanja, one of the POV characters, is a lesbian woman of color who also experiences an extended period of disability.1 Karis is half-giant and a smoke addict. Her addiction greatly impacts her functioning day in and day out. Emil is a soldier, and continues to be a soldier well into middle-age despite a consistent difficult knee injury. The lot of them are poor; living hand-to-mouth. Emil is classically educated, but many of them are not. And, so many of the characters are queer--and various flavors of queer.2
REVIEW:
When the leader of Shaftal dies without naming a successor, the country falls apart. The Sainnites take advantage of the power vacuum and slaughter the bulk of Shaftal’s remaining leaders, throwing the country into chaos and war overnight. Zanja, a trader in training from the northern mountains, witnesses this and witnesses in the intervening fifteen years the havoc the war wreaks across the land of Shaftal. But she can do little about it until the war comes knocking at her tribe’s door. It isn’t until then, that her own tribe is threatened by the Sainnites, that the story really starts. Because then Zanja’s fate becomes tied to Shaftal’s.
This is a long and complex book. Zanja is not the only narrator--that paragraph is my paltry attempt to summarize the book without giving anything away, but it doesn’t get into the depth of the book. Karis, the half-giant addict is also a narrator. So is Emil, the old paladin commander Zanja winds up befriending. And Medric, a young seer who holds the fate of both the Sainnites and the Shaftalese in his hands. It is a fantasy epic, but instead of kings and castles, it is an epic about farmsteads and ironworkers.
This is a wonderful, thoughtful book populated by wonderful, thoughtful characters. It could have been tighter, but that’s ok with me. I don’t mind a shaggy book. Your mileage may vary. The thing that most irked me about FIRE LOGIC--and this is a fairly minor point, though it is enough that i am willing to knock it down a star--is an uneveness in the worldbuilding. There was such a fine and deep eye towards some elements, things like the historical use of specific words like porringer and dray horse that lent the book an authenticity I loved. The elements of guerilla warfare were intricately drawn with almost too much detail. And yet I still have little sense of the magical mechanics of the world. It’s stated that elementals are rare, but yet most of the characters I came to know over the course of the book are elementals. And if they are so rare, how are they handled? Would Karis really be left to be a blacksmith? Would Emil really simply be a paladin commander? Perhaps, this makes sense given the current state of disarray in Shaftal, but is there no specific training or guidance for people with these gifts? There was, at least, for Zanja among the Ashawala’i. It was because she was a fire elemental that she was first introduced to Shaftal as a trader, after all. Why are the elementals of Shaftal untrained? Or are they? It was a huge open question for me throughout the whole of the book given how prominent and important elemental magic turned out to be for the plot, and without some of these questions answered, the fire logic that drove the plot felt like contrivance more than once.
I also wanted to know more about the peculiarities of the elemental magic and how they impacted, specifically, the way these gifted people are perceived and embark into relationships with others. Yes, I understand that fire logic makes Zanja and Emil and Medric all very intuitive and prescient. All three of them seemed to be prone to fall in love awfully fast and awfully hard. Is this bad writing? Or is it a trick of the magic? I want to give Marks the benefit of the doubt here, but without some explanation, there is room to lean towards it seeming just like pat instalove. But then again, it could be that fire logic--that weird prescience, a kind of imprinting. I wanted more insight into how that works, if that was the case. How would Zanja or Emil’s prescience work when turned towards a person instead of grand events? Could it be turned towards a person? Is that healthy?
Beyond all of that, it is Marks’ handling of the way the big political shifts of Shaftal impact the formation of this found family that made the book really sing for me. Zanja and Emil and Karis and Norina and Medric and J’Han are all broken, wounded people. They love each other, and they need each other, and they are better and stronger together--and that is, ultimately, what family is. Marks allows for a great deal of space and breathing room for these relationships to develop organically, for this little family to form on its own against all odds. And when it does, it is so emotionally gratifying.
Marks has a way of cutting to the heart of the desperate human need for connection, and it’s this that propels the book forward:
"Annis talked to Zanja about her experiments with gunpowder and other unstable compounds. It seemed incredible that she had not injured herself when she clearly deserved to be blown to bits. In this community of huge, fantastically intermarried families, Zanja’s loneliness was becoming intolerable. She experimented with touching Annis’s arm, wondering if she herself would be blown to bits."
The characters’ decisions are hinged on their relationships to each other. I was gripped by how they interacted, what they drew from each other, how they pushed and pulled each other. All of the characters, from Zanja down to the antagonists--the xenophobic Willis and the arrogant Mabin--are drawn with depth and clarity and motivation. Each is a joy to read. Norina hit me too close for comfort. Karis is a study in paradoxes. Zanja is the heart that holds the book together.
A book could not ask for a better heart than Zanja. I have rarely seen as fully realized a character as her, or as agentic a character as her. Or one with as much respect for those around her. I love what she tells someone at the end of the book:
"Scholars like Emil and Medric will study the obscure history of your life a hundred years from now and never quite make sense of it. So what, so long as it makes sense to you?"
_____
1: Zanja’s physical disabilities are magically healed, but the experience leaves her profoundly shaken. Her life changes absolutely because of her experience of having had a disability. FIRE LOGIC does not fall into the trap of either pretending that being magically cured wipes away forever the experience of ever having been disabled in the first place or that other people with disabilities exist in the world. Other characters with disabilities do continue to exist throughout the book, some of whom are healed, and some of whom are not.
2: In the case of one character in particular, Marks does a wonderful job depicting a fluid change in sexuality that is at once honest and heartrending and deeply emotionally gratifying.
April 28, 2024
So What’s It About?
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 these marauders, but every year the cost of resistance grows, leaving Shaftal's fate in the hands of three people: Emil, scholar and reluctant warrior; Zanja, the sole survivor of a slaughtered tribe; and Karis the metalsmith, a half-blood giant whose earth powers can heal, but only when she can muster the strength to hold off her addiction to a deadly drug.
Separately, all they can do is watch as Shaftal falls from prosperity into lawlessness and famine. But if they can find a way to work together, they just may change the course of history.
What I Thought
This was one of the books I enjoyed the least for my r/fantasy bingo challenge for 2023. I think someone who is better at analyzing writing structure and prose might be able to make a stronger case for why this is than me, but one of my biggest challenges with the book was how strange the writing felt to me. It’s not that the prose is terrible or that there are grammatical errors, but there is just something about the flow word-to-word/sentence-to-sentence and the nature of the details included that makes each scene feel somehow unfocused, stilted, and vague.
