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laelyn's review
1.0
I... I honestly don't know what to even write in this review. Let me start with this: I requested the arc of "Silk Fire" because for many, this seemed to be one of the most anticipated fantasy reads this year. The premise is a great one: fantasy mixed with sci-fi, a male courtesan as the protagonist, a polyam relationship, lots of court intrigue. Sounds amazing? Absolutely!
Then I started reading this book and had to stop for a moment and google if maybe I was thinking about a different book, because surely this can't be that highly anticipated work by an author everyone seemed to love. I hadn't even started chapter one by then, I was just reading that horrifying pronunciation guide listing all these fantasy names that are genuinely so ridiculous and made no sense at all (what's with the misplaced accents all over???), it reads like a very young fantasy fan making up some names for their first wattpad fiction attempt.
Quite frankly, most of the book reads like that. To be entirely honest: I did not manage to read the entire book. The rest I just skimmed, wondering if maybe this could get any better and because I really really don't like dnf-ing arcs. But I just.... I just couldn't do it. I usually start my reviews of books I didn't enjoy with the positives, because there are always some positives, right? Well, I'm so sorry to say but the positives of this book are these: It has a cool, interesting premise, and there are some ideas that could be, theoretically, kind of cool, if this were a different book.
I'm not going to write an overtly long review because I don't want to rant too much, but this book is borderline catastrophic. The writing is weak and convoluted, the world-building is a complete nonsensical mess that is mostly served as paragraphs of info dumping or thrown into the chapters with absolutely no contextual explanations whatsoever (what's with the quotes at the beginning of every chapter just vomiting some fantasy words with no context? what am I, as a reader, supposed to do with this?). There is SO much going on - dinosaurs and dragons and direwolves and gods and I don't even know, my head was about to explode trying to make sense of it all. There is no coherence to how this world is built, it's like the author took all these ideas and concepts and threw them at a wall hoping any of them would stick. It's absolutely wild.
Then there is the overabundance of meme-y writing ("we have fucking at home", are you kidding me??) and modern vocabulary that isn't explained within the context of this world ("slut-shaming", "queer", and so on). The matriarchal society seems to be little more than pure caricature, with no thought or research put into how matriarchal societies work - it's stylized patriarchy but with women and it only exists to show how all these women mistreat our protagonist. It is incredibly lazily done and makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, I found it rather misogynist, though I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt here. I'm just not sure if he knows what patriarchy really is and how it works and why it works that way, and thus why matriarchies work very differently. Ah well.
The characters are... I honestly don't know. Koré could have been so interesting, but he is flat and inconsistent. His love interests are not even fully fleshed out characters. The plot is... there I guess? It's all over the place, nothing makes sense, so many things happen in a span of like, five pages (the first chapter - what the hell was that??) and even moreso, there was no depth or consequence to any of the things happening. At one point, Koré turns into a dragon (mythical beings that haven't been seen for ages) in front of one of his love interests and her reaction is basically "okay then, ah well, let's get moving", as if this is just the most normal thing to happen to her. Oh, and this godsent dragon power? Koré gets it while he is being railed from behind by some customer in an archive, after half of that archive crumbled around them, which doesn't seem to bother anyone. Choices have been made. Generally, this reads like the author had all these plot points and events in his mind and it all made sense in his head, but he didn't manage to actually put them down on paper in a coherent way that readers who haven't developed the ability of mindreading just yet can understand.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg, and I cannot review the second half of the book though I doubt it gets any better. This is an absolute disaster of a book, as sorry as I am to say this. It needs a lot more editing and rewriting for this to become even just a coherent novel. As it is, it's nonsensical, poorly researched, void of any thought out concepts or interesting characters. I have no idea what was even going on. But there sure are dinosaurs.
Then I started reading this book and had to stop for a moment and google if maybe I was thinking about a different book, because surely this can't be that highly anticipated work by an author everyone seemed to love. I hadn't even started chapter one by then, I was just reading that horrifying pronunciation guide listing all these fantasy names that are genuinely so ridiculous and made no sense at all (what's with the misplaced accents all over???), it reads like a very young fantasy fan making up some names for their first wattpad fiction attempt.
Quite frankly, most of the book reads like that. To be entirely honest: I did not manage to read the entire book. The rest I just skimmed, wondering if maybe this could get any better and because I really really don't like dnf-ing arcs. But I just.... I just couldn't do it. I usually start my reviews of books I didn't enjoy with the positives, because there are always some positives, right? Well, I'm so sorry to say but the positives of this book are these: It has a cool, interesting premise, and there are some ideas that could be, theoretically, kind of cool, if this were a different book.
I'm not going to write an overtly long review because I don't want to rant too much, but this book is borderline catastrophic. The writing is weak and convoluted, the world-building is a complete nonsensical mess that is mostly served as paragraphs of info dumping or thrown into the chapters with absolutely no contextual explanations whatsoever (what's with the quotes at the beginning of every chapter just vomiting some fantasy words with no context? what am I, as a reader, supposed to do with this?). There is SO much going on - dinosaurs and dragons and direwolves and gods and I don't even know, my head was about to explode trying to make sense of it all. There is no coherence to how this world is built, it's like the author took all these ideas and concepts and threw them at a wall hoping any of them would stick. It's absolutely wild.
