Silk Fire was such a unique and captivating book. From the brilliant world-building to the gorgeous characters (I truly adored Koré’s characterization), I couldn’t but love it!

(Full review to come)

I think this is a really interesting book. It sets up an extremely vast, fascinating world, and it does so wonderfully. Though, I just don’t think this was a book for me. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing, as it seemed a bit repetitive and sort of like it sloshed over the sides a bit. Though, I definitely think it’s a personal thing and that a lot of people will love this book!

Ambitious.

It's the one word I would use to describe Silk Fire.

The novel is definitely ambitious, and I'm still unsure if it accomplished anything it actually set out to do. World building is hard, but I feel like Silk Fire overdid it to compensate for it only being the first book, it felt like there were two or three novels worth of info dumped as such a quick pace I wasn't entirely sure what was happening most of the time.

It wouldn't be the worst thing if the writing wasn't as dry as it was. There didn't seem to be much spark or life to it, which made it even harder to get into. It was also hard to keep track of the characters and places, even with a glossary attached to the front of the book.

In the end, I think the book suffered from its ambition. If it had been thinned down, written with a little more spark, and the character names/places weren't as overly complicated I think it would have succeeded much more than it did.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. this book was one of my most anticipated release of this year and god i just love this book. You can see the all the effort author has done for the world building and it was so complex and never failed to amaze me. I was completely hook with Silk Fire from the very beginning of the book. the characters and the politics within it could be somewhat confusing at first. Afte a couple of chapters, things started to click but questions were also starting to form. Once I started to understand everything and everyone, the next chapter would come up and completely throw me off guard. Even after finishing this, I'm still processing what the hell happened, who to trust and I'm just surprised that this was a standalone. My mind is blown by that fact alone because so much freaking happens throughout this. Especially towards the end - truths and secrets come out to play but don't worry we still get lots of betrayal too. In the end, I am so glad that I got the chance to read and review this beautiful book. I'm sad that I don't get another book in this world, but I will definitely be on the lookout for another book by Zabé.

Silk Fire by Zabe Ellor is an ambitious book, full of political sabotage and backstabbing, and trauma so deep it keeps its characters from seeing their path. Found it quite hard going.

I really didn't like this book I tried twice toget into it. I didnt really understand what was going on in the book it just wasnt for me.

So beautiful. It as different, new, cool.
ZABEEEE omg look at your novel. Gorge.
So queer. So diverse,

<b> I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review </b>

So... Huh where do we start. With the protagonist maybe? Koréshiza Brightstar is a courtesan who must avenge his mother, by préventing his father from gaining the throne.

In the city-planet Jadzia, gender-roles are basically reversed, with Women as warrior/provider and Men as the caretakers/house-husbands. This comes with a healthy bit of irl sexism, just turned on men this time. I'm sure the author must've intended to give us some bright revelations by flipping the script. But it comes off as a surface level parody since it doesn't get to the meat of the matter. Sexism is a bigger issue than "haha sex jokes" and "men stay home, women work out". The writer fails to address it on a societal level, be it in this fictional society.

Alright so- about this society. This city planet is divided into a few districts with very clever names! "War", "Engineering", "Temple", "Scholar", "Gardening", "Husbandry" - to name a few.
Now these districts are ruled by the "Judges" (Koré's father wants to be one btw), and are divided into streets, which are ruled by Magistrates.
Each street has several buildings, each and sometimes a few owned and thus ruled by the Ladies.
That's the gist of it. And each building is like 300 ish stories long? And the whole planet is built on ruines. So like- these ruins go WAY down..like to the core apparently.

In any case, there are dinosaurs, gods, dragons, superhumans, humans with elemental magic?, Giants, Necromancers, like a clusterfuck of fantasy elements. Just bring em all. Kore becomes a Dragon by the blessing of a god, (the last one btw, they're all dead now btw) and now he can produce fresh "essence", something that gives them power. More essence=more power. Dragons have been gone for a long ass while and now it's basically hoarded amongst the nobility, something passed on through the generations.