This also applies on a chapter-to-chapter basis, where transitions often feel odd and abrupt. There is a fair amount of perspective-jumping, and one notorious (to me!) chapter opens with a paragraph from Emil, another from “the farmers,” a third from an unnamed character we haven’t been introduced to yet, and a final paragraph from Norina, a side character. There are also some very jarring time jumps. After the coup in the beginning of the book, we skip ahead to 8 years later then to 15 years later. We also miss a chunk of time after Zanja’s escape from prison to her joining Emil’s company of soldiers.
There are also some odd decisions about what pieces of world-building are and are not emphasized. We know what fire logic is, for example, but we get only a minute amount of information about the other elemental powers and what they do. Mabin, the leader of the Shaftal Rebellion, is introduced at the start of the book and then isn’t mentioned a single time until she reappears halfway through the book, at which point she becomes a major antagonist.
Another problem for me is that the characters do not feel like well-developed individuals with interiority because of the amount of narrative distance from them, the disjointed, awkward way dialogue is written and the lack of any clear development or introspection. They have universally been through horrific life experiences, but the effects remain somewhat vague, and while some characters like Zanja end the book in a much better place, the process by which that happens remains almost entirely unexplored and unstated by the book.
There are two romantic relationships between major characters by the end of the book, and both of these occur very spontaneously with little development. A found family also emerges by the end of the book, which is mostly shown through a lot of mildly unfunny banter, but this feels pretty unearned and even somewhat bizarre when Norina’s recent attempt to kill Zanja is brushed off, more or less, and characters such as Annis and Karis’s beloved raven get murdered and are then never mentioned again for the rest of the book.
I personally don’t enjoy stories that rely on convenience to progress, and that is very much the case here. Characters nearly always make decisions based on their “fire logic” intuition, the mystical connections between them, glyph cards (like tarot cards), prophetic foresight, or Karis’s talking prescient raven. There is also a lot of repetition in the plot where people get horribly wounded, magically healed, captured, and rescued multiple times.
The result of all this is that SO much feels like it is being left unspoken/unexplored, but not in a deliberately subtle or skilled way that lets the reader effectively read between the lines. It all just ends up feeling wooden and disjointed in a manner that I’ve never quite encountered before.
Overall, this was a frustrating reading experience with very little that worked for me.
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 these marauders, but every year the cost of resistance grows, leaving Shaftal's fate in the hands of three people: Emil, scholar and reluctant warrior; Zanja, the sole survivor of a slaughtered tribe; and Karis the metalsmith, a half-blood giant whose earth powers can heal, but only when she can muster the strength to hold off her addiction to a deadly drug.
Separately, all they can do is watch as Shaftal falls from prosperity into lawlessness and famine. But if they can find a way to work together, they just may change the course of history.
What I Thought
This was one of the books I enjoyed the least for my r/fantasy bingo challenge for 2023. I think someone who is better at analyzing writing structure and prose might be able to make a stronger case for why this is than me, but one of my biggest challenges with the book was how strange the writing felt to me. It’s not that the prose is terrible or that there are grammatical errors, but there is just something about the flow word-to-word/sentence-to-sentence and the nature of the details included that makes each scene feel somehow unfocused, stilted, and vague.
This also applies on a chapter-to-chapter basis, where transitions often feel odd and abrupt. There is a fair amount of perspective-jumping, and one notorious (to me!) chapter opens with a paragraph from Emil, another from “the farmers,” a third from an unnamed character we haven’t been introduced to yet, and a final paragraph from Norina, a side character. There are also some very jarring time jumps. After the coup in the beginning of the book, we skip ahead to 8 years later then to 15 years later. We also miss a chunk of time after Zanja’s escape from prison to her joining Emil’s company of soldiers.
There are also some odd decisions about what pieces of world-building are and are not emphasized. We know what fire logic is, for example, but we get only a minute amount of information about the other elemental powers and what they do. Mabin, the leader of the Shaftal Rebellion, is introduced at the start of the book and then isn’t mentioned a single time until she reappears halfway through the book, at which point she becomes a major antagonist.
Another problem for me is that the characters do not feel like well-developed individuals with interiority because of the amount of narrative distance from them, the disjointed, awkward way dialogue is written and the lack of any clear development or introspection. They have universally been through horrific life experiences, but the effects remain somewhat vague, and while some characters like Zanja end the book in a much better place, the process by which that happens remains almost entirely unexplored and unstated by the book.
There are two romantic relationships between major characters by the end of the book, and both of these occur very spontaneously with little development. A found family also emerges by the end of the book, which is mostly shown through a lot of mildly unfunny banter, but this feels pretty unearned and even somewhat bizarre when Norina’s recent attempt to kill Zanja is brushed off, more or less, and characters such as Annis and Karis’s beloved raven get murdered and are then never mentioned again for the rest of the book.
I personally don’t enjoy stories that rely on convenience to progress, and that is very much the case here. Characters nearly always make decisions based on their “fire logic” intuition, the mystical connections between them, glyph cards (like tarot cards), prophetic foresight, or Karis’s talking prescient raven. There is also a lot of repetition in the plot where people get horribly wounded, magically healed, captured, and rescued multiple times.
The result of all this is that SO much feels like it is being left unspoken/unexplored, but not in a deliberately subtle or skilled way that lets the reader effectively read between the lines. It all just ends up feeling wooden and disjointed in a manner that I’ve never quite encountered before.
Overall, this was a frustrating reading experience with very little that worked for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2017
Okay. This is officially my favorite epic fantasy novel I've ever read.
My heart is sore - in the good way - after finishing it, and rather than try to write something structured and coherent, I present to you: A LIST* OF THINGS
(*actually multiple lists)
"❤️❤️❤️😊😊😊 Things"
- The main character is a lesbian woman of color. Liiiike, how rare is it to have LoTR-type stories with protagonists that are female, queer, and dark-skinned??
- IT HAS A F/F ROMANCE THAT I SHIPPED SO HARD AND I DON'T SHIP SHIPS OFTEN AND IT MADE ME FEEL SO MANY THINGS
- Adventure! Battles! Characters that actually get seriously hurt quite a lot!
- Karis 😭 Who ever thought it was possible for me to feel such strong, aching compassion for someone who doesn't even exist?
- The world is entirely egalitarian and it's so pure and I didn't realize I much I wanted this. For people who think fantasy always has to be patriarchal... ugh! Read this for an example of egalitarian societies done right!
- Can we please just have a moment of silence for how MOST OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE QUEER, and it's no big deal, and they never have to label themselves. They just are.
"Just 😊 Things"
- The world building didn't blow me away, but I liked it.
- It wasn't Medieval fantasy, but set in a slightly more advanced setting with swords and pistols. 'Twas refreshing.
- Main character was a tough, nuanced, well-rounded female warrior. The love interest tugged my heart and just made me care so much about her, ahh. None of the other characters really struck me, but I did enjoy all of them.
