THE BOY WITH FIRE by Aparna Verma (BOOK REVIEW)
Welcome to my first review on The Fantasy Hive! Westu hal to you, I am delighted to being reviewing for the Hive for the first time and what a book I have been able to read and review. The Boy with Fire by Aparna Verma is one of the most interesting and original books that I have been able to read.
Firstly I would like to say how wonderful Verma’s writing is, it’s accessible and flows, and pulls the reader into this wonderful world. It’s a world inspired by Indian myth, and what a wonderful story of redemption is in store for you. Verma seamlessly blends fantasy with sci-fi, so with the secondary world, the magic system, you also get hover cars, cameras and guns. It shows a society on the brink of change, a world stuck in it’s past and being pulled by a future. Secondary creation is a wonderful thing, and The Boy with Fire uses moments in history blended with ideas of Indian mythology to create a compelling world.
You will encounter some well developed characters, following three POV’s of Yassan, Elena and Leo. Yassan is an assassin (I have a soft spot) and is an interesting redemption storyline to follow, Elena and Leo’s storyline is rather different with the struggle to control Fire and Elena accepting her responsibility to be Queen. They are wonderfully created characters, filled with a good sense of back story, but something I admire about the characters are the well drawn and interesting secondary characters. If you know anything about me, secondary characters can make or break a book for me, but Samson and Ferma were wonderful. Ferma is a mother-like figure to Elena and Samson oh Samson, he is a character you love to hate and I would be interested to see how he develops through the series.
The major aspect that stood out was the prose, and the world building. The prose flows effortlessly as you make your way through the story, the world is built through the characters and this is a fine example of character driven fantasy. The snippets of lore at the beginning of each chapter pulled me in, complemented some by some well built characters and a brilliant magic system with such an intriguing world. You would be surprised to hear this is aimed at a YA audience, this something I only learnt after I read the book and I was surprised, it really doesn’t feel like it. I for one am excited for where the author goes with this story and how this world develops, this is a highly recommended read.