Rebel Fire by Ann Sei Lin
Nov. 7th, 2023 11:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Can one girl succeed against the force of an empire?
Kurara and her shipmates have escaped the clutches of the princess and set a course for the Grand Stream. There they hope to find the most powerful shikigami of all: a legendary paper phoenix. It may hold the key to releasing shikigami from their eternal bonds for good - if they can reach it before the imperial powers do.
It is shortly after REBEL SKIES.
Kurara, Haru, Tomoe and Sayo are walking to Nessai Harbour where they plan to take an airship to the Grand Stream in an attempt to meet up with their crew mates on the Orihime who plan to destroy the giant shikigami Suzaku (a phoenix whose presence in the Grand Stream makes it difficult for ships to navigate and who therefore carries a large bounty from the Empire).
Kurara is very uncomfortable with the idea of assisting in the death of a fellow shikigami and is still convinced that there must be some way of freeing shikigami from their need to bond with a human without leaving them insane. She’s also sure that Haru knows more about how this may be possible than he’s letting on and is worried that their relationship is no longer what it once was. As the quartet make their way through the forest, they meet an ancient bear shikigami called Banri who tells them of a Crafter called Oda and a ruined Crafter village called Kazami where Kurara may find the answers she’s looking for.
But Princess Tsukimi is hot on their heels, determined to capture Kurara and Haru (who she has already bonded to her Crafter Fujiwa) and force both into her service. And then there is Himura, who is struggling to process his emotions after his shikigami Akane’s sacrificed itself securing one of Princess Tsukami’s books for him and also questioning everything he thought he knew about the role of Crafters and shikigami in society. When Tomoe’s father, Kazeno Rei stows away on the Orihime, Himura volunteers to take him to the coastal city of Zeka where he encounters a snake shikigami who offers to take him to its master, a noted Crafter called the Grave-keeper who wants a student to teach in the ways of the Crafters …
The second in Ann Sei Lin’s YA fantasy trilogy delves into the mythology of Lin’s world, especially the backstory for Kurara and Haru and includes some heart breaking scenes as Lin also explores the bond between shikigami and Crafter and what it really means. However Tomoe and Sayo are very much bit players here and while I enjoyed the character development for Himura, Tsukimi remains too broadly painted to be a credible antagonist.
I picked this up because I enjoyed REBEL SKIES, which was chock full of ideas and story while combining Japanese culture and mythology with a steam punk vibe that is absolutely my kind of jam so was excited to see where Lin took Kurara and Haru next.
What I really enjoyed about this book was that Lin takes more time to explore the mythology of her fantasy world here. Kurara gets some of the answers to her own backstory and the way that Lin draws this out while also creating tension between Kurara and Haru is very well done - especially their differences in opinion over whether the shikigami should be bonded to Crafters or not. At the same time, we learn how the shikigami came into being (and it is genuinely chilling) while there are some heart-breaking scenes (including one with Banri, which really upset me) where Lin shows what can happen to shikigami who go fully insane.
One of my nitpicks about REBEL SKIES was that I wanted the story to have more room to breathe. That is not an issue with REBEL FIRE where the backstory integration is fully integrated into the main plot and although that main plot does move more slowly than in REBEL SKIES I thought that it works a lot better because it leaves more room for character development. This works particularly well with Himura’s storyline. I enjoyed the way Lin depicts the guilt he feels both at what happened to Akane but also at having left behind Kurara, Tomoe and Sayo and also how his journey with Mana (a snake shikigami) gives him a way of redeeming himself.
My main problem with this book is that Tomoe and Sayo are very much sidelined in this book - as is Tomoe’s father Kazeno Rei. There is much more of a sense of them being pieces moved into place for the trilogy’s conclusion and I think that’s a shame. As I said in my review of REBEL SKIES, I would happily have that and this book as both being double the length they are now to more fully explore the side characters and their relationships because I think it would bring so many more levels to the overall story.
Also problematic is that while there is more background on Princess Tsukimi and her reasons for wanting to control shikigami, I still find her slightly too cartoonish in her evil and her relationship with her Crafters. There are more scenes between her and her brother Prince Ugetsu here but not enough to broaden either of them out and I think that’s a shame because it’s a chance to have brought more depth to both the Princess and the overall world building.
My criticisms aside, I did find this to be a real page turner and the way Lin ends it with the set up for the concluding book means that I definitely want to check it out.
The Verdict:
The second in Ann Sei Lin’s YA fantasy trilogy delves into the mythology of Lin’s world, especially the backstory for Kurara and Haru and includes some heart breaking scenes as Lin also explores the bond between shikigami and Crafter and what it really means. However Tomoe and Sayo are very much bit players here and while I enjoyed the character development for Himura, Tsukimi remains too broadly painted to be a credible antagonist.
REBEL FIRE was released in the United Kingdom on 6th July 2023. Thanks to Walker Books for the review copy of this book.
Kurara and her shipmates have escaped the clutches of the princess and set a course for the Grand Stream. There they hope to find the most powerful shikigami of all: a legendary paper phoenix. It may hold the key to releasing shikigami from their eternal bonds for good - if they can reach it before the imperial powers do.
It is shortly after REBEL SKIES.
Kurara, Haru, Tomoe and Sayo are walking to Nessai Harbour where they plan to take an airship to the Grand Stream in an attempt to meet up with their crew mates on the Orihime who plan to destroy the giant shikigami Suzaku (a phoenix whose presence in the Grand Stream makes it difficult for ships to navigate and who therefore carries a large bounty from the Empire).
Kurara is very uncomfortable with the idea of assisting in the death of a fellow shikigami and is still convinced that there must be some way of freeing shikigami from their need to bond with a human without leaving them insane. She’s also sure that Haru knows more about how this may be possible than he’s letting on and is worried that their relationship is no longer what it once was. As the quartet make their way through the forest, they meet an ancient bear shikigami called Banri who tells them of a Crafter called Oda and a ruined Crafter village called Kazami where Kurara may find the answers she’s looking for.
But Princess Tsukimi is hot on their heels, determined to capture Kurara and Haru (who she has already bonded to her Crafter Fujiwa) and force both into her service. And then there is Himura, who is struggling to process his emotions after his shikigami Akane’s sacrificed itself securing one of Princess Tsukami’s books for him and also questioning everything he thought he knew about the role of Crafters and shikigami in society. When Tomoe’s father, Kazeno Rei stows away on the Orihime, Himura volunteers to take him to the coastal city of Zeka where he encounters a snake shikigami who offers to take him to its master, a noted Crafter called the Grave-keeper who wants a student to teach in the ways of the Crafters …
The second in Ann Sei Lin’s YA fantasy trilogy delves into the mythology of Lin’s world, especially the backstory for Kurara and Haru and includes some heart breaking scenes as Lin also explores the bond between shikigami and Crafter and what it really means. However Tomoe and Sayo are very much bit players here and while I enjoyed the character development for Himura, Tsukimi remains too broadly painted to be a credible antagonist.
I picked this up because I enjoyed REBEL SKIES, which was chock full of ideas and story while combining Japanese culture and mythology with a steam punk vibe that is absolutely my kind of jam so was excited to see where Lin took Kurara and Haru next.
What I really enjoyed about this book was that Lin takes more time to explore the mythology of her fantasy world here. Kurara gets some of the answers to her own backstory and the way that Lin draws this out while also creating tension between Kurara and Haru is very well done - especially their differences in opinion over whether the shikigami should be bonded to Crafters or not. At the same time, we learn how the shikigami came into being (and it is genuinely chilling) while there are some heart-breaking scenes (including one with Banri, which really upset me) where Lin shows what can happen to shikigami who go fully insane.
One of my nitpicks about REBEL SKIES was that I wanted the story to have more room to breathe. That is not an issue with REBEL FIRE where the backstory integration is fully integrated into the main plot and although that main plot does move more slowly than in REBEL SKIES I thought that it works a lot better because it leaves more room for character development. This works particularly well with Himura’s storyline. I enjoyed the way Lin depicts the guilt he feels both at what happened to Akane but also at having left behind Kurara, Tomoe and Sayo and also how his journey with Mana (a snake shikigami) gives him a way of redeeming himself.
My main problem with this book is that Tomoe and Sayo are very much sidelined in this book - as is Tomoe’s father Kazeno Rei. There is much more of a sense of them being pieces moved into place for the trilogy’s conclusion and I think that’s a shame. As I said in my review of REBEL SKIES, I would happily have that and this book as both being double the length they are now to more fully explore the side characters and their relationships because I think it would bring so many more levels to the overall story.
Also problematic is that while there is more background on Princess Tsukimi and her reasons for wanting to control shikigami, I still find her slightly too cartoonish in her evil and her relationship with her Crafters. There are more scenes between her and her brother Prince Ugetsu here but not enough to broaden either of them out and I think that’s a shame because it’s a chance to have brought more depth to both the Princess and the overall world building.
My criticisms aside, I did find this to be a real page turner and the way Lin ends it with the set up for the concluding book means that I definitely want to check it out.
The Verdict:
The second in Ann Sei Lin’s YA fantasy trilogy delves into the mythology of Lin’s world, especially the backstory for Kurara and Haru and includes some heart breaking scenes as Lin also explores the bond between shikigami and Crafter and what it really means. However Tomoe and Sayo are very much bit players here and while I enjoyed the character development for Himura, Tsukimi remains too broadly painted to be a credible antagonist.
REBEL FIRE was released in the United Kingdom on 6th July 2023. Thanks to Walker Books for the review copy of this book.
