Tanya Huff

Didn't work for me, sadly. The retrieve-the-macguffin plot is about as generic as fantasy plots come. The political machinations of the characters are surface level and predictable--for instance, the identity of the character that turns out to have betrayed the leads is obvious practically from his introduction, as is the identity of the original thief that stole the macguffin. There's just not much here to distinguish this book from every other fantasy novel.

Characterization wasn't much better. The main characters might have been more interesting if the author dug into the potential conflicts or power imbalances between them resultant from class, age, and gender, but instead they were mostly blandly supportive of one another. A lot of choices they made for the sake of moving the plot forward or developing their relationship didn't seem to have much basis in their personalities or motivations. For instance, the prince character at first sees the thief character as a kind of personal possession, but soon thereafters starts seeing him as a person he likes and seeks approval from instead. Seeing a person as an personal possession is an unusual perspective with great potential to cause harm, especially in a prince that is free to treat certain people as objects if he so chooses, and so one would expect there to be some interesting reason why a character would take such a perspective or an interesting reason why they eventually change their mind, and for that perspective to affect the prince's relationship with other people. Instead, both the prince's original perspective and his eventual shift go largely unremarked upon. The prince takes the thief as a possession because he's a prince from a messed up family, and he starts seeing him as a person because he's a nice guy who empathizes with his tragic backstory, and there's no attention to any possible dissonance or conflict between those two perspectives. It's what needs to happen to move the plot forward, but it doesn't feel like character growth. This kind of issue made it difficult to feel anything for the characters. Overall, a book that's lacking in finesse and craftsmanship.… (more)

Someone somewhere on the internet recommended this book many years ago. Although I have no memory of who, I can tell why. ‘The Fire’s Stone’ is the same kind of soothing, restful read as really good fanfic, or the Parasol Protectorate series by [a:Gail Carriger|2891665|Gail Carriger|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1476925456p2/2891665.jpg]. If it hadn’t been for the specific recommendation, I would not have picked up what looks like generic fantasy. Indeed, the setting isn’t very distinctive and the world-building unmemorable, aside from the cultural norm of bisexuality. The strength of the book is the main characters: a dissolute prince, a traumatised thief, and a dissatisfied princess. Flimsy plot reasons force the three to go on a quest together and have feelings about each other. Various romantic tropes are deployed and subverted: arranged marriage and soul-bonding, for instance. I found the dynamic between the three endearing and amusing. Although the plot is predictable, it forces them to confront their inner demons and support one another, which is both compelling and heart-warming. There are plenty of moving and hilarious scenes, along with a welcome absence of heteronormativity. A good comfort read for a cold evening. Unfortunately there isn’t a sequel; I would definitely read it if there was.… (more)

This book is the third, and the author says (alas) the last, of the books about the Gale family. It's a lovely love story, a magical adventure, a rich and varied picture of family and family dynamics, and often quite funny. The love story, which is between my two favorite characters, seems hopeless...but there is a happy ending and it doesn't feel contrived. It also isn't an "everything is immediately perfect" ending, which to my mind makes it happier.

I enjoyed this book immensely, and I hope there will be more glimpses into this world and at these characters in the future. If there are none, though, the trilogy is satisfyingly wound up in this book.… (more)