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A review by lycanhood
Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Okay, so this cover is incredible! Everything about it is amazing! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to get my hands on this book. The color palette, the dragon scales, the name! It's firing on all cylinders, the cover designer and artist deserve major props.
Unfortunately...I'm sorry to say that the book contained within the cover is a mess 😬 Let's get into it, spoiler-free (unless otherwise stated)...
This book takes place in a grim fantasy world sparkling with a mix of technology and magic, steeped in moral bankruptcy, political scheming, & cruel classism.
This world is divided into those who have and those who have not, and what they have and have not is a magical force called essence, kind of like life-force that all living beings naturally produce but that can also be collected, stolen, hoarded, and freely given between people. This essence enhances an individual's own life-force allowing them to live longer, be stronger, faster, smarter, more beautiful. And so of course it's hoarded by the rich and powerful.
The story's MC, Kore BrightStar, is an illegitimate bastard son living on the edges of this world's most elite society. He is a high-end courtesan that owns his own brothel and uses his unseemly connections & natural charm to politically maneuver revenge against his highborne father.
This book is trying to do ALOT. Probably too much. It is a non-stop political backstabbing twisty turney roller coaster that moves at a nonsensical breakneck pace. Especially in the beginning and the whole second half of this book it is hard to know what is actually going on a lot of the times. It can be difficult to know where you are in terms of setting. Scenes shift as quickly and unpleasantly as loyalties in this book. It's really a problem in terms of storytelling more so than in terms of plot. I think this plot sort of stripped down is not in itself bad, but the way it's being told narratively is unfortunate and frustrating to read.
The author tried to build this hybrid sci-fi fantasy world that mixes technology ancient magic, old feuds ancient myths, gods, rulers, dragons, nacromancers, political Intrigue, romance, flashbacks, sword fights, zombies, magic, daddy issues.... And it's not to say all of these things can't or shouldn't exist within one story or one book. In fact we know that they can and maybe should, BUT this is just things thrown at the wall. I can see how this if it were cleaned up and parsed out and sort of taken by a firm hand might have made a fantastic story and a really enriched kind of unique sci-fi hybrid world... This just isn't it. It's unpolished and confusing to look at. It's hard to have a real sense of the setting or the world outside of Kore's head & the blinding light of his emotions.
Kore is not a bad protagonist though he may come off as a bit overdramatic at times. Flip-flopping from one extreme to the next. But that can be forgiven in an angsty tortured soul protagonist, and he goes through real character development throughout the course of the story. If anything his character arc is the steady line in the storm of this book. The book is about Kore learning his own self-worth, what it means to be loved, and how to recognize that when it comes along.
The romance and the love interests are also not poorly done. In fact I would say if the book had slowed down, pulled back on the political reigns, focused a little bit more on the relationship(s) between Kore & his love interest it would have really benefited an emotional payoff towards the end. His love interests are interesting as complex as the breakneck pacing will allow them to be, noble but not innocent, and distinctly different from one another in a way that gives the polyamorous relationship depth. They both work as good matches for Kore, and I really wish this book had given us more of that and more of the three of them together. Because let's be honest I came here for the polyamory and let's be really honest I stayed here for the polyamory.
The truth is I almost stopped reading this book multiple times. Once very close to the beginning when I just was rubbed entirely the wrong way by the writing style. Because in those first few chapters there is absolutely no hand holding you are thrown into a political shark tank full of fantasy world terms, references, character/place names, and it is a total bombardment. However I stuck with it for the polyamory (and for the promise of dragons). And honestly it got a little bit better and I was genuinely enjoying it leading up to the halfway point, and then there's this big climactic thing that happens around chapter 16 and it honestly felt like the end of the book or a book. And then everything fell apart again and the plot gets really jumbly the pacing gets out of whack again and I had to force myself to finish the second half of the book.
If you're coming here for the dragons you're going to be disappointed. Not going into spoilers so I won't say much more than that but if you're here for the dragons this is not the place to be. If you're here for the polyamory there is that and it's not poorly done but there's not really enough of it. I wanted so much more of it and you have to get through so much political bull and like angsty daddy issue stuff, to get little enjoyable glimpses of the polyamory.
*To confirm, this book does contain a canon polyamorous relationship, between two men and a woman.*
Overall this book was pretty disappointing and right on the verge of DNF territory. I think the author had some really cool ideas for a fantasy world, and I think there is something to be said for the political plot line and intrigue but it's suffocating and overwhelming. The polyamorous relationship and the characters they're in had a lot of potential and we're at times enjoyable but there just wasn't enough of it. I don't think I'll be continuing on with this series if it is supposed to be a series (I have no idea). But I would consider reading this author again if I felt like they had maybe been more heavily edited and polished, because this book just needed a lot more love.