Anyways so politics yes, Kore is supposed to be this <i> absolute monster</i> who gets what he wants by spreading his leg or whatever. Vasha needs a few of international* endorsements to become judge and Kore wants Akizeke to be judge instead. Anyways so he whores around so he'll get his way. Political intrigue:0
Sex scenes: 1.

So one thing that drew me to the book was it's poly couples rep. Anyways that was shit. Two of them were fucking while the other was basically awaiting life sentence. Poly rep: 0, sex scenes:2.

And the role reversal of men and women didn't achieve anything except for maybe some fun times ;) and aesthetic. Feminism: 0. Sex scenes: ♾️

<b>did I mention people here eat Dinosaur meat</b>

Anyways so my point is everything is messy, incoherent and not the fun kind.
This book was WAY too ambitious with both the plot and the world building, and like a house of cards, it all fell apart.

I honestly thought I'd give this a 2 star and be a little lenient cuz it's a debut but honestly, I lost it when the little character development we had was lost for the sake of a "shocking" plot twist.

And Rip Koré's character development. I noticed a distinct lack of one. I think the author wanted to make it seem that there was nothing wrong with Kore, except his self esteem and his perception of himself but honestly the setting, pacing and nor the plot allows for such ruminations, unfortunately.

And all of these add up together which brings us here... With a bunch of ✨ nothing✨

Now I wanna remind myself to be harsh on the book nor the author. They were certainly ambitious and that's a good thing. With the star rating on this I can say it's kind of a flop. But I really hope the author hones their craft and comes up with something better and fresher. They certainly do have the courage to do so, as they tried to do with this book.

With that out of the way, thank you if you've read this review so far! I hope you enjoy your next read. Happy reading! :)

This was such a difficult book to get into. It felt like the author tried too hard to make sure it read as high fantasy. The writing felt dense, and I was so happy to see a book with positive light towards sec workers, but the sex scenes started to feel unnecessary and repetitive and overdone. This was such a highly anticipated read of mine, and I am so disappointed by it

I'm sure this book will be fascinating for many readers, but sadly I just wasn't able to get through the beginning. It was really dense at the start, with many difficult names and words and it honestly just felt so difficult to become invested in the story. I'm grateful to have had a chance to try it out, and I absolutely LOVE the cover artwork so I'm disappointed I didn't mesh with this book. I hope others enjoy it though!

Silk Fire was one of my most anticipated 2022 releases and it did not disappoint!

The world building and magic system were some of the most unique I’ve ever experienced, even if I’m still not entirely sure how everything works, LOL. Character wise, Silk Fire is an ode to messy & traumatized queer characters. Is our main character, Kore, likeable? Nope. But the author wrote him that way on purpose, and I’m glad. We need more books that aren’t afraid to explore unlikeable queer characters, and Silk Fire does that masterfully.

And all of that isn’t even touching on the excellent supporting cast - Kore’s two love interests (don’t worry, Silk Fire chose polyamory over love triangles!) Ria and Faziz were just as complex and well developed as Kore. Fire Weaver Ria’s courage and optimism & Faziz’s fierce determination to protect his people and improve their material conditions made it hard not to immediately fall in love with them, so I didn’t even make the effort.

I also really loved Kore’s easy going aunt Dzaro, and all of her many dogs. One thing I’d like to note: Silk Fire is set in a matriarchal society - DEFINITELY not in a utopian sense, it’s majorly fucked up - but I did appreciate the quiet subversion of our own patriarchal and transphobic society to have Dzaro’s transition actually grant her more privilege & power in the district than she’d had when presenting as male, and that there wasn’t much transmisogyny towards Dzaro, at least not in the sense we’re used to, as basically everyone accepted her for who she was besides her brother (Kore’s evil father).

I could probably sit here and ramble about Silk Fire’s brilliance all day, but nothing I could say would possibly capture its essence (terrible yet thematic pun intended, LOL), so you’re just going to have to read it yourself!

Silk Fire comes out July 5th - make sure to go pre-order, because this is one you’re not going to want to miss!

ARC Note: Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read this phenomenal book early in exchange for an honest review. This did not impact my opinions/review in any way.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Damn this was brutal, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Y'all this book is incredibly. There is so much going on and I was thrilled by it. But also there are lots of sex scenes and very graphic ones so if that's not your thing, you probably don't want to read this. There is a shit ton of slow moving action, political intrigue, betrayal etc so you will need to strap in for this read. Think in terms of The Unbroken or The Priory of the Orange Tree.

