Liviania’s review of The Fire King (Dirk & Steele, Book 10) by Marjorie M. Liu
Paranormal romance released by Leisure Books 28 July 09
Marjorie M. Liu has written a large number of books in the Dirk & Steele series. The Fire King is my second, and just as satisfying as the first one I read. Liu is very good at explaining the essentials and moving on so that you do not feel lost despite the fact she’s written so much in this world. The Fire King does get surprisingly dark for a romance, as there is discussion of genocide.
I’ve got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about rape in books, particularly UF. It’s becoming a generic angsty moment, and only a few authors handle the psychological ramifications well. (For the majority, this TV Tropes article is apt.) That’s part of why I found Soria interesting. She’s got a tragic past that left her with only one arm. Liu went for something other than the obvious, which I appreciate. Soria did seem a little too tough to be real at points, but I still liked her because Liu was doing something different. Soria also has a cool power: she can understand any language.
It comes in handy when the Dirk & Steele agency comes into contact with Karr, a man who only speaks a long dead language. It turns out he’s a Chimera, created by two different types of shape-shifters having a child. The normal shape-shifters have attempted to hunt the Chimeras to extinction and to make interspecies romance taboo. It would be standard to have the Chimeras be deeply wronged by their enemies. Instead, Liu allows them to have a point. The Chimeras do eventually go insane and then go on a killing rampage. It doesn’t mean that the Chimeras deserve to die, but it does make the situation somewhat more complex.
Soria and Karr are also backed by an interesting cast. It makes me wonder who has shown up in past novels and who will show up in future ones. Some, like the grad student doing field work, I suspect are one-offs. Others, like Soria’s Tarantino-esque bodyguards, I hope are or will be in other books. As for the plot, it was okay. The adventure parts, with Soria and Karr running from the shape-shifters, were exciting. Why Karr was still alive after 3000 years and all was pretty much an info dump. Liu didn’t reinvent the wheel with the plot, but it was fun enough.
I enjoyed The Fire King, although my previous exposure to Dirk & Steel (The Wild Road) was better. Liu’s writing itself is entertaining. Her prose flows well and describes things rather nicely. Soria and Karr weren’t the most empathetic leads, but I still liked them since they were something different. (Okay, Soria more than Karr. A hero who will probably go crazy has been done in UF and paranormal romance.) Add in a globe-trotting setting (Mongolia), humorous and ambiguously villainous secondary characters, and chase scenes and you’ve got a summer blockbuster.
In other words, Liu gave me something that I could think about but didn’t really demand it and kept me happy for an hour or two. Though The Fire King probably won’t top my list of the year’s paranormals, I think it’s a worthwhile read and not just one of the carbon copies that it’s getting harder and harder to avoid.
Grade: B
Summary:
Long ago, shape-shifters were plentiful, soaring through the sky as crows, racing across African veldts as cheetahs, raging furious as dragons atop the Himalayas. Like gods, they reigned supreme. But even gods have laws, and those laws, when broken, destroy.Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. Three words in three very different languages, and yet Soria understands. Like all members of Dirk & Steele, she has a gift, and hers is communication. When she is chosen to learn the dead language of a shape-shifter resurrected after thousands of years of icy sleep, she discovers a warrior consumed with fury.
Strong as a lion, quick as a serpent–Karr is his name, and in his day he was king. But he is a son of strife, a creature of tragedy. As fire consumed all he loved, so death was to be his atonement. Now, against his will, he has awoken. Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. In English, the word is despair. But Soria knows the words for love.
Read an excerpt here.
