Flesh and Fire, by Laura Ann Gilman (The Vineart War #1)

Hailed as "something wholly new" and "extraordinary" in starred reviews from "Library Journal "and "Publishers Weekly, "Laura Anne Gilman's "Flesh and Fire "is as intoxicating as the finest of wines--and as powerful as magic itself. Once, all power in the Vin Lands was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft spellwines, and who selfishly used them to their own gain. Now, fourteen centuries after a demigod shattered the Vine, it is the humble Vinearts who know the secret of crafting spells from wines, the source of magic, and they are prohibited from holding power. 


But a new darkness is rising in the vineyards, and only one Vineart, Master Malech, senses the coming danger. He has but one weapon to use against it: a young slave named Jerzy, whose origins are unknown, even to him. Yet his uncanny sense of the Vinearts' craft offers a hint of greater magics within--magics that Malech must cultivate in his new apprentice before time runs out. For if Jerzy cannot unlock the secrets of the spellwines, the Vin Lands will surely be destroyed.

Flesh and Fire is an incredibly slow read and as you may be able to tell from my label, I didn't bother to finish it. The fantasy world which it takes place in is one of the most unique I have encountered in my many travels through imaginary universes, but it is also a fantasy universe which I would be happy to call home. Magic in this world is performed through wine, and the wines are made by the Vinearts, men who own and run vineyards and turn what would be ordinary wine into spellwine. Lately there have been some attacks on vineyards, assaulting the grapes and their owners, and it is during this tumultuous time that one Vineart, Master Malech, finds his protege in a young slave named Jerzy. Most of the story is told from the point of view of Jerzy or Master Malech, but there are several chapters dedicated to the goings-on of a usually peaceful island whose name I have forgotten. I would love to tell you more about what happens but I gave up after two hundred pages and that is all that happened.

The concept of magic in wine is a good one, and one rarely, if ever, touched upon. I enjoyed reading about a new form of magic that I had never read about before, but what bugged me was how little the author said about how the magic actually works. There was a lot of flowery language about Jerzy and Malech feeling the magic in the grapes and getting it to do what they want, but it was too vague for me to actually understand.

There is one quality that can be found in many adult fantasy books that I cannot stand, and that is disconnectedness from emotion. I first noticed this while reading Game of Thrones-how cold all the people seemed (no references to weather intended) to one another, but most of all to me, the reader. I was totally detached as I read it, and the lack of innuendo when referring to things too horrid for me to think about made me feel cold and cruel. Flesh and Fire gave me that same feeling, in a lesser extent, but the same feeling nonetheless. That, and my dread and lack of excitement in picking up the book led to my ultimate decision to move on to bigger (well, not really bigger because this one was kind of huge) and better books.

2.2 stars.