(This is the third book in the series, and the second prequel.)
Set a few years before The Priory of the Orange Tree, Among the Burning Flowers tells the story of how the Kingdom of Yscalin became under Draconic rule; told from the alternating points of view of Marosa, heir to the Yscali throne, her fiance Aubrecht Lievelyn of Mentendon, and Estina Melaugo, a former thief living elsewhere in Yscalin.
This book proves why the Roots of Chaos series is my preference in Samantha Shannon’s writing than the Bone Season series; she writes a far more engaging plot here than she does in any of those books. As weird as it was to read this; with The Priory of the Orange Tree being 848 pages and A Day of Fallen Night coming in at 880 pages, this being 278 was a bit of a whiplash. `Less of a deep dive and more of a quick lap; I actually wanted more, but I guess Shannon decided this was all that needed to be said on the subject.
Out of the three perspectives we have, Marosa has to be my favorite, as well as the most fleshed out. She’s probably also the closest to this book’s Sabran; a strong woman who cares for her subjects, and gets the short end of the stick where fathers are concerned. (Wilstan Fynch, Sabran’s father makes an appearance in this book, and I’m assuming she got all her bravery and inegrity from her mother, because he sure doesn’t have it.) Sigoso, Marosa’s father, is a petty, vindictive, bitter, sexist wretch, and what it’s insinuated his wife did to him before her death is the least of what he deserves. (Hello, Lorena Bobbitt!) Aubrecht’s chapters can be summed up as “gee, I’m fond of my fiance. I’m also fond of my family. Oh no, my fiance’s father has made an alliance with an evil dragon. Can I help her? No? Okay, I’ll be sad about that and go get engaged to someone else”. He came across as meaning well being extremely wishy-washy, and his was the better out of the other two points of view. To be brutally honest, I think Melaugo’s existed so you could see how a non-royal dealt with the whole situation, and so that Samantha Shannon could keep the “at least one Sapphic relationship” quota per book going. Because honestly, other than being a bitter former street urchin, lesbian is the only other thing Melaugo has as character development.
What is missing from this book (unlike the other two) is the perspective of someone from either the Priory or Seiki, though I suppose seeing as this is only two or three years before Priory, there was no one really to have the perspective of. But the main thrust stays; in this world, the women are far stronger and more likely to know what needs doing and get it done than the men.
I can’t see where she could possibly go from here (though I said that after The Priory of the Orange Tree), but I’m hoping Shannon finds something to add to this universe; I’m enjoying it too much to have it end here.