This is a sequel to the book "Stealing Thunder". It is just as fascinating as its prequel which tells the story of a mythical trans woman princess written by a trans woman. It is highly riveting, full of amazing fantasy elements and an exciting second half featuring flying dragons, aerial stunts, and a protagonist that makes us swoon with her grit, determination and courage. A highly recommended read! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Yet another beautiful tale in a richly crafted mythical setting. Exploring these kingdoms with such a strong, intriguing character was an absolute joy. Gifting Fire is somehow an even better book than the first, and one that's even more important in every respect. I don't know at this point if there will be a third book, but I'm not prepared to say goodbye.
Full review on my YouTube channel.

I enjoyed this sequel to Alina Boyden’s wonderful debut fantasy novel, Stealing Thunder, for many reasons. With power and authenticity, the story of her heroine, Razia Khan, a transgender royal who ran away from unendurable abuse to work as a prostitute thief, find true love, rescue her feathered-dragon zahhuk, and discover her military genius, came alive. If Stealing Thunder was about discovering who you really are and being willing to fight for yourself, Gifting Fire elaborates that theme, centering on creating community and loyalty. Both stories are set in an alternate pre-Raj India, a refreshing departure from the usual Western European fantasy worlds. In our world, as in Boyden’s, transfeminine people called hijras have recognition, joining together in communities, even if as individuals they are rejected and scorned.

Razia has finally created the life she longed for, as a princess cherished by her soulmate, Prince Arjun, guardian to her sister-hijras, whom she deeply loves. But such bliss cannot endure. Her ambitious father, having maneuvered her into the governorship of an unstable province, Zindh. He now joins forces with her childhood nemesis, Prince Karim, who brutally raped her as an adolescent. In order to save her prince and his city from certain destruction, Razia agrees to marry Karim. Soon she is imprisoned in the women’s quarters at Karim’s palace, her good behavior ensured by threats against her sister-hijras whom he holds hostage. All is not lost, however, for Razia has now found a community of empowered transgender women, led by the rightful ruler of Zindh. It will take all of Razia’s military brilliance and courage to organize a successful conquest while playing the part of a submissive bride.

Boyden brings an unusual sensitivity to her portrayal of Razia, not as a stereotype or object of curiosity defined only by her gender identity, but as a person discovering her strengths in an often hostile world. Highly recommended for all fantasy readers. For anyone interested in positive portrayals of transgender characters, defined by much more than their gender, these two books are a treasure.

HIGHLIGHTS
~skirts are scarier than swords (no joke)
~ridiculously beautiful jewelry everywhere
~real men love strong, smart women
~fight for your family
~do what it takes to survive
~Don’t ever think you can outsmart a princess

:A note – Razia is a hijra, which is a nonbinary gender identity from South Asia. It is often understood by Westerners as the equivalent of being a trans woman, but not all hijra agree with that. For the purposes of this review, Razia is referred to as a woman or a hijra, as that is how she refers to herself in the books.:

Gifting Fire is the sequel to last year’s Stealing Thunder, and if you haven’t read that, stop now and hit the back button. And go read Stealing Thunder, because it’s awesome.

Then come back, because Gifting Fire is even better.

The book starts where Stealing Thunder ended; Razia is now subahdar (provincial governor) of the province of Zindh as part of her father’s empire. But the situation is made very clear very quickly: Zindh is such a mess after the events of the previous book, and with the various factions taking advantage of those events, that Razia is all but guaranteed to lose control of the province – if she can even get it under control to begin with. Making her subahdar is a kind of back-handed compliment from her father; when asked why on earth he’s doing it, he says

“It occurred to me then,” my father continued, “that if anyone in Daryastan could save Zindh, it would be the girl who had pulled herself out of the gutter to become a princess.”

He expects her to fail. But…

“I don’t think you’re clever enough to save Zindh, but I’d have to be a fool to underestimate a courtesan who somehow orchestrated the worst defeat Nizam has suffered in my twenty-seven-year reign.”

It’s heady praise, especially when Razia has never had anything but condemnation from her father.

It’s somehow worse, then, when he undercuts it all by placing Sikander – her childhood bodyguard, which translated to the one who beat her ‘for your own good’ for most of her childhood – in charge of the soldiers he leaves behind with her. It’s almost darkly ironic: even knowing that she’s brilliant, he can’t bring himself to give her a real chance. Even now, he has to undermine her. It doesn’t matter how smart Razia is with strategy and tactics if her own soldiers won’t follow her orders.

It’s definitely worse when her father returns almost immediately after leaving, declaring that Razia is to marry Karim – the prince who raped her as a child and is still every bit as disgusting and awful as he was then.

