The Fire's Stone

Tanya Huff

1990 • 287 pages

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It was a long fall from Clan Heir to common thief, but Aaron never wanted any part of his father’s brutal outlander reign. In fact, besides coin purses and jewels, there’s very little in all of Cisali that interests Aaron, until he stumbles—quite literally—into a prince’s bedchamber... Prince Davish of Ischia is a skilled swordsman both on the field and beneath the sheets, at least when he isn’t outrageously drunk. But the wine helps him forget all the ways he’s disappointed his father, his family, and soon enough, his young bride-to-be... A trained Wizard of the Nine with more raw talent than real-world experience, Princess Chandra has no interest in the politically arranged marriage. She flees to the royal city of Ischia seeking a way out of the union. But there, she discovers something far more shocking than Prince Davish’s rakish reputation... The Stone of Ischia has been stolen. A powerful talisman, The Stone protects the city from the active volcano that looms over its terraces and streets. Without it, Ischia will be destroyed and the kingdom of Cisali will fall. Its only hope is an unlikely band of heroes—a failed thief, a drunken prince, and a runaway wizard—who must face pirates, powerful magic, and their own carefully guarded secrets in order to find and restore the Stone of Ischia. REVIEWS “The delightful camarderie of three unlikely heroes and well controlled fantasy elements make Huff's adventure great fun to read.” —Publishers Weekly “Huff arranges the ordinary elements of fantasy into an extraordinary tale of adventure and transformation.” —Library Journal “An exciting adventure ... they face pirates, storms, traitors ... each has unique talents that can bring their mission to a successful conclusion, each has weakness that could destroy themselves and a city of people.” —Voya

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Ash

Rating: 3½

Tanya Huff's 1990 fantasy novel is a fairly quick read with an interesting cast of characters and a soft magic system.

The Worldbuilding
Perhaps this is a kindle problem, but I would have liked to have a map of the world to visually situate the different countries. Also, many of the elements about this world were glossed over or mentioned briefly which, to me, showed that the world wasn't fully fleshed out. However, the details that were present were interesting and piqued my curiosity about this world.

The same comment can be applied to the magic system in the novel. The Wizards of the Nine are definitely an interesting group of people, but very little is said about who they are, how they got their powers, how they trained, etc. We know from the descriptions that there are different classes of wizards, from 1 to 9, but we only ever get to hear about 4, 7, and 9. I would have liked to learn about the other classes as well, and I think it would have made for a much more convincing world.

The Characters
The main trio was pretty interesting, especially Darvish, but I did have issues with all three, such as the emphasis placed on each's weak point. Aaron's constant “walling up,” Darvish's fight with alcohol, and Chandra's insufferable repetition of “I'm a Wizard of the Nine” rhetoric took its toll on me as the story progressed. I feel that a lot of time was spent repeating the same information, such as Aaron's trauma regarding his cousin, and it took forever for the three of them to actually talk to one another (around the 80% mark... that's way too long). Still, I enjoyed reading about their budding relationships to one another.

As for the other characters, Shahin seemed to have the most potential to shine as a cool character, but he had very little “screen time” and little was said about him. His wife, Yasimina, is only ever mentioned by other characters and never appears in the story. I found that rather disappointing and unfortunate as she seemed to be an interesting woman.

The Plot
The story progressed nicely, although there seemed to be a disconnect between the very beginning of the story and the turning point when the stone is stolen. The end felt rushed and anti-climatic, especially the “fight” with the evil wizard. Up until that point, Aaron's skills had been central to the success of their mission, but then they go and just walk into the fight unprepared and out in the open, and somehow survive.

The final enemy, Palaton, was rather weak compared to the other evils the heroes had faced on their journey, which was disappointing as he was supposed to be the archnemesis of the whole kingdom. In any case, despite the lacklustre finale, the story was pretty consistent and interesting throughout the novel.

Final Thoughts
Even though there were problems here and there, I still very much enjoyed the story and read the whole thing in the span of a few hours. The adventure was fun to follow, the world and magic system were interesting, and the characters were endearing in their own quirky ways. When I saw that this was an m/m fantasy, I was excited to read it and see where it would go and, for the time it was written in, I'm guessing it was pretty gutsy. Still, it would have been nice to have an official relationship by the end of the novel, but alas. It's still a HEA ending, but it feels a bit like a cop out for Aaron at the end.

Overall, this was a fun read, and I'm happy I found this book. I'm not sure I'll be rereading it, but I'm glad I did at least once.