The Element of Fire by Martha Wells

[snugglekitty]

I picked this book up at a used bookstore, without being quite sure whether I had read it before. (I think the answer to that question was, I had not read it before, but I had had it on my bookshelf for a while. It doesn't seem to be there now, so I'm not entirely sure what happened to it.)

I read a lot of fantasy, and these days it's a bit unusual for a work of classical fantasy (swords, magic, Faerie, kings and queens and guardsmen) to blow me away. This one did. It was witty and touching, the characters were believable, and the ending was satisfying without being happily-ever-after. Generally I prefer well-packaged happy endings, but this one was perfect - having read it, I can't imagine the book ending any other way.


"'He's coming,' Gideon Townsend, Thomas's lieutenant, said as he made his way toward them out of the heavy shadows. Reading them he glanced up at the full moon, stark white against the backdrop of rain-driven clouds, and muttered, "Not the best night for this work."..
Thomas personally couldn't think of a good time to forcibly invade a foreign sorcerer's house. 'The point of it is to go and be killed where you are told,' he said. 'Is everyone in position?'" p 1

(This book has a ton of great dialogue and it was really hard to choose just a little bit, so I thought I'd go with something that couldn't possibly be seen as a spoiler. It was the first place where the book made me laugh out loud, but far from the last.)



If, like me, you are the type to enjoy both Jane Austen and fantasy novels, you'll like this a lot. I'm having a hard time thinking of fantasy authors that focus on comedy of manners, besides Stephen Brust and Ellen Kushner, (perhaps you can think of some and tell me about them?), but if you like them, then you'll definitely enjoy Wells, too. Four stars easily, and you can bet that I will be reading the rest of Wells' books as soon as may be.

Comments

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

o, tell me you've read Ellen Kushner (specifically, Swordspoint and The Privilege of the Sword)?

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

oh, and The Fall of the Kings?

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Oh, indeed. Of course. Never fear. I just couldn't think of them right then... I will edit the post to include them.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I didn't like The Fall of Kings as much. I thought the ending was all wrong. But I loved the others.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

I'll go add this to my library hold list. Thanks!