A prequel novella that packs in an intriguing recounting and team dynamics while whetting the appetite for the full-fledged novel

I am thankful to the author for the ARC – below are my honest thoughts on this sparkling novella

Novellas have a lot of heavy-lifting to do for their run time. The mark of a truly fabulous novella is how intrinsic it feels to the series that it is supposed to link to while crafting an intriguing unputdownable story of its own. An Inkling of Flame by Z. B. Steele manages to remain a fabulous novella hewing to these rules until the very end where it serves up a teaser and leaves you wanting more

“Nothing can teach you about the world like fists, and nothing can teach you more about yourself than interacting with children”

An Inkling of Flame is a slim 89 page novella – but what it does so very well in that slim runtime is to showcase a mission gone wrong through a non-linear narrative. The narrator of this particular story is Layne, a conscripted soldier who details how the crew he was running around with came together and the cost of this mission. This is easily the strongest part of the book – following this group of four and their misspent youth with some of the upcoming conflicts foreshadowed.

“It was a boring year and it was the best year of my life. They say when you’re a kid, you have energy and time, but no money; when you’re an adult, you have energy and money but no time; when you’re old, you have time and money, but no energy. They left out that when you’re a kid, you have friends and imagination”

There is a lot to love here – the writing is particularly strong and the author infuses very strong voices to the characters. The team dynamics are fantastic and believable in the stuff that they do. What is also rather realistic is how decisions happen in groups and what influences drive people – every team has a heart and a soul and this book captures it rather wonderfully. While thematically it is grimdark, these moments of friendship are almost a shining beacon which means you know there is some juju around the corner

“Disdain is a festering, infected wound. Without being cleaned, that wound starts to simmer into a reciprocated hate”

And that is where I felt this novella kind of stumbles at the end – the nature of the denouement is rather abrupt as the novella introduces a mysterious enigmatic character with his own motivations. This character is the lead of the upcoming novel, so it does make sense from the author’s perspective not to say much. That was possibly the thing that kind of pulled me out of my reading experience of this a bit. It wasn’t as standalone as I expected as the author whets the appetite and you want to pick up the novel immediately.

“We always talk good about the dead. The good is elevated, promoted to epic proportions. One quick joke is ballooned into a lifetime as a comedian. One noble deed is evidence of a saintly life. Our flaws are treated similarly, when they can be used for levity. How many tears have been turned into laughter at the phrase “Remember that time?’ Foolish deeds are retold as good natured, immortalising acts. And of course, the flaws that can’t be turned into humour are erased entirely. People are complicated, friends doubly so but he was dead so we told nice stories and said pretty words”

In terms of what this novella sets out to do, I think its a big success – it introduces a fascinating world that in the middle of a religious-political struggle, shines light on an assassin likely to be the main lead of the upcoming novel, whets the appetite for that novel and showcases a strong sense of what his writing is likely to be – incisive and clever. It probably doesn’t work as well as a standalone novella which is the quibble that I have.

Overall, this is a lovely novella filled with terrific writing and strong character building with a good sense of pace and intrigue to build things up to the upcoming novel – watch out however the abrupt ending – 3.5/5