Review: Dreams of Fire by Shauna Lawless
Blurb:
The immortals of Ireland renew their ancient warfare as the new generations come to terms with their place in the world. Part of Shauna Lawless's critically acclaimed Gael Song series, the novella Dreams of Fire introduces medieval Ireland as it was a century before The Children of Gods and Fighting Men.
Rónnat and Fódla are Descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They live a peaceful life with their aged warrior father in the north of Ireland. The Fomorians – age-old enemies of their kind – are thought to be battle-vanquished, for no conflict has been fought between their immortal races for generations.
But rumours of war and endless shifting allegiances mean that the Descendants' position is not secure in the mortal world. There are powerful voices among the Descendants who want their kind to dwell permanently in strongholds hidden from mortals – threatening Rónnat's love of freedom.
And the Fomorians, though greatly reduced in number, are far from vanquished. Led by their mighty prince, Balorach, the remaining Fomorians, with their gift of fire-magic, seek to destroy the Descendants.
The Descendants have the advantage of their own magical powers, and mighty warriors defend them... but if they cannot be beaten, why do the voices Rónnat hears on the wind speak of death and destruction?
Review:
Dreams of Fire is a prequel novella in the world of Shauna Lawless’ The Gael Song trilogy. This small-but-mighty story follows characters from the main trilogy but can be read as a complete standalone. In my opinion, Dreams of Fire functions as an introduction – both beautiful and bloody – to Lawless’ brutal take on medieval Ireland and the legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
While the first book in The Gael Song (The Children of Gods and Fighting Men) features gifted healer Fódla as a point-of-view character, in Dreams of Fire we follow her older sister Rónnat a century before the nightmarish events of The Gael Song trilogy. Rónnat is a wonderfully compelling character, exuding a feisty charm and willfulness that propels her through the story. We also get to follow Formorian characters – ruthless and precise with their biting fire magic, but still written with a depth and heart that has become a staple of Lawless’ work.
Once again, Lawless has delivered us a story of morally ambiguous (and not so ambiguous in some cases), scheming, yearning immortals. She expertly delves into themes of kinship, freedom, and finding peace with one’s own mortality, with an lyrical prose that captures feelings of both mysticism and lamentation, perfectly suited to the genre.
If you haven’t found time to dive into the Gael Song trilogy, I would highly recommend Dreams of Fire as a bite-sized introduction to the brutally conniving world of Lawless’ medieval Ireland.
The third book in the Gael Song trilogy – The Land of the Living and the Dead – releases September 2024, and a second novella currently titled Dreams of Sorrow will release July 2024. In her newsletter, Lawless mentions that a third novella will be released in early 2025, along with a physical bindup of the three novellas.
