Eventhough Alan Moore is a very conotroversial writer, not just because of his subject expertise in comics, but because of his viwes on the genre and adapations, I basically read everything he writes. This book was no exception and it is very interesting.

I loved reading this book! I found the writing to be very insightful and interesting. I was intrigued by the premise and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

This was my first time reading an Alan Moore novel and it was quite the unexpected trip. This collection of loosely linked short stories puts us into the minds of outsider characters during early caveman life to medieval times. The writing style varies from story to story, the first story being notoriously hard to read. I found this book confounding at times, but liked that it took me on such a different ride. I’ve definitely never read anything like this before. Fans of Alan Moore will love this.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher IDW Publishing for an advanced copy of this short story collection.

Some books are opening and welcoming like a friendly relative sharing stories of growing up with you parents and kin. Other books make you work at learning their secrets, every page a struggle with words that are unpronounceable even in the readers' head. Differing writing styles, Magic, realism and the author himself making an appearance in the writing. Reading a book like this is like asking why someone wants to climb Everest. "Because it is there", is the simple answer. The real answer is that at the end of both climbs, mountain and this book, their is a sense of real achievement, the world seems new, familiar books don't seem the same, and because it is worth it.

Alan Moore is, well Alan Moore. I won't go to much into the man, because there is so much to say. Mr. Moore is a skillful writer, knowledgeable about so many subjects, a magician both literally and figuratively. Known for his comic projects such as Watchman, Swamp Thing, Superman even Vigilante, Voice of the Fire is his first prose novel, celebrating it's 25th anniversary. A book that is both of its time, and ahead of its time. In many ways like the author.

Voice of the Flame is a collection of interconnected short stories, twelve in number, that all occur in the area of Northampton starting in the stone age to the present at the time day. Each story features different characters, different writing styles, and speech, but share a common theme. The first story takes place with a young cave boy as narrator, and is a tough one to try and get through. If the reader can make it past that the rest of the book becomes clearer and easier to grasp. Real life characters make appearances, and Mr. Moore is quite good at capturing these voices too. A lot happen in the pages, and as stated, sometimes can be a bit exhausting keeping track and figuring where the whole thing is going. However it is very much worth it.

Mr. Moore is not only telling a story about people, he is telling a story about a place and about time. The importance of where we are, the importance of how we care for it, and the mysteries that are around us, that we are afraid to open ourselves up to. Not for a casual read while waiting for a license renewal or oil change, this is a book that demands a comfy chair, a fire, and a reader's undivided attention.