Child of Fire

Child of Fire (2009) Harry Connolly

I really wanted to love this book.

John Scalzi featured it (and Harry Connolly) in one of his Big Idea posts, and as I’ve loved other books I’ve picked up that way, I was really looking forward to the story.

But.

I spent the whole book feeling like I was missing something. I kept looking to see if there was an earlier book I’d missed, and then wondering if perhaps there was a short story somewhere that preceded this book. (No to both.) I felt like there were whole chunks of the story I felt like I should know (since the main character kept mentioning them in passing). I also never quite got a grasp on how magic worked. We were given some idea, but the main character kept referring to things he’d done, and it felt like knowledge of those past actions would give me a better understanding of how the world worked.

Essentially, I was a little frustrated about never quite understanding what the characters could and could not do. Some of it made sense–after all the main character had only a basic understanding of how magic worked, but I felt like he was keeping what little knowledge he had, from me.

So what was the story?

Harry Lilly is an ex-con who’d just been let out of jail when the prosecution didn’t have enough evidence to make the case for a long series of brutal murders. He was picked up by Annalise, who is now his boss, and not only does she want to kill him, she refuses to tell him anything about where they are going or what they are doing.

That part I was good with. I liked discovering the mystery of the town along with Ray. And it was a good mystery, with lots of fun twists and turns. I especially liked how going into dangerous situations led to the deaths of those involved (I’ll say no more). I’m always disconcerted by adventures where everyone walks away without a scratch. So that part was good as well,

And Roy and Annilise were interesting and complex characters, and I enjoyed getting to discover their powers.

I just didn’t like the constant nagging feeling that I was missing something important.

I’m going to give this to Michael to read next, and I have a feeling he’ll like it far more than I did.
Rating: 6/10

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