Book Review: The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed
Genre: Dark Fantasy/Fantasy Horror
Age: Adult
Format: ebook
Alefret, a pacifist, wants nothing to do with Varkal’s war against Med’ariz. Even less so when he’s bombed and wounded by Varkal, and experimented on to see if his leg can grow back. Yet Alefret is given an opportunity to win his freedom and end the war for good, and must wrestle with his own morals in the face of stopping the bloodshed.
Although Mohamed is a talented writer, I found The Siege of Burning Grass to be more messy than not. It’s clear the book has something to say, but there’s a disconnect in what it’s trying to say, and what it actually says. It also suffers from pacing issues, where the first half to three quarters feels very slow and drawn out, but the last chapters come across as rushed, with the way things wrap up feeling too neat and optimistic for what’s come before it.
Alefret is an interesting character, someone who is constantly misjudged and often underestimated due to his appearance. He’s a pacifist, and part of that is the idea of committing no violence, whatsoever. It contrasts with the man he’s paired with to infiltrate the city – Qhudur, a soldier who never hesitates to kill.
The pairing is interesting, and offers a dynamic that never clicks. For the story itself, this works really well, with the pair constantly keeping each other on edge, never fully trusting each other or, especially in regards to Qhudur, never letting on their full plans. I did keep half-expecting something more to come from Qhudur’s character, but he never develops beyond ‘soldier’, though this feels deliberate in the novel’s context.
The ending was a bit of a letdown. It’s not clear what the ending itself means for this world, and the steps leading towards it felt like the characters had very little impact on what happens, despite this being what the book has been working solidly towards. Tonally, too, it didn’t quite match with the rest of the book, feeling a touch too upbeat. It meant that by the end of the book, it felt like very little had actually happened. There’s also quite a lot of elements that were mentioned – such as how a floating city is getting its supplies and keeping people fed – but which didn’t go anywhere, and were left without resolution.
This is a good book and one I would recommend, but it’s unfortunately let down by a messy ending.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
I received this ebook from Solaris via NetGalley for review consideration.
