Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks (read 8/30/19 to 9/3/19)

I got this book as an advanced reader copy from LibraryThing. I won this in December of 2018, and I admit it got lost in the shuffle of life.

GoodReads Description: “The martial Sainnites have occupied Shaftal for fifteen years but every year the cost of resistance rises. Emil, a scholar officer, Zanja, the last survivor of her people, and Karis, a metalsmith, half-blood giant, and an addict … together, perhaps they can change history.”

When I looked this book up on GoodReads I was confused because it showed that it was published in 2002, yet my copy said Advanced Reader Copy January 2019. And when you google it, it says it is being published in June 2019...very confusing.

I had a hard time with this book. I felt like the writing was masterful, Marks has created a complex and beautiful world. But, I also felt like I was coming into the middle of a story. She creates this world but then doesn’t adequately explain it to us the reader. The first few chapters I felt very lost, I wanted to understand the social structure of the characters but there just was not enough information and I wasn’t sure how things fit together.

There is a lot of comments on other reviews about how great the protagonist is a powerful woman of color. The fact that she is a woman of character was immaterial to me, what I liked about her was she was put in a position for her tribe that laid an unimaginable amount of responsibility on her shoulders at a young age. Zanja did the beat she could to help her tribe, she faces horrific loss and still she never gave up. She had her doubts about her abilities as anyone would, but she never shirked her duty to her people despite the cost to herself. Zanja is a beautifully written character that is relatable to all of us.