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Mortal Fire
When sixteen-year-old Canny of the Pacific island, Southland, sets out on a trip with her stepbrother and his girlfriend, she finds herself drawn into enchanting Zarene Valley where the mysterious but dark seventeen-year-old Ghislain helps her to figure out her origins.
434 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2013
33 people are currently reading
2439 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Knox
33 books963 followersElizabeth Knox was born in Wellington‚ New Zealand‚ and is the author of eleven novels and three novella and a book of essays.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 194 reviews
January 24, 2013
My blog review:
Even though Mortal Fire isn't out till June I want to write about it now to get the word out as it is simply spectacular. And to encourage those fantasy fans among you unfamiliar with Elizabeth Knox to go and read her two other also fabulous young adult books, Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, the later a Printz honor book. What, you may wonder, are they like? I would agree with Knox's own answer (about her newest book, but applicable I think to these earlier ones too) in this recent interview:
As for Mortal Fire it is set in the same alternate New Zealand world of the Dreamhunter Duet, but later in 1959. The heroine is Canny, a sixteen year old math genius and daughter of a Shackle Islander (e.g. Pacific Islander in our world) who is known far and wide for her extraordinary act of heroism during the war. The novel begins as Canny, having just graduated from high school, reluctantly joins her stepbrother Sholto and his girlfriend Susan on a research trip to Southland to interview survivors of a horrific mine disaster and investigate local folklore.
Upon arrival Canny discovers the Zarene family, magic, and dark secrets, among them seventeen year old Ghislain who has been magically imprisoned by his family for something he did long ago. Canny discovers that she has even stronger magical talents than the Zarenes and quickly learns to use them. Why she has them and what she does with them are the center of this whirling complex and glorious story.
Knox, as she did in the Dreamhunter books, creates a mesmerizing world in which magic is real, powerful, disturbing, and profoundly spiritual. Canny is a remarkable character, tough, smart, and a teenager in all her complexity. The other characters are richly drawn as well from the intriguing Ghislain to the caring Sholto. The contrast between Ghislain and his siblings and Canny and Sholto is starkly and movingly rendered. Knox also writes like a dream, her descriptions of the natural world are superb as is her elegant development of the different and twisty plot lines of the story.
Have I piqued your interest? Are you frustrated that you have to wait till June? I hope so. Because then you will go right now, I mean RIGHT NOW, and read the Dreamhunter Duet. And then I hope you will agree with me that Knox is one absolutely fabulous writer.
Even though Mortal Fire isn't out till June I want to write about it now to get the word out as it is simply spectacular. And to encourage those fantasy fans among you unfamiliar with Elizabeth Knox to go and read her two other also fabulous young adult books, Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, the later a Printz honor book. What, you may wonder, are they like? I would agree with Knox's own answer (about her newest book, but applicable I think to these earlier ones too) in this recent interview:
Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief books, because of the machinations, vigour and sensitivity of the main character (plus the tricky romance). And my view of the magic as a kind of science owes a lot to Margaret Mahy (well—all my books do!)
As for Mortal Fire it is set in the same alternate New Zealand world of the Dreamhunter Duet, but later in 1959. The heroine is Canny, a sixteen year old math genius and daughter of a Shackle Islander (e.g. Pacific Islander in our world) who is known far and wide for her extraordinary act of heroism during the war. The novel begins as Canny, having just graduated from high school, reluctantly joins her stepbrother Sholto and his girlfriend Susan on a research trip to Southland to interview survivors of a horrific mine disaster and investigate local folklore.
Upon arrival Canny discovers the Zarene family, magic, and dark secrets, among them seventeen year old Ghislain who has been magically imprisoned by his family for something he did long ago. Canny discovers that she has even stronger magical talents than the Zarenes and quickly learns to use them. Why she has them and what she does with them are the center of this whirling complex and glorious story.
Knox, as she did in the Dreamhunter books, creates a mesmerizing world in which magic is real, powerful, disturbing, and profoundly spiritual. Canny is a remarkable character, tough, smart, and a teenager in all her complexity. The other characters are richly drawn as well from the intriguing Ghislain to the caring Sholto. The contrast between Ghislain and his siblings and Canny and Sholto is starkly and movingly rendered. Knox also writes like a dream, her descriptions of the natural world are superb as is her elegant development of the different and twisty plot lines of the story.
Have I piqued your interest? Are you frustrated that you have to wait till June? I hope so. Because then you will go right now, I mean RIGHT NOW, and read the Dreamhunter Duet. And then I hope you will agree with me that Knox is one absolutely fabulous writer.
May 24, 2021
Glorious.
Years ago, when Dreamquake won a Printz Honor, Laini Taylor tweeted about how good the Dreamhunter/Dreamquake duo were and how you had to read both together, and I (knowing Laini to be very reliable in such matters) immediately read them both and absolutely swooned over them. A few months ago (on Twitter) they came up again and I was thanking Laini for telling me about them, and she said, But have you read Mortal Fire?
I had not. I bought it immediately. No synopsis read. No reviews.
But did not realize until I started reading it that it's also set in the Southlands, and is a sort of companion novel to those books. Glorious.
So the first thing you have to do, if you haven't already, is read Dreamhunter, then Dreamquake, then this. You're welcome.
