50books_poc | #31: The Fire King by Marjorie Liu (Reply)

This may be the first romance novel to feature a heroine with one arm. Then again, Liu may also have the first one-eyed badass amoral mercenary mom. And an ancient dragon grandma who rules an entire species. They’re here too.

Soria is an agent of Dirk & Steele who lost her arm a year again. She’s lived in seclusion ever since, learning how to function without her dominant hand, and also dealing with a murder she committed in the events connected to losing her arm. Her power is the ability to understand and communicate in any language, even ones no one has ever heard before. When the shapeshifters, allies of Dirk & Steele, open a 3,000 year old tomb and find that the body inside is still alive, Soria is contacted to communicate with him, as he speaks a language no one recognizes. The man, Karr, is a shapeshifter different from any others they know of, and seems to instinctively hate shapeshifters.

Before Soria can learn why, however, the camp is attacked, and Soria and Karr end up on the run through the desert.

This book was less focused on the romance than other Dirk & Steel books (maybe because of the urban fantasies Liu is writing now?) though the D&S books, in general, tend to be less romance-centric than the average romance novel. For the most part, though, this book focused on the mythology and the history of the shapeshifters.

I’ve been curious about the chimeras for a while, as I thought it odd that the offspring of different kinds of shapeshifters hadn’t been mentioned. I suppose, though, that I had just assumed that the offspring ended up the same species as one of the parents, instead of a combination. Though, since chimera are a part of mythology, and not really an unknown one, you’d think the shapeshifters in the last couple thousand years would have heard of them, and wondered.

Speaking of shapeshifters, Koni is in this one, too. I thought it was odd at first that he wasn’t very snarky or cocky, but then I realized that all of his scenes were with people who could and would cheerfully eat him. Literally.

I think it’s been mentioned before, but the shapeshifter society being a matriarchal society is explored more here. Actually, it seems that most of the ancient supernatural societies were. And the only one that seems to have been patriarchal is that of the chimeras, where Tau led to their destruction, and that of the shapeshifters. And I appreciate how Liu doesn’t make a big deal of the matriarchal aspect, just treats it as being natural.

And Soria cut off her own arm! To escape imprisonment so she could kill a pedophilic rapist! Which, uhm, is kinda awesome survival instinct/devotion to a cause. Though I still want a full length D&S book where the main heroine is a trained shapeshifter, or has a more aggressive power.

We also see how Eddie’s doing after almost dying in Last Twilight, and meet what seems to be his future love interest. Unless Liu plans to have them get together between books. I hope not, as Eddie and Evie are both adorable, and I want a full length book. Or two full length books, if they don’t end up together.