The Fire Artist

September 15, 2014
In a (slightly alternate) world where elemental powers are a ticket to fame and fortune, Aria's scarred hands and powerful fire control set her apart. Aria's drive comes from fear; her life is shadowed by her father's actions three years ago, when he burned her hands to "help the fire come out." Her mysteriously ill mother and arson-inclined, elementally gifted brother were no help then. Now, as her father threatens her younger sister, Aria is determined to use her fire to break free. But her fire does not rise from within; it's created by a wind artist's illegal funneling of lightning into Aria's heart. When the M.E. Leagues recruit Aria, the edifice of lies threatens to fall apart until her desperate need calls forth Taj, a granter, or genie (this year's hot love interest), who can give her natural elemental power. The catch? If she wishes she'll lose Taj, with whom she's falling in love. The premise and back story are new, and the power balance between Aria and Taj (she holds most of the power for much of the novel) reverses the too-common structure until a late-game reversal. But the weakly imagined world comes across as barely there, as do all the secondary characters. And the gator ex machina ending is just insane. A lightweight entry in a microtrend that has stronger entries. (Paranormal romance. 13-16)

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July 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-In the not-too-distant future, elemental arts have replaced sports as the world's most popular form of spectator entertainment. Young people gifted with the ability to control fire, ice, earth and wind are recruited into "leagues," whose teams perform extravagant stunts before sold-out crowds. Rare and highly desirable, an elemental gift can be acquired legally, through genetics at birth, or illegally, through a directed lightning strike to the heart or through a wish exchange with a "granter." Aria Kilandros, the daughter of two elemental artists, appears to have inherited no such gift herself. Something her abusive and controlling father, who "want(s) another fire child more than anything in the world," simply cannot accept. Every night, he sets Aria's hands on fire in a cruel, crude attempt to release fire power from her body. Desperate to get away from her father and save herself, Aria uses both illegal methods to become a fire artist. ("No one ever told me that needing to escape is stronger than love, greater than fear. I figured that out on my own, and I channeled it into my fire.") And though her ill-gotten skills do catapult her out of the Florida backwaters and into the prestigious leagues of New York City, Aria's every day is shadowed by the fear that her Faustian bargain will be discovered. The book occasionally sags under the weight of the elemental art world's many rules and regulations. But fantasy readers will root for the smart, tough Aria and be awed by her beautifully articulated and actualized desire for independence.-Susan Wengler, Saint Dominic Academy, Jersey City, NJ

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