Years ago, when Dreamquake won a Printz Honor, Laini Taylor tweeted about how good the Dreamhunter/Dreamquake duo were and how you had to read both together, and I (knowing Laini to be very reliable in such matters) immediately read them both and absolutely swooned over them. A few months ago (on Twitter) they came up again and I was thanking Laini for telling me about them, and she said, But have you read Mortal Fire?
I had not. I bought it immediately. No synopsis read. No reviews.
But did not realize until I started reading it that it's also set in the Southlands, and is a sort of companion novel to those books. Glorious.
So the first thing you have to do, if you haven't already, is read Dreamhunter, then Dreamquake, then this. You're welcome.
June 25, 2013
This is an unusual book. Demanding at its outset, then compulsively readable once I was into it. It's a love story, with a very endearing heroine, Canny, and an intriguing and slightly mad hero, Ghislain. But it isn't just a love story. It's mostly a book about Canny learning who she is, and what she is good at, and what use she can be to herself and other people. It's a book where people have occupations, they work and make things. The setting is very much part of that. The Zarene Valley is a kind of pastoral paradise, and so fully realised. It is a book without villains. There are conflicting interests but no strictly decidable right and wrong.
It us such an unusual book, and hypnotically real.
But what I loved most about it is the way the story works itself out. It's shapely and meaningful and lovely. And riveting!
I was wiping tears from my eyes many times in the final hundred pages.
Just so beautiful!
It us such an unusual book, and hypnotically real.
But what I loved most about it is the way the story works itself out. It's shapely and meaningful and lovely. And riveting!
I was wiping tears from my eyes many times in the final hundred pages.
Just so beautiful!
July 11, 2013
Sometimes the stars dictating my fictional and factional reading align, forming the constellation Serendipity: a sublime fantasy novel like Mortal Fire alongside Ursula K. Le Guin's brilliant essays on genre, magic and criticism. Leave it to Le Guin to identify why Elizabeth Knox's YA fiction means so much to me, a woman in her early-to-mid-30s. "[I]n talking about fantasy," she points out, "one can't exclude children's literature." Please indulge my emphatic head-nodding:
Last Saturday I took a break from reading the opening chapters of Mortal Fire to listen to a review on National Radio — or part of one. When talk turned to plot I quickly tuned out, not wanting expectations to crowd my experience of reading the book for the first time. All I can recall is the reviewer's assertion that Knox's language is unremarkable; all I can say in response is that this is patently untrue.
Like her earlier Dreamhunter duet also set in Southland, a revisionary, reimagined not-quite New Zealand, Mortal Fire is an easy read, but not a quick or simple one. I could say the same of Canny, our many-named heroine, uncanny to anyone more concerned with what's normal than what's right for one particular girl, or of Southland itself. In this, our third chance to explore the country and meet its people, it feels more solid, less dusty and timeless than the prophetic dreams that once haunted it. But it's still haunted, and we feel breathless and oppressed, out of our depth, along with Canny's step-brother Sholto when he descends into a mine; we hear the rhythmic laughter of her best friend, Marli, as she struggles with her own claustrophobia in an iron lung. Complex ideas hum and rumble beneath deceptively straightforward language: the bees becalmed by smoky magic, the glacial river gleaming turquoise with whirling sediment. Time bends and shivers. We see double. This is Knox's lyricism, and I love it.
Which is all to say that I'm pretty darn biased when it comes to these books and I recommend each of them, in order, wholeheartedly. You may not find much in the way of impartiality here, but neither will you find low expectations, or disappointment. I had high hopes for Mortal Fire and it exceeded them. Take that, pessimism, and get thee to a library — or, better yet, your local bookstore. Knox, like Beatrix Potter for Le Guin, is one to read and re-read.
The capacity of much fantasy literature to override age-boundaries, to me a most admirable power, is to the anti-wizards [literary critics] a degrading weakness. That a novel can be read by a ten-year-old implies to them that it must be faulty as an adult novel: out comes the mantra, primitive escapist simplistic — in a word, childish.
*
To conflate fantasy with immaturity is a rather sizable error. Rational yet non-intellectual, moral yet inexplicit, symbolic rather than allegorical, fantasy is not primitive, but primary. Many of its great texts are poetry, and its prose often approaches poetry in density of implication and imagery.
(From "The Critics, the Monsters, and the Fantasists" and "Re-reading Peter Rabbit," Cheek By Jowl)
Last Saturday I took a break from reading the opening chapters of Mortal Fire to listen to a review on National Radio — or part of one. When talk turned to plot I quickly tuned out, not wanting expectations to crowd my experience of reading the book for the first time. All I can recall is the reviewer's assertion that Knox's language is unremarkable; all I can say in response is that this is patently untrue.
Like her earlier Dreamhunter duet also set in Southland, a revisionary, reimagined not-quite New Zealand, Mortal Fire is an easy read, but not a quick or simple one. I could say the same of Canny, our many-named heroine, uncanny to anyone more concerned with what's normal than what's right for one particular girl, or of Southland itself. In this, our third chance to explore the country and meet its people, it feels more solid, less dusty and timeless than the prophetic dreams that once haunted it. But it's still haunted, and we feel breathless and oppressed, out of our depth, along with Canny's step-brother Sholto when he descends into a mine; we hear the rhythmic laughter of her best friend, Marli, as she struggles with her own claustrophobia in an iron lung. Complex ideas hum and rumble beneath deceptively straightforward language: the bees becalmed by smoky magic, the glacial river gleaming turquoise with whirling sediment. Time bends and shivers. We see double. This is Knox's lyricism, and I love it.
