Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War
by Laura Anne Gilman
I may have mentioned before that I love “food fiction,” stories that incorporate food or wine as a major part of the plot. Usually, those seem to be cozy mysteries or romances, which was why I was thrilled with the opportunity to review Flesh and Fire, a fantasy novel where magic and wine are intertwined. It sounded different, but definitely like something I would enjoy.
In the Vin Lands, only Vinearts make wine. They grow the grapes, press them and create both vin ordinaire and spellwines, wines that heal, change weather, make fire, and so on. However, something evil is happening in the lands; out of season illnesses are destroying vines, giant sea monsters are killing sailors, and at least one Vineart has disappeared. Who or what is causing this? One Vineart, Malech, and his student/slave, Jerzy, are determined to find out.
The world Gilman has created is fascinating. Each of the Vinearts has his own specialty, but, more important, each was originally a slave. Just like the vines he tends, each Vineart is strengthened by the stress he has gone through, but too much can destroy him. I loved all the information on growing the grapes and making the wine that was included, seamlessly, in the story.
The Vinearts are not to deal in politics, according to their religion, which plays an important part in the book. The “SinWasher” commanded the Vinearts to follow certain laws and there are traveling preachers determined to uphold those rules, but what other interests do they have?
Malech and Jerzy are wonderful characters, both flawed of course, but loyal and trying to do what is best. The book is full of magic and power, danger and loyalty, hope and despair. It is an awesome start to a series.
That’s my one negative comment, though. It is quite obviously the first book in the trilogy. It sets up the world, the main characters and some of the prevailing conflicts, but there is not resolution at the end. We just know that Jerzy, with two friends, is off to discover the truth. So, now I’ll be waiting impatiently for a year for the next installment of the Vineart War.
For more thoughts and opinions, check out these other tour stops.
All About {N}
Beth’s Book Review Blog
Revenge of the Book Nerds
The Neverending Shelf
Layers of Thought
Fantasy Freak
Undercover Book Lover
Starting Fresh
Pick of the Literate
My Friend Amy
Cheryl’s Book Nook
Opinionated? Me?
Readaholic
One Person’s Journey Through A World of Books
My Life In Not So Many Words
Geek Girl Reviews
Sci-Fi Guy
Wendy’s Minding Spot
Found Not Lost
Brizmus Blogs Books
25 Hour Books
Temple Library Reviews
Drey’s Library
My copy was provided by the publisher for review and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon Associate.
I guess I should have read this post before I commented on the Mailbox Monday one 🙂
This now does really seem like a good book and one I will have to get my hands on. Thanks for the review.
It does sound very fascinating 🙂
Boy, you got that read quick. The book sounds good – it’ll be a long year waiting for the next one.
Carol-I read The Witch The Lion and the wardrobe as a child and adult-and enjoyed it both times. Thanks for stopping by. Come back again.
I keep seeing this book on the Shelf Awareness side bar and now on everyone’s blog for the tour! It sounds really interesting, but I wasn’t sure if I thought a whole fantasy world revolving around wine was up my alley (although I do love wine. And fantasy). Also, I just do NOT want to get involved in another series right now!
I haven’t heard of this trilogy and it’s certainly interesting!
yes! it works! Now I can easily click back over to your blog when you leave me a comment. 🙂
This book looks really good. I have a feeling it may make my mouth water too, if there’s lots of wine talk. 🙂
Great review!
Sounds good (wine always gets my attention :)) but I’m thinking that I wouldn’t wait for another year. Maybe I should wait for the next one to come out to read the first.