TEST
I can’t approach this book as a member of the target audience, but I can use my imagination and decide if I would recommend it to a kid sister. In a word: No.
Elsha is one of the Quelled who have been enslaved by the Chosen to mine firestones, the sole source of heat in their world. The Quelled (’cause they’ve been quelled, geddit?) do not look at the Chosen, do not speak to the Chosen unless spoken to, and do not even demonstrate that they are any more than lumbering collections of muscle. But Elsha dreams of a day when the Quelled will rise up and claim their rightful place alongside the Chosen. One day, her chance comes to escape the mines, and she takes it with arms wide open.
Chance comes in the shape of the Firelord, a semi-deified magician who roams the lands divining firestone mining sites for the Chosen. See, Mr. Firelord has dreamed that his next handmaiden will be Elsha, although he didn’t dream she’d be Quelled, and Elsha runs away to help him in his divining and take care of his needs (all innocent, I promise). Along the way she encounters tons of prejudice from the Chosen, but never falters in her desire to change her world.
And, holy cow, does she ever. Now, I know this is young adult fiction, but that need not be synonymous with simplicity; yet dire simplicity is what we get. Elsha’s tactics can only be described as aggressively naive, and the amount of success she achieves with them is not even remotely realistic. This is a world where Manichean symbolism reigns supreme and it is mega-boring. The sky was gray, and now it’s blue! Chosen are Bad! Quelled are Good! The passages where Elsha debates social injustice almost parody biblical parables in which Jesus corrects some wayward thinker’s philosophy and they come around to his path of righteousness – but Elsha is not Jesus.
It doesn’t help that Elsha is rather stupid. She and the other characters confuse her recklessness with spirit and her idiot rebelliousness with righteous revolution. Mind you, their society certainly needs re-hauling, but I don’t believe for a minute that this girl has the brains to carry it through. (She does have the guts, but that goes back to her dumbo tendencies.) And I count no less than four men who tumble into love with our divine teenage goddess, and oh, yucko, to watch them fall over her. I was expecting fantasy, but not to this extent.
Ms. Jordan would have done better to expand this into a 600-page epic. There is good material here, with an interesting, if not wholly original, world and a solid cast of characters with much potential (and that includes Elsha). But there is little character development and many significant events are skimmed over. Overall, it reads like the author’s eyes, and vision, were bigger than the book.
I bought Winter of Fire at a garage sale partially because the author is from New Zealand but mainly hoping for a decent change of pace, but I can’t recommend it to anyone, adult or youth, who prefers more depth to their stories – not when the book is painfully, grotesquely obvious in its execution. And certainly not when the heroine manages miracles that rival those of Jesus.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Young Adult
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 01/10/09
Publication Date: 1992
I live in Seattle, Washington and work as a legal assistant. I remember learning to read (comic strips) at a young age and nowadays try to read about 5-6 books a week. I love to travel, especially to Europe, and enjoy exploring smaller towns off the tourist track though London is my favorite city in the world.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.