Winter of Fire

Written by New Zealand author Sherryl Jordan, this book feels like a combo of C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, but geared toward young adults.

Elsha is one of the Quelled, a group of people who have been enslaved by another group of people called the Chosen. The Quelled labor tirelessly in the mines under horrific conditions. What they’re mining for is called firestone, and it provides both the Quelled and Chosen with a light source as well as a life-giving source of heat. Without firestone everyone would perish because, due to mysterious circumstances, they are no longer able to see the sun anymore. The Firelord, who leads the Chosen and is able to divine the location of the show more firestones, unexpectedly selects Elsha to be his handmaiden. She leaves the mines where she grew up and travels with the Firelord into the unknown.
The story focuses on topics such as misogyny, slavery, equality and disability, and handles them with sensitivity and care.

I could write an actual book of my own on how much I loved this book! I bought a copy of it when I was only half way through reading it, because I was so moved by it. I saw that another reviewer lost her copy in a fire (and the author was lovely enough to send the reviewer a replacement copy from her own personal library!). I’ll be storing my copy in something fireproof! Too precious to take any chances with it.

The way that several male characters throughout the course of the story declare their allegiance to Elsha was deeply moving to me. As in, made me cry several times. Again and again, the book provides powerful examples of men recognizing Elsha as a true leader. I see that a handful of reviewers didn’t like that so many male characters developed feelings for Elsha, and felt it was unrealistic. But that was actually one of my favorite aspects of the book! Fighting to protect people who can’t protect themselves is one of the most attractive and most admirable things that a person can do. Elsha’s actions make her beautiful, so it makes sense that male characters would develop feelings for her.

As someone who grew up in a church where women were often not allowed to lead in any capacity, I recognized and appreciated the wealth of biblical imagery Sherryl Jordan wove into this book. Jordan draws from those biblical stories and puts a powerful spin on it - instead of a man at the helm, it is Elsha who is the true leader! This is the book I wish I could go back in time to give to my younger self. Everything that Elsha felt, as a character determined to be a leader in a world that refused to accept her leadership, I have felt before. If my past self had a character like her as my guide, it would’ve meant everything to me. Such a powerful book! If I could give it 6 stars, I would. show less

I remember reading this in high school (on my own, not for class) it was a book I had accidentally stumbled across in the library while I was browsing for something to read. i was so moved that a few years later, I read it again and found myself no less moved.

Part of me craves a sequel to this fantastic book (or a prequel) and part of me is happy the book was left the way it is. It's even more fascinating when you realize that the author implies that this dark world is what ours is in the future, so even though this book seems to be medieval with a bit of fantasy, it's really a clever piece of sci-fi. Simply one of the best books I have ever read.

This is an amazing book. The journey of Elsha of the Quelled blends relevant social commentary with allegory while remaining absolutely age appropriate. It tickles the dystopic-future itch but stays a wonderful fantasy with a fully-developed world.

I especially appreciate the way Jordan approaches romance. Unlike so many YA novels, "Winter of Fire" doesn't throw Elsha into a love triangle between two dark princes. Instead, she meets a variety of men who all mean something to her in the various stages of her life. None are perfect, and I don't think any of them are ever defined as "god-like" (authors, let's never do that again, okay?). She does ultimately meet her perfect match, but she does so without throwing aside her past show more relationships. This seems so much more reflective of real-life relationships to me, and I was surprised to find that in a Scholastic novel from 1992. show less

This is an older YA fantasy, but it's a solid read nonetheless. Elsha is a young woman born of the Quelled, a race enslaved by the powerful Chosen. With her people, she is condemned to a life of mining coal in a world of long winters when heat is direly needed. Everything changes, however, when Elsha is called to be handmaid to the Firelord, the powerful diviner who determines the placement of mines. Elsha's position gives her a window into the world of the Chosen and the opportunity to advocate for her people, and to change their world for the better. This book makes for a quick, compelling read - one that plenty of more recently published novels could take notes from.

I read Winter of Fire for the first time in sixth grade ten years ago. I devoured the story, and it never really left me. Unfortunately, Winter of Fire is out of print, but every time I went to a used book sale I searched for it, until I finally found it for cheap on Amazon a few years ago. This was my third time reading Winter of Fire, and I have to say, it never gets old.

Winter of Fire is definitely a middle-grade book, which was a little hard to get used to after reading so many young adult books lately, but I quickly slipped back in to the story. Elsha is one of the most fiery characters I’ve ever come across in any type of literature, and she won’t leave you without a fight. She’s defiant, strong, and ruthless in her pursuit show more of justice and ending oppression for her people. She knows there’s more to life than what she’s been given, and she doesn’t let obstacles get in her way easily. In many ways, she's Katniss before Katniss existed.

Every time I read Winter of Fire, I see more of the themes of feminism and justice than I did during my initial sixth grade reading, but even then, I could tell that part of Elsha’s character was about deliberately being a strong female. In Elsha’s society, the female Quelled people are the lowest class of citizens, barely better than animals. They’re not even granted the title of woman–instead, they’re called “Harsha”. It may be her lot in life, but Elsha refuses to submit quietly, and I love her for it.

