Above author pic Samantha Shannon
Let’s clear the air, immediately.
No one enthrals like Samantha Shannon does, the mistress of fantasy fiction. This is a story of human resilience in the face of circumstances which lead the reader through gripping and tragic events their have their way for the author of best-selling books.
It’s a glimpse in a city changed and a nation conquered, set across the two years leading up to the Priory of the Orange Tree, following the fall of Yscalin and how certain key people and objects end up where they do for that book . It is also a great primer to the world, where Iberian inspired Yscalin is the key location spurring Loth onto his cross-continental quest. Its been centuries since the Draconic army took wing, almost extinguishing humankind. Mariosa Vetalda is a prisoner in her own home, controlled by her cold father, King Sigoso. Mariosa is an intriguing figure, trying to hold firm and defiant in the midst of horror which pits her as the central focus of this book, with the other two, a pirate and Aubrecht Lievelyn who is Mariosa’s betrothed, ruling Mentedon in name only. The schematic for Albrecht’s Mentedon is involved, but together Mariosa and he intend to usher in a better world.
Yet, a better world seems impossibly distant to Estina Melaugo, a huntress of Draconic beasts that have laid dormant across the world for centuries. But now the great Wyrm Fyredel is stirring and Yscalin, land of sunshine and lavender, will soon be ablaze. Welcome to the world of chaos, a la the pen of Samantha Shannon, though this novella delivers a bigger punch than I was expecting where the characters rather than their circumstances are the focus, with the author’s catalogue of fiercely feminist and gloriously empowering novels. I have to say that for such a short story, it’s a credit to her ability to weave endlessly compelling relationships between the characters and their loved ones. This dynamic of the depth of the relationships they bear on the original story The Priory of the Orange Tree helps to illustrate how much was at stake when Fyredel returned to power.
The plot and pace is perfect, delving into the thick of this universe and the tales woven through them. It packs a punch with an imaginative vast universe that’s intricate with detail. Though brief, AMONG THE BURNING FLOWERS captures the scale and richness of the author’s handwork. Its taut, tragic and beautifully written tale of fortitude in the face of calamity with the political threads cruising through the Western Kingdoms. There is also the canon of best-laid-plans that are exposed when evidence of the re-emergence of the Draconic creates panic everywhere. These tales often come from the cullers who make their living slaying these creatures and who are often blamed for intentionally waking them for profit.
No one remembers the Grief of Ages, so no one is prepared when Fyredel, the greatest Western dragon, surfaces from the volcanic mountain that towers ominously over Scalin’s capital, Carscaro. What follows is the backstory of how the devoted Yscalin kingdom comes to shift allegiance to Fyredel and his master, The Nameless One.
Overall the book reads more like a history lesson than fantasy/adventure, but the sheer terror that befalls the people of Yscalin as they face Fyredel’s pure evil is both a powerful narrative and relevant. Marosa’s plight further solidifies her as a hero worth remembering for her strength and defiance shining through as hope for the future she dreamed of, slowly wanes.
Two hundred and eighty-eight pages of riveting yarns.
