Chasing Fire

Five Countries #3

by Michelle M. Welch

Returning to the land of Confidence Game and The Bright and the Dark, Michelle M. Welch revisits the Five Countries, where magic is suspect, loyalty drives a hard bargain, and war is just a misstep away. Now, as a devastating plague takes its deadly course, a quest as fragile as a dream begins. . . . 

Rindell Jorren, the twenty-year-old son of a governor of Dabion, is unsuited to follow in his powerful father’s footsteps. Aimless and timid, Rindell wants only to delve into the poetry and song of the romantic cavaliers of yesteryear. But his father has other plans. To shore up his alliances, he has arranged a marriage for Rindell to a heathen Azassian. Unknown to Rindell, his future bride, Adina, is mad. Descended from the Azassian warrior who ripped the country apart centuries before, she is racked by nightmares, bound to the past–and sought by wanderers on the fringe of reality. But while Adina is blurred by insanity, Elzith the Sage sees a city burning, a search for faith, and a way to finally free humanity from its greatest scourge. . . .

Genres: Fantasy

ebook

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Reader, writer, librarian, finder of random stuff, reluctant cat person, sometime musician, generalist.

Reviews

[Salimbol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has come as a very pleasant surprise - intelligent, gritty, perceptive and quite challenging (especially in terms of narrative structure). I do feel as if I'm missing pieces of a much larger puzzle, as some aspects of the story were obviously related to what happened in earlier books in the series (I didn't realise it wasn't a stand alone!), and I think I would benefit from a re-read, to be able to judge it properly as a whole. Nevertheless, I'm pretty impressed, and I will be seeking out more of Welch's books.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these characters and the world she’s built for them and there are lots of important themes being examined here, lots of thought about choice and time and relationship and purpose. This is not an author who falls for the mirage of tying up all the loose ends in happy bows. She loosened a couple of knots but and left some hints at the resolution of a few more but there were several questions unanswered as well.

[Donald · Rating 2 out of 5]

A second reading. The novel ties up the story threads of Elzith and Tod, though the ending seemed a little too "god in the machine" for my tastes. I liked this better five years ago when I read it the first time, did not hold up that well.

[Child_reborn · Rating 1 out of 5]

what was this.. some lame attempt at post apocalypse steam punk society?

Couldn't digest half of it