This story is actually less action-oriented than I remember. Elsha does have adventures and dangers ahead of her, but what’s more important is the people she comes in to contact with on said adventures. She encounters an entire spectrum of reactions. Some accept her more readily, while others look at her in contempt, and through each character, the world around Elsha is built a little more. It’s an amazing, bleak world. Sherryl Jordan isn’t the type to spend an entire paragraph describing the world around Elsha, but in just a simple sentence I was transported to the dark land where it’s always cold and firestones are the only source of warmth and life.

This is one of my most-recommended books of all time, and after another re-reading, I remember why. It’s out of print, but you can find used copies on amazon, and I highly recommend doing so. It has such powerful themes about oppression and gender equality, all the while being cloaked in an amazing story with one of my favorite protagonists ever.

Final Impression: Just an amazing, amazing book with some of my favorite characters ever. I’m so sad this book is out of print, and it is easily one of my top ten favorite books of all time. Few books have competition with it on my bookshelf. Read it if you can, whether that’s buying a used copy or checking it out from the library! show less

In Elsha’s frozen world there are two peoples: the Quelled, forced to toil in dark mines for firestones; and the Chosen, born to privilege and convinced of their right to dominate the Quelled. Elsha is Quelled, yet she has visions of the Firelord, who sustains all existence with his power to divine for firestones. When Elsha is unexpectedly called to serve the Firelord, she must confront her world’s prejudices, and realise the extent of her own ambition for the Quelled.

This book has an unusually comprehensive setting for a young adult novel: not that it is over-burdened with description, but that the whole place is obviously clearly mapped out in the author’s mind. It is not just a place in which the story happens and Elsha goes show more about her business. Included in the telling of the tale are details about the legends and history of the two cultures, and how their environment came to be so perilously cold.

More important to the story than the setting, however, is the main character, Elsha. The author refers to her creation in a special Tribute at the beginning of the book, in which she (Ms. Jordan) describes how much a part of herself Elsha became during the preparation for and writing of Winter of Fire. I find I am best able to understand Elsha’s personality through her interactions with the various male characters she encounters. There are a large number, and many are attracted to Elsha’s good looks and/or her fearless revolutionary spirit. Elsha is polite to all who are civil to her, but she also learns to use the bonds various men seek to forge with her to accomplish her own ends.

As Elsha relates to the various men in her life, she reveals the two kinds of inequality being portrayed in this story. There is the difference between the races of Chosen and Quelled, but in Elsha’s world there is also a marked difference between the two genders. Men are honoured, while females have a much more lowly status. Quelled females are called “harsha, a name made up from the old Quelled words for oppression and earth”. Much of Elsha’s rebellion is rooted in her desire to be acknowledged and addressed as a “woman”.

The portrayal of religion in this book is twofold: there is a priesthood in the service of the Firelord, charged with the sacred duty of preserving all that the Firelord has stood for. In addition, there is a belief not so much practised as remembered by many, which tells of a God who loved all of His creation, and could be reached by the prayers of the pure at heart. In the course of the story Elsha has close encounters with each religion, and begins to find her way to true faith.

This is a profound and moving story with a strong heroine and an imaginatively detailed setting. I would recommend it to maturing readers, particularly females, who are looking for a story that confronts issues as well as entertaining. I personally feel it is a book best devoured during winter, as this helps one to keep some the severity of Elsha’s environment in perspective. show less

The Quelled race, forced into slavery generations ago, spend their time mining for coal in order to keep the Chosen race warm when the world is ravaged by a seemingly never-ending winter. The irony is that the more coal is burned, the more smoke is released into the air, forming clouds that block out the sun and prevent heat and light from coming through, and so more coal must be mined by the Quelled so that humanity can survive. The Chosen view the Quelled as less than animal, having no language, no emotion, no intelligence, and so God Himself has designated them as slaves to the master race of the world. Elsha of the Quelled knows this all to be false, and against all odds and opposition, vows to change the lives on the Quelled, and show more thus the very foundations of society.

Most YA novels with a strong environmental message are set in the modern world, or slightly in the future, so at least the world is as we can recognize. Sherryl Jordan's world is not, instead being set in a place that's alien enough to be fantastical while still being familiar enough to hit close to him. She tells the story of cyclical pain and consequence, how once things are set in motion it can be hard, if not impossible, to change things.

And yet through the whole book is the message of hope, that if one puts for the effort and actually works for the change they want, then something can be accomplished. We can't all be as lucky as Elsha, to be chosen as an assistant to somebody in power, but we can make the changes we want to see in other ways.

There is, also, an expected message about prejudice in the novel. The Chosen hate the Quelled, viewing them as unclean abominations, and affront to God. Elsha's new position, something unheard of, causes not only local strife in the towns she passes through but eventually leads to civil war. People don't change easily, and even the people who side with Elsha acknowledge that and try to convince her not to be so radical in her beliefs. But more and more we see the futility of prejudice, how it stems from ignorance, and how with work from everybody, it can be overcome.

This review makes Winter of Fire seem really heavy-handed in its messages, but it really isn't. It's a well-woven story that incorporates these elements, and they are major themes in the book, but the message isn't hammered home until you're tired of hearing. They're properly incorporated, woven in and around the story rather than cutting a clear path through it, becoming a part of the story instead of standing out as the wagging finger and disapproving glare. Jordan has a gift for this that other authors could do well to emulate. show less