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A review by rheah
Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.75
Updating this because I gave it some thoughts: what I thought was me not understanding the book was a common problem amongst reviewers so hm probably more a flaw of the book that a fault of mine. truth was: I struggled to finish this book and had no idea about the world of what was going on but I thought that I was the one not reading it seriously enough. Turns out probably not me. I've made criticism about the matriarchal society in this book before and others have said it better than me but like it was very not enjoyable and missing the point of gender oppression entirely (like you know there's an economic purpose behind it too right?)
And considering how many top negative reviews of this book say something among the lines of revised/remove due to harassment, please leave me alone.
I will mention but not detail the subtle lesbophobia and transmisogyny of the book (as a consequence of the matriarchal society but given the author's twitter not only that).
3 stars is because of my enjoyment of the book but in terms of quality, it's between 3 and four stars.
Silk Fire has a rich and complex world with a matriarchal society. The main character, Koré, is a sex worker (and yes there are multiple explicit sex scenes) who wants to stop his father from gaining political power. He's a fascinating main character who uses his charms to get what he wants but is full of self-loathing and doesn't believe that he deserves anything. I felt like the narration was a bit heavy-handed with his internal dialogue being "I'm a monster" all the time. It was interesting at first to see what kind of development we would get from this but 80% into the book he was still going on every chapter about being a monster.
This is a book that focuses on the plot rather than on the characters and that was a shame because I couldn't follow the plot at all. I'm used to complex fantasy plots, but I felt stupid reading this because sometimes a thing would happen and I had no idea how we got from point A to point B. I had a hard time tracking who was everyone because I was reading on my phone so I didn't feel like flipping to the glossary every time I couldn't remember a side character. I'm not often thrown off by confusing books, I actually enjoy piecing together the worldbuilding but it felt like this time the fault lied with the book rather than with my own understanding of the story.
However, the writing was gorgeous and the description so lush.
This is a common complaint for me but Koré and another character confess their love about 60% into the book and act all in love during the rest of the book (this is about one of the love interest, the main character ends up in a poly relationship) and at no point I knew why they had feelings to each other. I understand Koré falling for the first person who shows him attention but the other way around? Since this is a very plot-heavy book, I couldn't connect to their relationship at all. because I felt like they almost had none (and the book was long).
One last thing, I do not know about the author's intentions and therefore it's not a judgment of values but I strongly dislike seeing a matriarchal society that is just our sexist society but man swapped for woman. every insults used against Koré is a misogynistic insult which made me super uncomfortable to read given how the writing reminds you all the time that he is a man oppressed by society.
And considering how many top negative reviews of this book say something among the lines of revised/remove due to harassment, please leave me alone.
I will mention but not detail the subtle lesbophobia and transmisogyny of the book (as a consequence of the matriarchal society but given the author's twitter not only that).
3 stars is because of my enjoyment of the book but in terms of quality, it's between 3 and four stars.
Silk Fire has a rich and complex world with a matriarchal society. The main character, Koré, is a sex worker (and yes there are multiple explicit sex scenes) who wants to stop his father from gaining political power. He's a fascinating main character who uses his charms to get what he wants but is full of self-loathing and doesn't believe that he deserves anything. I felt like the narration was a bit heavy-handed with his internal dialogue being "I'm a monster" all the time. It was interesting at first to see what kind of development we would get from this but 80% into the book he was still going on every chapter about being a monster.
This is a book that focuses on the plot rather than on the characters and that was a shame because I couldn't follow the plot at all. I'm used to complex fantasy plots, but I felt stupid reading this because sometimes a thing would happen and I had no idea how we got from point A to point B. I had a hard time tracking who was everyone because I was reading on my phone so I didn't feel like flipping to the glossary every time I couldn't remember a side character. I'm not often thrown off by confusing books, I actually enjoy piecing together the worldbuilding but it felt like this time the fault lied with the book rather than with my own understanding of the story.
However, the writing was gorgeous and the description so lush.
This is a common complaint for me but Koré and another character confess their love about 60% into the book and act all in love during the rest of the book (this is about one of the love interest, the main character ends up in a poly relationship) and at no point I knew why they had feelings to each other. I understand Koré falling for the first person who shows him attention but the other way around? Since this is a very plot-heavy book, I couldn't connect to their relationship at all. because I felt like they almost had none (and the book was long).
One last thing, I do not know about the author's intentions and therefore it's not a judgment of values but I strongly dislike seeing a matriarchal society that is just our sexist society but man swapped for woman. every insults used against Koré is a misogynistic insult which made me super uncomfortable to read given how the writing reminds you all the time that he is a man oppressed by society.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism