Fire Logic - Elemental Logic

Synopsis:
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.Praise for the Elemental Logic series: A deftly painted story of both cultures and magics in conflict.” Robin Hobb A work filled with an intelligence that zings off the page.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)Laurie J. Marks’s first two Elemental Logic novels both won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award. The final novel, Air Logic, is forthcoming.

Review:

In the wake of the successful movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, bookstores have been flooded with new high fantasy. Much of it is derivative and badly written; some is well written and singular. Among the rare and glorious successes is Laurie J. Marks's Fire Logic, an original, skillfully written, powerfully imagined novel of war and intrigue, a high fantasy that owes little to Tolkien's trilogy, though both are intelligent, adult works that may also be enjoyed by younger readers. In the world of Fire Logic, the rare individuals born with magic talent are known as elementals, because they possess the power of fire, earth, air, or water. The fire elemental Emil is a Paladin, a Shaftali soldier-scholar who is about to embark on his most desired studies when the invading Sainnites capture the capitol and kill the wizard ruler, leaving no heir; now Emil must become a war commander in the remnants of the Shaftali army. Another fire elemental, Zanja na'Tarwein, is the Ashawala'i Speaker, but she cannot convince her own people of the full danger of the Sainnites. Karis, a half-giant blacksmith, has tremendous earth powers that might defeat the Sainnites--if she weren't addicted to a potent, deadly drug that steals her will. Her guardian, Norina the Truthken, is an air elemental able to see through any lie, yet she is blind to dangerous truths about both her half-giant charge and Paladin treachery. --Cynthia Ward