Shirley Meier’s Shadow of a Soul on
Fire is not an easy book to read, but it is a good one and an important one.
Not that it is not well written;
for it is. The prose are solid, at
times touching on the poetic, but it is a story that goes from the horror of a
an evil emperor’s existence to his literal cleansing of his soul and the
eventual expiation of his guilt and pain.
It is the confronting of that guilt
in the beginning of the book that makes it hard to get into, but I can tell you
as one who pushed on, it like the pain it lines gets better; much better.
It is ultimately a book about triumphing
over evil both internally and externally. It is about love conquering hate and
is a book for all who have suffered to reaffirm that they can be healed.
Not that it is not delightful in
parts—most notably the arrival of the uplifted, intelligent elephants- called
delightfully Rummummalos- and their interactions with the humans ‘strange’
customs.
This is a world so completely
created that it is an immersive trip into not only a nightmare, but a dream-
for the world the scarred and suffering Emperor Ahmiraz falls into is one we
all aspire to end up.
I heartily recommend this book to
any one who has suffered or who needs hope that it all gets better. Because it
does.
Kudos to Ms. Meier.
Teel James Glenn