Then there is the overabundance of meme-y writing ("we have fucking at home", are you kidding me??) and modern vocabulary that isn't explained within the context of this world ("slut-shaming", "queer", and so on). The matriarchal society seems to be little more than pure caricature, with no thought or research put into how matriarchal societies work - it's stylized patriarchy but with women and it only exists to show how all these women mistreat our protagonist. It is incredibly lazily done and makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, I found it rather misogynist, though I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt here. I'm just not sure if he knows what patriarchy really is and how it works and why it works that way, and thus why matriarchies work very differently. Ah well.
The characters are... I honestly don't know. Koré could have been so interesting, but he is flat and inconsistent. His love interests are not even fully fleshed out characters. The plot is... there I guess? It's all over the place, nothing makes sense, so many things happen in a span of like, five pages (the first chapter - what the hell was that??) and even moreso, there was no depth or consequence to any of the things happening. At one point, Koré turns into a dragon (mythical beings that haven't been seen for ages) in front of one of his love interests and her reaction is basically "okay then, ah well, let's get moving", as if this is just the most normal thing to happen to her. Oh, and this godsent dragon power? Koré gets it while he is being railed from behind by some customer in an archive, after half of that archive crumbled around them, which doesn't seem to bother anyone. Choices have been made. Generally, this reads like the author had all these plot points and events in his mind and it all made sense in his head, but he didn't manage to actually put them down on paper in a coherent way that readers who haven't developed the ability of mindreading just yet can understand.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg, and I cannot review the second half of the book though I doubt it gets any better. This is an absolute disaster of a book, as sorry as I am to say this. It needs a lot more editing and rewriting for this to become even just a coherent novel. As it is, it's nonsensical, poorly researched, void of any thought out concepts or interesting characters. I have no idea what was even going on. But there sure are dinosaurs.
theeuphoriczat's review
3.0
Thanks to Rebellion for making this book available to me via #Netgalley
This book! First I enjoyed it and why did I enjoy it you might ask even after attempting to DNF it? Because of the ambitious plot. Yes I said that. This book really tried everything. SCI-FI, FANTASY, DRAGONS, POWERS, POLITICS, MATRIARCHY, SEX WORK, QUEER CHARACTERS, RIVARLY etc. This book had everything and sometimes it felt a bit much and I was sometimes left wanting the author to pick up the pace and other times slow it down.
The main issue that I had was that, similar to Dune we are thrown in head first and expected to just go along with the flow. However, once I got a good understanding of the society, the politics, powers and want our main character wanted to do, I became a happy camper.
If you loved Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and the matriarchal society, then this is a book that might be right up your alley. The writing is so vivid and the imagination of the author is really wild. An entirely new world, with allegorical elements that points to current political and socioeconomic climate.
Just when you think women being in the position of 'men in our patriarchal society' might be the solution, this book presents that regardless of gender, power has a way of twisting and destroying even the 'most' nurturing!
Similar to Jade City by Fonda Lee, in this universe there is something called Essence, that people risk their lives trying to get as it grants the user strength and power. We follow Koreshiza who is trying to sabotage his father's campaign for political power. He knows that just having 'sex for information' and having a sugar mummy will not get him far but he knows that using his dragon-fire abilities will get him noticed and most definitely killed for his Essence!
I really enjoyed it, I just wished it explored few themes which would have made it easier to read and enjoy.
This book! First I enjoyed it and why did I enjoy it you might ask even after attempting to DNF it? Because of the ambitious plot. Yes I said that. This book really tried everything. SCI-FI, FANTASY, DRAGONS, POWERS, POLITICS, MATRIARCHY, SEX WORK, QUEER CHARACTERS, RIVARLY etc. This book had everything and sometimes it felt a bit much and I was sometimes left wanting the author to pick up the pace and other times slow it down.
The main issue that I had was that, similar to Dune we are thrown in head first and expected to just go along with the flow. However, once I got a good understanding of the society, the politics, powers and want our main character wanted to do, I became a happy camper.
If you loved Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and the matriarchal society, then this is a book that might be right up your alley. The writing is so vivid and the imagination of the author is really wild. An entirely new world, with allegorical elements that points to current political and socioeconomic climate.
Just when you think women being in the position of 'men in our patriarchal society' might be the solution, this book presents that regardless of gender, power has a way of twisting and destroying even the 'most' nurturing!
Similar to Jade City by Fonda Lee, in this universe there is something called Essence, that people risk their lives trying to get as it grants the user strength and power. We follow Koreshiza who is trying to sabotage his father's campaign for political power. He knows that just having 'sex for information' and having a sugar mummy will not get him far but he knows that using his dragon-fire abilities will get him noticed and most definitely killed for his Essence!