Which is all to say that I'm pretty darn biased when it comes to these books and I recommend each of them, in order, wholeheartedly. You may not find much in the way of impartiality here, but neither will you find low expectations, or disappointment. I had high hopes for Mortal Fire and it exceeded them. Take that, pessimism, and get thee to a library — or, better yet, your local bookstore. Knox, like Beatrix Potter for Le Guin, is one to read and re-read.
July 4, 2013
Mortal Fire is the first new novel from Elizabeth Knox in 4 years and well worth the wait as it is one of her best. Set in an alternative New Zealand in 1959, the novel follows 16 year old Canny as she travels with her step brother and his girlfriend to Zarene Valley. It is here that Canny encounters the mysterious and often morally ambiguous Zarene family, their lush and alive valley, their magic (which Canny finds she is capable of using as if it were her own) and a house hidden by magic that holds captive a 17 year old boy, Ghislain Zarene. The novel is vivid and bold, complex not just in terms of plot, but theme and style, and gradually builds to an ending that is a wild tour de force.
Canny, a math genius who feels awkward and as the book so beautifully puts it, misshapen, makes for an engaging and exciting protagonist. She is struggling with her identity under the shadow of her war hero mother, her best friend succumbing to polio, and her own unknown origins—the identity of her father is a mystery so she feels she doesn’t know what she's really made of. Of course, it is when she meets the Zarenes and ultimately, the mysterious Ghislain, that Canny begins to unlock her mysteries. Canny is also absolutely sly, cunning and manipulative and all the mischief she gets up to is a no holds barred blast to read. Yes, she does lie and manipulate to solve her problems and appease her usually noble intentions, but she feels bad about having to do so sometimes and always feels a sense of responsibility for her actions, unlike many of the adults in the novel. And this leads to another one of Canny’s defining traits: compassion. She may be spurred on by her curiosity and eagerness to solve problems, but it’s her compassion that propels her through the story…right up to the very last page where the depths of her compassion really shines through.
So many of the major themes that span Knox’s body of work are here: memory, identity, doubles, time, family and caring for the things you love (or as Knox might say, “saving things”). In addition, there are environmental themes and probably the most obvious is the theme of imprisonment and its effects on prisoners and jailers alike. Interestingly enough, there are many types of prisoners in this novel, Ghislain of course is imprisoned in hidden house by a spell, but also Canny’s best friend Marli who is suffering from Polio is trapped in an iron lung, the Zarene family as a whole are trapped in a long suffering situation, even Sisema, Canny’s mother, is a prisoner of her history. It is the way these themes are all interwoven that make Mortal Fire a rich, multilayered experience all the while brilliantly advancing the story forward and ultimately placing the novel in the ranks as one of Knox’s finest accomplishments.
And then there is the writing. Knox’s stylized use of language and its rhythms make her work all the more unique. Her writing is lyrical, poetic with a dash of vinegar and on occasion monstrous (in the best possible way, of course). The language can be challenging but should be savored. Her writing illuminates her characters and their actions by showing not telling, via suggestion and small brush strokes over time. The Zarene magic, not only in its concept but in its forms and variations, in the hands of a lesser writer might be disastrous, but Knox makes the magic tangible and real and an absolute delight on the page.
Mortal Fire is a book about a girl trying to find out who she is, but it’s also about importance of saving, rescuing and preserving things. In the novel Canny might not be able to save everything, but still she finds it important to try, to feel a responsibility to those things that she loves or deems important and ultimately discovers the importance of just being present to the things whether she can save them or not. Mortal Fire is challenging book that trusts its readers—it is intelligent, lush and romantic, perilous, frightening in parts and will drop your jaw and leave you broadsided at least once...or twice.
And at the risk of making this longer, if you enjoyed Mortal Fire you might want to check out a related online short story (A Visit to the House on Terminal Hill) and 5 excellent related blog entries (ranging from the informative to the poignant). You can find the links to these here (just scroll down): http://www.elizabethknox.com/mortal-f...
Canny, a math genius who feels awkward and as the book so beautifully puts it, misshapen, makes for an engaging and exciting protagonist. She is struggling with her identity under the shadow of her war hero mother, her best friend succumbing to polio, and her own unknown origins—the identity of her father is a mystery so she feels she doesn’t know what she's really made of. Of course, it is when she meets the Zarenes and ultimately, the mysterious Ghislain, that Canny begins to unlock her mysteries. Canny is also absolutely sly, cunning and manipulative and all the mischief she gets up to is a no holds barred blast to read. Yes, she does lie and manipulate to solve her problems and appease her usually noble intentions, but she feels bad about having to do so sometimes and always feels a sense of responsibility for her actions, unlike many of the adults in the novel. And this leads to another one of Canny’s defining traits: compassion. She may be spurred on by her curiosity and eagerness to solve problems, but it’s her compassion that propels her through the story…right up to the very last page where the depths of her compassion really shines through.
So many of the major themes that span Knox’s body of work are here: memory, identity, doubles, time, family and caring for the things you love (or as Knox might say, “saving things”). In addition, there are environmental themes and probably the most obvious is the theme of imprisonment and its effects on prisoners and jailers alike. Interestingly enough, there are many types of prisoners in this novel, Ghislain of course is imprisoned in hidden house by a spell, but also Canny’s best friend Marli who is suffering from Polio is trapped in an iron lung, the Zarene family as a whole are trapped in a long suffering situation, even Sisema, Canny’s mother, is a prisoner of her history. It is the way these themes are all interwoven that make Mortal Fire a rich, multilayered experience all the while brilliantly advancing the story forward and ultimately placing the novel in the ranks as one of Knox’s finest accomplishments.
