 | I enjoyed Fire Logic enough to read the second novel in the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks, Earth Logic. In this complex story, a mysterious plague haunts the land. Karis and her allies set out to provide healing. Meanwhile, a (false) prophet plots to destroy the occupying Sainnite army. When he and his followers attack the main garrison, the Sainnite lieutenant-general Clement responds by kidnapping local children, initiating a series of catastrophes. |
Although Karis drives the novel’s second half, we are rarely in her point of view. Instead, we follow her wife Zanja--who spends much of the novel in a dissociated state.
An exiled cook provides the “naive outsider” point of view, letting the reader learn with him.
The third POV character, and the one who undergoes the largest arc of transformation, is the Sainnite soldier Clement. Just as Zanja was the heart of the first novel, Clement anchors this story.
Despite reading the first novel where all the major players were introduced, it was hard to keep track of the extensive cast of characters--especially in the beginning when the reader is thrown into Zanja’s chaotic extended family. I kept wishing the author could’ve told her tale with fewer story-people. Also, the pace was slow in the first half of the novel, though gained traction as the story progressed.
Aside from these quibbles, the elemental magic remained fascinating and the ending wonderfully cathartic. This author knows how to nail a story resolution.
An exiled cook provides the “naive outsider” point of view, letting the reader learn with him.
The third POV character, and the one who undergoes the largest arc of transformation, is the Sainnite soldier Clement. Just as Zanja was the heart of the first novel, Clement anchors this story.
Despite reading the first novel where all the major players were introduced, it was hard to keep track of the extensive cast of characters--especially in the beginning when the reader is thrown into Zanja’s chaotic extended family. I kept wishing the author could’ve told her tale with fewer story-people. Also, the pace was slow in the first half of the novel, though gained traction as the story progressed.
Aside from these quibbles, the elemental magic remained fascinating and the ending wonderfully cathartic. This author knows how to nail a story resolution.
Other books in the series: Fire Logic and Water Logic
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