I really enjoyed it, I just wished it explored few themes which would have made it easier to read and enjoy.
betharanova's review
1.0
This is not a DNF review. I've seen the whole thing, start to finish. I read the first half of the book slowly, taking meticulous notes, piecing together names and in-universe rules. I read the second half in a desperate bid to have a normal reading experience and see whether any of the ideas in the book panned out. Neither method was especially enjoyable, but the notes were necessary for any level of understanding, and speed was necessary to preserve my sanity.
In short: it's bad. There is very little craft in this book. It's an ego trip and revenge fantasy. No cohesion in the worldbuilding, just every cool thing the author could think of, thrown together. The world's most beautiful and tragic boy becomes a dragon, rides dinosaurs, foils evil necromancy plots, and has lots of sex. I think there are people who will enjoy that, if their expectation is a popcorn read, they love #boyboss #boypower stories, and they can avoid being terminally confused by the writing. I did not have a good time.
Let's address the elephant in the room: the evil matriarchy. I don't think it's inherently wrong or misogynist to write an evil matriarchy in your fantasy world. Making up weird societies is literally part of the ball game. But I do think that you have to put thought into it and that the society should make some sense as a whole. Half of my trouble with the society in Silk Fire is thus: it's not a matriarchy. It's a patriarchy with swapped genitals. Men are catty, weak, demure, and expected to raise the children. Women are loudly confident, angry, crude, predatory, and all enormously buff and strong. Exuding what we understand as the most toxic version of masculinity and overpowering the feminine men. These women even have bad sex like our men, jackhammering the protagonist, rolling off him, and falling directly asleep, even though that is not, physically, how any of that works. It's lazy! It shows no understanding of either why we have a patriarchy OR real-life examples of matriarchy! Absolutely no thought was put into this. I must presume it's there so that the male main character can experience a caricature of sexism. The other half of my problem is that none of the pieces of the sexist 'matriarchal' society go together. Men can't be in power, but several are and only continue to climb higher. The protagonist rails against homophobia ("I'm not the little queer boy you get to control" comes up at least three times), but you never see any. In fact, a significant portion of the corrupt women in charge are lesbians. Most baffling of all, there is a trans woman whose transition not only goes unquestioned in a very strict society but helps her get political power. Powerful women accept her identity immediately and hand her a high-up position and their respect. Men are in fact encouraged to transition into women so that they too can climb the social ladder. What?? Yikes??
There's much accusation that this book is too complex for people. It's not actually; it's just that the writing does not care about conveying information to the reader. I'm a long-time fan of weird high fantasy. I even like The Godstalk Chronicles, so you know I don't mind being thrown into a confusing world with little explanation. The problem is not that the world of Silk Fire is so vastly confusing. The writing simply wants to prance around showing off both the depth of in-universe historical trivia and fancy, poetic diction to the point that the whole thing becomes opaque. Every page is loaded with unfamiliar names and concepts without any indication of which bits might be important later. And most of them are not important! They are unnecessary except to ensure the reader knows that there is great depth to the world's history. You will never hear about most of these rattled-off wars or legends again. When things are important, the basic descriptions are prettied up until they're incomprehensible. You get gems like "Dark steel rippled red down his blade" and "A spring hissed. Steel cable hummed through gears. A bucket of rags shot upwards. Faziz dropped like a spider on a line, gold muscles tensing through his arms and back as he slid into a back handspring on the unspooling winch." Please trust me when I say that this is all there is. These are not then accompanied by clearer phrases. I'm just left with no idea what I'm looking at. Possibly, the narrative does not want me to have any idea what I'm looking at, so long as it gives the impression of being smarter than me. Even the guide to the names at the start of the book just... lists names, without any indication of whom they belong to or what significance they might have.
The characters speak like this, too, except when they don't. They're prone to archaic monologues, and then they become maddeningly modern. One character asks, "This fabled ‘love’ too-wealthy poets praise—how likely will it overshadow your good sense?" and then turns around on the same page to say, "Zega sounds like an abusive asshole," and that talking to him "clearly isn't healthy for you." It's not done cleverly or with intent. The dialogue just swaps around at random, no matter the speaker or the circumstance.
There's as much thought given to the plot. The political intrigue is hamfisted when it makes any sense. Character motivations bounce around wildly. Plot twists rely on the reader's confusion and forgetfulness, active concealment of information, or retroactive changes. Nonsense simply happens. One scene ends when an unnamed passerby throws a ball of robot bees at a crowd, which makes no more sense in context than it does to you, right now.
