This is set in the same world as the [b:Dreamhunter|357091|Dreamhunter (The Dreamhunter Duet, #1)|Elizabeth Knox|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1441659311s/357091.jpg|3017563] duet (a New Zealand analogy, this time bringing in the pre-colonial peoples), but considerably later. It shares in the joys of Knox's style - simultaneously lush and razor-sharp, and very, very smart (not just clever, but common-sense-and-real-world smart). There's a darker edge to this (where Dreamhunter was Edwardian froth hiding scalpel-sharp truths) that manifested for me as a strong and looming sense of uneasiness, like stormclouds building and building until things broke and revealed all their twisted-together terriblenesses.

Thoroughly enjoyable, full of thought-provocation, deft and lingering. ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2015/03/201503-mortal-fire-elizabeth-knox.html ( )

IN the past year or so I have been reading more and more of what is labeled YA or Junior fiction. The reason for this is that I find some of it is quite good. I have never been a fan of labels, and I am not a fan of labeling books to target specific age groups, either. But I digress.

Mortal Fire Hardcover by Elizabeth Knox certainly sounded like it had potential, and lets face it any book does. Any book can be something wonderful. Or not. I'm afraid that I found the many named Canny Mochrie and company were dull. I admit, that there was some story there, but it seemed to me that much of it was hiddun in, under and behind other things. Much like the way that Canny's mind seemed to work.

So it is a story of needing to know who (or what, in fact) you are. I get that. Everyone has that need. And if you are something that is either not, or something that is more than human, when that comes up on your adar, it must be even more of a compulsion. Curiosity is a good thing, especially in the young. So I give you this need to know and the compulsion to follow what appeared to be signs leading her to her answers .

Here's the thing. I didn't like her. I didn't feel any warmth toward Canny, or Sholto or Cyrus or even Marli. I know that I should have at least felt some sympathy for Marli, and liked her a little. But, no. Sorry Marli. And Sisema? Yikes no. Mean, distant and self centered. No. There was just nothing there to draw me into the story.

I didn't like it. I'm sure that there are many who will and to them, a hit tip. That's what reading is all about. We cant all like the same things. ( )

I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. This is a hard book to review for me. There were some parts of the book I really enjoyed and other parts that I found to be boring and confusing. This book was an inconsistent read. Some parts were rambling and boring, while other portions were very intriguing and engaging. I almost stopped reading it multiple times and am still uncertain as to whether I enjoyed it or not.

The story is set in an alternate New Zealand in the late 1950’s. It follows the story of Canny. Canny is a teenager whose mathematical genius defines her, however she has a lot of trouble getting along with others. When her brother and his fiance decide to travel to a small town for the summer, Canny is sent along to accompany them. While Canny’s brother tries to dig up historical accounts of a tragic mining accident that happened many years ago, Canny explores the Valley. Things are strange in the Valley, for example there is a house that no one but Canny can see. In the valley Canny meets the Zarene family who practice a strange sort of magic. When Canny finds that she too can perform the magic, she is drawn into a story of dark secrets and determined to unravel the mystery of this strange house.

As I said this is a tough book for me to review. Some chapters I found boring and confusing and some were incredibly engaging. At points in the book the dialogue and language between characters is very awkward. There were a number of points in the book I had to reread a passage a few times before I could figure out what the author was trying to say. Some of the dialogue is so awkward that I ended up thinking maybe Know did it that way on purpose; but it was awkward in an inconsistent way (not with just one character, but sporadically throughout the book). It was almost like parts of the book were written by different people.

Canny is an interesting character but hard to engage with. She is a genius of sorts, and has a lot of trouble interacting with others. She breaks even the most basic things (locations, colors, poems) into a mathematical way of thinking. This results in her being lonely and curious, but her lack of emotional engagement with the world makes her hard to like. When she does show emotion it comes off as distant and stiff.

The most interesting character in the book is the young man Canny meets in the strange house, Ghislain. He has a mysterious past and is an intriguing character. Throughout the book his interactions with Canny come off as a bit dreamlike, awkward, and disjointed. Still I was intrigued by his mystery and why he was trapped in that house.

Canny and Ghislain have a romance of sorts, but that also came off as a bit awkward for me. They didn’t have much chemistry together and the “romance” comes off as a bit creepy at times.

I did enjoy how this world in the Valley was both part of and removed from our world. I enjoyed the magic system of runes. I also enjoyed the somewhat peaceful and dreamline quality to the writing. The book wraps up fairly well too.

Overall this was a mixed read for me. I enjoyed the magic and Canny’s genius. I enjoyed the mystery behind Zarene Valley and behind the character of Ghislain. I also enjoyed the interesting asides into mining and the mining disasters. However the writing was awkward and alternated between engaging, confusing, and boring. It was just very inconsistent. The conversations between characters felt forced and awkward. The romance between Canny and Ghislain is sudden and a bit creepy. The pacing of the story is also a bit off; parts are incredibly engaging and parts are wandering and boring.

Honestly I can’t really recommend this as a good fantasy read. If you really have your heart set on reading this I would recommend reading the first chapter of the book...it’s one of the most awkward parts of the book...if you can get through that and enjoy it then you will probably enjoy the rest of the book. If that chapter bothers you, then the rest of the book will most likely bother you as well. ( )