And then there is the writing. Knox’s stylized use of language and its rhythms make her work all the more unique. Her writing is lyrical, poetic with a dash of vinegar and on occasion monstrous (in the best possible way, of course). The language can be challenging but should be savored. Her writing illuminates her characters and their actions by showing not telling, via suggestion and small brush strokes over time. The Zarene magic, not only in its concept but in its forms and variations, in the hands of a lesser writer might be disastrous, but Knox makes the magic tangible and real and an absolute delight on the page.
Mortal Fire is a book about a girl trying to find out who she is, but it’s also about importance of saving, rescuing and preserving things. In the novel Canny might not be able to save everything, but still she finds it important to try, to feel a responsibility to those things that she loves or deems important and ultimately discovers the importance of just being present to the things whether she can save them or not. Mortal Fire is challenging book that trusts its readers—it is intelligent, lush and romantic, perilous, frightening in parts and will drop your jaw and leave you broadsided at least once...or twice.
And at the risk of making this longer, if you enjoyed Mortal Fire you might want to check out a related online short story (A Visit to the House on Terminal Hill) and 5 excellent related blog entries (ranging from the informative to the poignant). You can find the links to these here (just scroll down): http://www.elizabethknox.com/mortal-f...
July 27, 2013
I decided to pick up a book that I haven't heard too much about, called Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox. I read her Dreamhunter duology a few years ago (on the recommendation of Stephenie Meyer) and they were so strange, but also really good. They've stuck with me over the years and I've often found myself thinking about the world Elizabeth created. I felt the same way about Mortal Fire.
I have no way, really, to describe this book, or explain how I felt about it. It was slow and strange, but beautiful and fascinating. There were complexities that you rarely find in YA, and a storyline that I've never even come close to before. There were times where I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, and times where I thought it was one of the best books I've read in a long time. This book took some concentrating. It wasn't one of those mindless reads that you could fly through in a couple of hours. There were times I actually had to stop and re-read certain paragraphs just to work out what the author was trying to get across. But let me just tell you, it was worth it. To see this story unfold, the mystery unravel, all the intricately placed details and foreshadowing fall in to place was just brilliant.
I think this is a book that will only appeal to a certain type of person, I'm not sure how many actual teens will take the time to delve into this story, but if you commit to it, and invest in it, I think you'll end up loving it like I did.
-Andye
ReadingTeen.net
I have no way, really, to describe this book, or explain how I felt about it. It was slow and strange, but beautiful and fascinating. There were complexities that you rarely find in YA, and a storyline that I've never even come close to before. There were times where I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, and times where I thought it was one of the best books I've read in a long time. This book took some concentrating. It wasn't one of those mindless reads that you could fly through in a couple of hours. There were times I actually had to stop and re-read certain paragraphs just to work out what the author was trying to get across. But let me just tell you, it was worth it. To see this story unfold, the mystery unravel, all the intricately placed details and foreshadowing fall in to place was just brilliant.
I think this is a book that will only appeal to a certain type of person, I'm not sure how many actual teens will take the time to delve into this story, but if you commit to it, and invest in it, I think you'll end up loving it like I did.
-Andye
ReadingTeen.net
September 30, 2013
Okay, for the last few months I've been wondering if I was being chintzy giving some really good books four stars. No. Just, NO.
Books like MORTAL FIRE are why you save those five stars. Because when a book comes along that's this good, you want to be able to tell everyone that it's better than the rest.
Elizabeth Knox grounds MORTAL FIRE so firmly in the real world that she makes you believe in magic again. The kind of magic you knew was real before the world broke your heart.
Thank you, Elizabeth!
Books like MORTAL FIRE are why you save those five stars. Because when a book comes along that's this good, you want to be able to tell everyone that it's better than the rest.
Elizabeth Knox grounds MORTAL FIRE so firmly in the real world that she makes you believe in magic again. The kind of magic you knew was real before the world broke your heart.
Thank you, Elizabeth!
January 21, 2013
Can this woman write like an angel or what! Not as broad a canvas here as in the Dreamhunter Duet, but completely satisfying down to its final sentences. Here's hoping we don't have to wait six more years for the next book.
August 23, 2013
Loved this book. I adored Knox's Dreamhunter and Dreamquake. This book can stand on it's own as a story, however I loved the references to the other books. So clever, beautifully written, evocative of Te Waipounamu's places and people - LOVED it!!
July 9, 2017
Reread in July 2017 and I realized this might need a trigger warning
Also, Cannie, the main character, is Pacific Islander and the brownness of her skin comes up a few times on the page, as does her feelings of belonging or lack-thereof specifically related to her heritage. I have literally no idea if this is authentic or good representation.
I thought I reviewed this yesterday but apparently not?
This book has a very long fuse, slowly showing us a world both familiar and unfamiliar. It's 1959 and Canny, our primary narrator, is a girl who loves math and misunderstands most people. She's hauled from the bedside of her best and only friend, who is in an iron lung, to a remote mining town with her stepbrother and his girlfriend who are researching there.