I usually talk about the characters of a book first and foremost, but frankly, I've been avoiding it. The entire book is narrated by Koreshiza Brightstar, a blunt prostitute touted as a politically savvy courtesan. All you need to know about his approach to his goals is that while attending a wedding as an escort, he approaches a political candidate and bald-faced asks to be her campaign manager. He then curses sexism when she declines to hire a prostitute with no prior experience while she's trying to chill on a Saturday. Everyone is mean, often cartoonishly mean, to Kore, and it's because of the prejudices. His endless trauma has convinced him that he's a monster, and you, reader, will not be permitted to forget that. He will harp on it at least once per page, how he must drive everyone away because he destroys all he touches. Edgy 2005 protag style. It gets tiring fast. Watching people reassure him that he's actually perfect and has never done anything wrong also gets tiring. The truth is in the middle: he's annoying and a dick. Nothing in his backstory supports the idea that he's human garbage, and yet it's maddening to see the few sympathetic characters around him assert that he's innocent and there's no need at all to change his behavior. This is because everyone in the book revolves around Kore, always. If he can't see them, they don't exist. The man's whole character arc is accepting his own worth and others' love. It's like watching Scott Pilgrim all over again and seeing the selfish jackass win through self-respect instead of, I don't know, not throwing other people under the bus.
There are two love interests, but it's another loss for poly rep. The female love interest, a scholar and noble, gets an insta-love story line and multiple sex scenes, starting way early in the book. The protagonist adores her; when his internal monologue isn't about loathing himself, it's about how perfect and wonderful she is, literally from the first time they meet. There's no journey or romance to it, he simply lives for her. (When he's not stabbing her in the back. Hate this guy.) The male love interest is so disrespected that I'm still infuriated. He's a working class guy, non-magical. He gets ONE short sex scene, and almost every description of him especially when they're being intimate is about how plain and ugly he is. Even though he just looks like a normal human being. His thin, chapped lips and his scarred, blemished skin, because he doesn't have magic like everyone else. There is a poly relationship, but it's very "Ria, love of my life, my own heart, I will make the world shine for her. Faziz is here too I guess." I truly believe the author just did not know what to do with the poor guy.
It's a mess. It's badly put together, it's pretentious just for the sake of it, and the cartoonish matriarchy that the author has claimed is incidental to the story looms uncomfortably on every page. Perhaps the most tragic part is that I've read a couple of interviews by this author, and he makes relatively intelligent points about gender and societal pressures. It's simply that none of these ideas make it into Silk Fire, at least not in any coherent, recognizable way. Instead, the poor, innocent protagonist gets to show up a bunch of women who were cruel to him, there are hordes of evil lesbians, and trans women gain access to power by transitioning. I won't claim that these are the author's views, but I can certainly see why people are upset at him. Personally, I'm upset at him because he's such a cuttingly arrogant literary agent when his writing is this unbelievably awful.
(Least) favorite quotes to see you off:
"A good boy is a jeweled chalice. A stupid boy is a leaky sieve. A bad boy is a water pistol. I’m a bad boy."
"We three all had bloody fingers in our hearts."
"It would impress my nerd friends back home and usher in a new era of utopia."
"The Phfigezava fought alongside Varjthosheri the Dragon-Blessed in the Warmwater-Scholars War." (None of these terms come up again.)
"Pets were too good at making you love them."
"Real jewelry. What boys wore in tales when ladies dueled for their hands."
"Like, how do I even start? Being an adult? Being my own person?"
"I could force my desires back inside me. Make myself a fancy toy, not a breathing person. I could protect myself from my dark, wrong soul."
"Come collect your debts with whatever army your dry ovaries can pump loose."
"I’ll cut off those pretty hands and drag you to Vashathke in chains! I’ll rape you and make a dragon child of my own!"
"I donned a mauve skirt with a living brocade of fluttering eyelids, matching sash of iridescent green feathers, and elbow-length steel bracers inlaid with coral roses."
"My friends back home… they only want to hang out with me when I’m fine. … It’s nice to hear you say I don’t always have to be fine."
"A vertical loop of road rose from the city-planet’s surface, supporting a domed lattice of iron, bone and copper scaffold, woven in a billion messy stitches. Abstract mosaics of holdweight ran in waves along the street and its crossways, holding reja and runners at impossible angles. Steam, sparks and fire leapt from whirling bronze machines that ran along the dome’s outer surface."
"She locked her arm around my shoulders, planted her feet back against the wall, and walked up it until she braced level with my ear. ‘My client has the greyest mound I’ve ever seen. I’ll picture you between her thighs tonight.'"
In short: it's bad. There is very little craft in this book. It's an ego trip and revenge fantasy. No cohesion in the worldbuilding, just every cool thing the author could think of, thrown together. The world's most beautiful and tragic boy becomes a dragon, rides dinosaurs, foils evil necromancy plots, and has lots of sex. I think there are people who will enjoy that, if their expectation is a popcorn read, they love #boyboss #boypower stories, and they can avoid being terminally confused by the writing. I did not have a good time.
