These were both so great to read! That it's 2 books in one, yeah, that was so great, so I could go straight into the next adventure! I've really enjoyed the Murderbot series, and her 2 other fantasy's, so I was really excited to pick these ones up!

This world of Ile-Rien was so interesting, with the magic and the politics and the history! I really enjoyed getting to know it while getting to know these characters navigating these adventures! It was such a fun ride, and I'm so glad that these author-preferred texts are here!

The characters in these books, man, are so fascinating! Thomas, bound to the rule of law and to protect the rulers while dealing with Kade who disrupts the flow of things being the illegitimate daughter of the former king. Nicholas, who didn't care about the law, and was a bit of a artist when it comes to breaking it, very high brow, looking down on those who killed. Loved reading about them!

The plots in these books, with the magical goings on, the mysteries and the plotting, and the romance, all came together to tell really entertaining, engaging stories, I just had to keep reading, and I loved every word, and I hope the series continues to be updated to the author's preferred texts!

I had a great time reading these books and I can't wait to continue the series!

Martha Wells is one of my favorites for her Murderbot series. This is my first time dipping my toes into the rest of her works, and it did not disappoint.

ARC provided by Tor Books.

This took me almost a year to read and it wasn't the books fault.

I loved this book, it is so well written and I think that the way she tells this story is perfection. There is a beauty to the way she writes and I couldn't get enough of it. I like that the two stories were combined and I think they work really well together. This was my first book from Wells and it will not be my last. I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series and I hope that they get remastered as well.

Martha Wells is an awesome writer, but man, her books are not easy to get through occasionally. Much like Murderbot, the terminology and plots are so thick, that it can be hard to decipher. I like her stories, though, so I tend to power through. I'm not sure I'll continue this series, but it hasn't changed my opinion of her as a writer.

The Book of Ile-Rien includes the first two books of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells. Originally published in 1993 & 1998, this reformatted and revised edition from Macmillan on their Tor imprint is 752 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

The author is gifted and prolific. This double book reformat of two early novels is a nice entry point for folks building a classic SF home library as well as old and new fans. A lot of readers are familiar with Wells from Murderbot of course, but she's been consistently -good- over her entire distinguished career.

This is a vaguely medieval high fantasy French flavored Europe, populated by fey, half-fey, humans, magic users, and a boatload of political intrigue. Good stuff.

Four and a half stars. These are classic, solid, timeless books. It would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, home library building, gifting, and would also make a great book club choice; meaty -and- entertaining.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The two novels included in the book are 'The Element of Fire' and 'The Death of the Necromancer', which were first published in 1993 and 1998, respectively. They are the first and second installments of the 'Ile-Rien' series of novels, which also contains three more novels written after these. I believe 'The Element of Fire' is her first novel that introduces the realm of Ile-Rien, a fictional country, to her readers. The technology presented in the two novels makes them equivalent to seventeenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, respectively, but with the presence of magic and sorcery.

The Book of Ile-Rien" by Martha Wells is a fantastic read! The story is engaging, the characters are well-developed, and the world-building is rich and detailed. I was quickly drawn into the plot and found it hard to put the book down. Wells has a knack for creating immersive settings and intricate plots that keep you hooked from start to finish. If you enjoy fantasy with strong characters and an exciting storyline, this book is definitely worth reading.

It is my first time dabbling into Martha Wells's writing and honestly? I wish I had done it sooner.
I love the descriptions and the intricate world-building.
This book could be called an omnibus, with "The Element of Fire" and "The Death of the Necromancer"
And I can't choose which one I like the best. The story of Kade and Thomas Boniface.
Or Nicholas Valiarde's journey of vengeance.

The reason why I gave it four stars is that it took me a bit to get used to the complexity of the world and the world-building. It doesn't diminish the value of this book in any way. Just that I wasn't maybe ready for so much.
It does hit home with the historical romance. After all, if you know me you know I love a good historical fantasy romance.
Martha Wells is fantastic at pulling the reader's attention to the important bits.
If you love her most famous works you will love this book!