From here there's a valley tucked away and the "extras" that Canny sees, a sort of magic. Personally I enjoyed Canny and the building up of the setting and people so much that I didn't mind the slow burn of the opening so much but others might wish the book went a bit faster. In the end, several things are revealed that honestly made my brain melt a bit in their brilliance and the unexpected ways everything fit together(much like a moment at the end of Knox's Dreamquake when the origin of The Place was revealed.
This book is beautiful written in a way that makes you want to savor he words on your tongue but this means that won't build fast enough for some. It's clear that Knox has put a lot of thought into this world and there are clues all along the way that Knox is nice enough to put together more cogently for us in the end which I appreciate, but which some might not.
I loved this book and I hope you might too but it's not going to be the right book for everyone and that's o.k.
Also, Cannie, the main character, is Pacific Islander and the brownness of her skin comes up a few times on the page, as does her feelings of belonging or lack-thereof specifically related to her heritage. I have literally no idea if this is authentic or good representation.
I thought I reviewed this yesterday but apparently not?
This book has a very long fuse, slowly showing us a world both familiar and unfamiliar. It's 1959 and Canny, our primary narrator, is a girl who loves math and misunderstands most people. She's hauled from the bedside of her best and only friend, who is in an iron lung, to a remote mining town with her stepbrother and his girlfriend who are researching there.
From here there's a valley tucked away and the "extras" that Canny sees, a sort of magic. Personally I enjoyed Canny and the building up of the setting and people so much that I didn't mind the slow burn of the opening so much but others might wish the book went a bit faster. In the end, several things are revealed that honestly made my brain melt a bit in their brilliance and the unexpected ways everything fit together(much like a moment at the end of Knox's Dreamquake when the origin of The Place was revealed.
This book is beautiful written in a way that makes you want to savor he words on your tongue but this means that won't build fast enough for some. It's clear that Knox has put a lot of thought into this world and there are clues all along the way that Knox is nice enough to put together more cogently for us in the end which I appreciate, but which some might not.
I loved this book and I hope you might too but it's not going to be the right book for everyone and that's o.k.
January 23, 2021
**I read this book for a 2020/21 library challenge, so it is not necessarily be my taste and I may be harsh because it's not my personal preference. Or it could be a total surprise and I ended up really enjoying it.
Rating: 2 stars
If you can't be bothered reading this whole review, (and I don't blame you) I'll save you the trouble and just say all I do is complain about the YA-ness of this book (if you are immature like me, say "YA-ness" aloud, as in the letters not the words they stand for, and you will get a good chuckle). But if you're sticking around, enjoy... I guess.
The magic system, while rather unique for the age range (from what I've read of it), isn't all that new to me. It kind of felt like a mesh of the magic in Elantris and actually ancient Egyptian mythology, as well as a bunch of movies. Basically, it has Special Alphabet and Special People say the Special Words. And of course the main character is Super Special and can walk in on these magic people at 16 and miraculously understand this. The words "you're a prodigy" were even mentioned once. (I'm holding the rant in. I can do it. Hold it in.)
Fortunately the romance doesn't start developing until about half way (though it begins weirdly, with the characters referring to each other as "the man" and "the girl" in their own respective thoughts), but when it does start, well I don't like to use the word cringey, but it's hella cringey.
The amount of cringe this elicits in me is astounding.
And the last chapter was just the biggest info dump I have ever read. The only reason I am not giving this one star is because the author is from NZ. Maybe over time this won't matter to me anymore and I will downgrade my rating.
Rating: 2 stars
If you can't be bothered reading this whole review, (and I don't blame you) I'll save you the trouble and just say all I do is complain about the YA-ness of this book (if you are immature like me, say "YA-ness" aloud, as in the letters not the words they stand for, and you will get a good chuckle). But if you're sticking around, enjoy... I guess.
The magic system, while rather unique for the age range (from what I've read of it), isn't all that new to me. It kind of felt like a mesh of the magic in Elantris and actually ancient Egyptian mythology, as well as a bunch of movies. Basically, it has Special Alphabet and Special People say the Special Words. And of course the main character is Super Special and can walk in on these magic people at 16 and miraculously understand this. The words "you're a prodigy" were even mentioned once. (I'm holding the rant in. I can do it. Hold it in.)
Fortunately the romance doesn't start developing until about half way (though it begins weirdly, with the characters referring to each other as "the man" and "the girl" in their own respective thoughts), but when it does start, well I don't like to use the word cringey, but it's hella cringey.
" 'Can't you see me?'
He squinted in her direction. 'I can't look at you. That's how it works.'
She put a tentative hand on his arm. 'Here I am.'
'There you are,' he said. Then, 'Don't go.' "
The amount of cringe this elicits in me is astounding.
And the last chapter was just the biggest info dump I have ever read. The only reason I am not giving this one star is because the author is from NZ. Maybe over time this won't matter to me anymore and I will downgrade my rating.
November 6, 2013
So tired. Stayed up all night reading. Why didn't anyone in my excellently well-read circle of Goodreads friends tell me about this awesome book?!? What a lucky accidental library find.
This compelling, contemporary-ish YA fantasy has all the whispering magic of Juliet Mariller's "Heart's Blood," refreshing New Zealand cultural elements of Karen Healey's "Guardian of the Dead," the spine-prickling subtlety of Margo Lanagan's "Sea Hearts", with the addition of an endearing, unique heroine whose adventures I never wanted to stop reading along with.
Impressively beautiful writing and characters I really cared about. Recommended!
(Sorry if review makes no sense. So tired. Couldn't stop reading.)