- I'm a sucker for themes of survival and friendship and rescues and doing-the-right-thing and ethical dilemmas etc. etc.
"☹️ Things"
- While I was fully entertained throughout the story, and never felt it had a dry or dull moment, the plot did seem to meander a little.
- It was such a diverse, intersectional story AND YET WHAT IS THE ABOMINATION THAT IS THIS COVER. WHO WHITE-WASHED ZANJA. SHE IS DARK-SKINNED AND DARK-HAIRED. WHY. WHY. *howls at the moon* *screams at white supremacy* I will never ever be okay with this.
Issue with cover design aside - which was also not the author's fault I'm sure - I loved this. And I will not soon forget it. ❤️
My heart is sore - in the good way - after finishing it, and rather than try to write something structured and coherent, I present to you: A LIST* OF THINGS
(*actually multiple lists)
"❤️❤️❤️😊😊😊 Things"
- The main character is a lesbian woman of color. Liiiike, how rare is it to have LoTR-type stories with protagonists that are female, queer, and dark-skinned??
- IT HAS A F/F ROMANCE THAT I SHIPPED SO HARD AND I DON'T SHIP SHIPS OFTEN AND IT MADE ME FEEL SO MANY THINGS
- Adventure! Battles! Characters that actually get seriously hurt quite a lot!
- Karis 😭 Who ever thought it was possible for me to feel such strong, aching compassion for someone who doesn't even exist?
- The world is entirely egalitarian and it's so pure and I didn't realize I much I wanted this. For people who think fantasy always has to be patriarchal... ugh! Read this for an example of egalitarian societies done right!
- Can we please just have a moment of silence for how MOST OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE QUEER, and it's no big deal, and they never have to label themselves. They just are.
"Just 😊 Things"
- The world building didn't blow me away, but I liked it.
- It wasn't Medieval fantasy, but set in a slightly more advanced setting with swords and pistols. 'Twas refreshing.
- Main character was a tough, nuanced, well-rounded female warrior. The love interest tugged my heart and just made me care so much about her, ahh. None of the other characters really struck me, but I did enjoy all of them.
- I'm a sucker for themes of survival and friendship and rescues and doing-the-right-thing and ethical dilemmas etc. etc.
"☹️ Things"
- While I was fully entertained throughout the story, and never felt it had a dry or dull moment, the plot did seem to meander a little.
- It was such a diverse, intersectional story AND YET WHAT IS THE ABOMINATION THAT IS THIS COVER. WHO WHITE-WASHED ZANJA. SHE IS DARK-SKINNED AND DARK-HAIRED. WHY. WHY. *howls at the moon* *screams at white supremacy* I will never ever be okay with this.
Issue with cover design aside - which was also not the author's fault I'm sure - I loved this. And I will not soon forget it. ❤️
January 27, 2015
This is a terrific feminist fantasy series with primarily queer female characters. If that's up your alley, you will enjoy this. If it is not, you will not. I loved all three of these books and I am chomping at the bit for the last one to come out. Morally sophisticated fantasy with complex protagonists. I read a review of this book which said it depicts a world where women are the dominant gender; I don't think that's the case at all-- I think it depicts a world where people are not judged on their gender or sexuality. Perhaps that looks to some like female domination, but I just found it insanely refreshing after reading 100 books where the One True Warrior/God/Mage/Knight/Whatever is a plucky young man with humble beginnings and a sidekick who is just an older or uglier man. Marks fearlessly reimagines familial and sexual bonds and yet this is just in the background-- the main stories are your typical fantasy quests/battles, which is what I like about fantasy in the first place. Totally recommended.
September 27, 2020
I have no clue why I only three starred it the first time around, because I remember beginning reading the first page and feeling the awe that comes when I meet a new world where I know I will long to visit again and again...
This story is magical on every sense of the term, the way it's written is beautifully poetic, the character are unique, you never met them anywhere else, and their interaction give birth to beautiful relationships.
This world is rich with multiple cultures and the magic is mind-blowing. It's rare to have an uptake on elemental magic that is so enchanting and encompass layer, on layer, on layer. The character personality is build on that magic but isn't limited by it.
The story is hard, with a lot violence and broken people, but they do get better, and at the end, it's a story of healing.
This story is magical on every sense of the term, the way it's written is beautifully poetic, the character are unique, you never met them anywhere else, and their interaction give birth to beautiful relationships.
This world is rich with multiple cultures and the magic is mind-blowing. It's rare to have an uptake on elemental magic that is so enchanting and encompass layer, on layer, on layer. The character personality is build on that magic but isn't limited by it.
The story is hard, with a lot violence and broken people, but they do get better, and at the end, it's a story of healing.
did-not-finish
August 11, 2016I am totally bored. There is a kingdom in upheaval and war and doom to come but I simply don't care.
I believe it's because of the distance to the characters in the narration. I don't care for them because I don't get to know them. I knew I was a reader who prefers character-driven novels but most of the time the narration isn't that detached from them.
________________
Genre: high fantasy
Tags: lesbian
Rating: dnf, no star rating
I believe it's because of the distance to the characters in the narration. I don't care for them because I don't get to know them. I knew I was a reader who prefers character-driven novels but most of the time the narration isn't that detached from them.
________________
Genre: high fantasy
Tags: lesbian
Rating: dnf, no star rating
May 8, 2021
It’s fitting that I should finish this book about the exercise of hope at such a difficult time of grief in my own life. It also has the distinction of being the first second world fantasy novel that wasn’t also romance that I’ve read in years and years. And I really admired it. It’s the ‘calling of the characters’ instalment of a quartet, in which we meet the band of brothers who will, undoubtedly, save the day.
Blacksmith Karis is a drug addict and Earth witch with a powerful destiny, protected by Norina, an aloof air elemental with the ability to know whether someone speaks truth or lies. Zanja is a diplomat and a fire elemental, who experiences and survives the genocide of her tribal people at the start of the novel. Emil is like Zanja, a fire witch, but his gift is prescience and patience, a quality much needed in a commander engaged in a guerilla war. Together they find themselves invested in a long term battle to free their country, Shaftal, from the oppression of the colonising Sainnites and to return to The Law, their tradition of democracy.
It’s not a swift story - the book spans almost two decades in time - and it’s told with a languid, poetic grace. But it’s very potent and intriguing. The golden thread of the story is about the relationship between power and hope - who is best fit to exercise the former? How can the latter be manifested in dark times? It’s deep stuff, yet at the same time we spend hundreds of pages in the nitty gritty realities of fighting for your lives in desperate circumstances. The balance between the high and low isn’t always well struck. Still, I was drawn along by the relationships between the central characters - which include two queer romantic subplots, hooray! - and intent to start book 2 in the the not distant future.