Superb!! I have read other works by Martha Wells and I have yet to be disappointed. I love the tension, the "will they, won't they" in book 1 and the clever, thief/nobleman from book 2. Both are incredibly written, paced well and all characters are fully fleshed. I will definitely be continuing this series.

The Book of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells

I think maybe I just only love Murderbot and not Martha Wells’s fantasy books?

After all, we all love Murderbot, right? Murderbot is one of the absolute best characters to come out of SF in years. I remember when I read the description of Martha Wells’s All Systems Red and thought to myself “I’ve got to put that on hold at the library!” And I was right - it was excellent. I have eagerly awaited each new Murderbot book. So I was very excited when NetGalley and tordotcom gave me an eARC of The Book of Ile-Rien, a republishing of The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer, two of Martha Wells’s earlier novels set in the same world, in exchange for an honest review.

This was not my first foray into Ms. Wells’s fantasy novels - I had previously read The Cloud Roads and The Witch King, both of which were fine, neither of which blew me away. But I was surprised at how bored I felt reading these novels. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I didn’t enjoy the setting, either. I prefer my fantasy worlds to not have guns in them, and that may have been a part of my dislike, but I also felt that the chapters were too long and the characters were not likeable. I didn’t want to spend time with them, or in this world. I’m sure there is an audience out there for these novels, but it isn’t me.

The Ile-Rien series' first two novels are included in this collection. The Death of the Necromancer came out in 1998, whereas The Element of Fire was first released in 1993. They are compiled in this book. Although there is a connection between the two storylines, they are very distinct from one another and follow different characters.

The fact that both books are set in the same city, albeit book two is set roughly a century after book one, ties the two books together. Although we follow entirely different individuals in the second book, which I thought to be fairly abrupt, I must say that I really liked each of the stories on their own. As a result, I'm not sure the two volumes work as a cohesive whole. The first and second novels are related in a few ways, but I wish there was more of a connection between them.

A new and revised edition, The Book of Ile-Rien combines The Element of Fire & The Death of the Necromancer.

There's constant action and betrayals in the former, as Captain of the Queen's Guard Thomas Boniface works with outcast princess Kade against an invasion of the faye.

A century later, The Death of the Necromancer stars actress Madeline and Nicholas, who seeks vengeance against the evil Count Montesq for the death of his beloved foster father.

Action moves quickly, with constant attacks by ghouls and revenants, but a necromancer is defeated - and Nicholas very cleverly achieves his vengeance.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this e-ARC! I do my reviews on my social media platforms. I am currently working on getting through my reviews so stay tuned! Leaving a rating as a placeholder for me and to not effect the books rating in order to post this. Thanks again!

Great, great fantasy. Our readers will love this combined revised edition. Definitely buying for my library.

Martha Wells has done it again. I really liked this book. This might be one of favorites. I was completely sucked in and I had a hard time putting this down. Worth the read.

This book contains the reissued and revised versions of Wells' The Element of Fire and The Death Of The Necromancer, the first two books in her excellent Ile-Rien series. I had read both books before in their previous incarnations, and I'm thrilled that a new generation of fans will get the chance to discover them (and hopefully continue on to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy that follows). The writing is stellar, as always, and the world-building is simply unmatched. There are also interesting parallels and tidbits that seem to be reflected or picked up in Wells' later books. A must-have!

A well written and interesting pair of books. I was first introduced to Wells with the Murderbot stores, and initially switching to this novel was a bit of a shock, but the first book grows on you slowly. The second book reminds me of the best parts of a revenge novel and fantasy novel. The two are connected mostly through the city in which they occur, but drive it is hundreds of years apart, they are only very loosely a duology.
If you enjoy mixing genres and fantasy that looks at sorcery as an almost scientific discipline, this book is for you.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

Martha Wells is best known for her <i>Murderbot</i> franchise, a sci-fi space drama about interconnected corporate worlds, interplanetary backstabbing, and a security unit that has hacked its own brain and wants to be left alone to watch its world's equivalent to Netflix in peace.

