The Fire by Katherine Neville – Book Review

Is the Sequel of The Eight Worthy of Your Time?

Jun 16, 2009

Although it is often intriguing and complex, Neville's long-awaited sequel to The Eight is just not as good as the original.

It is hard to produce a sequel to a book like The Eight, first published in 1988. It was the book that set the foundations of what today is known as the epic thriller. The way Katherine Neville managed to mix historic and modern plots, archeological quests and esoteric puzzles was groundbreaking and rarely paralled to this day. It is no wonder that it took the author twenty years to publish the sequel, entitled The Fire. And even the sequel, with its many mysterious intricacies and plots that transcend time and place, is not as good as its predecessor.

The Fire picks up a couple of decades after Catherine Velis and Alexandar Solarin ended their adventure in North Africa, thinking that they ended The Game. The prologue finds Solarin taking their young daughter Alexandra, nicknamed Xie, to a chess competition in Russia, where the little girl will try and become the youngest grandmaster ever. It is not long before they witness a clear evidence that The Game is indeed still being played - and it is not long before Solarin is murdered. Ten years later, Xie is summoned from Washington D.C. to Colorado by her now-estranged mother. However, Catherine Velise is gone, and it is up to Xie to figure out what has happened to her mother, and if she is any danger itself.

The historical part of the story begins in Albania in 1822, thirty years after the French Revolution. Ali Pasha, a powerful Ottoman ruler sends his daughter Haidee on a dangerous mission across two continents in order to smuggle a powerful relic. As in The Eight, many historical figures make an appearance, from ancient magi, to Lord Byron and Thomas Jefferson.

Is It Worth Your Time?

Few people will be able to put this book down. The way Neville layers the motifs and the plot elements is nothing short of genius and although she tends to twist and turn it so much that the average reader might get a headache, it is an enjoyable, if not an instant read. The best thing about The Fire is seeing the characters we first met in The Eight, and although it takes a while before we encounter Catherine again, it is fun to see what has been going on with Lily, Ladislaus, and others.

The Fire is much more similar to Dan Brown than The Eight was. The focus of this story is not equally shared by any means, as the modern plot is clearly in focus. In the first book, Mireille was a central character just like Catherine, but Haidee has a much smaller role here. Also, the characters are often travelling - so much in fact, it is strange they even had the time to brush their teeth. This all affects the end, which is surprisingly mild, especially when compared to the big revelation The Eight offered.

Katherine Neville's The Fire is a book many will enjoy reading, especially as an extension of the first book. Many fans of The Eight will surely be disappointed by some of the elements of the sequel. The Fire is not as good as The Eight, but it is surely better than anything Dan Brown has published lately.

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