Wildfire (Wild Magic, No 2)

Rating:
Summary: Jo Clayton, at her best and worst
Review: This book has many of the author's strengths: vivid visual description, intensely detailed societies, interesting interpersonal relationships. It also has some of her weaknesses: overly exotic words and names, characters with too much power, characters speaking in nonsense syllables far too much of the time. The sequel to Wild Magic, Wildfire concerns Faan's ongoing search for her mother and her struggle to control her increasingly powerful firestarting magic. Some of the characters, particularly Sabuse and Varney, are not as well drawn as they probably deserve, and I got tired of Faan's adolescent temper. There's also a huge plot inconsistency concerning a black horse which does, or doesn't, get eaten by woodfolk. Despite all that, I found the book to be original, lively and generally a fun read.