One of the goals which I have been attempting in 2021
is to read more self-published works, having done one in 2020 and this year I’m
shooting for five. Dreams of Fire
is the third self-published book (fourth if you count Theft of Swords) I
have read this year and the second from a YouTuber. This one is from Nathaniel Wayne aka Council
of Geeks, most well known for their Doctor Who content. This is also a fantasy novel that while not
explicitly part of a series, once read it clearly ends on a point where there
is going to be a sequel, however, Wayne doesn’t adequately fill the book with
enough plot to keep things going. Dreams
of Fire is essentially an extended prologue for whatever Wayne’s follow up
will be, and when viewed through that lens it mostly works. The plot as a single installment does have
some arcs based on the emotions of its characters, mainly the protagonist
Farris and a character I can only describe as the main antagonist, Professor
Raines. Farris is on the run while
Professor Raines is chaing an escaped subject from her laboratory. They are our two major point of view
characters for the novel which actually does work really well, though Wayne
includes some other characters to flesh out the world, especially the Fey. It is these other points of view which doesn’t
actually integrate well in the book, only really serving as worldbuilding for
the rest of the book and setting up sequel material.
Wayne’s worldbuilding, however, is something that they
excel at, taking several pieces of fantasy tropes and lore and putting them
into a blender to develop a world that plays like a mix of classic and
modern. Other reviews refer to the setting
as electropunk, which is apparently a subgenre similar to steampunk, characterized
by blending modern technology such as electricity and magic. As it is a subgenre that I am unfamiliar
with, Dreams of Fire could easily be taking wholesale from other
examples of the subgenre, but as far as I can tell it is at least putting its
own spin by still having that classic, high fantasy setting with several guilds
and obviously the fey. The Fey creatures
which appear here are taken from other classic tales, with your traditional
sprites and fairies, as well as the Morrigan, a figure taken from Irish
mythology associated with war and crows.
The magic system, or possibly two magic systems (it isn’t clear that the
Fae magic is separate from the elemental magic), introduced here is presented
as soft, though there are clearly rules that restrict it from being the softest
of systems. There’s also some nice
little cultural details like insights into the many constables throughout cities
and some of the games that people play in the society as a reflection of the
relationship between humans and the Fey.
Farris is an elemental, someone whose body builds up
and expels the elements, with his being fire, and much of this story is about
him trying to hide his abilities and survive.
The survival aspect is fun though Farris is not a character who gets a
whole lot of development, acting as a naïve person as a way to allow the
audience a view into the world. He does
learn and tries to make his own, with one confrontation with Professor Raines
at the end of the book which is a good emotional climax. Professor Raines, on the other hand, is your
classic determined academic, not entirely trusted due to the entirety of the book
and going above her superiors to find a rogue elemental which escaped from her lab. Raines is a character who doesn’t seem to be
entirely complex right until the end where Wayne pulls a great little twist
that may be a little predictable, but does recontextualize many of her actions
throughout the book while changing her in the eyes of the audience. There are other minor villains, including a
mercenary determined to find Farris who is a lot of fun, if a little one note,
and a matron who is the one person to show Farris genuine kindness and
reappears at the end which is a lot of fun.
Overall, Dreams of Fire is an excellent first
novel from a first time author with an interesting setting, some very fun characters,
and the pace of a high speed chase from start to finish which is a lot of
fun. The biggest issue with Wayne is not
writing style, they have that developed quite well, or even the characters, but
the fact that the novel is prologue for something bigger and includes some
points of view that are only there to set up things in future books which doesn’t
quite work. Though this is a series and
author to watch and recommended. 8/10.
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