I think it’s fair to describe Stealing Thunder as Razia’s rise; she starts the book a lowly courtesan, but through a fair bit of luck and a lot of skill and smarts, by the time the book ends, she is something close to the princess she always wanted to be. Gifting Fire, then, is at least partly her realisation that being a princess…at least, the kind of princess the world wants her to be…is kind of awful. Princesses have almost no autonomy, and are mostly moved around as playing pieces by their male family members. They belong to their husbands very much like property, and have no real recourse if those husbands abuse them. That’s not to say that royal women don’t have power, because they do, but it’s generally a quiet kind that depends on either the permissiveness or blindness of the men around them.

So it’s many, many kinds of painful to see the situation Razia is put in, simply because anyone with functioning empathy should be horrified by the idea of it and bitterly sympathetic towards the reality of her helplessness. But there’s something extra-awful, extra-cruel, in revealing that the reality of Razia’s dream is actually a nightmare.

“…you told me that if I’d just treated you like a woman, you never would have shamed me, you would have been the perfect little princess. …And now, I have recognised you as a princess, and you are going to shame me again by refusing to act the part? Maybe the problem wasn’t how you were born. Maybe the problem is you.”

You cannot even imagine how badly I want this bastard to die!

…But at the same time, he has a point. That’s what makes it so extra-horrible. By marrying Karim, Razia will prevent a war and seal a powerful alliance for her father, and that is what princesses do. Far too many women throughout history have been in Razia’s position, or worse ones. Razia could easily have ended up in this or a very similar situation if she’d been born a cis woman, and it makes me want to cry. It’s so unfair. It’s unfair because it’s true. This is how a real princess gets treated.

Although no, asshole, the problem isn’t Razia. The problem is your fucked-up patriarchy and gender-roles, thanks very much.

There’s a lot of things that make Gifting Fire special, but for me, one of them was the intelligence of Razia’s enemies. It’s not very often that I read a story where the bad guys are able to throw more than one, maybe two spanners into the heroine’s plans, and Stealing Thunder has already established Razia as an incredibly intelligent woman with a special talent for politics and strategy. I was expecting her to find a way out of the problem, a way out of marrying Karim – but she couldn’t. Her counter-move – offering her father a different strategy – was denied. She’s out-outmaneuvered and there’s nothing she can do about it, at least not in that moment. And although I won’t go into details to avoid spoilers…this is not the only time it happens. Razia – and her allies – make their plans, but Boyden has written villains and semi-villains who are smart. Because I love Razia and her chosen family, I wanted to wave a magic wand and make it all better, or at least make the villains into bumbling idiots she could run rings around – but there’s no denying that smart villains make for a much more intense reading experience. I was on the edge of my seat from the fifth chapter to the last page, and I could not put the book down, because I was terrified that at any moment Razia’s brilliance was going to be parried and it was all going to fall apart.

Even after thinking hard, I can only think of a few stories where the heroes are outsmarted this many times by the villains. Which is not to say that Razia isn’t smart, because she is – and if she had the tools that would be her right in a better world, no one would have a chance against her. But her situation is desperate; she has almost no resources, and the few allies she has have little power to help. And her prison-wardens are smart.

I know I keep repeating that. But it really is unusual, and it really does raise the stakes so much higher than I was expecting them to be. Gifting Fire made me anxious and flat-out scared for Razia and her loved ones, and most books don’t do that to me. Most books, you know it’s all going to end well, so you never need to be really scared. The heroes are never in any real danger, even if the author does their best to make you think they are. I mean, how often do even secondary characters die, in most books? Not often at all. And when was the last time you saw a main character die, or end the book fully defeated? Outside of the Grimdark genre?

Boyden had me scared. And I take my hat off to her for that. I’m hugely impressed by how the narrative feels like a swordfight; move and counter-move and disaster only ever one misstep away. Every time I thought things were safe, they weren’t. Every time I thought I could relax, there’d been a twist, a carpet ripped out from under me, the villains coming up with something new and awful and too.fucking.clever.

What I’m saying is: make sure you have a stress ball handy when you start reading, okay?

