Water Logic: An Elemental Logic Novel [Paperback]

Laurie J. Marks (Author)

Book Description

Series: Elemental Logic | Publication Date: June 1, 2007

By water logic, a cow doctor becomes a politician. A soldier becomes a flower farmer. A lost book contains a lost future. The patterns of history are made and unmade.

Amid assassinations, rebellions, and the pyres of too many dead, a new government forms in the land of Shaftal—a government of soldiers and farmers, scholars and elemental talents, all weary of war and longing for peace. But some cannot forget their losses, and some cannot imagine a place for themselves in an enemy land. Before memory, before recorded history, something happened that now must be remembered. Zanja na’Tarwein, the crosser of boundaries, born in fire and wedded to earth, has fallen under the ice. Now, by water logic, the logic of patterns repeated, of laughter and music, the lost must be found—or the found may forever be lost.

Laurie J. Marks teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is the author of five previous novels, and her first two Elemental Logic novels (Fire Logic and Earth Logic) won the Gaylactic Spectrum Award and received multiple starred reviews. She is a recipient of the Fairy Godmother Award (James D. Tiptree, Jr. Award) and a founding member of Broad Universe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Picking up the threads left loose at the end of Earth Logic (2004), Marks's third Elemental Logic tale weaves three story lines through her tapestry of a war-torn world whose elemental forces are dangerously out of balance. Clement, reluctant general of the Sainnite army occupying Shaftal, has made peace with Karis, the Shaftali G'deon, and now seeks to suppress insurrection in her ranks and legitimize the leadership role thrust upon her. Meanwhile, Clement's lover Seth pursues an assassin who nearly murdered Karis. In the story's most fantastic subplot, fire witch Zanja na'Tarwein must discover why a rogue water elemental has transported her some 200 years back in time. Marks plays the fantasy of her unfolding epic more subtly here than in previous volumes, and the resulting depiction of intransigent cultures in conflict, rich with insight into human nature and motives, will resonate for modern readers. (June)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* The Sainnites and the Shaftal have been enemies for ages, but when Karis was declared G'deon, it became her responsibility to find a way to bring peace to the divided land, which she has, tentatively. The two peoples share land and work, but old hatreds smolder. And then a would-be assassin tries to kill Karis, and things get crazy. Clement, general of Karis' army, faces off with old friend but now rival general Heras over control of five mutinied garrisons now under Heras. Clement is killed and restored to life, but now she has lost all courage. Karis restores that courage at the increasing expense of Clement's mental health. The general, sound for some time after Karis touches her head, eventually becomes stupid; Karis can restore her again, but each successive relapse is worse. Meanwhile, a water witch steals Karis' wife, Zanja, and transports her 200 years into the past, in which she has her own parallel adventures that affect the future; that is, her natural present. How gifts from the past, often unknown or unacknowledged, bless future generations; how things that look like disasters or mistakes may be parts of a much bigger pattern that produces greater, farther-reaching good results—such is the theme of Marks' sweeping fantasy, which reaches its third volume with this successor to Fire Logic (2002) and Earth Logic (2004). Luedtke, Paula

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Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Small Beer Press; paperback / softback edition (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931520232
• ISBN-13: 978-1931520232
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,133,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the series!, June 10, 2007

By 

Music fan "musfan" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water Logic: An Elemental Logic Novel (Paperback)

As much as I enjoyed the earlier volumes of this series, "Water Logic" takes the author's Elemental epic into deeper, darker, more compelling places. Superbly plotted, this novel is a page-turner that grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go.

The most impressive thing about "Water Logic" is its depth of emotion. Always a brilliant writer, Marks really gets under the skins of her characters here, and the gamble pays off. There's a level of passion that hasn't been seen before, and a sense of urgency that makes the reader care about the fate of troubled Shaftal, and care deeply.

The three major plotlines are all interesting, but my favorite is Zanja's water-witch driven journey to Shaftal's past. No spoilers here--all I'll say is that the conclusion's a stunner, weaving threads from the previous books together in a hugely satisfying way. This is a beautifully crafted novel, and a perfect entry point for new readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Water connects everything..., November 27, 2007

By 

Vickie Kreeger (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Water Logic: An Elemental Logic Novel (Paperback)

Zanja, crosser of borders, undertakes a journey that seems as impossible as her, Karis, and Emil's combined efforts to bring peace to Shaftal. This book could have easily been mired in a plodding plot that sets up the final installment--if the next book (assuming it'll be called "Air Logic") is to be the last--but instead Marks moves as if the end is not nigh. So many of the characters deal with issues that vary in scope but are all vital: Clement attempting to unite her oftentimes hostile army under her to Karis' singleminded stomps across the country to save a few lives; Zanja's nearly supernatural mission, guided by her intuition, compared to Seth's need to fix one person's heart.

Despite all of these threads, the book doesn't slow down, but instead branches out further, fleshing out the world and the characters as they deal with assassination attempts, disappearances, and the futility of fighting against love.

I felt that "Earth Logic", this book's predecessor, suffered a little bit in the beginning from Clement's slow characterization, but the in-depth introduction of Seth in this book doesn't follow that pattern, and in fact is a refreshing new POV amongst many seriously-minded heroes, much as Garland the Cook's welcome presence had been in the last book.

The one aspect of this series of books by Marks that I marvel at every time I pick one up is how complete the world she created is. Shaftal is governed by a very specific set of rules that she follows and challenges, and this new installment challenges even geography and time.

Also, the fluidity of sexuality is a refreshing addition to this sort of fantasy novel. If you can make up an entirely different world, why the heck not change that aspect as well? And this change isn't made arbitrarily or as a stunt; that part of the world is as fluidly weaved into the culture as any other fact.

I give this 5 stars because it's an excellent book on its own--though of course you should read the first two to have any idea of what's going on--and because it's a perfect with with the previous installments.

And I love the characters, down to the last.

5.0 out of 5 stars a perfect addition to my favorite series, January 24, 2012

By 

long term user - See all my reviews

This review is from: Water Logic: An Elemental Logic Novel (Paperback)

This book continues the story of the first books perfectly and goes even more in depth into what makes up the personality of my favorite characters. a book you cannot miss if you liked fire logic or earth logic.