Silk Fire is an epic fantasy world with a matriarchal society. This story follows Koré, a bastard to his aristocratic father. Koré has had to make his own way in a city that caters to the elite and wealthy. Disowned from his biological family, Koré has worked as a sex worker/courtesan and has made a reputation for himself as one of the best. When the Judge of the city begins to fall ill, Koré knows he'll stop at nothing to keep his father from being appointed the next judge. But a chance encounter with a dying god imbues him with magic-breathing powers and Koré finds himself hunted.

This was so good. I cannot sing enough praises about this book. I loved it so much. I will admit it did take a bit to get familiar with the names and the way this society worked. I wish I knew it was matriarchal from the get go, because once I figured that out so many things made so much more sense!!

There was so much betrayal though and damn it hurt me a little bit. I can't believe this is only a standalone. I have so many questions about what happens next. I loved the journey Koré went on with dealing with all the trauma he's suffered. I want to see more of him being happy. His triad makes me so happy and soft. I want more of it.

Also there be dragons here. You're welcome.

Rep: Mainly BIPOC cast. Polyamorous bisexual male MC, female love interest, achillean male love interest, trans female side character, various queer side characters.

CWs from the author: violence against sex workers, including threatened SA, groping, and one scene of dubcon. Discussions of historical colonization and genocide, cyclical violence. Child neglect, emotional and physical

CWs from me: Emotional abuse, sexual content (there are a lot of sex scenes), toxic relationship, violence, sexism, misandry, sexual assault, classism, child abuse, death, sexual violence, death of parent, murder, sexual harassment, war, violence, alcohol consumption, alcoholism, addiction, generalized trauma. Moderate: fire that doesn't burn, infertility, colonisation, genocide, child neglect. Minor: transphobia/transmisia, queerphobia/queermisia.

Silk Fire was one of my most anticipated book in 2022 and it was such a privilege being able to read it sooner.
Set in a cruel matriarcal society, the main character is Koré, bent on get his revenge on his biological political father and ruin his life. When he gets the powers of a dragon, everything is turned upside down.
With care and sensitivity, Zabé Ellor wrote a story about trauma and abuse and its consequences, about love and trust and trusting and loving oneself. The worldbuilding is magnificent, mixing magic, dinosaurs and war in this huge planet city where the differences between rich and poor are acutely underlined. Wonderfully writtten the polyamorous relationship between Koré, Ria and Faziz, in a very realistic way and how the author was able to deal with important themes, exploring them.
Amazing and recommended.

Expectation vs. Reality: I was very excited to read this book. From the description/blurb it sounded like a very interesting read. However, I found it very difficult to get into the story or to ‘find my feet’ within the world.

On the characters: The author introduces a lot of characters in a very short span of time – all with very difficult-to-pronounce names and/or titles. It’s difficult to keep all the different characters and their roles straight, leading to confusion and frustration. Some of the character reactions are so out of place or completely unrealistic/unbelievable.

On the writing: The writing is on par. It is not spectacular, but it also isn’t terrible. The story is a first person POV with a relatively slow pace. The descriptions and narration are written in such a way that it requires a lot of focus to keep things in perspective. I didn’t enjoy the authorial voice. The transitions from place to place – and the progression of movement in some cases – is not well-written: it is jarring and, in some cases, impossible to believe.

On the plot: I don’t feel it appropriate to comment on the plot as a whole as I didn’t finish the book.

On the world building: This is where most of everything falls apart for me. The description of the world is convoluted and there is an overly detailed focus on how things were in ages past which confuses the present world even more.

Final thoughts: Silk Fire is not the book for me. I’m unable to connect with the characters or the world. I’m sorry to say I didn’t finish the book and I won’t recommend it.

This book has to be the worst that I have read in a while.

