Idolfire by Grace Curtis

Considering her previous two books, which were science fiction of very different stripes, Grace Curtis’s Idolfire is, unsurprisingly, darkly delightful. Frontier was a post-apocalyptic road trip with Western styling; while Floating Hotel was a found family story set on an interstellar luxury cruise liner that got progressively darker. Idolfire shares some of the DNA of these stories but is very different again. In Idolfire, Curtis delivers a road trip through a richly imagined fantasy world, using historical models for its various extant and former civilisations. She anchors the whole endeavour around three complex, slightly damaged characters who find strength in their mutual support.

Idolfire opens in two very different parts of Curtis’s world. Kirby lives a hardscrabble life in a small village called Walls End, nestled up against the ruins of a once great city. The god of that city was taken when it fell and that loss has left a blight which continues to affect the villagers. Following yet more tragedy Kirby sets off to retrieve that god from the formerly great city of Nivela in an effort to break the curse. On the other side of the world, Aleya is kind-of heir to the throne of the city of Ash but has her own baggage. Rulers of Ash claim their birthright by going out and returning successfully from quests. Ayela is given a seemingly impossible task that also involves going to Nivela but she has hardly started before she is waylaid and encounters Kirby.

As already noted, the world of Idolfire, though fantasy-based, draws its inspiration from historical precedents. The city and people of Nivela are based on the Roman Empire, who blazed through the world, building straight roads and destroying other Empires before itself disappearing. The inspiration for Walls End were villages in Europe built in and around Roman remains. But Curtis has also drawn on Assyrian, Babylonian and other ancient empires to flesh out her world. She builds a god-driven magic system on top of all of this (using the titular idolfire) which underpins and drives some of the wilder action scenes, particularly towards the end.

Curtis once again leans on a found family approach as the two travellers learn to live with each other and then particularly when their group becomes three, though not without some trauma. Similar to authors like Becky Chambers, there is a humanity to Curtis’s approach, which softens some of the darker, more dangerous parts of the story. Because there is plenty of danger, conflict, desperation and death. But much like her previous two books, it feels like a steel hand within a silk glove.

Idolfire is fantasy in a richly imagined fantasy setting, built using real world analogues but powered by a fascinating magical system. It is peopled by engaging characters on a seemingly impossible quest which, of course, changes them. In doing so, Curtis demonstrates an ability to successfully deliver her engaging form of narrative, characters, themes and concerns in a different setting and different register.

Idolfire by Grace Curtis

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9.0/10