Blacksmith Karis is a drug addict and Earth witch with a powerful destiny, protected by Norina, an aloof air elemental with the ability to know whether someone speaks truth or lies. Zanja is a diplomat and a fire elemental, who experiences and survives the genocide of her tribal people at the start of the novel. Emil is like Zanja, a fire witch, but his gift is prescience and patience, a quality much needed in a commander engaged in a guerilla war. Together they find themselves invested in a long term battle to free their country, Shaftal, from the oppression of the colonising Sainnites and to return to The Law, their tradition of democracy.
It’s not a swift story - the book spans almost two decades in time - and it’s told with a languid, poetic grace. But it’s very potent and intriguing. The golden thread of the story is about the relationship between power and hope - who is best fit to exercise the former? How can the latter be manifested in dark times? It’s deep stuff, yet at the same time we spend hundreds of pages in the nitty gritty realities of fighting for your lives in desperate circumstances. The balance between the high and low isn’t always well struck. Still, I was drawn along by the relationships between the central characters - which include two queer romantic subplots, hooray! - and intent to start book 2 in the the not distant future.
August 3, 2007
An excellent beginning to a really promising series. Several damaged women--the last survivor of a slaughtered tribe, a gifted blacksmith with a drug addiction, and their few friends--band together to fight against the invaders that have destroyed their lands. It's got wonderfully imaginative storytelling, complete with a really great new style of magic set in a believable yet fantastic world. However, what really drew me in were the characters.
September 28, 2022
sadly, this one bored me to tears
Rep: lesbian mcs, gay mcs
CWs: torture, violence, implied suicide attempt, drug abuse
Rep: lesbian mcs, gay mcs
CWs: torture, violence, implied suicide attempt, drug abuse
June 4, 2013
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.
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.
March 13, 2016
I was really exited about Fire Logic after reading the blurb but I just could not manage to get through it. It's one of those fantasy books that dumps you in the middle of a complex world and a group of characters and you are just supposed to pick it up as you go. Sometimes that can work and you don't necessarily want a giant info-dump at the beginning of a book. However for me sometimes its just too difficult to muddle through confused and trying to understand why you should care about what's going on. Maybe someone else less distracted by this would get more out of this but I eventually gave up. Hmph.
August 9, 2019
** 2019 reread, on a Laurie J. Marks binge. **
this was utterly captivating and i don't know what i was on about with not being able to get into it -- i started reading it at the gym and accidentally did 40+ minutes on the treadmill.
deeply emotionally-driven, and its strength is in what's often left unsaid. deals with not just the trauma of war, but racialization and colonization in ways that were lost on me ten years ago. ALSO extremely and unapologetically and delightfully gay, and btw i recently read that Marks realized she was a lesbian at age 29, in the course of writing a novel (which novel, she doesn't say.. maybe this one??).
** original review follows **
It took me a couple tries to start this one, but once I did, I was hooked. It's nothing like what I was expecting, which I suppose was something like Children of the Triad and something like your typical epic fantasy novel. It's darker and grittier than Children of the Triad (or at least, than I recall that series being).
My one gripe is that it was hard to get a sense of the characters' inner worlds. It took me until halfway through the book to figure out that Zanja herself largely acts (or reacts) on instinct and doesn't understand her own motivations for things.
Tempted to say more, but I can't really beat this review: "Gritty elemental fantasy with a focus on interesting, well-developed female characters who happen to be queer? Sign me up, yo."
this was utterly captivating and i don't know what i was on about with not being able to get into it -- i started reading it at the gym and accidentally did 40+ minutes on the treadmill.
deeply emotionally-driven, and its strength is in what's often left unsaid. deals with not just the trauma of war, but racialization and colonization in ways that were lost on me ten years ago. ALSO extremely and unapologetically and delightfully gay, and btw i recently read that Marks realized she was a lesbian at age 29, in the course of writing a novel (which novel, she doesn't say.. maybe this one??).
** original review follows **
It took me a couple tries to start this one, but once I did, I was hooked. It's nothing like what I was expecting, which I suppose was something like Children of the Triad and something like your typical epic fantasy novel. It's darker and grittier than Children of the Triad (or at least, than I recall that series being).
My one gripe is that it was hard to get a sense of the characters' inner worlds. It took me until halfway through the book to figure out that Zanja herself largely acts (or reacts) on instinct and doesn't understand her own motivations for things.
Tempted to say more, but I can't really beat this review: "Gritty elemental fantasy with a focus on interesting, well-developed female characters who happen to be queer? Sign me up, yo."
October 2, 2019
This is it. This is the book I’ve been waiting for.
Fire Logic opens hard: the land of Shaftal, plagued for years by the militant Sainnite invaders, loses its protector-mage. In the aftermath, the Sainnites begin in earnest a campaign of systematic colonization and subjugation. The remnants of Shaftal’s government and soldiers flee to the countryside, where they commence a gritty, grueling guerilla war.
Zanja is a member of the Ashawala’i, a mountain tribe on the fringes of Shaftal. She is a warrior-ambassador, whose duty is to walk between worlds and across cultures, as well as a “fire blood,” endowed with a intuition so keen it can shade (unreliably) into prescience. For a brief interval, she believes her small, well-protected tribe may be able to fly under the Sainnite radar.
Then the Sainnites come in the night.
Read my full review here: https://amyhuang.work/blog/2019/10/1/...
Fire Logic opens hard: the land of Shaftal, plagued for years by the militant Sainnite invaders, loses its protector-mage. In the aftermath, the Sainnites begin in earnest a campaign of systematic colonization and subjugation. The remnants of Shaftal’s government and soldiers flee to the countryside, where they commence a gritty, grueling guerilla war.
Zanja is a member of the Ashawala’i, a mountain tribe on the fringes of Shaftal. She is a warrior-ambassador, whose duty is to walk between worlds and across cultures, as well as a “fire blood,” endowed with a intuition so keen it can shade (unreliably) into prescience. For a brief interval, she believes her small, well-protected tribe may be able to fly under the Sainnite radar.
Then the Sainnites come in the night.
Read my full review here: https://amyhuang.work/blog/2019/10/1/...
December 7, 2021
This is a very creative fantasy series. A small number of people in the world have elemental talents, which give them magical powers - fire bloods are prescient or seers, earth bloods can fix or repair - or heal, water bloods have sway over weather and time, and air bloods can be Truthken, who can distinguish truth from lies.
One's elemental blood affects one's whole approach to life and behavior - the "logic" of the title, I deduce from context. Some quotes: "Air logic. Inflexible and absolutist." and "... the faith and vision and intellectual recklessness which Emil would have called fire logic." And those might be the only places in the book in which we are "told" what "logic" might mean; in general, we are "shown" how elemental talents behave, rather than are "told". Which is good writing, right?
