![]() ![]() When we begin, Neel is still living in Guangzhou but is now in need of new employment while still haunted by the loss of his family. Neel, the deposed Raja and escaped convict was probably my favourite character in the first two novels, though he has some competition for that position in Flood of Fire. (Note: because this novel is the third in a trilogy, this review contains a couple of spoilers with regards to the first and second novels Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke respectively) The best thing about Flood of Fire, therefore, is the return and continuation of the stories of characters we already love and the addition of several new ones. These disparate characters, whose main connection to each other was their shared, life-changing, experience aboard a short voyage on the Ibis, are the reason these books are so engrossing and they will remain with the reader despite everything Ghosh provides besides. And, though Ghosh has evocatively recreated the amazing locations of the novel – Calcutta, Bombay, Mauritius, Singapore, Guangzhou, etc, of the 19th century – and the incredible events leading up to the First Opium War it is the characters who are the true stars of the trilogy. Though it is called the ‘Ibis Trilogy’, the ship, which was absent for most of the second novel, River of Smoke, is not the central focus of the story. Flood of Fire is the third and final novel of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy and once I began reading it, I felt I was onto Ghosh’s game. ![]()
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