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Fire Boy by Sami Shah
Jun. 14th, 2017 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fred_mouseI picked this ebook up from one of the assorted bulk SF/Fantasy 'free ebook' pages, which I *think* took me through to a 'sign up for the author's newsletter to get a free book' site.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book - urban fantasy, set in Karachi, incorporating aspects of Islam and the local supernatural traditions as well as some of the political history of Pakistan. The world building is delightful. The level of detail is possibly obsessive, but useful to me as a foreign reader from a different religious tradition, and gave a really good sense of place. I found the protagonist annoying, but it is a coming of age story for a young man who is the only son of a somewhat wealthy family - it is understandable that he starts as somewhat of a brat. Some of the other characterisation was a bit weak, making it difficult to keep track of some of the secondary characters, and making the villains a little bit bland.
Main complaint is that it ends abruptly, after doing a lot of set up, but without a sense of having resolved anything.
It is listed as a duology, but book 2 is not out.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book - urban fantasy, set in Karachi, incorporating aspects of Islam and the local supernatural traditions as well as some of the political history of Pakistan. The world building is delightful. The level of detail is possibly obsessive, but useful to me as a foreign reader from a different religious tradition, and gave a really good sense of place. I found the protagonist annoying, but it is a coming of age story for a young man who is the only son of a somewhat wealthy family - it is understandable that he starts as somewhat of a brat. Some of the other characterisation was a bit weak, making it difficult to keep track of some of the secondary characters, and making the villains a little bit bland.
Main complaint is that it ends abruptly, after doing a lot of set up, but without a sense of having resolved anything.
It is listed as a duology, but book 2 is not out.