None of this detracts from the book’s fundamental beauty. Boyden’s prose is descriptive and lush, unstinting in its glory, a treasure chest of jewels and colours. And let’s be real here: one of the reasons I fell into Fantasy was for the intricate, lovingly-described clothes and jewelry, and Gifting Fire has some of the most gorgeous, over-the-top ornate clothes and jewelry I’ve seen in ages. Sure, it’s shallow of me, but good luck getting me not to highlight every passage featuring a new necklace or dupatta. In that, Gifting Fire hearkens back to baby!Sia’s ideas of what Fantasy is supposed to be: glittering and gilded even when things get dark. I don’t know how to put it into words properly: this duology has unashamedly revelled in its (and Razia’s, and my!) enjoyment of all things beautiful from day one, and there’s something…something joyful about it. Celebratory. It feels as if Boyden enjoys writing about beautiful things as much as I enjoy reading about them.

And I guess you could analyse this with regards Razia’s femininity, with her being allowed, finally, to embrace all things feminine as she couldn’t as a child. There’s something to the idea that so many trans women – and, I’m sure, hijra – are at best denied feminine things by those who refuse to acknowledge their true gender, and at worst punished for wanting them, at some point in their lives. So there’s something…defiant, about all the jewels and glitter. Something very powerful. It’s armour in so many ways, it’s proof that they are who they say they are, it’s a celebration of their true selves…and it’s a fuck-you to everyone who once said they weren’t allowed to be feminine.

(Which is not, of course, to say that all trans women are hyper feminine or into ‘girly’ things; and I don’t know much about hijra, but there are probably hijra, too, who don’t want to be fairytale princesses. But I don’t think that takes away from the quiet, powerful message Boyden is sending with all these gems and silks.)

There’s probably also something to the fact that all the zahaks we meet are female. I don’t remember if it was mentioned in the previous book – maybe female zahaks are larger or stronger than male ones – but I don’t think it’s an accident that these beautiful, powerful creatures – animals whose allegiance shifts the power dynamics of empires – are all female. Emperors, kings, princes: they all ride female zahaks, and those zahaks are, at their core, the foundation of every prince’s power.

Oh, gods, I want to write a whole essay about the zahaks! I love them so much, and the amount of thought and detail Boyden has put into their creation, their size, abilities…it makes me want to swoon. I can only assume that she studied a lot of birds in order to figure out how the different breeds of zahaks would work, would fly, because it’s simply amazing. This breed is bigger, but can’t fly as quickly as some others; that breed has a wing-shape that allows for more maneuverability in the air… They feel so much like real creatures, so naturally and perfectly woven into the world Boyden has crafted that, even with their incredible abilities, it’s hard to remember that they’re not real. The way they influence politics, fashion, war…the way they affect and alter every aspect of this world…

*swoons*

And WE FINALLY HAVE A PICTURE OF A ZAHAK! I mean, have you seen that cover?! I’m so happy I finally know how to picture them properly! And can we have some major applause for the cover artist, Tommy Arnold, please?!

I could keep going on about this book for weeks, but what I most want to say is this: Stealing Thunder was Razia’s rise from courtesan to princess. Gifting Fire, then, is her becoming a princess, a true princess – or maybe making it clear that she always was one. Razia is a brilliantly intelligent woman, but it’s more than that; she would not be as great as she is, and certainly wouldn’t be able to save herself or her people, if she wasn’t who she is. If she was not compassionate, was not kind, did not greet others with respect, did not honour her allies and duties and commitments – she wouldn’t survive. She is the ideal princess, forging unbreakable alliances not through marriage, but through love and friendship and mutual respect, and in weaving so many threads together she is so much more powerful than she ever could be alone. The theme of Found Family is intrinsic to the concept of hijra and well-established in Stealing Thunder, and Razia’s only grows – so unspeakably beautifully – through this second book. So many times, it’s that sisterhood that saves her, those friendships, those alliances, those loves. And it’s with them – with all those people beside her, behind her – that she changes the entire shape of the world.

Don’t get me wrong: Razia is brilliant, beyond brilliant. She’s strong in ways heroes never have to be, ruthless when necessary, as fierce as her zahak Sultana. Breathtakingly brave.

It’s just that her heart is as brilliant as her mind. And that only makes me adore her more.

(But Sultana remains my favourite!)

Gifting Fire is the sequel to Alina Boyden's "Stealing Thunder", which I reviewed here. Stealing Thunder was advertised as the first major publisher published adult fantasy featuring a trans woman protag by a trans woman author, and while I had some doubts about that claim (see that review), it was still a very enjoyable book. The series is based upon Boyden's research into historical communities of trans-women in India/Pakistan (Hijras) and features a fantasy world with dragon-like creatures based upon that area of the world, which worked really well in the first book, even if the overall plot wasn't much special.