This compelling, contemporary-ish YA fantasy has all the whispering magic of Juliet Mariller's "Heart's Blood," refreshing New Zealand cultural elements of Karen Healey's "Guardian of the Dead," the spine-prickling subtlety of Margo Lanagan's "Sea Hearts", with the addition of an endearing, unique heroine whose adventures I never wanted to stop reading along with.
Impressively beautiful writing and characters I really cared about. Recommended!
(Sorry if review makes no sense. So tired. Couldn't stop reading.)
February 4, 2013
The author of DREAMHUNTER and DREAMQUAKE has created another mysterious fantasy set in New Zealand. Forget a need for logic and enter her realistic world which introduces unusual magic. The action builds until the reader is immersed in a magical hidden valley where the heroine strives to solve problems and discovers a first love.
October 24, 2013
I paid a hefty reading tax (aka library fine) for the pleasure of reading Elizabeth Knox’s Mortal Fire in my own good time. And I’ll tell you – I don’t mind the fine, because the extra time allowed me to find a day when my mind was clear, my stress levels low, and my imagination ready for a fantastical mystery unlike any I’d read before. Mortal Fire is a brilliant book, and certainly one of the best I have read this year.
Canny Mochrie is one person, but she’s got more layers of identity than anyone else her age. She’s a mathematical genius, the daughter of two (separately) famous people, the loyal friend of polio-stricken Marli, and the sister of poetic Sholto, the descendant of a Shackle Islander. And aside from all of that, there’s her Extra, a sort of ‘sense’ that may mean something, or may be an imagining – simply one more thing setting her apart in a way that does not bode well for her future. When she’s sent away for the summer and ends up exploring a strangely serene valley, bits of her past begin to reveal themselves, and Canny’s mysterious Extra may hold the key to breaking a curse.
When I finish a great book, I usually have some very definite thoughts about what made it so wonderful – well-written boxes ticked, favorite story tropes recreated, or a character I connected deeply with. When I finished Mortal Fire, I felt as though I had finally stepped into the center of a maze, but I didn’t know why I felt so relieved and awed. I couldn’t see the inner workings of the story – I could only tell that I had lived in a fantastic world for the duration.
The very mystery that made the story work, the history and the world-building – these are things I don’t want to spoil, so I won’t patter on any more about them. I will say that part of the richness of Knox’s writing is in describing Canny (and her experiences) superbly. Canny isn’t simply a preternaturally intelligent teenager – she has always been a loner, has missed or simply not cared to see social cues, and her logic and detachment necessarily distanced her from her peers. Canny’s summer away takes her from comfortable routine and ‘forces’ curiosity and observance. Now that I am several days removed from finishing Mortal Fire, I can identify Knox’s description of Canny’s puzzle-solving, exploration and pattern-finding as the ineffable thing that drew me into the magic of the story. It took waiting for a calm day, a different day, to find the mood that would let me into the story, but once there I was completely swept away.
I don’t feel that all of the above tells you very much about the book. Let me try again. Mortal Fire is an onion of a story, and you must peel its layers in the proper order. It’s also a mystery wrapped in mysteries: some historical, some magical, some genetic. It is a story that centers on a beautiful, pristine valley, a mining disaster, language and math, and an extraordinary legacy. It deals with ethnic and family identity, and all of its tiny details add up to beauty.
Recommended for: fans of fantasy (especially nuanced, multicultural fantasy), those who enjoy intricately-layered mysteries, and anyone swayed by the beautiful cover art – the book lives up to it!
Canny Mochrie is one person, but she’s got more layers of identity than anyone else her age. She’s a mathematical genius, the daughter of two (separately) famous people, the loyal friend of polio-stricken Marli, and the sister of poetic Sholto, the descendant of a Shackle Islander. And aside from all of that, there’s her Extra, a sort of ‘sense’ that may mean something, or may be an imagining – simply one more thing setting her apart in a way that does not bode well for her future. When she’s sent away for the summer and ends up exploring a strangely serene valley, bits of her past begin to reveal themselves, and Canny’s mysterious Extra may hold the key to breaking a curse.
When I finish a great book, I usually have some very definite thoughts about what made it so wonderful – well-written boxes ticked, favorite story tropes recreated, or a character I connected deeply with. When I finished Mortal Fire, I felt as though I had finally stepped into the center of a maze, but I didn’t know why I felt so relieved and awed. I couldn’t see the inner workings of the story – I could only tell that I had lived in a fantastic world for the duration.
The very mystery that made the story work, the history and the world-building – these are things I don’t want to spoil, so I won’t patter on any more about them. I will say that part of the richness of Knox’s writing is in describing Canny (and her experiences) superbly. Canny isn’t simply a preternaturally intelligent teenager – she has always been a loner, has missed or simply not cared to see social cues, and her logic and detachment necessarily distanced her from her peers. Canny’s summer away takes her from comfortable routine and ‘forces’ curiosity and observance. Now that I am several days removed from finishing Mortal Fire, I can identify Knox’s description of Canny’s puzzle-solving, exploration and pattern-finding as the ineffable thing that drew me into the magic of the story. It took waiting for a calm day, a different day, to find the mood that would let me into the story, but once there I was completely swept away.
I don’t feel that all of the above tells you very much about the book. Let me try again. Mortal Fire is an onion of a story, and you must peel its layers in the proper order. It’s also a mystery wrapped in mysteries: some historical, some magical, some genetic. It is a story that centers on a beautiful, pristine valley, a mining disaster, language and math, and an extraordinary legacy. It deals with ethnic and family identity, and all of its tiny details add up to beauty.