TOR is the publisher for that series and this early novel from Wells' career. Understandably, they're repackaging some of her backlist to capitalize off <i>Murderbot</i>'s wider readership. Some editing has also evidently been done to update the book, but I didn't read the original and can't tell you how much is different.

Overall, <i>Ile-Rein</i> has some of the action that characterizes Wells' later work with <i>Murderbot</i>, but it's primarily a fantasy setting with either court or revenge intrigue. Ile-Rein has French trappings on the surface, but felt more to me like an Elizabethan-style world with a dowager queen who reads very much like Elizabeth I. (In Book II, we get a more Victorian setting.)

Instead of being a virgin spinster, Queen Ravenna is a widow with a son named Roland and a cunning step-daughter named Kade. Both were emotionally abused by her late husband, the king.

Roland deals with his grief by putting his trust in the wrong people. Kade, who is also the heir to the fey Queen of Air and Darkness, abandons court to pursue her heritage among the Seelie Court. The action begins when Kade returns to court, which coincides with shadowy happenings and attacks on the capital.

I enjoyed the both books, but found the pacing slow. In <I>The Element of Fire</i>, there's a lot of description, several competing court factions, and many supporting characters who don't really matter in the long run. The rules for fey magic were also unclear to me at points, though it made more sense as we went along.

Thomas Boniface, the head of the queen's guard, bears some similarities in style and methods to the Murderbot (or at least, my brain refused to not find parallels between the characters since I read this book after Books 1-7 in that series).

He's also responsible for security, decent at strategy, popular with the women of the court, and pretty excellent in a fight.

The action scenes and a few plot twists were the major strengths for me in this story. If you're in the mood for high fantasy with an emphasis on court politics and moderate action, <i>The Element of Fire</i> will scratch your itch.

Book II, <i>The Death of the Necromancer</i>, didn't pull me in a quickly.

The story moves ahead in time several hundred years to a Victorian-like setting and is about unconnected characters. There are a couple references to the Book I characters, but I was pretty invested in Kate and Thomas and wanted to know more about what happened to them.

I liked gentleman thief Nicholas, but I was less invested in his revenge mission. I did like the occasional court scenes and his dynamic with Madeline, an actor with a small talent for magic.

On the whole, I am glad I read the book and I'm grateful to TOR publishing group for the advanced review copy.

Ile-Rien is a fantasy land featuring in a five-novel series by award-winning Martha Wells. For 2024, the first two instalments have been updated and merged to form THE BOOK OF ILE-RIEN.

The Element of Fire is part one, and those who like to enter a fantasy with someone young who has all their learning ahead, won’t get into this one easily. Politics and backstabbing are strong points in a tale with gory war against dark dimensions. Dowager Queen Ravenna lives in a stone castle with her son Roland and his Queen Falaise. We also meet her stepdaughter Kade, a half-Fae sorcerer, and her scheming cousin Denzil who serves Roland. At the start, guard captain Thomas Boniface is assaulting a town house full of magic traps, to retrieve a kidnapped elderly man who is another sorcerer, Galen. Thomas, we learn, has been the lover of the widowed Queen.
Continued.

Okay, this book has been sitting in my “currently reading” for a month and a half, and since I got a copy courtesy of Tor (and since the ebook is still sitting on my Netgalley shelf), I feel like I owe ‘em a review. The fact that I keep meaning to pick this book back up but then never do probably says something about it in and of itself.

This book is actually an omnibus that contains both The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer. I’ve been sitting at a little over halfway through The Element of fire for I-don’t-know-how-many weeks, and like, it’s fine. I haven’t been <i>bored,</i> but neither have I been surprised or wowed. The Element of Fire was actually Wells’ first published novel, and she’s improved A LOT since then (see: the fantastic standalone City of Bones), so I fully expect The Death of the Necromancer to be a step up.

I’m marking this book “DNF” on Goodreads, but I’m not <i>really</i> DNFing it. I’m just evidently reading it at the pace of a geriatric snail and I don’t like it cluttering up my “currently reading.”