Let's address the elephant in the room: the evil matriarchy. I don't think it's inherently wrong or misogynist to write an evil matriarchy in your fantasy world. Making up weird societies is literally part of the ball game. But I do think that you have to put thought into it and that the society should make some sense as a whole. Half of my trouble with the society in Silk Fire is thus: it's not a matriarchy. It's a patriarchy with swapped genitals. Men are catty, weak, demure, and expected to raise the children. Women are loudly confident, angry, crude, predatory, and all enormously buff and strong. Exuding what we understand as the most toxic version of masculinity and overpowering the feminine men. These women even have bad sex like our men, jackhammering the protagonist, rolling off him, and falling directly asleep, even though that is not, physically, how any of that works. It's lazy! It shows no understanding of either why we have a patriarchy OR real-life examples of matriarchy! Absolutely no thought was put into this. I must presume it's there so that the male main character can experience a caricature of sexism. The other half of my problem is that none of the pieces of the sexist 'matriarchal' society go together. Men can't be in power, but several are and only continue to climb higher. The protagonist rails against homophobia ("I'm not the little queer boy you get to control" comes up at least three times), but you never see any. In fact, a significant portion of the corrupt women in charge are lesbians. Most baffling of all, there is a trans woman whose transition not only goes unquestioned in a very strict society but helps her get political power. Powerful women accept her identity immediately and hand her a high-up position and their respect. Men are in fact encouraged to transition into women so that they too can climb the social ladder. What?? Yikes??
There's much accusation that this book is too complex for people. It's not actually; it's just that the writing does not care about conveying information to the reader. I'm a long-time fan of weird high fantasy. I even like The Godstalk Chronicles, so you know I don't mind being thrown into a confusing world with little explanation. The problem is not that the world of Silk Fire is so vastly confusing. The writing simply wants to prance around showing off both the depth of in-universe historical trivia and fancy, poetic diction to the point that the whole thing becomes opaque. Every page is loaded with unfamiliar names and concepts without any indication of which bits might be important later. And most of them are not important! They are unnecessary except to ensure the reader knows that there is great depth to the world's history. You will never hear about most of these rattled-off wars or legends again. When things are important, the basic descriptions are prettied up until they're incomprehensible. You get gems like "Dark steel rippled red down his blade" and "A spring hissed. Steel cable hummed through gears. A bucket of rags shot upwards. Faziz dropped like a spider on a line, gold muscles tensing through his arms and back as he slid into a back handspring on the unspooling winch." Please trust me when I say that this is all there is. These are not then accompanied by clearer phrases. I'm just left with no idea what I'm looking at. Possibly, the narrative does not want me to have any idea what I'm looking at, so long as it gives the impression of being smarter than me. Even the guide to the names at the start of the book just... lists names, without any indication of whom they belong to or what significance they might have.
The characters speak like this, too, except when they don't. They're prone to archaic monologues, and then they become maddeningly modern. One character asks, "This fabled ‘love’ too-wealthy poets praise—how likely will it overshadow your good sense?" and then turns around on the same page to say, "Zega sounds like an abusive asshole," and that talking to him "clearly isn't healthy for you." It's not done cleverly or with intent. The dialogue just swaps around at random, no matter the speaker or the circumstance.
There's as much thought given to the plot. The political intrigue is hamfisted when it makes any sense. Character motivations bounce around wildly. Plot twists rely on the reader's confusion and forgetfulness, active concealment of information, or retroactive changes. Nonsense simply happens. One scene ends when an unnamed passerby throws a ball of robot bees at a crowd, which makes no more sense in context than it does to you, right now.
I usually talk about the characters of a book first and foremost, but frankly, I've been avoiding it. The entire book is narrated by Koreshiza Brightstar, a blunt prostitute touted as a politically savvy courtesan. All you need to know about his approach to his goals is that while attending a wedding as an escort, he approaches a political candidate and bald-faced asks to be her campaign manager. He then curses sexism when she declines to hire a prostitute with no prior experience while she's trying to chill on a Saturday. Everyone is mean, often cartoonishly mean, to Kore, and it's because of the prejudices. His endless trauma has convinced him that he's a monster, and you, reader, will not be permitted to forget that. He will harp on it at least once per page, how he must drive everyone away because he destroys all he touches. Edgy 2005 protag style. It gets tiring fast. Watching people reassure him that he's actually perfect and has never done anything wrong also gets tiring. The truth is in the middle: he's annoying and a dick. Nothing in his backstory supports the idea that he's human garbage, and yet it's maddening to see the few sympathetic characters around him assert that he's innocent and there's no need at all to change his behavior. This is because everyone in the book revolves around Kore, always. If he can't see them, they don't exist. The man's whole character arc is accepting his own worth and others' love. It's like watching Scott Pilgrim all over again and seeing the selfish jackass win through self-respect instead of, I don't know, not throwing other people under the bus.
There are two love interests, but it's another loss for poly rep. The female love interest, a scholar and noble, gets an insta-love story line and multiple sex scenes, starting way early in the book. The protagonist adores her; when his internal monologue isn't about loathing himself, it's about how perfect and wonderful she is, literally from the first time they meet. There's no journey or romance to it, he simply lives for her. (When he's not stabbing her in the back. Hate this guy.) The male love interest is so disrespected that I'm still infuriated. He's a working class guy, non-magical. He gets ONE short sex scene, and almost every description of him especially when they're being intimate is about how plain and ugly he is. Even though he just looks like a normal human being. His thin, chapped lips and his scarred, blemished skin, because he doesn't have magic like everyone else. There is a poly relationship, but it's very "Ria, love of my life, my own heart, I will make the world shine for her. Faziz is here too I guess." I truly believe the author just did not know what to do with the poor guy.