Gifting Fire is very similar in a lot of regards, once again featuring a plot where a lot of things seem to go right for the heroine at perfect times to allow her to prevail in a seemingly impossible situation, but portraying it all in a way that is still incredibly fun and enjoyable. At the same time, it leans far more into transphobic behavior in the antagonists of the story, and features our heroine in a predicament where the possibility of being beaten or worse is very present, which is not really what I like to read. Still, the dragon-like zahhaks and aerial combat is very fun to read, our heroine's scheming and fighting is really enjoyable, and the world is generally well done, so if you liked Stealing Thunder, you'll enjoy this one.

Trigger Warning: Transphobia/Misgendering. A good good amount of it. Spousal/Physical Abuse and Rape as Backstory.

Note: This is a satisfying wrapping up of a complete story, but it does not stand alone of Stealing Thunder, which you need to read first or you will be lost.


-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Razia's days of hiding from her father, the Sultan of Nizam, are over, but to save her love - Prince Arjun - she was forced to not only reveal herself to him, but to submit herself to him as a potential ruler of a rebellious province - the province of Zindh. Razia's very being a woman, a Hijra, was what caused her to flee in the first place, and she knows that going back to him now could simply be a trap to result in her death.

But what she finds is something with the potential to be worse, an impossible task: to secure a province with practically no resources and a living rightful ruler acting up in exile. It's a task her father clearly expects her to fail and it's hard for Razia to disagree...until the exiled ruler turns out to be another Hijra, forced to seek Razia's aid after a surprise attack by Razia's old tormentor and rapist, the arrogant Prince Karim.

But Karim has more planned for Razia than simply attacking her new province - he schemes a plan that convinces Razia's father to hand her over to Karim in marriage in order to secure Zindh. For Razia and her Hijra sisters to survive, they will need to somehow message uncertain allies for help, all the while having their every move watched by a family well aware of her intelligence, and it will take all of Razia's skills, experiences, and a lot of luck for her just to survive...nevertheless to take back the life she wanted.....
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With Stealing Thunder, we were introduced to Razia, former prince of Nazim (one of the more powerful countries in this world) who fled her father to live as her true self as a woman, as a Hijra. In that book she met another noble Prince (Arjun), fell in love with him, and used her physical skills and tactical brilliance to help him and his family prevail in armed conflict against other nobles. Razia had to deal with transphobia in that book for sure, as the male nobles often looked down on her for who she was, but they came to respect her as she proved her worth with her mind and capabilities, and she was never really facing head on transphobic violence as her main antagonist. That's not the case in Gifting Fire, where Prince Karim - a side antagonist/character from the first book - takes center stage as the main antagonist, and while he respects her intelligence and may want her in "marriage" for political purposes, he and his family are explicitly transphobic and willing to beat Razia for being who she is if she shows any sign of defiance. This....might not be the type of plot that will be for every reader, so I wanted to get that out of the way in the beginning.

If you can deal with that, and the fact that the threat facing Razia is abuse from people who don't respect who she truly is, then what we have here is a fun and enjoyable plot as Razia tries to find a way to scheme her way out of a seemingly impossible situation - first in how to contact outside help, then in how to deal with changes to her security to make it impossible for her to follow through in aiding that outside help, and then in having to deal with more changes in circumstances that pose threats to her and her family - her Hijra sisters. Razia's scheming is a lot of fun, as is her physical prowess in climbing and sneaking, and the side characters on her side are nice complements to her....even if none of them are really developed nearly as much as her. And this book's aerial combat on the Zahhaks, the dragon-like creatures that have various types of breath weapons, are really well done and super fun to read.

Again, it's a plot where a lot has to implausibly go right in the protagonist's favor for things to work, and they seem to always do - in particular, people have to be incredibly wowed by her and willing to take risks in her favor constantly in order for it all to work, which makes things feel a bit too easy (the two childhood friend nobles who she hasn't seen in years who she has to send a message for help, when it would be an immense risk to their own positions to help her? Yeah, you know they're going to respond favorably). And honestly I'm much less in love these days with the plot arc of a trans or otherwise queer character proving her worth in living as they truly are by being exceptional, which this book highly relies upon with various characters.

Still the fun parts of Razia's scheming and the aerial combat alone make this one highly enjoyable, so even though I have the above complaints for pretty much the second straight book, I still did like this one enough to recommend it.

