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Drinker of Souls: Wild Magic #2
Wildfire
Separated from the only home she has ever known, Faan embarks on a daring search to locate her true mother, a powerful sorceress trapped in a magic sleep. Original.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
74 people want to read
About the author
Jo Clayton
71 books66 followersJo Clayton, whose parents named her after Jo in Little Women, was born and raised in Modesto, California. She and her three sisters shared a room and took turns telling each other bedtime stories. One of her sisters noted that Jo's stories were the best, and often contained science fiction and fantasy elements.
Clayton graduated from the University of California in 1963, Summa Cum Laude, and started teaching near Los Angeles.
In 1969, after a religious experience, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, joining the teaching order Sisters of Mount Carmel as a novice. She left three years later, before taking final orders.
During her time in New Orleans, Clayton sold sketches and paintings in Pioneer Square to supplement her income.
After being robbed several times, Clayton moved to Portland, Oregon in 1983. She remained there for the rest of her life.
Clayton was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996. Jo continued to write during her year and a half in the hospital. She finished Drum Calls, the second book of the Drums of Chaos series, and was halfway through the third and final book when she lost her struggle with multiple myeloma in February, 1998.
Literary executor Katherine Kerr made arrangements with established author Kevin Andrew Murphy to finish the third book of the Drums of Chaos series. It is now completed.
Clayton graduated from the University of California in 1963, Summa Cum Laude, and started teaching near Los Angeles.
In 1969, after a religious experience, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, joining the teaching order Sisters of Mount Carmel as a novice. She left three years later, before taking final orders.
During her time in New Orleans, Clayton sold sketches and paintings in Pioneer Square to supplement her income.
After being robbed several times, Clayton moved to Portland, Oregon in 1983. She remained there for the rest of her life.
Clayton was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996. Jo continued to write during her year and a half in the hospital. She finished Drum Calls, the second book of the Drums of Chaos series, and was halfway through the third and final book when she lost her struggle with multiple myeloma in February, 1998.
Literary executor Katherine Kerr made arrangements with established author Kevin Andrew Murphy to finish the third book of the Drums of Chaos series. It is now completed.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 25, 2017
This is the second episode of Faan's story, as she searches for her mother, control of her powers, and her own agency separate from the gods that toy with her. It suffers from a problem common to many a Book 2 of an old school fantasy trilogy: it's the middle, and nothing much gets resolved.
Indeed, as with the first book, Wildfire is a product of its time. The reader is plunged into the world with many unfamiliar words and customs and left to find her own way ... much as Faan herself is. There's much rich worldbuilding and some things that aren't quite explained well enough, but it feels like a very real, complex and lived-in place.
Faan has immense powers, but they are handled perfectly: she's a flawed adolescent struggling to make sense of it (without teen angst, mind), and it's as much a curse as a blessing. This is an example of book where being a Chosen One really works, and it feels vital and alive even to a modern reader.
The main problem with Wildfire is that much of the book is taken up with the city-wide conspiracy which tumbles Faan and her new fate-tangled acquaintances into trouble. This would be fine if they were involved in the continuance and untangling of the plot, but instead, the two storylines diverge. I never felt as if I was given any reason to care about the succession struggle going on in the city. I wasn't bored by it, but I wasn't invested in it, either.
That said, there are some great snapshot character portrayals, and the plot thread involving Navarre and his significant other, Kitya, has some really interesting elements. I'm curious to finish the series and see how it all ties up.
Indeed, as with the first book, Wildfire is a product of its time. The reader is plunged into the world with many unfamiliar words and customs and left to find her own way ... much as Faan herself is. There's much rich worldbuilding and some things that aren't quite explained well enough, but it feels like a very real, complex and lived-in place.
Faan has immense powers, but they are handled perfectly: she's a flawed adolescent struggling to make sense of it (without teen angst, mind), and it's as much a curse as a blessing. This is an example of book where being a Chosen One really works, and it feels vital and alive even to a modern reader.
The main problem with Wildfire is that much of the book is taken up with the city-wide conspiracy which tumbles Faan and her new fate-tangled acquaintances into trouble. This would be fine if they were involved in the continuance and untangling of the plot, but instead, the two storylines diverge. I never felt as if I was given any reason to care about the succession struggle going on in the city. I wasn't bored by it, but I wasn't invested in it, either.
That said, there are some great snapshot character portrayals, and the plot thread involving Navarre and his significant other, Kitya, has some really interesting elements. I'm curious to finish the series and see how it all ties up.
May 3, 2022
Wildfire by Jo Clayton – I own books one and three, but I had to check this one out from a library to finish the series. Cool world building! Happy Reading!
June 28, 2008
I tried reading this one when I was a kid and just did not understand it AT ALL. I understood it so little I can't even really say what it was about, except that some powerful woman mage loses her baby daughter, who then turns up almost in another world where a gender-ambiguous person adopts and raises her. The girl has some powers that become more and more troublesome as she grows and after (I could be misremembering something) something bad happens, she has to leave and find instruction. Something like that. Maybe if I tried reading it now I'd love it and understand it without a problem, but when I was younger, it was totally impenetrable.
March 30, 2016
Wildfire (Drinker of Souls: Wild Magic, #2)
Clayton, Jo
learning to control the power with in
Clayton, Jo
learning to control the power with in
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews