Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War [Hardcover]

Laura Anne Gilman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 2009 | Series: Vineart War (Book 1)

Once, all power in the Vin Lands was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft spellwines and who selfishly used them to increase their own wealth and influence. But their abuse of power caused a demigod to break the Vine, shattering the power of the mages. Now, fourteen centuries later, it is the humble Vinearts who hold the secret of crafting spells from wines, the source of magic, and they are prohibited from holding power.But now rumors come of a new darkness rising in the vineyards. Strange, terrifying creatures, sudden plagues, and mysterious disappearances threaten the land. Only one Vineart senses the danger, and he has only one weapon to use against it: a young slave. His name is Jerzy, and his origins are unknown, even to him. Yet his uncanny sense of the Vinearts' craft offers a hint of greater magics within-magics that his Master, the Vineart Malech, must cultivate and grow. But time is running out. If Malech cannot teach his new apprentice the secrets of the spellwines, and if Jerzy cannot master his own untapped powers, the Vin Lands shall surely be destroyed.In Flesh and Fire, the first entry in a spellbinding new trilogy, Laura Anne Gilman conjures a story as powerful as magic itself, as intoxicating as the finest of wines, and as timeless as the greatest legends ever told.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. With a unique, pleasingly consistent magic system based on the production and consumption of wine, urban fantasist Gilman (the Retrievers series) turns a standard coming-of-age tale into something wholly new. Young Jerzy, a vineyard slave, possesses the rare and extraordinary ability of the Vinearts, magicians who create spellwines from the most potent grapes. When someone begins sabotaging the fields of the traditionally reclusive winemakers, it is up to Jerzy and his master to save their way of life. A slow build of tension as Jerzy progresses from slave to student to spy keeps the reader engaged without any need for frenetic fight scenes. The tale is dominated by vivid, absorbing characters, and Jerzy's powerful narrative voice makes his joys and sorrows dramatic, authentic and potent. This intoxicating high fantasy will satisfy oenophiles and bibliophiles alike. (Oct.)
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Review

"A fresh and creative fantasy -- you'll never look at a bottle of Chardonnay the same way again!" -- Karen Miller, bestselling author of the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology

"Gilman has created a world that feels lived-in, real, and above all interesting." -- New York Times bestselling author S. M. Stirling

"Gilman has developed a fascinating, wholly unique magic system, and has peopled her complex world with strong, sympathetic characters and a couple of shocking plot twists. A terrific conceit done very well. I was delighted with it." -- C. E. Murphy, author of Walking Dead

"With a unique, pleasingly consistent magic system...Gilman's coming-of-age tale [becomes] something wholly new.... Vivid, absorbing characters...powerful." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; First Edition edition (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439101418
• ISBN-13: 978-1439101414
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice read, but ends far too soon, August 21, 2009

By 

E. Ambrose "Fellshot" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War (Hardcover)

This book definitely reads like the first in a trilogy. It rather conspicuously lacks an ending. How I wish that someone would write a decent stand-alone fantasy novel...

Anyway, it takes a very very long time to get to anything that resembles plot development around Jerzy, the main character. This is not to say that the book lacks plot development entirely, rather it is separated and disjointed over the course of the book and doesn't start to become more apparent until Malech, Jerzy's teacher, sends his charge away to study with someone else. Then there are some strange goings on, some eavesdropping, and other mayhem culminating in an exciting escape. Then the book ends.

Now there are reasons to read this book. The system of magic described is pretty interesting. Why? Because grape juice from certain grapes is magical... and some of them just make good wine :) There's a lot of description and explanation of how it works, who can use and make such things and why they do that in the first place. I thought it clever, original and well thought out.

The characters also seemed to be well thought out. While the exposition of those characters seemed to drag at times, I thought that the characters themselves weren't all that bad. Unfortunately, all the ones that intrigued me right off the bat died all too quickly... but that seems to be my tough luck. Ao was my favorite. He got to live. :)

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to rate a book that isn't finished, April 15, 2010

By 

Ken "Ken" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War (Hardcover)

If I paid closer attention to the other reviews I would have been able to infer that this book doesn't have an ending. It just stops. That would be ok if the other volumes were already written but it was a big problem for me. The story was just starting to move and then splat. The end. Everything left up in the air.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique take on the fantasy genre, October 21, 2010

By 

Lady Atana "lady_atana" (Atlanta, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

The premise of this fantasy world is that all magic is found in special grapes, which when made into "spell wines", allows people to tap into the actual magical properties. Each type of grape can only thrive in one region, thereby dividing the power among several people instead of it being concentrated in the hands of the one person or group. Of course, in true high fantasy style, there is the unknown antagonist who wishes to "rule the world" and is attempting to consolidate the power in his/her hands.

This novel was an excellent "Book One" of a series. The characters are intriguing and realistic, the settings are well defined, and the overall plot moves along nicely. I eagerly await the next book in the series.