It's a mess. It's badly put together, it's pretentious just for the sake of it, and the cartoonish matriarchy that the author has claimed is incidental to the story looms uncomfortably on every page. Perhaps the most tragic part is that I've read a couple of interviews by this author, and he makes relatively intelligent points about gender and societal pressures. It's simply that none of these ideas make it into Silk Fire, at least not in any coherent, recognizable way. Instead, the poor, innocent protagonist gets to show up a bunch of women who were cruel to him, there are hordes of evil lesbians, and trans women gain access to power by transitioning. I won't claim that these are the author's views, but I can certainly see why people are upset at him. Personally, I'm upset at him because he's such a cuttingly arrogant literary agent when his writing is this unbelievably awful.
(Least) favorite quotes to see you off:
"A good boy is a jeweled chalice. A stupid boy is a leaky sieve. A bad boy is a water pistol. I’m a bad boy."
"We three all had bloody fingers in our hearts."
"It would impress my nerd friends back home and usher in a new era of utopia."
"The Phfigezava fought alongside Varjthosheri the Dragon-Blessed in the Warmwater-Scholars War." (None of these terms come up again.)
"Pets were too good at making you love them."
"Real jewelry. What boys wore in tales when ladies dueled for their hands."
"Like, how do I even start? Being an adult? Being my own person?"
"I could force my desires back inside me. Make myself a fancy toy, not a breathing person. I could protect myself from my dark, wrong soul."
"Come collect your debts with whatever army your dry ovaries can pump loose."
"I’ll cut off those pretty hands and drag you to Vashathke in chains! I’ll rape you and make a dragon child of my own!"
"I donned a mauve skirt with a living brocade of fluttering eyelids, matching sash of iridescent green feathers, and elbow-length steel bracers inlaid with coral roses."
"My friends back home… they only want to hang out with me when I’m fine. … It’s nice to hear you say I don’t always have to be fine."
"A vertical loop of road rose from the city-planet’s surface, supporting a domed lattice of iron, bone and copper scaffold, woven in a billion messy stitches. Abstract mosaics of holdweight ran in waves along the street and its crossways, holding reja and runners at impossible angles. Steam, sparks and fire leapt from whirling bronze machines that ran along the dome’s outer surface."
"She locked her arm around my shoulders, planted her feet back against the wall, and walked up it until she braced level with my ear. ‘My client has the greyest mound I’ve ever seen. I’ll picture you between her thighs tonight.'"
optimisticbooknerd's review
2.0
2 stars
I was really excited being able to read this via Netgalley but unfortunately it was kind of a let down. I didn't find myself very invested but I think when this one releases a lot of people are going to love this one, but I think for the time being it's a 2 star read for me.
Thankyou Netgalley for allowing me to read this
I was really excited being able to read this via Netgalley but unfortunately it was kind of a let down. I didn't find myself very invested but I think when this one releases a lot of people are going to love this one, but I think for the time being it's a 2 star read for me.
Thankyou Netgalley for allowing me to read this
ameserole's review
4.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
My brain feels like it is melting with all the information that I read. Which is definitely a good brain melting kind of feeling (for me). Seriously. From the very beginning, I was completely hook with Silk Fire. The world building was beautiful, and the characters within it could be somewhat confusing at first. Afte a couple of chapters, things started to click but questions were also starting to form.
Once I started to understand everything and everyone, the next chapter would come up and completely bamboozle me. Even after finishing this, I still have no idea who to trust and I'm just surprised that this was a standalone. My mind is blown by that fact alone because so much freaking happens throughout this. Especially towards the end - truths and secrets come out to play but don't worry we still get lots of betrayal too.
In the end, I am so happy that I got the chance to jump into this beautiful book. I'm sad that I don't get another book in this world, but I will definitely be on the lookout for another book by Zabé. I was also told, by my buddy, that this book made her think of other books/worlds which are now added to my wonderful TBR. So, now I need to find those and jump into them.
My brain feels like it is melting with all the information that I read. Which is definitely a good brain melting kind of feeling (for me). Seriously. From the very beginning, I was completely hook with Silk Fire. The world building was beautiful, and the characters within it could be somewhat confusing at first. Afte a couple of chapters, things started to click but questions were also starting to form.
Once I started to understand everything and everyone, the next chapter would come up and completely bamboozle me. Even after finishing this, I still have no idea who to trust and I'm just surprised that this was a standalone. My mind is blown by that fact alone because so much freaking happens throughout this. Especially towards the end - truths and secrets come out to play but don't worry we still get lots of betrayal too.
In the end, I am so happy that I got the chance to jump into this beautiful book. I'm sad that I don't get another book in this world, but I will definitely be on the lookout for another book by Zabé. I was also told, by my buddy, that this book made her think of other books/worlds which are now added to my wonderful TBR. So, now I need to find those and jump into them.
louloureadsbooks's review
Dnf at p.26.
I'm very confused. 1 star for what I've read.
