Review: It Ends in Fire

It Ends in Fire by Andrew Shvarts
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I think forgetting that you actually started something is just as good a reason as any to not actually finish it.

I had super-high hopes for this, because the concept not only seemed freaking cool, but the cover art was bomb (I knooooow don't judge me) and I'm a huge Choices app fan, which this author also writes for.

The major turn-off for this book was that it seemed more concerned with being a massive middle finger to JK Rowling and her terfism than it did with actually being an interesting and engaging story. And honestly, following Andrew Shvarts's Twitter feed, especially in the immediate aftermath of JKR's grand coming out as anti-trans, it's obvious that he was gunning for her and really wanting to stick it to her big time. Not saying it's not justified, but if you're gonna come for somebody, best come prepared with your big guns. This book is not a big gun. It's a slingshot. With a teeny tiny pebble in it.

Lest you think I'm being petty, it's conversations like the one in Chapter 5 where Alka's sexual preferences are trotted out with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer through balsa wood that make it uncomfortably obvious. I have no issues with bisexuality or homosexuality in books (I grew up reading and loving Anne Rice, ffs, though when I'm reading romance I prefer strictly the cis/hetero variety since I'm a self-inserter), but knowing that JKR caught major heat for revealing Dumbledore's secret homosexuality after the fact, and otherwise not having any overtly non-cis/hetero relationships in the series, I could practically see the gears turning in the author's head that boy oh boy, is he gonna show JKR how it's done in the 21st century. It just came off as so juvenile.

Say what you want about JKR, her terfism (I'm still not able to reconcile it with the fact that she is otherwise so publicly supportive of minority causes), her obvious homophobic tendencies (because unless you put it up on a billboard, tweet it for the world to see, or publish it in size 42 font, it's a total lie and you're pandering), but she can write, she can construct plot, and drive narrative like it is literally nobody's business. I could sit here and say til I'm blue in the face that Dumbledore's sexuality was not central to the story so why bother mentioning it (but once you find out it's so interesting to see all the other mentions of history and past click into place, which makes it obvious that, yes, she wrote him as gay the entire time), but I'd be wasting my breath, to be frank. I'm not defending her, mind you, because that does need to be mentioned, but there is a definite trend of people being unwilling to see in anything other than black and white so it's not really worth explaining.

I guess what I'm really trying to get at is that if you're going to set out to write a wizard school opus that is more inclusive and open and modern and in obvious answer to she-who-will-no-longer-be-named, then please write something better than this. Overall I found it boring, derivative, and painfully unnuanced. JKR might be a terf, but she's a terf that knows how to write and craft an engaging story. I wasn't a fan of the Simon Snow stuff, but I can acknowledge that it did things the right way (i.e. Simon was just Simon who loved Baz and not SIMON WHO IS VERY OBVIOUSLY AND OPENLY GAY).

There's better stuff out there if you're looking for something inclusive with a magical bent.

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