Book Review: The Green Fire by Eva Raaff (The Taragon Trilogy #1)

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads De Taragon Trilogie #1: Het groene vuur.

I actually read the entire Taragon Trilogy once before, back when I was in high school. So obviously it's been a long time. I don't read much in Dutch, but with me now finally having a library subscription again I can change that. I'll still be writing my reviews in English, as per usual. More Dutch people speak English than English people speak Dutch, after all. Spoilers ahead.

Matthias is a young boy who lives in a fantastical world where the western and eastern kingdoms aren't exactly at peace with one another, due to the queen of the eastern kingdom using her dark powers for bad deeds. Growing up on a farm in a small village, he is soon sent on a quest to hone his skills, as it turns out he is the one prophesied to bring peace to both realms and unite them as one. But this isn't easily done. Matthias goes on to discover many dark secrets regarding the villainous queen, Zafyra, and even himself.

This book is kind of funny because it's just... very standard for fantasy. We have the farm boy who desires adventure and is raised by people who turn out not to be his actual parents. He's a part of a prophecy that says he'll unite the kingdoms and wield big power. He's a prince not just from one side, but two (father being the prince of the western realm, mother being Zafyra of the east). He goes on his epic quest where he finds many allies. 

But at the same time, despite these common tropes, the execution is still pretty damn good. Just goes to show that you don't always need an original concept to tell a story, just a good execution and handling of clichés. And I like how Raaff handled things here a lot.

Matthias is a pretty likable protagonist, and I like most of the characters he comes across on his journey. There's Kaya, his strong-willed best friend; Malvezijn, an old wizard who lost his powers; Lupa, a woman of the Steppe People who can shapeshift into a wolf, and quite a few others that are featured briefly. And these characters are all just characters you root for, especially Matthias himself as he's taken from the comfortable (though not always fun) life he's always known and thrust right into an adventure where he's told he has to save the two kingdoms, otherwise everyone's doomed. 

I also like the book's theme of wisdom and compassion being great powers. Throughout the book, the prophecy keeps building up that Matthias will defeat Zafyra using his great magical powers. He's also sent to Malvezijn to train them, however the old wizard (being powerless these days) instead insists on teaching Matthias lessons about wisdom and not seeing the world in black and white.

And by the time Matthias' would-be magic lessons would start, he's forced to continue his journey again, this time all by himself. So by the end of the final confrontation, he still has none of his supposedly legendary powers. But what does he use to save the day and get Zafyra on his side in the end? His wisdom, his lack of black-and-white thinking, and his compassion. He doesn't cast any spells (safe only one in the entire book, somewhat by accident, and it has no effect), he just uses his lessons he's gathered from Malvezijn and his quest for good and uses that to save the world and unite the kingdoms.

Zafyra does get redeemed and while I don't think I'd be willing to forgive her after the hurt she's caused, the book does address this. She is willing to work hard and does apologize, but it's made clear that she won't get everyone's forgiveness easily. While she hadn't started an outright war yet in the book (Matthias stopped her before that happened), she still did some heinous things such as having her Black Riders take people's children and taking away their free will through dark magic. So she's definitely trying to heal both herself and her relationship with those she hurt, but it's okay if others don't accept her (yet). And I like that. Zafyra has a sympathetic backstory, but that doesn't just excuse all of the pain she caused. 

The world-building I also like. Despite this being a fantasy with stuff like shape-shifters, wizards and magic stones, the magical and fantastical elements still pretty subtle and not in-your face. Not just because Matthias doesn't learn magic himself, but also just in general. Malvezijn, despite being the arch wizard for Dragonië, has lost all his powers by the time we meet him. Honestly, the only person really actively using magic here is Zafyra herself, and that's dark magic so it's actively discouraged by pretty much everyone. So I do like that, despite this being a fantasy, the magic is more subtle and not overused or anything. Some of it is never even explained, such as why Lupa can turn into a wolf. She's not a werewolf, she's just a shapeshifter when nobody else is and we are just supposed to accept that. And I like that. No need to get overly exposition-y except regarding the important dark magic of Zafyra. The rest is very subtle and I like that.

Honestly the only thing in the book I didn't really vibe with is the implied romance between Kaya and Matthias. They start off their friendship pretty roughly, but quickly grow closer and do become friends. That, I can buy. But there's also moments where they already start to show signs of being into one another and it just feels really early for that. They didn't spend much time together and especially with how their friendship didn't start out very well, it feels like they get this close to one another a bit too quickly. They don't get together yet in this book, but I think most if not any hints of a crush between the two of them should've been moved back to book two as it just goes a little too fast.

Overall I like this book a lot, even more than back when I read it in high school. It's filled to the brim with common tropes and even clichés in the realm of fantasy writing, but the execution is still really solid. Not perfect by any means, but still pretty damn good.

Rating: 4/5