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A review by dvaruas
Un déluge de feu by Amitav Ghosh
2.0
Finally, the journey that had started with the Ibis ends with the (almost) conclusion of the first Opium wars.. And it took me only 3 years to reach here. :)
Endings are always bittersweet; especially when it seems there was more to it than conveyed.
Having said that, I'm glad the series ended.
Things need to end; especially when it isn't going anywhere better (I'll explain what I mean in a minute, but before that .... )
Historical fictions are always praiseworthy. The amount of research that goes into the text is undoubtedly enormous, period texts even so, as they need careful recreation of the era (postcolonial India and China back then in this case) in which it is set. There are many interesting tidbits all over the novel - starting from how Hong Kong came under British rule to the origin story of 'Graham crackers'. Amitav Ghosh has done this brilliantly - hats off to him for that.
--- Rant mode activated ---
I personally felt that the series as a whole didn't have a consistent tone in it. Looking at it as a whole, the
- `Sea of Poppies` was definitely the best of the lot with a nice balance between events and character development (something which is an incredibly difficult feat).
- `River of Smoke` was more character-driven with Bahram taking the center stage. An interesting read, although somehow disconnected from the rest of the series (conscious choice? What the hell happened there?). And then,
- `Flood of Fire`.
It has all of my beloved characters back in the scene along with some new ones. But the whole thing feels very plot-driven and very rushed. I was honestly expecting the magic from part one - the correct balance between the two aspects of storytelling, but unfortunately, that did not happen. Some of the events felt very predictable. There was an attempt to have a whole character arc with Zachary, but that was not well fleshed out. Kesri seemed like the only interesting character in this novel, while all others seemed to have lost all of their previous dimensionality and fallen flat on the pages. Sad!
--- Rant mode deactivated ---
Maybe I am being a bit too harsh. With the amount of expectation I had from the finale of the series, it was probably destined to fail already. :D
It's not a bad read definitely. Not an awesome one either.
`OKayish` would be my final verdict... Worth the read if someone has already started out on the journey. :)
Endings are always bittersweet; especially when it seems there was more to it than conveyed.
Having said that, I'm glad the series ended.
Things need to end; especially when it isn't going anywhere better (I'll explain what I mean in a minute, but before that .... )
Historical fictions are always praiseworthy. The amount of research that goes into the text is undoubtedly enormous, period texts even so, as they need careful recreation of the era (postcolonial India and China back then in this case) in which it is set. There are many interesting tidbits all over the novel - starting from how Hong Kong came under British rule to the origin story of 'Graham crackers'. Amitav Ghosh has done this brilliantly - hats off to him for that.
--- Rant mode activated ---
I personally felt that the series as a whole didn't have a consistent tone in it. Looking at it as a whole, the
- `Sea of Poppies` was definitely the best of the lot with a nice balance between events and character development (something which is an incredibly difficult feat).
- `River of Smoke` was more character-driven with Bahram taking the center stage. An interesting read, although somehow disconnected from the rest of the series (conscious choice? What the hell happened there?). And then,
- `Flood of Fire`.
It has all of my beloved characters back in the scene along with some new ones. But the whole thing feels very plot-driven and very rushed. I was honestly expecting the magic from part one - the correct balance between the two aspects of storytelling, but unfortunately, that did not happen. Some of the events felt very predictable. There was an attempt to have a whole character arc with Zachary, but that was not well fleshed out. Kesri seemed like the only interesting character in this novel, while all others seemed to have lost all of their previous dimensionality and fallen flat on the pages. Sad!
--- Rant mode deactivated ---
Maybe I am being a bit too harsh. With the amount of expectation I had from the finale of the series, it was probably destined to fail already. :D
It's not a bad read definitely. Not an awesome one either.
`OKayish` would be my final verdict... Worth the read if someone has already started out on the journey. :)