Martha Wells’ first book, The Element of Fire, was recommended to me a while ago. I’d read a couple of her other books in the meantime, and, at best, was hardly blown away. When I was prowling the library the other day looking for non-sexist books, though, I came across this and remembered I’d been meaning to look at it. Since the jacket copy invoked “the swashbuckling tradition of Steven Brust and Ellen Kushner,” I figured I had to give it a shot.
The Element of Fire starts with a bang, as a kidnapped sorcerer is rescued from an evil sorcerer’s house by one of our dashing protagonists, and lives up to that opening. If it’s in the tradition of Brust, it’s more Five Hundred Years After than The Phoenix Guards, though without the elaborate prose. I have this horrible urge to describe it as “if Emma Bull had crossed Five Hundred Years After with The Serpent’s Egg“—which is an early Caroline Stevermer novel that this reminds me of in some ways, though I may be remembering incorrectly.
Before a court already well-supplied with intrigue—a weak King and a scheming royal favorite, a strong Dowager Queen and her loyal Captain of the Queen’s Guard—come two puzzles. A mysterious sorcerer with a grudge against a completely different country has apparently decided to start attacking Ile-Rien. And the King’s bastard half-sister, Kade Carrion, has re-appeared; not only does Kade have a decent claim on the throne, but she’s half-fay and the Queen of Air and Darkness, to boot. (As an aside, I now have one option for a use-name if I ever run away to the Border—not only does it sound cool, it’s close enough to my present name that I might actually remember to answer to it.)
This was a terrific book, with everything I look for in a fantasy: well-rounded, fascinating, strong characters; nifty magical bits; lots of desperate acts of derring-do and last-minute escapes; a nasty yet nuanced bad guy—actually, a couple of them—and even a decent romance. It’s a pity that I haven’t found anything else Wells has written this enjoyable.
(Death of a Necromancer is set in the same world some time later, but I can’t remember if there’s any connection. There has been a copy in the used bookstore that’s on the way back from my dentist’s; next time I’m there (all too frequent, alas; damn this tooth-grinding), I’ll see if it’s still available.)
I’ve also posted this to rec.arts.sf.written.
Hmm, what are the other Wells books that you’ve read? If Wheel of the Infinite is one, I take it that you didn’t care that much for it? I have City of Bones sitting on my to-read pile at the moment, how was that one?
_City of Bones_ was the only other one, which just did nothing at all for me. I may try _Wheel of the Infinite_, but I’m not in any rush.
I particularly recommend you see if your library has this one, though.
I loved City of Bones and enjoyed Death of a Necromancer, but I simply cannot get into Element of Fire. I’ve had this book on my nightstand since it was published and I read about a page or two every six months, but I just have been unable to dive in and be surrounded by it.
Since 1993? Your nightstand pile must be orders of magnitude worse than mine…
I begin to suspect that The Element of Fire is just a different kind of book, appealing to different kinds of readers, than the rest of Wells’s books. As far as diving in, I think that if the opening chapter doesn’t hook you, the rest won’t.
(Have I mentioned that I love the e-mail notification for BlogKomm? I’d never have seen this, otherwise.)
It appears that the entire (revised) text of The Element of Fire can now be seen at
Martha Wells’s website. Maybe now I can finally see whether I like it, too…
Oh, yes, another electronic version that I should’ve mentioned here. Thanks.
I’ve just finished chapter 3. Promising, but she just flagrantly ripped off a plot twist from Dumas’s Twenty Years After. I haven’t decided whether that bothers me…
…OK, I’ve decided it doesn’t bother me. 🙂
It took me a while to come back and finish it, but all in all well worth the wait. I’m sorry to hear that her other books don’t have the same flavor.
David, people speak highly of her most recent trilogy, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Ah, thanks for the update.
BTW, is it possible to explain without spoilers how the title The Element of Fire relates to the book? I’ve read it, and I have no idea.
It may be, but not on my present level of recollection.