Gifting Fire by Alina Boyden is the second book in her Stealing Thunder fantasy duology. I am happy to say Gifting Fire was another excellent read. Razia Khan, continues to be the wonderful heroine in this story. When we left off in Stealing Thunder, her father, placed Princess Razia, to lead the province of Zindh, with her love Prince Arjun and her two sisters, joining her. Soon Razia finds herself with new allies, such as Hina, whose brother was murdered by Razia’s enemy Karim. Hina brings all her girls and their zahhaks to help Razia, and hope to defeat Karim, who she wants to kill for murdering her brother. In a short time, things drastically change when Razia’s father comes and brings with him Karim, as they have agreed on an alliance; Razia to marry Karim. Despite her desperation and deviance, she will agree in order to save her sisters, as well as Arjun. She manages to get Karim, with her father’s insistence, to allow her sisters to join her, as well as Hina and her maidens (who are warriors in their own right).

They travel back to Karim’s home, where Razia is trapped and pretending to be willing to marry Karim, especially with his evil parents watching her every move. She works closely with Hina, to find a way to get help to rescue them, and playing safe for now. We learned in the first book how smart and cunning Razia was, with her amazing ability and skills to create ways to win these wars. Will she survive Karim and his family?

What follows is an exciting and at times tense story, with Razia using her climbing ability to get free during the wee hours to send messages to possible allies; and get back in time before she is discovered. I really hated Karim, his mother and father, as they were truly evil. At the same time, Boyden gave us some fantastic secondary characters that I loved, such as both of her two sisters, Hina, Arjun, as well as all those allies who were willing to risk their lives to fight the enemy. I loved her wonderful dragon, Sultana, who was amazing, and the other zahhaks. To tell too much more would be spoilers, and you really need to read and enjoy the wild and climatic ending.

The last half of Gifting Fire was very exciting, tense, nonstop action, with flying dragons, aerial battles, and a heroine who stood up to the challenge. This was also a sweet romance, as I really liked Razia and Arjun together. Alina Boyden did a great job writing this wonderful fantasy, and I for one cannot wait for the next book.

Last year's Stealing Thunder was a book I didn’t just want to be good, I needed to be good - to set the example, and to open the shelves for more books like it. I put some pretty heavy expectations on Alina Boyden, but she delivered a book I feel like I’ve been waiting my entire life to read. Its take on gender and the portrayal of transgender lives was exquisite, the world-building was wonderful, and the romance was absolutely delightful.

The battle has been won, but the war is just beginning.

The tagline for Gifting Fire speaks as much to the plot of conquest and warfare as to Razia's journey of individual acceptance. Having claimed her gender and her identity in the first book, she finds herself struggling with what it means to be accepted as a woman in a patriarchal society. There's a sense of 'be careful what you wish for' in that she finally finds herself accepted - and treated - as a royal princess, expected to serve as an offering to seal an alliance, to put duty ahead of love, and to be sequestered as the perfect wife, rarely seen and even more seldom heard. Denied her autonomy, Razia fights for not just transgender acceptance but female agency, and that struggle is much what makes this story so exciting.

What else makes this second volume so exciting is the addition of Hina, a rival princess, and her entourage, all of whom are hijra sisters. Razia, Sakshi, and Lakshmi find themselves with allies, with an adopted family, and with friends who understand the conflict between expectations and identity. The dynamic between them is absolutely fantastic, with moments of humor to lighten the overall weight of the drama, and the addition of their river zahhaks adds another layer of action to the tale. As exciting as the climax of the first book was, the aerial battles here, especially with the weaponization of zahhaks who have no breath, is epic in the best sense of the word.

At first, I was a bit saddened at Arjun's reduced role in the story, usurped by Karim, but I like that it isolated Razia and allowed us to see her as a strong, independent woman, working with a cadre of sisters who are very much her equal. As for Karim, I think Boyden did an exemplary job of exploring and developing his character, playing upon our emotions and making us question our own assumptions about him. Without wading too deep into spoiler territory, the themes of spousal abuse are almost as cutting as those of the patriarchy. Razia's father is granted a little more depth and compassion here, even if it's hard to reconcile the Sultan with the father, but it's Sikander who is the biggest surprise. I refuse to say more, but his character arc had me in tears more than once.

Speaking of tears, dammit but I've never cried so many times over the course of a story's final hundred pages. Joy, sorrow, triumph, pain, hope, despair, Boyden puts us through the wringer, forcing us to turn pages faster and faster to learn how it all ends. There was one moment in particular where I just had to drop the book and walk away, a sorrow I was ill-equipped to deal with, but she's not a monster and you have to have hope for things to work out. Gifting Fire is somehow an even better book than the first, and one that's even more important in every respect. I don't know at this point if there will be a third book, but I'm not prepared to say goodbye.

GIFTING FIRE is one of the best books I've read in a while. Razia is a bada**! She's a strong, relatable character, someone who knows what she wants and doesn't take crap. Her strength is unlike no others. The plot had so many twists and turns. I loved it.