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    The Fire’s Stone
    The Fire’s Stone
    The Fire’s Stone
    Ebook385 pages

    The Fire’s Stone

    By Tanya Huff

    4/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    It was a long fall from Clan Heir to common thief, but Aaron never wanted any part of his father’s brutal outlander reign. In fact, besides coin purses and jewels, there’s very little in all of Cisali that interests Aaron, until he stumbles—quite literally—into a prince’s bedchamber…

    Prince Davish of Ischia is a skilled swordsman both on the field and beneath the sheets, at least when he isn’t outrageously drunk. But the wine helps him forget all the ways he’s disappointed his father, his family, and soon enough, his young bride-to-be…

    A trained Wizard of the Nine with more raw talent than real-world experience, Princess Chandra has no interest in the politically arranged marriage. She flees to the royal city of Ischia seeking a way out of the union. But there, she discovers something far more shocking than Prince Davish’s rakish reputation…

    The Stone of Ischia has been stolen. A powerful talisman, The Stone protects the city from the active volcano that looms over its terraces and streets. Without it, Ischia will be destroyed and the kingdom of Cisali will fall. Its only hope is an unlikely band of heroes—a failed thief, a drunken prince, and a runaway wizard—who must face pirates, powerful magic, and their own carefully guarded secrets in order to find and restore the Stone of Ischia.

    REVIEWS
    “The delightful camarderie of three unlikely heroes and well controlled fantasy elements make Huff's adventure great fun to read.” —Publishers Weekly
    “Huff arranges the ordinary elements of fantasy into an extraordinary tale of adventure and transformation.” —Library Journal
    “An exciting adventure … they face pirates, storms, traitors … each has unique talents that can bring their mission to a successful conclusion, each has weakness that could destroy themselves and a city of people.” —Voya
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
    Release dateAug 8, 2012
    ISBN9781936535590
    The Fire’s Stone
    Author

    Tanya Huff

    Tanya Huff lives in rural Ontario with her wife Fiona Patton, five cats, and an increasing number of fish. Her 32 novels and 83 short stories include horror, heroic fantasy, urban fantasy, comedy, and space opera. Her BLOOD series was turned into the 22-episode Blood Ties and writing episode nine allowed her to finally use her degree in Radio & Television Arts. Many of her short stories are available as eCollections. She’s on Twitter at @TanyaHuff and Facebook as Tanya Huff. She has never used her Instagram account and isn’t sure why she has it.

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    Reviews for The Fire’s Stone

    4/5

    162 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The closeted thief, the alcoholic, bisexual playboy prince, the driven princess with daddy issues, and the macguffin to bring them all together. This was not exactly a profound book, but it was, typical of Tanya Huff, solidly crafted with believable characters and a great deal of fun. Obviously an early work, but I have no qualms recommending it as entertaining queer fluff.
    • 5/5
      This book is well thought out as well as being well written. If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star, just submit your story to hardy@novelstar.top or joye@novelstar.top
    • 5/5
      Wow. I had never heard of this author before reading this book, but quite enjoyed it. The plot is surprisingly engaging for a fairly standard fantasy novel; the three main characters are deeply drawn and given complicated back stories, and wrestle with very real issues such as alcoholism, childhood trauma, and acceptance of love that isn’t just between man and woman. Sometimes they offer sophisticated modern psychoanalysis of one another -- something not often articulated in “real” life -- but I forgive them that because they had me caring about what happened to them and hoping that they all made it in the end. I will look for more of Huff’s books, for sure.
    • 4/5
      There's queer brown ppl and kick-ass women. Yo. What more could you want though?