This is written as though I've missed reading a previous book. Or I'm just expected to know how the world works.
As a reader, these 26 pages were hard work to try and piece things in this story together. More like a war of attrition. I'm struggling to follow or even get into the story. Since I read for pleasure and fun not for penance, this is not the droid I'm looking for.
I was hoping it might be like A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, which I loved. But it isn't.
If you're interested, give it a go. My copy's going to the multicoloured book swap.
I'm very confused. 1 star for what I've read.
This is written as though I've missed reading a previous book. Or I'm just expected to know how the world works.
As a reader, these 26 pages were hard work to try and piece things in this story together. More like a war of attrition. I'm struggling to follow or even get into the story. Since I read for pleasure and fun not for penance, this is not the droid I'm looking for.
I was hoping it might be like A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, which I loved. But it isn't.
If you're interested, give it a go. My copy's going to the multicoloured book swap.
spicedragon's review
2.0
2/5
Silk Fire was an ambitious undertaking for a debut novel. I believe if it was refined more it could be a groundbreaking novel, however, as it stands.... it is everything but.
The world-building has immense potential, the concept of taking the brightness from someone and how it can alter your appearance. The fact that our main character is a sex worker and closely follows the lives of him and his comrades. Kore's thirst and plan for revenge. An ancient ward of the city once thought lost, and a god that was thought long dead. SO much that could've made an amazing novel if the author had only focused on one aspect. I think the biggest pitfall of this novel is the author had multiple ideas of what would make a cool and new sci-fi novel and instead of whittling it down to a solid like four core ideas, the author decided to mash it all together. As I was reading the arc, I had gotten 6 chapters in and had hit like 3 climaxes that would've made up 3 other novels. At times, it's almost incomprehensible, a book that takes unbelievable amounts of brain energy to follow the plot and cast of characters who are there in a whirlwind and gone just as quick.
I do think the novel needs heavy editing to reach it's true potential.
Silk Fire was an ambitious undertaking for a debut novel. I believe if it was refined more it could be a groundbreaking novel, however, as it stands.... it is everything but.
The world-building has immense potential, the concept of taking the brightness from someone and how it can alter your appearance. The fact that our main character is a sex worker and closely follows the lives of him and his comrades. Kore's thirst and plan for revenge. An ancient ward of the city once thought lost, and a god that was thought long dead. SO much that could've made an amazing novel if the author had only focused on one aspect. I think the biggest pitfall of this novel is the author had multiple ideas of what would make a cool and new sci-fi novel and instead of whittling it down to a solid like four core ideas, the author decided to mash it all together. As I was reading the arc, I had gotten 6 chapters in and had hit like 3 climaxes that would've made up 3 other novels. At times, it's almost incomprehensible, a book that takes unbelievable amounts of brain energy to follow the plot and cast of characters who are there in a whirlwind and gone just as quick.
I do think the novel needs heavy editing to reach it's true potential.
winterreader40's review
3.0
Kore is the most wanted whore on Victory street, he is also a bastard son of War's Judge's husband, and he's trying to put anyone but his scheming, petty, evil father on the Judge's throne. Around the same time a ship comes floating out of the lost city and the same night of the celebration parade Kore goes with a client to some ruins and while he's there he has sex on their old dead god's alter and becomes a dragon and now everyone is out to get him.
The matriarchal structure of the world is an interesting concept, men are basically home bodies for the most part, they also get the unpleasant aspects of being the "weaker" sex, but the world building wasn't focused enough, even the buildings in this world don't physically make even with altered gravity as part of the equation. I think the fact that the world was so unfocused also pulled focus from the characters as you spend so much of the book trying to make the landscape make sense.
I received this ARC through NetGalley and Rebellion, Solaris
The matriarchal structure of the world is an interesting concept, men are basically home bodies for the most part, they also get the unpleasant aspects of being the "weaker" sex, but the world building wasn't focused enough, even the buildings in this world don't physically make even with altered gravity as part of the equation. I think the fact that the world was so unfocused also pulled focus from the characters as you spend so much of the book trying to make the landscape make sense.
I received this ARC through NetGalley and Rebellion, Solaris
areaderamongthestars's review
5.0
Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor is a queer book that overturns many conventions of the SFF genre, creating a narration that is both entertaining and extremely original. With the political intrigues of high-fantasy and the complex world-building of classic sci-fi novels, it’s impossible to not get fascinated by Koré’s story.
Narrated from the point of view of Koré, a courtesan with a troubled past, Silk Fire is set in a futuristic world, on an enchanting city-planet that defies the laws of science (but can be tricky to fully visualize) and is governed by a matriarchal society- but as opposed to what happens in many other similar novels, this doesn’t correspond to a more equal and better-organized community. Instead, the world is affected by expectations and false beliefs connected to senseless gender norms similar to those we face in real life: it’s, simultaneously, an opposite mirror image and a highlight of some key issues in our society.
