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chaosrayne's review
3.0
It’s not that I didn’t love this book, because I did, but it felt like the pacing was off and everything move too quickly towards the end and wraps up too quickly and nicely.
barb4ry1's review
5.0
Most people think djinns live in lamps and grant wishes while dressed in turbans. Nothing further from the truth. Djinns are terrifying, capricious and proud creatures. Made of fire, they're stronger, faster and deadlier than any human. When you meet one, don't ask him for a favour. Be polite and careful not to offend him. Who knows, maybe you'll survive?
Shah's Fire Boy and Earth Boy duology (in some regions published as a single volume called Boy of Fire and Earth) blew my mind. I loved this book. It's a dark, funny, and compelling urban fantasy tale based in Pakistan's biggest city - Karachi. A young boy, Wahid, comes to terms with his unique abilities and sets out on an adventure to recover the soul of the girl he loves from vengeful djinns.
Helped by the devil himself, Wahid will cross the line between worlds and explore Sufi mysticism. Sounds New-age-y? It shouldn't. Shah's raw talent, unexpected turns and twists, and an intelligent plot make this tale compelling and genuinely surprising.
As a westerner, I found the eastern setting and mythology fascinating and fresh. From Dajjal to the djinns or Pichal Pairee — the novel introduces various Islamic mythical creatures in all their splendour. The mythology and cosmology derived from Qur'an explore the notion of the multiverse and thin layers between mythical and physical. I absolutely loved the passages of the book that delved into metaphysics and theology. Plus, Iblis (The Devil himself) shines as a secondary character.
Wahid is a dorky, instantly likeable protagonist. He loves comic books and fantasy and has no idea how to approach the girl he likes. Following him on the journey of self-discovery never failed to entertain (or terrify). While Wahid's arc builds upon Chosen One and Coming of Age tropes, it does so with great style.
I think some readers may have a problem with females' representation in the book - the ones we meet are perfect victims, old hags, or flirtatious types.
The tone of the book switches between funny and gritty. When the story gets violent, it pulls no punches. Some scenes and deaths shocked me. Djinns get terrifying and I'm thoroughly impressed with their portrayal.
The city becomes a character as well (literally). Shah loves Karachi. Deeply. I've never been to Pakistan, but somehow he made me feel what it would be like to walk through vibrant and dangerous streets of this city. Home to over a dozen ethnic communities, Karachi is diverse and volatile, sometimes frightening but also magnificent. The Fire Boy reads like a dark ode to Karachi displaying its darkest secrets. I need to go there one day.
It seems the author intended the duology to be a single volume. In the West it's published as two books, in India as one. My advice - don't treat it as a duology. It doesn't work as one at all. That's why I rate both books as one.
Shah's Reap short story shines in Djinn Falls in Love anthology. The combination of Shah's talent, creativity and engaging storyline propel Fire Boy and Earth Boy to my 2018' best reads.
Shah's Fire Boy and Earth Boy duology (in some regions published as a single volume called Boy of Fire and Earth) blew my mind. I loved this book. It's a dark, funny, and compelling urban fantasy tale based in Pakistan's biggest city - Karachi. A young boy, Wahid, comes to terms with his unique abilities and sets out on an adventure to recover the soul of the girl he loves from vengeful djinns.
Helped by the devil himself, Wahid will cross the line between worlds and explore Sufi mysticism. Sounds New-age-y? It shouldn't. Shah's raw talent, unexpected turns and twists, and an intelligent plot make this tale compelling and genuinely surprising.
As a westerner, I found the eastern setting and mythology fascinating and fresh. From Dajjal to the djinns or Pichal Pairee — the novel introduces various Islamic mythical creatures in all their splendour. The mythology and cosmology derived from Qur'an explore the notion of the multiverse and thin layers between mythical and physical. I absolutely loved the passages of the book that delved into metaphysics and theology. Plus, Iblis (The Devil himself) shines as a secondary character.
Wahid is a dorky, instantly likeable protagonist. He loves comic books and fantasy and has no idea how to approach the girl he likes. Following him on the journey of self-discovery never failed to entertain (or terrify). While Wahid's arc builds upon Chosen One and Coming of Age tropes, it does so with great style.
I think some readers may have a problem with females' representation in the book - the ones we meet are perfect victims, old hags, or flirtatious types.
The tone of the book switches between funny and gritty. When the story gets violent, it pulls no punches. Some scenes and deaths shocked me. Djinns get terrifying and I'm thoroughly impressed with their portrayal.
