Ace Book Review: "This Golden Flame" by Emily Victoria
“Different doesn’t mean lesser”
I am, rather ironically, a sucker for the “fish out of water” trope – stories in which someone is taken from their usual circumstances and dropped into something else entirely. I love these types of stories because they allow characters to grow and adapt in ways that are often fascinating, and sometimes allow us to experience two different worlds in the form of the world they came from and the world they now find themselves in.
I say “ironically” because, for as much as I love these
stories, many of their core concepts also make me anxious or even
uncomfortable. I think both this discomfort and this fascination arise from the
same source: the fact that these stories are essentially about feeling a sense
of disconnect and a lack of belonging, as well as a deep desire to find that
belonging again, and these are lessons I know well as an aspec person living in
what often feels like an unfriendly world.
For that reason, “fish out of water” stories also really
resonate with me because I want to draw inspiration from them and learn
adaptation in my own life. Often, the characters who find themselves in these
bizarre new circumstances can’t go back to the way things were and are forced
to adapt to the world they now find themselves in, for better or for worse; or
perhaps they never belonged in their original world at all, and now they must
go on a search for belonging or a quest to find what they need the most.
Both of these notions come together in the 2021 novel, This
Golden Flame by Emily Victoria, which is a fascinating blend of Greco-Roman
inspired setting meets fantasy adventure meets sci-fi concepts such as
automatons. The story follows two protagonists. The first is Karis, an orphan who
longs for nothing more than to find her brother Matthias, from whom she was
separated. She spends her days serving the rulers of their country Eratia – a
group called the Scriptorium who seeks to unlock the forgotten knowledge of how
the country once worked its fierce automaton protectors. Once these automatons
were controlled through runes known as “the script,” but due to the long-ago
actions of a great traitor, this knowledge has long since been lost.
One day, by sheer happenstance, Karis manages to stumble
upon a very different automaton – our second protagonist, Alix. Much to Karis’s
shock, she is able to activate him, and finds that Alix is not a mindless metal
monster like many of the old inactive automatons clearly are; rather, he’s a
humanoid young man with intelligence, the ability to speak, and emotions. He is
our "fish out of water" character, as he dates from a few hundred years prior to
the story’s current time, and awakes to find the world very different than the
one he remembers leaving. Perhaps the biggest difference – a shock to both
himself and to Karis – is that his creator and father is the very same man whom
Eratia remembers as their great traitor.
Now bound together by this unbelievable secret and secrets
yet to be discovered, Karis and Alix – along with Karis’s friend Dane – must flee
the Scriptorium, using this new information not just to find where Karis’s
brother is, but embarking on a quest to help Alix figure out who he is and what
information his past might help them uncover. Thus begins an unexpected
adventure that brings the trio to new places, finding new allies and
confronting new enemies along the way, all while growing as people and
discovering things about themselves.
Right off the bat, Karis is our aspec character, and I
appreciate that her being aspec is brought up extremely early in the story. In
many of the novels I’ve read, it takes quite a while to discover who the aspec
character(s) may be, and while that works just fine in many of these books,
it’s extremely pleasant to have a character’s aspec identity presented upfront.
Even though no terminology is explicitly used, it’s very clearly stated that
she doesn’t experience romantic or sexual attraction, and even if it’s not a
huge part of her character, it works for the overall story. Most primarily, it
allows Karis to have two male friends – Dane and Alix – without there ever
being any expectation of romantic tensions underpinning any of it. This is also
true of other characters that Karis interacts with – for
instance, the pirate queen Zara, who is able to become a good friend without
the expectation of romantic attraction.
Meanwhile, although Alix is not implied to be aspec in
exactly the same way as Karis, it seems very likely that he is. Normally, I
find the idea of aspec artificial life to be a bit of an overused trope and
sometimes even a potentially problematic one, but I actually really liked it
for Alix, in part because he’s never once portrayed as an unemotional robot who
is less than human – in fact, the quote I used at the beginning of this post is
a large part of Alix’s journey as he realizes that he’s a real and valid
person, regardless of his origins. And, much like for Karis, Alix being drawn
more to platonic relationships allowed him to form meaningful bonds with other
characters that didn’t have to have the expectation of romance, which in turn
allowed him to discover himself without sex or romance being
treated as requirements.
In general, the idea of letting one’s self care for people
is a huge theme of the novel for both protagonists, and I really appreciated
that this theme was delivered with platonic bonds in the forefront. In that
same vein, I love that Karis’s main motivating factor for much of the novel is
a familial bond, in that her main goal is reuniting with her brother. As the
novel develops and she grows closer to Alix and other characters, she longs to
protect them as well, but this doesn’t take away from her desire to find her
brother. Meanwhile, Alix thinks often about the bond he had with his father,
and the memories of their time together form a great deal of his own thoughts
and feelings, especially when contrasted with the negative view society has of
his father now.
Eventually, the story does branch out from just these
smaller personal conflicts and expands into the problems of Eratia, which our
young heroes find themselves ensnared in. I expected to find some of these
plotlines superfluous or overly complicated – for instance, I was rather
surprised when the plot found the trio being kidnapped by pirates and expected
the story to go off the rails a bit here – but was surprised by how the story
managed to integrate these various threads. Even when these other threads began
to ratchet up in intensity and found the characters discovering the
machinations of the villain, I was pleased to see that this didn’t become the
whole focus of the story, nor did it take away from the development of the
characters.