Trigger Warnings: graphic sex (lots of sex like in every other chapter there's sex), violence, War, classism, sexism, sexual violence, degrading sex, sex games, murder, fire, death of a parent, child abuse, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, name calling, gore, brutality
Unfortunately...I'm sorry to say that the book contained within the cover is a mess 😬 Let's get into it, spoiler-free (unless otherwise stated)...
This book takes place in a grim fantasy world sparkling with a mix of technology and magic, steeped in moral bankruptcy, political scheming, & cruel classism.
This world is divided into those who have and those who have not, and what they have and have not is a magical force called essence, kind of like life-force that all living beings naturally produce but that can also be collected, stolen, hoarded, and freely given between people. This essence enhances an individual's own life-force allowing them to live longer, be stronger, faster, smarter, more beautiful. And so of course it's hoarded by the rich and powerful.
The story's MC, Kore BrightStar, is an illegitimate bastard son living on the edges of this world's most elite society. He is a high-end courtesan that owns his own brothel and uses his unseemly connections & natural charm to politically maneuver revenge against his highborne father.
This book is trying to do ALOT. Probably too much. It is a non-stop political backstabbing twisty turney roller coaster that moves at a nonsensical breakneck pace. Especially in the beginning and the whole second half of this book it is hard to know what is actually going on a lot of the times. It can be difficult to know where you are in terms of setting. Scenes shift as quickly and unpleasantly as loyalties in this book. It's really a problem in terms of storytelling more so than in terms of plot. I think this plot sort of stripped down is not in itself bad, but the way it's being told narratively is unfortunate and frustrating to read.
The author tried to build this hybrid sci-fi fantasy world that mixes technology ancient magic, old feuds ancient myths, gods, rulers, dragons, nacromancers, political Intrigue, romance, flashbacks, sword fights, zombies, magic, daddy issues.... And it's not to say all of these things can't or shouldn't exist within one story or one book. In fact we know that they can and maybe should, BUT this is just things thrown at the wall. I can see how this if it were cleaned up and parsed out and sort of taken by a firm hand might have made a fantastic story and a really enriched kind of unique sci-fi hybrid world... This just isn't it. It's unpolished and confusing to look at. It's hard to have a real sense of the setting or the world outside of Kore's head & the blinding light of his emotions.
Kore is not a bad protagonist though he may come off as a bit overdramatic at times. Flip-flopping from one extreme to the next. But that can be forgiven in an angsty tortured soul protagonist, and he goes through real character development throughout the course of the story. If anything his character arc is the steady line in the storm of this book. The book is about Kore learning his own self-worth, what it means to be loved, and how to recognize that when it comes along.
The romance and the love interests are also not poorly done. In fact I would say if the book had slowed down, pulled back on the political reigns, focused a little bit more on the relationship(s) between Kore & his love interest it would have really benefited an emotional payoff towards the end. His love interests are interesting as complex as the breakneck pacing will allow them to be, noble but not innocent, and distinctly different from one another in a way that gives the polyamorous relationship depth. They both work as good matches for Kore, and I really wish this book had given us more of that and more of the three of them together. Because let's be honest I came here for the polyamory and let's be really honest I stayed here for the polyamory.
The truth is I almost stopped reading this book multiple times. Once very close to the beginning when I just was rubbed entirely the wrong way by the writing style. Because in those first few chapters there is absolutely no hand holding you are thrown into a political shark tank full of fantasy world terms, references, character/place names, and it is a total bombardment. However I stuck with it for the polyamory (and for the promise of dragons). And honestly it got a little bit better and I was genuinely enjoying it leading up to the halfway point, and then there's this big climactic thing that happens around chapter 16 and it honestly felt like the end of the book or a book. And then everything fell apart again and the plot gets really jumbly the pacing gets out of whack again and I had to force myself to finish the second half of the book.
If you're coming here for the dragons you're going to be disappointed. Not going into spoilers so I won't say much more than that but if you're here for the dragons this is not the place to be. If you're here for the polyamory there is that and it's not poorly done but there's not really enough of it. I wanted so much more of it and you have to get through so much political bull and like angsty daddy issue stuff, to get little enjoyable glimpses of the polyamory.
*To confirm, this book does contain a canon polyamorous relationship, between two men and a woman.*
Overall this book was pretty disappointing and right on the verge of DNF territory. I think the author had some really cool ideas for a fantasy world, and I think there is something to be said for the political plot line and intrigue but it's suffocating and overwhelming. The polyamorous relationship and the characters they're in had a lot of potential and we're at times enjoyable but there just wasn't enough of it. I don't think I'll be continuing on with this series if it is supposed to be a series (I have no idea). But I would consider reading this author again if I felt like they had maybe been more heavily edited and polished, because this book just needed a lot more love.
Trigger Warnings: graphic sex (lots of sex like in every other chapter there's sex), violence, War, classism, sexism, sexual violence, degrading sex, sex games, murder, fire, death of a parent, child abuse, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, name calling, gore, brutality
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Violence, and War