Seriously, I am not even kidding, if I were to stay here to write down everything I have hated about this book, I would be here for 24h because there are that many things that went wrong. Despite it being so painful to read, I tried to push it to the end, and it is not even worth it.
The author, well, "attempted" to write a unique and diverse fantasy with an interesting concept, but he failed to address the most vital part of his attempt: fantasy. I am sure no one except the author has any ideas about what-the-hell happened in this book because, in my opinion, it's just not comprehensible. The author takes every element belonging to the genre, throws them in a book, and calls it a day. As a result, we have a world with dragons, zombies, robots, fire benders, ancient gods, super complex aircrafts controlled by some ancient civilization (???) At this point I don't even know what is in the book, it's just too much, and I have given up trying a long time ago.
Secondly, at some point, the author would have to make a map to show who is related to who, who fucked who, who are allies or enemies because I can't honestly keep track with thousands of names that all sound similar to each other. Yes, the world has its own language and I respect that, but if someone throws around a dozen names that start with a "D" and another dozen that start with an "R", you would be lost like me.
Next, the characterization of the main character Kore is horrible. Let's me resume his thoughts so you don't have to manage through this shit.
Koré: "OMG I am such a quirky monster because my father abandoned me,, and I deserve no love from no one,.... Anyways let's seduce this person by fucking her."
Imagine this nonsense for 500+ pages!! Koré has no personality other than rejecting others' help because he is a monster and fucking people for his political sham. And for someone who proclaims his loyalty to the cause once every two lines, he did kiss F____ while dating R___ (even though she was okay with it afterward.)
Finally, I just want to say that, for a book terribly fast-paced even for a fast reader like me, this book felt like an eternity of suffering

Regards to Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with this advanced copy in exchange of my honest thoughts. This review contains my opinion and mine only. This review will be cross-post on Goodreads closer to the publication date as requested by the publisher.

I'm sorry to say but I decided to DNF this one. It's angry and passionate, but not much makes any sense. Huge thank you for allowing me to try the book, but I won't be finishing it or reviewing anywhere. It's just not for me.

Ok, the premises of this book are great. I wanted to love it so much, because the elements are interesting, the concept is very original and all. BUT. This book is a mess.
There are too many elements, names, information, it's like it's too much. Remember when you keep forgetting the names of the families and the name of the characters at the beginning of A song of fire and ice? That's the feeling.

And again, i'm so sorry because the worldbuilding is beautiful, well crafted, there are so many original elements in the book. And the characters. Oh they are good. Let me tell you about the political elements, i loved them! BUT again... i don't want to feel like my brain is scrumbled eggs at the end of every chapter. Something doesn't feel right.

I think that with a little bit of further and deeper editing this book can be INCREDIBLE!

My honest score would be 2.5/5. Now don’t get me wrong, this is a good book but it just wasn’t for me. To me there was too much convoluted political backstabbery and not nearly enough undead vs a dragon action. But my main dislike was the huge chunks of this book taken up by sex scenes. I’m no prude but the detail that went into these parts was 50 Shades of Grey worthy smut.

As a whole this is a very well written book which draws you into the relationships between characters brilliantly and the flip into a matriarchal society makes for a familiar yet alien world. This is definitely more of a fantasy political tale rather than a sci-fi/fantasy epic but still worth a read so long as you don’t mind a heavy touch of smut

This book was so good. Reminds me of avatar the last airbender and legend of kora but for adults. Took me a while to get the names of people right and probably had the pronunciations of them wrong but I still enjoyed it.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My brain feels like it is melting with all the information that I read. Which is definitely a good brain melting kind of feeling (for me). Seriously. From the very beginning, I was completely hook with Silk Fire. The world building was beautiful, and the characters within it could be somewhat confusing at first. Afte a couple of chapters, things started to click but questions were also starting to form.

Once I started to understand everything and everyone, the next chapter would come up and completely bamboozle me. Even after finishing this, I still have no idea who to trust and I'm just surprised that this was a standalone. My mind is blown by that fact alone because so much freaking happens throughout this. Especially towards the end - truths and secrets come out to play but don't worry we still get lots of betrayal too.

In the end, I am so happy that I got the chance to jump into this beautiful book. I'm sad that I don't get another book in this world, but I will definitely be on the lookout for another book by Zabé. I was also told, by my buddy, that this book made her think of other books/worlds which are now added to my wonderful TBR. So, now I need to find those and jump into them.