Review - The Fire's Stone

As with Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light, the plot of Tanya Huff's The Fire's Stone isn't all that original. There's a prince, a thief, a princess, a stolen magical artefact, and an epic quest in which prince, thief and princess all become close. The really nice thing about it, though, is again, the characters. I knew beforehand about the gay relationship in this one, but there's also the theme of Darvish trying to get over his dependence on alcohol, and Aaron learning to let down his defences and let friends in.

Darvish's character development is lovely -- his reasons for drinking are realistic, and his attempts at stopping, his back-and-forth with it, are also realistic. His self-deprecation is realistic enough to sting a little. In Aaron's case, it could possibly have done with a bit more time to develop, but it's believable anyway and the scenes where he does let down his walls -- the fire dance, and when he explains his history to Darvish -- are lovely. Chandra didn't appeal to me as much as a character, but she's still fun, and her development as a person is interesting to read about too.

The relationship that forms between the three -- the friendship, I mean -- is really nicely done. The very last scenes, in which Darvish tells Aaron that he and Chandra are going to marry, is really well done: the way Darvish and Aaron get together made me squeal, and Chandra's "I wouldn't take him without you" is so appropriate to their relationship and lovely.