      Ugh. So exciting and cute. This was a pretty fun book. The characters were all surprisingly great. Chandra could be annoying but she was adorable because she was so young but tried to be grown and cool. Haha. Aaron. I normally am annoyed by characters that broken but he was so awesome. Not perfect. Just awesome with some serious personal issues that I thought were worked out quite well for such a short book. And Dar. Lemme say something about Dar. I was totally in love with him by the middle of the book. I shed tears for this guy. I MEAN! The changes he has to go through getting over his own problems. Huff never chickens out and makes him completely perfect and renewed like I've seen some books do. He's a real person and I can identify with his struggle! It was wonderful.
    • 4/5
      Three young people with sever parental issues are twisted together by the author and sent off on a quest to save a city on which they are tested, battered, and bonded and served up grown beyond those bounds. A fast moving narrative twists until the triad is on it's way then flows forward with the inevitability of lava. The characters are less novel now than they would have been nearly 30 years ago, but remain rather charming.
    • 4/5
      I didn't think I would like this book when I started it but it grabbed me as I went on. I've always liked Tanya Huff's books and while this one is not one of my favorites, it is well-written and gripping. I found the characters interesting and it was rewarding that they changed and grew during the story. But that was also a little irritation that I had with the story. They seemed to grow and change so quickly. And then I wanted to see how those changes impacted their behavior and how lasted in the long term but the book ended a little bit too soon for me.
    • 4/5
      The Fire’s Stone is about a wizard, a swordsman, and a thief who go on a quest to recover the magical stone that binds a volcano, before the city beneath it is totally destroyed. This is largely a standard fantasy quest story. A trio of heroes has to defeat an evil wizard and save the day. Really, the only stand out element here is the romance between the two male leads.Aaron was the heir to his clan, but he fled after his father ordered his cousin Ruth killed. Aaron’s now a thief in the city of Ischia, which lies beneath a volcano. Darvish is the spoiled third son of the king of Ischia. He’s a playboy and an alcoholic who spends most of the time giving into his own vices. Chandra, his betrothed, is a princess and a wizard, and she does not want to marry. Unable to convince her father to call off the wedding, she travels to Ischia to try and convince Darvish. However, by the time she arrives the magical stone which controls the volcano has been stolen and is in the hands of a foreign wizard. Together, the three must set off to return it.Despite the plot and world building being fairly pedestrian, I think The Fire’s Stone did have deeper characterization than some comparable books. I started off hating Darvish and disliking the power dynamics between him and Aaron. However, he did eventually get better (this coincided with him becoming sober). His arc might be noteworthy as one of the few times I’ve seen a fantasy book portray a lead character who struggles with alcoholism. A side note, both Darvish and Aaron are bisexual. In Darvish’s case, this could have easily fallen into the “promiscuous bisexual” trope, but I think it’s counteracted by Aaron being not at all promiscuous. On a similar topic, I was never completely sure if Chandra was supposed to be asexual or just celibate. I’m still not sure what to make of this.The world building isn’t remarkable. The only memorable element is the city beneath the volcano, the gender equality of background roles and how same sex relationships are normal in Ischia. This isn’t the case everywhere outside Ischia. Aaron for instance comes from a homophobic society and has aghast over that (along with a friged woman in his past…)This brings me to another point. Chandra is almost the only speaking, named female character in the book. The only reason it passes the Bechdel test is due to Chandra having a few conversations with her nurse near the beginning. All of the three main characters have mothers who are both unimportant and dead! The only mother who receives more than one mention is Chandra’s, and that’s only because her death throws Chandra’s father into depression. The “missing mother” syndrome is not isolated to this one book, but this sure is a good example of it.Plot wise, this book was nothing great. Events took a long time to unfold. The climax lacked impact, and the pacing was slow. On the other hand, the writing wasn’t bad per say. The prose was never clunky or unwieldy. It just failed to interest me much for what ever reason.In the end, I find The Fire’s Stone largely mediocre. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a standard quest story or bisexual male leads.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
    • 4/5
      As with Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light, the plot isn't all that original. There's a prince, a thief, a princess, a stolen magical artefact, and an epic quest in which prince, thief and princess all become close. The really nice thing about it, though, is again, the characters. I knew beforehand about the gay relationship in this one, but there's also the theme of Darvish trying to get over his dependence on alcohol, and Aaron learning to let down his defences and let friends in.

      Darvish's character development is lovely -- his reasons for drinking are realistic, and his attempts at stopping, his back-and-forth with it, are also realistic. His self-deprecation is realistic enough to sting a little. In Aaron's case, it could possibly have done with a bit more time to develop, but it's believable anyway and the scenes where he does let down his walls -- the fire dance, and when he explains his history to Darvish -- are lovely. Chandra didn't appeal to me as much as a character, but she's still fun, and her development as a person is interesting to read about too.

      The relationship that forms between the three -- the friendship, I mean -- is really nicely done. The very last scenes, in which Darvish tells Aaron that he and Chandra are going to marry, is really well done: the way Darvish and Aaron get together made me squeal, and Chandra's "I wouldn't take him without you" is so appropriate to their relationship and lovely.

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    The Fire’s Stone - Tanya Huff

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