Scan barcode
A review by kjcharles
Fire Boy by Sami Shah
I heard of this on Twitter: a fantasy set in Pakistan and inspired by its mythology and culture, own voices author. I am bored to tears with a lot of current fantasy and the endless parade of straight white men grimdarking their way through vaguely Europe-with-dragons analogues. So I grabbed it.
And it is mostly fantastic. It’s violent, really scary. (I feared it might be YA because of the 18yo hero, but no. It’s brutal.) Super vivid and fluent writing, wildly imaginative, fantastic use of the setting and mythology. Twisty plot, engaging geeky asthmatic protagonist. A tremendous read.
But. But there is not one single female character with agency. The women exist only to help, or to motivate the hero/plot; almost all the minor characters are male. We barely get to see the girlfriend before she’s abducted. I mean, this isn’t a sexist book, let alone a misogynistic one. The author obviously feels passionately about violence against women, and men are victimised and attacked just as much and with as much relish as women. (Yay equal opportunity horrible death!) It’s just all about men.
It’s not fair to ask any one author to redress all the wrongs of everything, especially in a book that does so much in the teeth of the sad puppies. This book is really good in itself, and triumphant in use of setting and mythology; it is a perfect example of the desperate need for SFF to diversify because it is simply *far more interesting* than the same old Tolkien/GoT dullardry. I haven’t enjoyed a fantasy so much in ages. Only, it I’d have enjoyed it a lot more if the women had been more than plot drivers, that’s all.
I recommend this if you’re okay with full-on horror/violence--and with the fact that this is End of Part One and does not conclude the story in any way *at all*. I am totally buying the second one, but I really hope the author moves on from Man World and I see no reason why he shouldn’t.
And it is mostly fantastic. It’s violent, really scary. (I feared it might be YA because of the 18yo hero, but no. It’s brutal.) Super vivid and fluent writing, wildly imaginative, fantastic use of the setting and mythology. Twisty plot, engaging geeky asthmatic protagonist. A tremendous read.
But. But there is not one single female character with agency. The women exist only to help, or to motivate the hero/plot; almost all the minor characters are male. We barely get to see the girlfriend before she’s abducted. I mean, this isn’t a sexist book, let alone a misogynistic one. The author obviously feels passionately about violence against women, and men are victimised and attacked just as much and with as much relish as women. (Yay equal opportunity horrible death!) It’s just all about men.
It’s not fair to ask any one author to redress all the wrongs of everything, especially in a book that does so much in the teeth of the sad puppies. This book is really good in itself, and triumphant in use of setting and mythology; it is a perfect example of the desperate need for SFF to diversify because it is simply *far more interesting* than the same old Tolkien/GoT dullardry. I haven’t enjoyed a fantasy so much in ages. Only, it I’d have enjoyed it a lot more if the women had been more than plot drivers, that’s all.
I recommend this if you’re okay with full-on horror/violence--and with the fact that this is End of Part One and does not conclude the story in any way *at all*. I am totally buying the second one, but I really hope the author moves on from Man World and I see no reason why he shouldn’t.