Bumpy Oak Books

**I was provided an electronic ARC by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

DNF at 29%

Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor was marketed as Kushiel’s Dart as written by Brandon Sanderson. Readers follow Kore, a disgraced bastard son turned prosperous courtesan as he attempts to influence the political landscape and seek revenge on the father who never supported him.

I was so excited for this book. The pitch sounded like it had so much potential to be everything I really like. The book features queerness and is by a trans author, and I was certain I would have a new favorite to recommend. Then, I admit, I got nervous after hearing that this book was receiving negative reviews and that the author was behaving poorly about them. I have never let author behavior impact my enjoyment of a book, nor did it impact my enjoyment this time. I allow the work to stand for itself, and so proceeded with the book in good faith.

Unfortunately, every complaint that has been brought by reviewers is entirely valid. The anachronistic alignment of the tone of the writing with the speech of the characters. The lack of establishing… well, any kind of solidity for time period, world-building, even forms of dress. I will give that the author provided a pronunciation guide for the names, but I honestly don’t know how much that helped given all of the fantasy words that were never explained regarding clothing items. The writing in and of itself was ham-fisted and clunky without any identifiable flow. Scene changes were abrupt and the pacing was positively unfortunate with giving no room for key events to breathe or be processed.

I do believe there are pieces and glimmers of potential. What was introduced regarding essence and the transfer of it was interesting. There is some work that has been done to build the different political groups. The general concept of the book obviously drew me in to begin with. But this work needs to be utterly reworked and edited to make it at the very least consistent within its own parameters, which do not appear to have been established.

Very sad to have this experience and I do hope that there is an opportunity for this work to get the edits that it needs. Perhaps there is an audience that exists for the work in its current state, but I am at a loss of a readership to whom I can recommend this as it stands.