Recommended for: fans of fantasy (especially nuanced, multicultural fantasy), those who enjoy intricately-layered mysteries, and anyone swayed by the beautiful cover art – the book lives up to it!
December 29, 2013
Genre-wise, Mortal Fire isn't magical realism of the Jellicoe Road "You named yourself" sort. It doesn't have that kind of wonder. It doesn't fit the same not-quite-fantasy mold of Frances Hardinge, either - it doesn't have that playfulness. Nor does the novel belong in the non-historical fantasy niche of Attolia, because it is decidedly contemporary.
Instead, it's set in a slightly skewed, off-kilter but recognizable world, though one that's populated by ideas, not people. It's so deliberately constructed - and the characters don't grow as much as experience events and advance the plot - that the characters feel like chess pieces, and the author's hand, moving them, is always visible.
Mortal Fire contains a mishmash of many elements. It has a little of the Harry Potter "I saw myself" time fluidity, only less corporeal. It has a bit of King of Shadows's time or God or whomever you believe in. But mostly, the book reminded me of two novels I haven't read in close to a decade - Linnets and Valerians and The Secret Life of Bees. I assume that both associations owe something to the bees, but there's more to them, too: Mortal Fire has a little of the new-to-an-old-estate feel reminiscent of the former, as well as complicated family dynamics reminiscent of the latter. It also has a touch of the racial element in The Secret Life of Bees, though Mortal Fire is decidedly less subtle. (And I don't recall The Secret Life of Bees being particularly subtle.)
What's interesting about Mortal Fire is the way I seem to need to compare it to other works to break down how I feel about it. I think that's because I don't feel anything at all. Which is to say that a detached comparative approach works because I can't examine elements that evoked an emotional response. This is a very cerebral, contained work, one that does all its own feeling and thinking.
There's more to say - the writing is very good, the pacing is deliberately slow - and yet somehow that's not what comes to mind when I think of Mortal Fire. It's so contained, so detailed, so complete that the writing is just the tool used to animate the story, to bring it to the reader's attention. But it's almost as if the story exists separately from those mundane things writers need to consider.
I think Mortal Fire is a powerful work. A crowded, powerful work, with a masterful title, that I didn't really like.
Instead, it's set in a slightly skewed, off-kilter but recognizable world, though one that's populated by ideas, not people. It's so deliberately constructed - and the characters don't grow as much as experience events and advance the plot - that the characters feel like chess pieces, and the author's hand, moving them, is always visible.
Mortal Fire contains a mishmash of many elements. It has a little of the Harry Potter "I saw myself" time fluidity, only less corporeal. It has a bit of King of Shadows's time or God or whomever you believe in. But mostly, the book reminded me of two novels I haven't read in close to a decade - Linnets and Valerians and The Secret Life of Bees. I assume that both associations owe something to the bees, but there's more to them, too: Mortal Fire has a little of the new-to-an-old-estate feel reminiscent of the former, as well as complicated family dynamics reminiscent of the latter. It also has a touch of the racial element in The Secret Life of Bees, though Mortal Fire is decidedly less subtle. (And I don't recall The Secret Life of Bees being particularly subtle.)
What's interesting about Mortal Fire is the way I seem to need to compare it to other works to break down how I feel about it. I think that's because I don't feel anything at all. Which is to say that a detached comparative approach works because I can't examine elements that evoked an emotional response. This is a very cerebral, contained work, one that does all its own feeling and thinking.
There's more to say - the writing is very good, the pacing is deliberately slow - and yet somehow that's not what comes to mind when I think of Mortal Fire. It's so contained, so detailed, so complete that the writing is just the tool used to animate the story, to bring it to the reader's attention. But it's almost as if the story exists separately from those mundane things writers need to consider.
I think Mortal Fire is a powerful work. A crowded, powerful work, with a masterful title, that I didn't really like.
September 28, 2020
An astute, well-judged novel, about a young woman who is a Pacific Islander living in a magical version of New Zealand. Canny is a math genius, strong-minded and courageous, and dislocated from the world. When she, her stepbrother, and his girlfriend, travel to the rural Zarene Valley, she discovers a new side of herself. She's always seen 'Extra', patterns of symbols and numbers that no one else can see. In the Valley, she begins to discover what these symbols mean, and how that relates to who she is. The magical elements of the novel are imaginative and logical, and the story is fast-paced, hinging on believable characters and a beautiful, rural world. This is connected to Knox's Dreamhunter novels, but these are not required reading to follow this book: it is a rich, complex world, complete in itself, although the story leaves you wanting more. A delightful reread.
Review from 2016:
Really wonderful novel. Surprised me at every turn. I loved the main character: how difficult she is, how prickly, how resourceful. The magical elements are so well thought-out and fit into the world the author creates, which is based on New Zealand of the 1950s, but is not exactly the same. The plot is well-judged and keeps the reader guessing while also being completely satisfying and works within the internal logic of the story.
Review from 2016:
Really wonderful novel. Surprised me at every turn. I loved the main character: how difficult she is, how prickly, how resourceful. The magical elements are so well thought-out and fit into the world the author creates, which is based on New Zealand of the 1950s, but is not exactly the same. The plot is well-judged and keeps the reader guessing while also being completely satisfying and works within the internal logic of the story.
