Unfortunately I will not be continuing with this book. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review however I started it and just couldn’t get into the writing style. I have also heard numerous criticisms of the author and problematic content through the book and so therefore I have decided to DNF at this point.

Between the content of this book, the other reviews, and the author’s behavior on social media… this was not the book for me. It needs HEAVY editing and quite honestly a complete reworking. I will not be doing a full review, as this book is just not worth it, especially considering how the author is implying that reviewers who say there are issues with this novel (rampant misogyny, racism/orientalism, bad world-building, terrible execution, etc) are too stupid to understand adult high fantasy. I will not be recommending this book to anyone unless it’s to use as an example of poorly written fantasy books.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I was expecting when I got this ARC, I requested it on a whim, but it did not disappoint! The whole story was intriguing, the characters were well rounded, and I was hanging on every word. It may not be my favorite ever, but it’s great for anyone who wants a well written, diverse fantasy novel!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book has a lot of themes but I'll just start by talking about my favorite which was sexism in society.
We're all very well aware of sexism in our own society, where misogyny and patriarchy still try to control women however they can.

But this novel provides by fresh perspective by reversing the gender roles of men and women in society. The society in the book is matriarchal. It's a commendable approach and while I loved it, there are a few things under this that weren't executed just like our world.

For example, I'm moving into spoiler territory now, for this paragraph only. If the world had been exactly like ours, I very much doubt Vashathke, a man who seduces women and has children with them out of wedlock, could reach such a high position as that of a magistrate. But it still gets a lot of things right.

Besides this, the themes include prostitution, familial dynamics, love, trust, and politics.

I knew this book had queer rep so while the bi MC wasn't much of a surprise, the trans rep did come as a surprise but in a really good way. I loved Dzaro and every single thing about her. <3

The world-building felt a bit clumsy at a few points to me but other than that, I loved the ideas and even the most minor details! It was exciting and felt very unique. I can't emphasize how exciting the whole premise is! And oh, IT HAS DRAGONS. Well, just one dragon to be precise but!!!!!!!!!!!

The characters were well written and even though the MC, Koréshiza was annoying sometimes (a lot towards the end), I liked all the characters a lot! The writing style kept me hooked and made me want to keep reading.

The romance bit was a bit meh for me because in my opinion it wasn't well executed and seemed like Ria and Koré just fall for each other out of nowhere, but at least they both accept they don't know each other well which was a first in this kind of trope. I did have high hopes for Koré and Faziz's fling but again, it turned out to be just meh for me because even though it was more of a slow burn as compared to Ria and Koré, it still didn't feel like they knew each other well enough to fall in love.

But I loved the polyamory rep, the way Ria was always there for Koré always made me smile. She's definitely the best character in this novel and I would've loved to read her POV as well.

The end plot twist about the main villain was predictable for me but I'm gonna let that slide because I feel like everything I read is predictable at this point 💀🤣

It is commendable how much the author tries to accomplish and maybe that's why it became a bit of a mess in the middle for a bit there xD But it is a great effort and I enjoyed it regardless 😌

The beginning (about 25%) is about 70% groundwork so it reads a bit slower than the rest of the novel.

The character names took a little getting used to but I loved how unique they were and came to really love them once I got the pronunciations right! <3

I would highly recommend it to fantasy lovers but it might not be for everyone as it takes a while to get all of it.

I will unfortunately not be giving a review on this title due to the problematic nature of it and the author's response to those who have pointed it out.

Some of the major issues with the book were
- misogyny
- Appropriation of East Asian culture as an aesthetic.

Great cover ruined by an incomprehensible and messy story that had so few redeeming qualities I couldn't even come up with one thing I liked about it. The world building. The plot. The characters. The author himself. All of these are things that contributed to Silk Fire being, without a doubt, the worst book I've read this year ... and it hasn't even been released.

When I heard bisexual dragon with a poly endgame relationship, I knew I had to pick this book up! It has absolutely gorgeous world-building and a whole cast of morally grey characters trying their best.

This is not a quick-paced action packed read, but rather one where you will need time to immerse yourself into the world. While Koré was quick to throw himself into the action, the book has a slow buildup in tension and I was about halfway in before I was completely hooked and at that point I wasn’t able to put it down.