All of the main characters have elemental talents. They must deal with the new (current) reality in which the Sainnites have invaded and conquered Shaftal. There is politics, and resistance, and violence, and intrigue. The characters are unique and distinguishable - even those who share an element. I'd say that half of the characters are male and half female; neither sex has social or political dominance. And sexuality is simply not an issue in society; almost all of the main characters are queer, in one way or another. Zanje is a dark-skinned lesbian.
It took me a little while to get into this; the society and magic was so different from any other fantasy book I've read, that I had to pay extra attention to understand and learn. But eventually, I just could not put it down.
I am very happy that all four books are out. This book came out in 2002 but the last - Air Logic - didn't arrive until 2019. I bought all four in that year after a friend of mine (who is mentioned by name in the acknowledgements, having been involved since the beginning) joyfully announced the pending arrival of the last one, on Facebook.
Two years later, I am happy to finally start reading them. :)
I don't know if this is a 4 or a 5; it's a fine book, but the world is so new and different that it was not easy to immediately get into. That could push it down - but the creative brilliance could push it right back up. I'm going with a 5; there is no doubt that I want to read all the rest of the series and see what happens.
One's elemental blood affects one's whole approach to life and behavior - the "logic" of the title, I deduce from context. Some quotes: "Air logic. Inflexible and absolutist." and "... the faith and vision and intellectual recklessness which Emil would have called fire logic." And those might be the only places in the book in which we are "told" what "logic" might mean; in general, we are "shown" how elemental talents behave, rather than are "told". Which is good writing, right?
All of the main characters have elemental talents. They must deal with the new (current) reality in which the Sainnites have invaded and conquered Shaftal. There is politics, and resistance, and violence, and intrigue. The characters are unique and distinguishable - even those who share an element. I'd say that half of the characters are male and half female; neither sex has social or political dominance. And sexuality is simply not an issue in society; almost all of the main characters are queer, in one way or another. Zanje is a dark-skinned lesbian.
It took me a little while to get into this; the society and magic was so different from any other fantasy book I've read, that I had to pay extra attention to understand and learn. But eventually, I just could not put it down.
I am very happy that all four books are out. This book came out in 2002 but the last - Air Logic - didn't arrive until 2019. I bought all four in that year after a friend of mine (who is mentioned by name in the acknowledgements, having been involved since the beginning) joyfully announced the pending arrival of the last one, on Facebook.
Two years later, I am happy to finally start reading them. :)
I don't know if this is a 4 or a 5; it's a fine book, but the world is so new and different that it was not easy to immediately get into. That could push it down - but the creative brilliance could push it right back up. I'm going with a 5; there is no doubt that I want to read all the rest of the series and see what happens.
December 11, 2016
This is an elegantly, subtly written book about a people under occupation, and the magic that interweaves the various factions.
I admit it took me a little while to get into the story because the earlier narrative feels a little stilted, with large elements being related in a way that felt almost flat and devoid of action, but I persisted, and a beautiful, fierce and tender story began to unfold for me. There were no simple answers to the problem of invasion and guerilla warfare. The enemy was evil, but also not, the resistance was good, but also not. The various factions and tribes were all working at cross-purposes to each other, though the thread of hope binds them all together. The work is complex and deals with its myriad human themes with a deft hand.
While the larger story of how the Shaftali will finally deal with the Sainnite invasion is not yet completed, to me it felt that Fire Logic could be read as a stand-alone, though it is book 1 in a series of 4. There is a completeness to this particular tale that doesn't leave the reader feeling frustrated that they've been left on a cliff-hanger. (A technique that always feels cheap to me.)
A point that definitely worked in the book's favour for me is how relationships between women and women and men and men are treated as normal and simply part of the narrative world with no explanation required.
So, fair warning, a very slowly unfolding story, but the final result is worth the effort.
I admit it took me a little while to get into the story because the earlier narrative feels a little stilted, with large elements being related in a way that felt almost flat and devoid of action, but I persisted, and a beautiful, fierce and tender story began to unfold for me. There were no simple answers to the problem of invasion and guerilla warfare. The enemy was evil, but also not, the resistance was good, but also not. The various factions and tribes were all working at cross-purposes to each other, though the thread of hope binds them all together. The work is complex and deals with its myriad human themes with a deft hand.
While the larger story of how the Shaftali will finally deal with the Sainnite invasion is not yet completed, to me it felt that Fire Logic could be read as a stand-alone, though it is book 1 in a series of 4. There is a completeness to this particular tale that doesn't leave the reader feeling frustrated that they've been left on a cliff-hanger. (A technique that always feels cheap to me.)
A point that definitely worked in the book's favour for me is how relationships between women and women and men and men are treated as normal and simply part of the narrative world with no explanation required.
So, fair warning, a very slowly unfolding story, but the final result is worth the effort.
June 18, 2019
I read this book, and Earth Logic, when they were published in the early 2000s. I read Water Logic when it was published in 2007. On the occasion of the completion of the tetralogy, I am rereading the first three before opening my much-coveted copy of Air Logic.
Fire Logic is mostly the story of Zanja Na'Tarwein, a fighter in an occupied country. Zanja is not from the primary population of Shaftal; rather, she is from a tribe that lives in Shaftal, at peace with the Shaftalese, but not at peace with the occupying Sainnite force. Much of the story is war and disaster, slaughter and massacre, with a lot of insight into how warriors become cold-blooded and completely uncompassionate about their enemies, and what that gives them.
Surrounded by incomprehensible loss, Zanja nevertheless makes an intimate (but not sexual) relationship with the Shaftalese commander of the army she joins. Her fire-blood magic gives her insight and prescience, often without either logic or balance. We get glimpses of the other three logics as the story progresses. This stark and often bleak story is almost an unlikely jumping-off point for what will become a tale of community and breaking down barriers.
If it was a standalone book, I think I would recommend it cautiously, but as the beginning of this epic, it is superb.
Fire Logic is mostly the story of Zanja Na'Tarwein, a fighter in an occupied country. Zanja is not from the primary population of Shaftal; rather, she is from a tribe that lives in Shaftal, at peace with the Shaftalese, but not at peace with the occupying Sainnite force. Much of the story is war and disaster, slaughter and massacre, with a lot of insight into how warriors become cold-blooded and completely uncompassionate about their enemies, and what that gives them.
Surrounded by incomprehensible loss, Zanja nevertheless makes an intimate (but not sexual) relationship with the Shaftalese commander of the army she joins. Her fire-blood magic gives her insight and prescience, often without either logic or balance. We get glimpses of the other three logics as the story progresses. This stark and often bleak story is almost an unlikely jumping-off point for what will become a tale of community and breaking down barriers.