The city becomes a character as well (literally). Shah loves Karachi. Deeply. I've never been to Pakistan, but somehow he made me feel what it would be like to walk through vibrant and dangerous streets of this city. Home to over a dozen ethnic communities, Karachi is diverse and volatile, sometimes frightening but also magnificent. The Fire Boy reads like a dark ode to Karachi displaying its darkest secrets. I need to go there one day.
It seems the author intended the duology to be a single volume. In the West it's published as two books, in India as one. My advice - don't treat it as a duology. It doesn't work as one at all. That's why I rate both books as one.
Shah's Reap short story shines in Djinn Falls in Love anthology. The combination of Shah's talent, creativity and engaging storyline propel Fire Boy and Earth Boy to my 2018' best reads.
dofleinita's review
4.0
I would have preferred it and Fire Boy as one book- some of the impact was lost because of characters I had forgotten about from the first book. but the stories in the Acknowledgements made it all worthwhile.
glaiza_echo's review
5.0
I'm going to miss Wahid's adventures. An intense fantasy ride with a solid (and intriguing) conclusion.
alanbaxter's review
4.0
Why the hell this book and Fire Boy aren't a single volume mystifies me. I really enjoyed Fire Boy but it just ended after 300 pages with no resolution or cliffhanger. It just stopped. Then this book is only 250 pages and the last 10% or so of that is a Ln unnecessary memoir from the author after the story ended. Even the print wasn't that small. This could easily have been a 400-450 page single volume and far more satisfying for that. I just don't get it. But I'm not reviewing the publisher here, I'm reviewing the story. And the story is great. It's different urban fantasy, so deeply embedded in Pakistan and Islamic mythology. Often beautifully written, it's a clever and engaging novel. I recommend it. I also recommend the publisher seriously considers a single volume edition!
littlethief's review
4.0
I'm just very sad this duology is over. I've never seen myself represented so fully in a piece of literature, even if it's full of jinn, witches with their feet pointing backward, the Devil and the Antichrist! Incredible.
kjcharles's review
This is basically the second half of [b:Fire Boy|29234637|Fire Boy (Djinn-Son Duology, #1)|Sami Shah|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456033400s/29234637.jpg|49475893] and I'm not really sure why it was published as two books. It's one in two halves. (Also: definitely not YA despite the title.)
Fantasy with a lot of horror elements set in modern Pakistan, mostly Karachi, with excursions to the world of the djinn. The mythology is used brilliantly and evocatively, and is often very scary, but there's a lot of humour as well. If you like Neil Gaiman before the ponderousness set in, you'd like this. The writing is mostly excellent (with a weird tick about repeated speech tags an editor should have fixed); it's a vivid fun fast-paced adventure that I enjoyed hugely, with a lot of things to say about religion and the state of the country.
I will say, this has the same issue as part one (obv, it's the same book) of an almost complete absence of women (literally two, with a handful of lines between them). This is hardly a problem unique in male fantasy writers (side eyes [b:The Stress of Her Regard|417656|The Stress of Her Regard|Tim Powers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1290918017s/417656.jpg|937457]) and this author writes with a lot of emotional intelligence and heart. This half of the book is also very much about male anger and destructiveness, including in the way women are treated, and I suspect it wouldn't have felt like such an issue in the first book if I'd read it as one entire work. I'd put money the author will improve on that in the future. Shah's story in [b:The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories|30753517|The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories|Mahvesh Murad|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473606714s/30753517.jpg|51301974] was one of the standouts of an excellent collection, and I will be right there for whatever he comes up with next.
Fantasy with a lot of horror elements set in modern Pakistan, mostly Karachi, with excursions to the world of the djinn. The mythology is used brilliantly and evocatively, and is often very scary, but there's a lot of humour as well. If you like Neil Gaiman before the ponderousness set in, you'd like this. The writing is mostly excellent (with a weird tick about repeated speech tags an editor should have fixed); it's a vivid fun fast-paced adventure that I enjoyed hugely, with a lot of things to say about religion and the state of the country.
I will say, this has the same issue as part one (obv, it's the same book) of an almost complete absence of women (literally two, with a handful of lines between them). This is hardly a problem unique in male fantasy writers (side eyes [b:The Stress of Her Regard|417656|The Stress of Her Regard|Tim Powers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1290918017s/417656.jpg|937457]) and this author writes with a lot of emotional intelligence and heart. This half of the book is also very much about male anger and destructiveness, including in the way women are treated, and I suspect it wouldn't have felt like such an issue in the first book if I'd read it as one entire work. I'd put money the author will improve on that in the future. Shah's story in [b:The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories|30753517|The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories|Mahvesh Murad|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473606714s/30753517.jpg|51301974] was one of the standouts of an excellent collection, and I will be right there for whatever he comes up with next.
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