Flood of Fire

This is the final book of the Ibis Trilogy, following Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke.

As usual with Amitav Ghosh, the writing is rich and descriptive imagery is there, and in this book we return to the woven stories of book one which were lacking in the middle book. It does seem however that there is a lot more coincidence relied upon than would have been ideal in linking the principle characters. Thankfully, for me at least, the unlikeable Robin Chinnery and his letters don't feature in this book, replaced instead by the journal entries of Neel, which are far more readable.

This book focuses again on only a few main characters. Again we get a fleeting glimpse of Deeti at the opening of the book. Zachary Reid, Neel, and Kalua recur, with minor parts from Paulette Lampbert, Nob Kissin Baboo, Freddie (Ah Fatt), Jodu and Zadig Bey, to whom we were introduced in book two. Mr Burnham, the British trader is back in a major role, although it is his wife who overshadows his involvement. We are also introduced to new characters - Kesri Singh, elder brother of Deeti, a Havildar in the Bengal Volunteers to join the British in China; the widow of the Indian trader Bahram Moddie, Shireen; and Neels young son Raju who appears late in the piece.

For me it was a little disappointing not to tie up some loose ends. Paulette and Jodu don't reconnect,
Allow also makes a reappearance (as Mr Chan), in a complicated but largely unresolved role, and Freddie's involvement remains minor, and without reconnection with Neel.

Zachary Reid probably develops the most as a character, and not necessarily in the way most would expect from the first two books. There is also the comedy we come to expect from Ghosh - with Mr Reid being suspected of being a serial masturbator by his employers wife, who does all she can to save him (and more).

As is usual, the author seems to have targeted something complex and mastered it description. In the initial book it was the language of the sailing ship and the pidgin English of the Lascars, in the second book it was the world of trade and opium. In this book we are treated the the theatre of war, albeit a fairly one-sided war for the most part, with the British warships laying waste to the opposing vessels and land fortifications.

And so in summary, I am glad to have read the trilogy, and there can be little doubt it is a fascinating period of time in China, India and the British Empire. I can't decide whether the trilogy was overly long or overly short - if it were longer would there have been opportunity to tidy it up at the edges? Or if shorter would it have encouraged a more succinct storyline?

For me this book was more enjoyable than the middle book, which felt like it was just manipulating the characters into place for a finale. Perhaps not as engaging as the first book, which set to introduce all of the characters, but which ultimately didn't take the story very far forward. For those reasons this sits at 4 stars.