If it was a standalone book, I think I would recommend it cautiously, but as the beginning of this epic, it is superb.
July 13, 2012
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. This book was recommended to me as an example of a strong female protagonist - and there were elements of that in this book, not in the main protagonist but in the drug-addled secondary who becomes more prominent about two thirds of the way through the book. Even she seems defined by her flaws, however.
I hope for the sake of those who did enjoy this book (and I know they're out there) that it improves in its sequels (of which two of the three have been published, with the third apparently not on the horizon), but I won't be reading them myself.
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. This book was recommended to me as an example of a strong female protagonist - and there were elements of that in this book, not in the main protagonist but in the drug-addled secondary who becomes more prominent about two thirds of the way through the book. Even she seems defined by her flaws, however.
I hope for the sake of those who did enjoy this book (and I know they're out there) that it improves in its sequels (of which two of the three have been published, with the third apparently not on the horizon), but I won't be reading them myself.
July 18, 2020
Fire Logic is a fun queer fantasy, featuring both an f/f and m/m relationship (though they aren't necessarily the focus). It was nice to see a fantasy world that wasn't built on misogyny and homophobia, but while the beginning is quite engaging, it becomes clear that the world building is pretty thin.
We have a fairly standard setup, where the main character is the 'last of her kind', banding together with people to resist an aggressive conqueror. While there were interesting aspects to the whole aggressor/rebel relationship and some points about the perpetuation of a cycle of violence, the writing never lived up to its potential. The characterization left a lot to be desired, never delving into the psyche but staying firmly based on external action. The romantic relationships suffer as a consequence, never really managing to win me over to thinking these people actually have feelings for each other.
This review might seem largely negative, but I did enjoy Fire Logic. Perhaps not enough to pick up the next book in the series though.
We have a fairly standard setup, where the main character is the 'last of her kind', banding together with people to resist an aggressive conqueror. While there were interesting aspects to the whole aggressor/rebel relationship and some points about the perpetuation of a cycle of violence, the writing never lived up to its potential. The characterization left a lot to be desired, never delving into the psyche but staying firmly based on external action. The romantic relationships suffer as a consequence, never really managing to win me over to thinking these people actually have feelings for each other.
This review might seem largely negative, but I did enjoy Fire Logic. Perhaps not enough to pick up the next book in the series though.
May 16, 2018
This is one of the gayest books I have ever read in my life.
Please understand: I am a millennial. When I call something gay, I don't merely mean "homosexual". I mean "joyously, unrepentantly queer; a balm unto my soul, which has had to endure numerous no-homo, queerbaiting, and dead gay moments in the media it has consumed". I also just mean that it's something I enjoyed.
This is one of the gayest books I have ever read in my life. After reading I had to sit for a moment and just kind of digest the bounty. I adored this book, and chances are you will too if high fantasy worldbuilding that totally decentralizes heterosexuals sounds at all appealing.
Please understand: I am a millennial. When I call something gay, I don't merely mean "homosexual". I mean "joyously, unrepentantly queer; a balm unto my soul, which has had to endure numerous no-homo, queerbaiting, and dead gay moments in the media it has consumed". I also just mean that it's something I enjoyed.
This is one of the gayest books I have ever read in my life. After reading I had to sit for a moment and just kind of digest the bounty. I adored this book, and chances are you will too if high fantasy worldbuilding that totally decentralizes heterosexuals sounds at all appealing.
May 24, 2019
After reading this utterly immersive fantasy, I'm not sure what else to do with myself. All other books seem pale and uninteresting in comparison. Fire Logic gets off to a slow start, but within the first quarter, becomes completely engrossing. It centres around Zanja, who lives in a small mountain settlement with a tribe that resists contact with outsiders. But they are on the borders of the country Shaftal, which is under attack by an occupying force, than Sainnites. The other central character is Keris, a magically powerful half-giant, who is a drug addict and lives in obscurity, hiding her considerable powers. Both characters are studied in depth, and immediately felt real to me. Marks is an excellent writers, making her points and evoking her characters subtly. Her descriptions of a war-torn, traumatised country could feel heavy-handed, but they don't. That being said, there are moments of true brutality and horror in this book, which can be hard to read.
I objected to one of Marks' decisions: one of her main characters is paralysed, and is healed by magic. This cure-narrative felt like a too-rapid dismissal of disabled lives. However, I enjoyed this book so intensely that I can overlook this shortcoming, particularly because Marks handles trauma and drug-addiction so well. I also love the way she writes about queer characters, and the queer relationships are understated and beautiful. Highly recommended.
I objected to one of Marks' decisions: one of her main characters is paralysed, and is healed by magic. This cure-narrative felt like a too-rapid dismissal of disabled lives. However, I enjoyed this book so intensely that I can overlook this shortcoming, particularly because Marks handles trauma and drug-addiction so well. I also love the way she writes about queer characters, and the queer relationships are understated and beautiful. Highly recommended.
February 6, 2024
Fire Logic is a relatively short but deeply introspective fantasy novel following a world where a country has been occupied by oppressors, the Sainnites, and is facing the upheaval of everything they knew and famine to come. The story begins following Zanja, an outsider and diplomat being trained to navigate the conflict and protect her people, leading her to join the resistance with the blacksmith Karis who is hampered by addiction to a drug spread by the Sainnites and Emil, a former scholar now turned resistance leader.
To be perfectly honest, I never would have picked this up had a friend not highly recommended this series to me. I hadn't heard of it before their recommendation and it deals with some pretty difficult subject matter. Fortunately, Fire Logic ended up being one of the most nuanced, philosophical fantasy stories that I've picked up and I loved it.
I should say right off the bat that the writing style for this has a somewhat removed or distant feel to it. There are a couple different POVs that you're following and while each of them are dealing with very difficult things (addiction, torture, genocide), it mostly avoids gruesome details. It might be a little more challenging for very character-driven readers because each POV is written in third-person and it isn't as in the moment with the character so it feels less devastating. For me, that made it much easier to deal with the darker sections because being in that moment is sometimes too much.
That said, I grew to love most of the characters (still not sold on Norina) and in particular, the portrayal of addiction with Karis is really compelling. Even with the removed style, Marks does an excellent job of exploring character arcs. It was also super refreshing to have such a queernormative world. Many of the characters are queer but it's just a part of who they are and it's a part of the world, never called out.
Usually if a book gets super philosophical, it's an immediate annoyance for me. But with Fire Logic, I kept finding myself highlighting passages and wanting to write them down, which I never do. I just really appreciate how nuanced Marks' handling of oppression and colonialism was. There are no simple answers in Fire Logic and I feel like it does an excellent job of exploring the themes of resistance and the different paths that can take.
Overall, Fire Logic was definitely a hit for me and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Marks does with the sequels. If you love thematically driven fantasy and don't mind a more distant writing style, I'd highly recommend it!
To be perfectly honest, I never would have picked this up had a friend not highly recommended this series to me. I hadn't heard of it before their recommendation and it deals with some pretty difficult subject matter. Fortunately, Fire Logic ended up being one of the most nuanced, philosophical fantasy stories that I've picked up and I loved it.
I should say right off the bat that the writing style for this has a somewhat removed or distant feel to it. There are a couple different POVs that you're following and while each of them are dealing with very difficult things (addiction, torture, genocide), it mostly avoids gruesome details. It might be a little more challenging for very character-driven readers because each POV is written in third-person and it isn't as in the moment with the character so it feels less devastating. For me, that made it much easier to deal with the darker sections because being in that moment is sometimes too much.
That said, I grew to love most of the characters (still not sold on Norina) and in particular, the portrayal of addiction with Karis is really compelling. Even with the removed style, Marks does an excellent job of exploring character arcs. It was also super refreshing to have such a queernormative world. Many of the characters are queer but it's just a part of who they are and it's a part of the world, never called out.
Usually if a book gets super philosophical, it's an immediate annoyance for me. But with Fire Logic, I kept finding myself highlighting passages and wanting to write them down, which I never do. I just really appreciate how nuanced Marks' handling of oppression and colonialism was. There are no simple answers in Fire Logic and I feel like it does an excellent job of exploring the themes of resistance and the different paths that can take.
Overall, Fire Logic was definitely a hit for me and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Marks does with the sequels. If you love thematically driven fantasy and don't mind a more distant writing style, I'd highly recommend it!
January 3, 2021
This is slow to start: the opening is long and disjointed, and finding the throughline (in the protagonist; in the setting) is a struggle. But once it gets going, it's ambitious and fascinating.
It does three things which are particularly interesting and mostly successful: 1) A trauma study that reminds me of Hartman's Tess of the Road, Cashore's Bitterblue, and Sweet's The Pattern Scars for the female protagonist and for a long, intimate, worldbuilding-engaged exploration of trauma recovery that makes a sometimes-flawed text so much greater than its limitations. (Thus it's even more disquieting that physical disability, while also present and meaningful, is given magical cures; this feels erasing and thematically discordant.) 2) Queer found family and slow-burn romance that dovetail with the above, echoing the long, slow investment in character that then supports the plot's larger issues of nations, histories, war. It feels like wish-fulfillment, but in a productive way. 3) A fascinating study of prophecy in fantasy, particularly the relationship between intuition vs./as prophetic insight: predicting the future becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's smart, organic, and thought-provoking; so, indeed, is the entire book.
It does three things which are particularly interesting and mostly successful: 1) A trauma study that reminds me of Hartman's Tess of the Road, Cashore's Bitterblue, and Sweet's The Pattern Scars for the female protagonist and for a long, intimate, worldbuilding-engaged exploration of trauma recovery that makes a sometimes-flawed text so much greater than its limitations. (Thus it's even more disquieting that physical disability, while also present and meaningful, is given magical cures; this feels erasing and thematically discordant.) 2) Queer found family and slow-burn romance that dovetail with the above, echoing the long, slow investment in character that then supports the plot's larger issues of nations, histories, war. It feels like wish-fulfillment, but in a productive way. 3) A fascinating study of prophecy in fantasy, particularly the relationship between intuition vs./as prophetic insight: predicting the future becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's smart, organic, and thought-provoking; so, indeed, is the entire book.
July 4, 2021
I read the first chapter and although it didn’t grab me, it wasn’t bad and I was beginning to take an interest in what was happening, then chapter two starts nine years later. I found chapter two equally hard to get into, but ‘Zanja’ was intriguing even though I really didn’t understand what she was trying to accomplish. Then chapter three starts another six years later!
One of the things I like about ‘good’ fantasy novels is being pulled into a different ‘world’ with interesting characters and feeling like I am part of the story. By chapter five I was confused and becoming quite depressed. Even though the blurb suggested this was a book I should enjoy I was close to giving up.
It seemed that the author wanted me to observe what was happening, but not share in the story, I was to be kept at a distance and not get involved with the characters. By the end of chapter five not only did I find the book even more depressing, but the authors attempts to be enigmatic had become tedious and I had better things to do with my time.
One of the things I like about ‘good’ fantasy novels is being pulled into a different ‘world’ with interesting characters and feeling like I am part of the story. By chapter five I was confused and becoming quite depressed. Even though the blurb suggested this was a book I should enjoy I was close to giving up.
It seemed that the author wanted me to observe what was happening, but not share in the story, I was to be kept at a distance and not get involved with the characters. By the end of chapter five not only did I find the book even more depressing, but the authors attempts to be enigmatic had become tedious and I had better things to do with my time.
February 11, 2025
I give it a 4,5/5.
Loved reading it. It's an adventure fantasy with a subplot of queer romance, which is exactly what I wanted to find in a book. I very much enjoyed the style it was written in. The author's language is mostly intelligent and poetic, but she's also very straightforward, meaning she puts just enough description so the reader has the base picture of what the surroundings look like and can imagine the rest themselves, which I appreciate a lot.
Loved the umbrella of different characters and the magic system isn't something unheard of, but is at the same time quite different and I enjoyed that as well.
Overall it was a great read and I'm very glad to have found it.
Loved reading it. It's an adventure fantasy with a subplot of queer romance, which is exactly what I wanted to find in a book. I very much enjoyed the style it was written in. The author's language is mostly intelligent and poetic, but she's also very straightforward, meaning she puts just enough description so the reader has the base picture of what the surroundings look like and can imagine the rest themselves, which I appreciate a lot.
Loved the umbrella of different characters and the magic system isn't something unheard of, but is at the same time quite different and I enjoyed that as well.
Overall it was a great read and I'm very glad to have found it.
June 4, 2023
I discovered this series by chance from the library in high school and it has been my favourite series ever since. At this point I'm not sure how much that #1 status is tied up in nostalgia and how much is the series itself, but it holds up on the re-read every time.
World-building:
Writing:
One of the types of magic in this world revolves a lot around ambiguity, tarot, things that can be equally translated to either of two opposite meanings. This can lead the writing and the train of thought to lean a little more poetic than it does literal. Especially since the main character is an elemental with this type of magic, it's fairly prevalent throughout. This is the biggest drawback to the series in my opinion (and as a much more literal reader, this can sometimes come across as quite silly) but most of the time I think it's used very effectively.