July 18, 2013
Mortal Fire is a delectable slow burn of a read. This is a book to sink into, slowly unwinding the secrets of Knox's alt-history Southland and its inhabitants through the setting's summery haze of unease.
Canny is a gem of a protagonist, and reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones' child protagonists - intelligent, inquisitive, and considerably more self-centred than more saccharine children's writers allow their characters to be.
Mortal Fire follows Knox's previous YA duet Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, but is not a direct sequel; it is set in the same world, but some decades later, and there is no overlap of characters. You don't need to read the previous books before Mortal Fire and, having enjoyed Mortal Fire far more than either Dreamhunter or Dreamquake, I would recommend diving straight in to this one.
Highly recommended, and I hope that Knox has more Southland tales up her sleeve.
Canny is a gem of a protagonist, and reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones' child protagonists - intelligent, inquisitive, and considerably more self-centred than more saccharine children's writers allow their characters to be.
Mortal Fire follows Knox's previous YA duet Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, but is not a direct sequel; it is set in the same world, but some decades later, and there is no overlap of characters. You don't need to read the previous books before Mortal Fire and, having enjoyed Mortal Fire far more than either Dreamhunter or Dreamquake, I would recommend diving straight in to this one.
Highly recommended, and I hope that Knox has more Southland tales up her sleeve.
December 25, 2013
Well, Ms Knox, this is an astonishing, marvellous book. The intelligence and imagination that permeated the Dreamhunter and Dreamquake books is in this one too.
The overly detailed description in Knox's adult books is pared back here so that it informs without becoming dull. The characters are vibrant and interesting with all the nuances required in good characters (dark and light, small spirited and grand, and ordinary), the plot was clear but twisted about like a well made, silvery wind chime, and the landscape was beautiful, rugged, treacherous, real.
What more could you want?
I can't wait for the sequel.
The overly detailed description in Knox's adult books is pared back here so that it informs without becoming dull. The characters are vibrant and interesting with all the nuances required in good characters (dark and light, small spirited and grand, and ordinary), the plot was clear but twisted about like a well made, silvery wind chime, and the landscape was beautiful, rugged, treacherous, real.
What more could you want?
I can't wait for the sequel.
February 18, 2019
I found this book astonishing in its inventiveness. Dust still settling after reading it - one of the those books that you process after the fact. I love the central character of Canny - so original and unlike a number of teenage female characters around which stuff happens. Canny makes the stuff happen. So heartening to see this.
June 15, 2013
Loved it. Dense and rich and brilliant. I want to go back and reread the Dreamhunter duet and then reread this one just to immerse myself more in the world.
Although it really really needed a map.
Although it really really needed a map.
June 6, 2013
DNF at page 235.
I am just too bored to continue with this. Nothing happens, no one is interesting, and the writing style just did not work for me.
I am just too bored to continue with this. Nothing happens, no one is interesting, and the writing style just did not work for me.
June 26, 2013
DAMN YOU, ELIZABETH KNOX!
June 23, 2013
Vivid writing with lots of fascinating ideas
August 6, 2013
This book.... Just this book. It was amazing to visit Southland again, at mid-century, and the story was so beautiful. Loved the characters, loved the story, loved Knox's writing. Magic and history, rolled into one.
I saw an interview or a blog post from Knox and she mentioned that her research took her to Springhill's mining disaster and the accounts of the rescue. I had that in mind as I was reading, and it definitely had the story resonating a little closer for me (my mom is from the next town over from Springhill).
I saw an interview or a blog post from Knox and she mentioned that her research took her to Springhill's mining disaster and the accounts of the rescue. I had that in mind as I was reading, and it definitely had the story resonating a little closer for me (my mom is from the next town over from Springhill).
January 11, 2014
The story is like the two rivers in the novel, lucent, deep and powerful, and full of deceptive twisty currents. It starts slowly, then goes on getting deeper and weightier.
The characters were a little hard to get a grasp on at first. Knox is all show don't tell. Then I just found myself laughing at them with affection (Sholto and Cyrus), or getting a kick out of their plans and schemes (Ghislain and Canny). But it is wrong to say 'and Canny' because she's the heart and main mover of the book. What a great character.
Well done Ms Knox
The characters were a little hard to get a grasp on at first. Knox is all show don't tell. Then I just found myself laughing at them with affection (Sholto and Cyrus), or getting a kick out of their plans and schemes (Ghislain and Canny). But it is wrong to say 'and Canny' because she's the heart and main mover of the book. What a great character.
Well done Ms Knox
July 14, 2013
Gorgeous. As weird or weirder than some of Elizabeth Knox's other book, and that's a very good thing. She makes you keep up as a reader. I don't always want to be held to this standard when I read, but when the language is this lovely and the characters this compelling it's the best. Knox can't go wrong for me. I hope for more books in the Dreamhunter world.
June 11, 2013
I was intrigued from chapter one and have just loved immersing myself in the world Elizabeth Knox has created. Had no idea where it was going so was on a hurry to get there. Am sad to have finished it and expect I will read it many more times.
February 2, 2013
WOW. Just read the galley. WOW.
July 22, 2013
I'm going to write my review for this a bit later (when I shouldn't be working), but I loved it. I wish I could give it 6 stars.
June 24, 2013
Elizabeth Knox's books are always top-notch. MORTAL FIRE is no exception. Gorgeous prose and devious plot twists.
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