At the center of the story unfolds an intricate political conspiracy carried forward by many different players (even if Koré often seems to be the one pulling all of their strings), that also encompass a few different sub-storylines, with cunning enemies and uncertain allies, gods and old dangers. The narration can be slow from time to time, the plot as a whole is gripping and captivating.
The world-building is built piece by piece instead of giving a big info dump towards the beginning, with the traditions and the history of the world explained only when needed. It requires a certain level of attention to fully grasp the intricacy of the world, but it’s totally worth the extra effort. And there are also many descriptions of gorgeous gowns that will make you want to steal some outfits from the characters (and can I say how much I adored that skirts are the staple piece of almost every outfit, independently from gender?).
Even if it’s a very complex book, the characters’ emotions and motives are always handled with care, explored on-page and challenged by the events connected to the plot. And so every character, from the main ones to the secondary ones, is built in a way that makes them feel realistic, almost alive, with clear motives and goals.
Koré is definitely an unconventional main character. Even when he gets selected as the “chosen one”, he is forced by his circumstances to hide it as he has hidden other parts of himself in the past, all for a goal of vengeance that has slowly become his identity. It’s both beautiful and heartbreaking to see those tiny bits of joy every time he is able to set his magic free, and when he finally gets to fully embrace it, it’s truly magnificent.
Throughout the curse of the book, one of the common threads is showing how Koré slowly learns to understand and accept that the way he has been broken and manipulated since he was a child doesn’t mean every important person in his life will do the same, that his trauma doesn’t necessarily have to corrupt his happiness all over again. It’s a painful and ugly process, constituted not by straightforward decisions but by mistakes and impulsive choice, and still one that was so extremely important to show.
In the same way, the relationship between him, Ria and Faziz is not easy at all. But from the moment when Koré forms, with both of them, something that is between an alliance based on common goals and a fragile friendship, to the one when the romantic aspect starts to get in the way of things, everything is so perfectly crafted. I truly loved how, in a way, their bond support and reflects the development of each of these magnificent characters.
The ending was satisfying and fitting, as everything was wrapped up in such a nice way that was true both to the character and the plot.
Silk Fire is a brilliant stand-alone I recommend to those looking for an immersive adult SFF book that will keep you intrigued and mesmerized.
[ Disclaimer: an ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review ]
Narrated from the point of view of Koré, a courtesan with a troubled past, Silk Fire is set in a futuristic world, on an enchanting city-planet that defies the laws of science (but can be tricky to fully visualize) and is governed by a matriarchal society- but as opposed to what happens in many other similar novels, this doesn’t correspond to a more equal and better-organized community. Instead, the world is affected by expectations and false beliefs connected to senseless gender norms similar to those we face in real life: it’s, simultaneously, an opposite mirror image and a highlight of some key issues in our society.
At the center of the story unfolds an intricate political conspiracy carried forward by many different players (even if Koré often seems to be the one pulling all of their strings), that also encompass a few different sub-storylines, with cunning enemies and uncertain allies, gods and old dangers. The narration can be slow from time to time, the plot as a whole is gripping and captivating.
The world-building is built piece by piece instead of giving a big info dump towards the beginning, with the traditions and the history of the world explained only when needed. It requires a certain level of attention to fully grasp the intricacy of the world, but it’s totally worth the extra effort. And there are also many descriptions of gorgeous gowns that will make you want to steal some outfits from the characters (and can I say how much I adored that skirts are the staple piece of almost every outfit, independently from gender?).
Even if it’s a very complex book, the characters’ emotions and motives are always handled with care, explored on-page and challenged by the events connected to the plot. And so every character, from the main ones to the secondary ones, is built in a way that makes them feel realistic, almost alive, with clear motives and goals.
Koré is definitely an unconventional main character. Even when he gets selected as the “chosen one”, he is forced by his circumstances to hide it as he has hidden other parts of himself in the past, all for a goal of vengeance that has slowly become his identity. It’s both beautiful and heartbreaking to see those tiny bits of joy every time he is able to set his magic free, and when he finally gets to fully embrace it, it’s truly magnificent.
Throughout the curse of the book, one of the common threads is showing how Koré slowly learns to understand and accept that the way he has been broken and manipulated since he was a child doesn’t mean every important person in his life will do the same, that his trauma doesn’t necessarily have to corrupt his happiness all over again. It’s a painful and ugly process, constituted not by straightforward decisions but by mistakes and impulsive choice, and still one that was so extremely important to show.
In the same way, the relationship between him, Ria and Faziz is not easy at all. But from the moment when Koré forms, with both of them, something that is between an alliance based on common goals and a fragile friendship, to the one when the romantic aspect starts to get in the way of things, everything is so perfectly crafted. I truly loved how, in a way, their bond support and reflects the development of each of these magnificent characters.
The ending was satisfying and fitting, as everything was wrapped up in such a nice way that was true both to the character and the plot.
Silk Fire is a brilliant stand-alone I recommend to those looking for an immersive adult SFF book that will keep you intrigued and mesmerized.
[ Disclaimer: an ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review ]
pitmanj18's review
5.0
This book was so good. Reminds me of avatar the last airbender and legend of kora but for adults.