Luka and the Fire of Life

July 26, 2010
Rushdie unleashes his imagination on an alternate world informed by the surreal logic of video games, but the author's entertaining wordplay and lighter-than-air fantasies don't amount to more than a clever pastiche. A sequel of sorts to Haroun and the Sea of Stories, this outing finds Haroun's younger brother, Luka, on a mission to save his father, guided, ironically, by Nobodaddy, a holograph-like copy of his father intent on claiming the old man's life. Along the way, they're joined by a collection of creatures, including a dog named Bear, a bear named Dog, hybrid bird-elephant beasts, and a princess with a flying carpet. As with video games, Luka stores up extra lives, proceeds to the next level after beating big baddies, and uses his wits to overcome bottomless chasms and trash-dropping otters. Rushdie makes good use of Nobodaddy, and his world occasionally brims with allegory (the colony of rats called the "Respectorate of I" brings the Tea Party to mind), but this is essentially a fun tale for younger readers, not the novel Rushdie's adult fans have been waiting for.

Starred review from August 1, 2010

Rushdie's 11th novel is a sequel to his charming 1990 fable Haroun and the Sea of Stories, written—as was its predecessor—for one of its author's two sons.

Visions of Kipling and J.M. Barrie may swim through readers' heads as we meet 12-year-old Luka Khalifa, the child of his parents' middle age (and younger sibling to the previously eponymous Haroun), and an eager listener to lavish tales of the Magical World dreamed into being by his father Rashid, a celebrated storyteller aka "the Shah of Blah." When Rashid falls into a mysterious prolonged sleep (and hence a silence that raises memories of Rushdie's own "silenced" life as a writer following the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini), everything Luka has ever learned tells him he must brave the dangers of the Magical World, steal the revivifying Fire of Life from the Mountain of Knowledge and restore his beloved dad to consciousness. Guarded by animal companions (Bear the Dog, and Dog the Bear) and bedeviled by a "phantom Rashid" (aka "Nobodaddy"), the young Prometheus undertakes his heroic deed. He wins a riddling contest against the cantankerous Old Man of the River, encounters vicious Border Rats and compassionate Otters and assorted celebrities (including Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee and The Terminator), en route to confronting the petty, egomaniacal gods of antiquity. Adult readers will rightfully delight in Rushdie's brilliant wordplay throughout, but younger ones may yearn for less cleverness and more narrative. Fortunately, the story gathers whiz-bang velocity once Luka has heatedly persuaded the sulky gods and monsters that "it's only through Stories that you can get out into the Real World and have some sort of power again." Everything races briskly toward the satisfactory completion of Luka's quest, and a quite perfect final scene.

A celebration of storytelling, a possible prequel to the book Rushdie is said to be writing about his own enforced "slumber," and a colorful, kick-up-your-heels delight.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from March 1, 2011
Using a format that combines video game-like progress with mythology and pop-culture references, Rushdie weaves together a wonderfully rich and most enjoyable story about a young boy who goes on a quest to save his father. While the 12-year-old Luka encounters many obstacles as he struggles to complete the journey, he receives assistance from both the denizens of the magic world and his real-world companions, a bear named Dog and a dog named Bear. Narrator Lyndam Gregory, who previously read Rushdie's "Midnight's Children"for Recorded Books, brings an excellent storytelling voice to this audio that allows listeners to imagine that they, too, are hearing a favorite childhood adventure story. For juvenile and/or YA collections. [See Prepub Exploded, "BookSmack!"5/6/10; the Vintage pb will publish in June 2011.—Ed.]—J. Sara Paulk, Wythe-Grayson Reg. Lib., Independence, VA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2010
This entertaining fable, dedicated to Rushdies second son, is a stand-alone sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990). Harouns younger brother, Luka, a 12-year-old boy living in the land of Alifbay, enters the World of Magic after his father, Rashid Khalifa, the famous tale spinner known as the Shah of Blah, falls into a comalike sleep. Lukas quest to steal the Fire of Life, the only potential cure, begins a fast-paced adventure that combines supernatural whimsy with candid real-world attitude. With his talking-animal companions and his fathers phantom alter ego, Nobodaddy, he moves through a psychedelic alternate universe populated by strange creatures and forgotten deities. The setting behaves like a huge video game, and the kaleidoscopic action can be overwhelming at times. Readers will enjoy the silly puns and fun magic-carpet ride, and should appreciate the literary in-jokes and wry humor. Although the tone is fairly lighthearted overall, the triumphant finale is a fantastic tribute to the rich interior world of the storyteller and the transformative power of his art. HIGH DEMAND BACKSTORY: Ever since the fatwa was issued against Rushdie upon the publication of The SatanicVerses, readers are always eager to see what this major international writer is up to now.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)