The Element of Fire

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Omnibus edition with separate summaries and reviews below.

Summary
In a fantastic alternate Europe, Thomas, favorite and once lover of the Dowager Queen, is on an errand to recover a kidnapped sorceror - a mission he's unlikely to survive, and that may be the point for the King and his sycophants.

Review
I can never remember whether I first encountered Wells through The Element of Fire or City of Bones. After just re-reading both, though, I tend to think it was City of Bones. That is an excellent book and would certainly have sent me looking for more. This is a good book, well written, but not really my kind of thing – it's very courtly and political, though with enough engaging characters to keep things moving along nicely – after a pretty slow start. I'm not sure I'd have pursued more Wells books after reading just this.

As noted, the book starts slowly – very slowly. We're thrown into actions scenes with our protagonist, but have neither the context to understand the world nor the background to find the protagonist appealing. I found the first couple of chapters dry and dense, to the extent that I shifted to a John DeChancie comedy for a while just to regain some momentum. After that stumble, the book does pick up considerably, though it sticks to a sort of romantic court politics that I just don't find very interesting. This especially because the key romance is of an older man with a young woman – literally his former lover's stepdaughter; I found it a bit on the icky side. The book not only is based in an alternate Europe (not my kind of thing either) but deals with a version of Faerie, complete with Seelie and Unseelie Courts (again, not my thing). I give credit to Wells for making this trifecta of ‘not my things' pretty palatable and decently fast-moving.

I read this in the new, revised (likely only lightly, based on the re-released City of Bones) omnibus edition with its sequel, Death of the Necromancer, but I'd guess not too much has changed. At least, nothing particular stood out. If you like these kinds of topics, this book is well done. If you just like Martha Wells, this book is also well done, and you may enjoy it. I did eventually grow fond enough of the series that I picked up most of the several sequels.

Summary
Nicholas Valiarde, disregarded noble and part-time thief, is on a mission of revenge. For years, he has planned to lay low the man who falsely implicated his mentor in necromantic crime. But now a plague of ghouls is getting in his way.

Review
This second installment of Ile-Rien is a much more cohesive, polished affair than the first. It's set in the same world, a hundred years later, and has a few references to its predecessor. But there are also so many references to other past exploits of its protagonists, that you'd be forgiven for thinking it a sequel to another (nonexistent) book entirely. (And the later sequels are another story as well.)

Happily, there's far less of Faerie and courts in this book. Instead, it's a magic-infused period mystery/heist story that works much better than the first book did. I've given each book the same rating, but they lean toward different ends of the range. This book is much more assured and enjoyable; I looked forward to picking it up. The wrapup is on the easy side and doesn't stand up to the quality of the rest of book, but you can look past it to enjoy the whole.

This again is the omnibus Book of Ile-Rien version. I didn't compare it to the prior e or print versions I have, but also didn't note any substantive changes. Looking this series up in ISFDB reminded me that an Ile-Rien story is also in the anthology Elemental I also have, so I'll be looking that up as well, though the anthology didn't stand out in my mind, so I won't be rereading the whole thing.