Silk Fire’s strengths are definitely in the storytelling and the intricate weaving of motivations and goals that shift with every piece of new information. It’s primary weakness would be that the characters feel like cardboard props for the world building for the first third of the novel and the sex scenes manage to be both gratuitous and clinical at the same time.

Overall, I did really enjoy reading it and am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

After letting it sit for a while and having seen discussions of the harmful representation, I'm adjusting my rating to 3 stars.

Silk Fire is lethal member of the Alphabet Mafia. It is a touch the rainbow, taste the rainbow, drown in politics kind of book, and I'd really like to slap everyone in the face with it. Just in case there was any chance they could absorb it via osmosis and not have to stress out about what was going to happen next.

I like stressful books. I do. I tell everyone that Jade War by Fonda Lee is the most stressful book I've ever read and therefore they should read it.

I'm thinking after I've had some time to really sit with Silk Fire that I might do the same?

DNF
Sadly I just didn't particularly like the protagonist which clearly put me off reading until the end. It's an interesting idea to show gender stereo types switched up but this just didn't engage my interest enough so sadly not something I can recommend.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I am uncomfortable continuing to read this book based on the plethora of criticisms I have read from people in related minority communities. I did not mind the worldbuilding, which others had issues with, but the issue with representation given by different communities are widespread and I am uncomfortable participating further with a book that people bring up so many valid criticisms of, when I am not in those communities.

I was not able to completely finish this book. Not only because the writing was messy, dry and hard to understand (just like the plot), but also because of the author's behaviour online. It has made me lose interest in the book as a whole, so I am DNF'ing it

I am afraid this book was a <b>DNF</b> for me.

I couldn't understand what was happening. I re-read paragraphs to try to understand the context. The names were overly complicated for no reason and even that made it difficult to keep track of everything. It was a bit clunky and though the sentences made sense on their own, I couldn't quite get into the flow of the book. I had to check other people's reviews to see whether it was just me who struggled, but it seems this is a common issue. I was sad to see that the author had not taken well to such reviews, so I will simply say the above and leave it at that.

<i>Also, if I read the word 'whore' one more time ... Jeez </i>

I'm quite disappointed as the blurb for this book had really intrigued me, but I just couldn't get behind the writing itself, and seeing so many others struggle makes me not want to invest any more time trying to work it all out honestly.

<i>I was offered a complimentary copy of this novel from Rebellion Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this arc. Maybe I'll redo this review but for now, this is it.

It wasn't... great. There was just so much information that it got confusing at times, the amount of detail was overwhelming and some of it just... didn't make sense. I think as an idea this seems like it could be an interesting book but when you actually read it, you realize that it's not that great. I also didn't really enjoy any of the characters, they weren't interesting to me, but that's just my opinion.

It feels like the author sort of got in over his head with a debut book and just infodumped everything and that gets incredibly confusing and overwhelming. The story got muddled at times because there was just so much detail being dumped on you at once. I think this could've had potential to be a good story and was just executed incredibly, incredibly poorly.

i dont have any interest in reading a book by a lesbphobe. I will not be reading this book sorry for the inconvenience.

I DNF'd this @5% for two reasons. 1) I was confused and 2) all of the reviews for this book are super low and I don't want to waste any more time on a book I'm going to hate.

I actually didn’t understand anything that happened here. I didn’t like the way the world was built, nor how scenes transpired. There were many lines that made me ask…just why.

I ended up dnfing this book. I will review what I did read. I could not get through what little I did read. I found the plot confusing and the pacing slow. The concept seemed interesting but I could not get passed the 30% mark.

This book was not at all what I expected and not in a good way. I had no idea what was going on through the 30% I managed to push through. Definitely not finishing it

DNF at 9%

I tried, okay?

When I read the synopsis for Silk Fire I was beyond excited – a queer political high fantasy with a courtesan main character and polyamorous relationship sounded right up my street. And then the negative reviews started rolling in. There were lots of criticisms of the writing and the fact that the plot just didn’t make sense. And after reading the first two chapters, I’m inclined to agree. I just had no idea what was happening, nothing made sense and I couldn’t keep track of anything. This was primarily due to poor writing, though the overload of information and names didn’t help.

Add to this the criticisms of orientalism and misogyny I’ve read in reviews and I just am not interested in continuing. I will mourn the book we could have had with that amazing premise and not pick Silk Fire up again.

This was unfortunately a DNF for me.. far too complicated to get into but I loved the premise behind it