Characters:
Magic System:
This is not a book with a hard magic system. I won't really discuss the different types of magic because I think that half of the fun is getting to discover more about each with subsequent books in the series. But suffice to say, there will be more focus and exploration of a specific element in its titular book.
as a tiny overview, though--
The world is divided into 4 elemental logics and people can be born with a small affinity for one, a fair amount of talent (though it can manifest with different strengths for different people), or, rarely, as a witch who can do enormous acts of power.
Representation:
This is a queernorm world written by a lesbian woman that exists without a gender hierarchy. Generally all of the cultures equally promote men and women across all occupations and it just isn't ever a big deal? And I love that for us! It's refreshing to not have another patriarchal fantasy novel (or one that's honestly still patriarchal, they just swapped the king for a queen but didn't ripple effect any other cultural changes).
The main POV character is also a small, dark-skinned border woman who is very clearly "other" because of her appearance. [Side note: I have no idea what Tor and their OG artist were doing when they made Zanja white af on the cover for Fire Logic, but it's literally page 4 where she's described and it's relevant to the plot throughout, soo]
Additionally, there are several characters with varying states of disability in this that I think are handled well as the characters are still shown to be very capable. In particular, there's a soldier who suffers from knee pain (a bullet previously shattered the kneecap and mending can only do so much) and a character who was forced to become addicted to the drug of this world (think a bit opium historically/politically and more alleged tetrodotoxin in effect).
Overall:
World-building:
Writing:
One of the types of magic in this world revolves a lot around ambiguity, tarot, things that can be equally translated to either of two opposite meanings. This can lead the writing and the train of thought to lean a little more poetic than it does literal. Especially since the main character is an elemental with this type of magic, it's fairly prevalent throughout. This is the biggest drawback to the series in my opinion (and as a much more literal reader, this can sometimes come across as quite silly) but most of the time I think it's used very effectively.
Characters:
Magic System:
This is not a book with a hard magic system. I won't really discuss the different types of magic because I think that half of the fun is getting to discover more about each with subsequent books in the series. But suffice to say, there will be more focus and exploration of a specific element in its titular book.
as a tiny overview, though--
The world is divided into 4 elemental logics and people can be born with a small affinity for one, a fair amount of talent (though it can manifest with different strengths for different people), or, rarely, as a witch who can do enormous acts of power.
Representation:
This is a queernorm world written by a lesbian woman that exists without a gender hierarchy. Generally all of the cultures equally promote men and women across all occupations and it just isn't ever a big deal? And I love that for us! It's refreshing to not have another patriarchal fantasy novel (or one that's honestly still patriarchal, they just swapped the king for a queen but didn't ripple effect any other cultural changes).
The main POV character is also a small, dark-skinned border woman who is very clearly "other" because of her appearance. [Side note: I have no idea what Tor and their OG artist were doing when they made Zanja white af on the cover for Fire Logic, but it's literally page 4 where she's described and it's relevant to the plot throughout, soo]
Additionally, there are several characters with varying states of disability in this that I think are handled well as the characters are still shown to be very capable. In particular, there's a soldier who suffers from knee pain (a bullet previously shattered the kneecap and mending can only do so much) and a character who was forced to become addicted to the drug of this world (think a bit opium historically/politically and more alleged tetrodotoxin in effect).
Overall:
January 8, 2021
Oh, I love books, they are always pulling the rug when you aren’t expecting it. At first glance, the world setting seems a tad generic… a medieval place, some conflicting nations, scholars, the warriors (some named Paladins, add that) and magic from the elements; and said magic profiles (fire, water, earth, air) appear stereotypical, the characters, painted with distance in the middle of some event. But hey… like some of those reliable friends that burrow themselves little by little in your heart, sneaky beautiful people, Marks has a steady build up, adding depth, closing the distance elegantly and the world is not so simple any more, not some shining fantasy, the people are poor, stinky, with not advanced technology, there is among the main characters determination and courage, but also despair, disability and addiction. I like how the diversity is handled, a fluidity in sexual orientation with no drama in it, there is plenty to have outside. It is funny how we can go to space, but people are still rattled from queer couples and thinking that you cannot share the human experience beyond what you like… just saying.
Also liked very much the slow, but sure approach of the enemy element: the other. They do evil and cruel things, and then you see their humanity too. Those plights of desperate single-minded people, so we have more weight than just an evil role. By the way… How awesomely revolutionary empathy is?
And now, the characters: awesome, just awesome. From those initial generic profiles, so much meat is added giving the book a very engaging quality. It is a journey through land and adventures, but also to growth, transformation and connection. People and meaning lost and then, the people you find when you are lost, yourself among them. What are the things that chain us to ourselves? To our view of the world? Does your viewpoint is a chain too? Fine stuff.
At the end, foolish human, you have been utterly owned. Remember to look beyond appearances, doesn’t it make us wiser?
Also liked very much the slow, but sure approach of the enemy element: the other. They do evil and cruel things, and then you see their humanity too. Those plights of desperate single-minded people, so we have more weight than just an evil role. By the way… How awesomely revolutionary empathy is?
And now, the characters: awesome, just awesome. From those initial generic profiles, so much meat is added giving the book a very engaging quality. It is a journey through land and adventures, but also to growth, transformation and connection. People and meaning lost and then, the people you find when you are lost, yourself among them. What are the things that chain us to ourselves? To our view of the world? Does your viewpoint is a chain too? Fine stuff.
At the end, foolish human, you have been utterly owned. Remember to look beyond appearances, doesn’t it make us wiser?
May 26, 2011
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 that.
Minor annoyances (and spoilers?): that, of course, the POC nation/tribe/whatever entirely kicked it, even if they were awesome while they lasted. And don't people fall in love, like, really fast in this universe? Being prescient probably helps with that, I guess. Also a bit confused about overall elemental prevalence in the population, though this might be cleared up later.
Good things: H/C done right, so right, with realistic pain and long recovery times. Addiction handled well also, which I admit I was nervous about at first... although the implication that now that they know people can recover, there will be no more people dying of opium (excuse me, smoke) is, er, naive at best.
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 that.
Minor annoyances (and spoilers?): that, of course, the POC nation/tribe/whatever entirely kicked it, even if they were awesome while they lasted. And don't people fall in love, like, really fast in this universe? Being prescient probably helps with that, I guess. Also a bit confused about overall elemental prevalence in the population, though this might be cleared up later.
Good things: H/C done right, so right, with realistic pain and long recovery times. Addiction handled well also, which I admit I was nervous about at first... although the implication that now that they know people can recover, there will be no more people dying of opium (excuse me, smoke) is, er, naive at best.
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