I think the story also did a good job of showcasing the
diversity of these characters in a way that likewise felt organic. Beyond just
Karis (and potentially Alix) being aspec, we see minor characters who are
people of color, non-binary, gay, and various other minority identities, and
although some of these characters had very little time on the page, I think it
allowed for a good range of identities nevertheless. This worked well with the
story’s plot, since many of these characters were found in the pirate crew and
the plot made it even more meaningful that these various people would come
together for a common cause and goal.
Speaking of the plot, this book actually did something I
wasn’t expecting but was extremely grateful for. If you’ve read my other Ace Book Reviews, you’ll know that an overwhelming majority of the aspec books I’ve
read are young adult novels – in fact, a vast majority of aspec books in
general seem to fall under this umbrella. And there’s nothing wrong with that; in
many cases “young adult” is used just because of the age of the main characters
and thus the audience it is assumed they will appeal to, and many of these
novels are very well-written with terrific, emotional, thought-provoking plots.
Naturally, many of these plots, while accessible to people of all ages, are
designed to discuss topics that appeal to young people, which often includes
ideas of changing the world.
Again, this is a great thing. A lot of wonderful YA
literature – whether these be smaller indie titles or huge blockbuster stories
– are based around the idea that young people can help remove corrupt power
structures and help rebuild them into something better. This theme can be
inspiring or provide hope and wish fulfillment for people who struggle to feel
seen or represented in their society. But sometimes these stories can also feel
a little cliched in how this is presented; in fact, it’s generally become an
expectation of mine that when I read one of these novels, there’s going to be a
heavy emphasis on a revolutionary element or a political uprising of some kind.
However, something I ended up really appreciating about This
Golden Flame is that it was less a revolution story or a story about
overthrowing power, and more a story about people and choices. While there is
eventually a revolution plot, it, like most other plots in the story, develops
in a way that I feel makes sense with the worldbuilding of the story.
Eventually [spoiler alert], it’s revealed
that the same types of runes that animate Alix are being used to experiment
with controlling people, and the magister who is doing this won’t stop until he
has control over people and automatons alike.
While the idea of overthrowing this evil magister is an
important part of the plot, especially later in the story, I enjoyed the build
up to it, the way it organically felt like the characters found themselves
being drawn into this already-existing conflict rather than leaping into it. Admittedly,
if you’re looking for a good rebellion or a satisfying villain takedown, you
really won’t find it here; while there is a climactic fight near the end of the
story and some attempt to instill change, neither of these things are the story’s
sole focus. That might be a deal-killer for some people, but I found it a
refreshing change of pace from the usual fare.
In general, the story focuses more primarily on
world-building and character development than the actual plot, which personally
didn’t bother me, as I enjoyed the cast of characters presented throughout the
narrative. As eluded to before, the large cast of characters means that a few
of them are really not very consequential, but those that were definitely stood
out to me. That’s especially true of the protagonists, whose rotating first
person POVs allowed the ability to dive more deeply into their personalities
and get invested in their journey.
Karis was a complex character with flaws and who makes
complex decisions, but is still likeable. Alix is likewise a deep character
whose journey feels sincere rather than overwrought or preachy. And, even
better than both of them separate, it was incredibly rewarding to watch the two
of them grow together, coming to trust one another and form a friendship that
both of them clearly needed. If I had any complaint at all, it’s that I almost
wish the unique platonic bond between them was explored even more.
The same is true of their aspec identities. Like some of the
other books I’ve covered previously, Karis being aspec was a relatively minor
part of her story in terms of actual representation – that is to say, the idea
of her coming to terms with this identity or really discussing it in general
were not huge parts of the story and, technically, the story would have been
the same even without the mention of these things. However, I nevertheless
appreciated it being included, as I said earlier, in part because I believe it
allowed for us to get a picture of her as a character and the relationships in
her life. Even though the story would technically be the same even without
Karis being mentioned as aspec, I believe the fact that she was allowed for her
to develop in ways that aren’t obvious and thus I’m glad she was an aspec
character.
Additionally, even if aspec-ness wasn’t itself a huge theme
of the story, the idea of being different definitely was. As the starting quote
implies, whether it’s Karis being aspec or Alix being an automaton and thus
different from everyone and everything around him, the idea of feeling
alienated from others was an undeniable part of the narrative. Regular readers
of the blog likely know that I often discuss experiencing these same feelings
as I move through my own life, and so I appreciated seeing these things not
only delivered through this story, but delivered through that aspec lens
specifically. Both Karis and Alix know they’re different, and that makes it
even more meaningful that they find one another.
In the end, This Golden Flame is a story about change
and adaptation, and above all, much to my delight, it’s a story about
friendship and platonic love. It’s a story about connection, and how
connections comfort people and drive them to be better. And it’s a story about
being different, but finding strength in that difference, all wrapped up in a
fantasy adventure romp. This might sound strange, but the story almost reminded
me of a video game, and I mean that in the best possible way – it had a large
and diverse cast of characters, all of which added different flavors to the
story, it involved characters going on a journey (both physical and emotional),
and it had all the excitement I would expect of a delightful character-driven
game. That sense of getting lost in a game world translated very well here,
giving it an exciting feeling that led to both a cathartic and enjoyable time.
Like all good "fish out of water" tales, we see how Alix is
able to adapt to this new world and how he is given help along the way.
Meanwhile Karis, who was never at home in the place she found herself
Comments
Post a Comment