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    The Fire: A Novel
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    The Fire: A Novel
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    The Fire: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    The Fire: A Novel

    Written by Katherine Neville

    Narrated by Susan Denaker

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Katherine Neville's groundbreaking novel, The Eight, dazzled audiences more than twenty years ago and set the literary stage for the epic thriller. A quest for a mystical chess service that once belonged to Charlemagne, it spans two centuries and three continents, and intertwines historic and modern plots, archaeological treasure hunts, esoteric riddles, and puzzles encrypted with clues from the ancient past. Now the electrifying global adventure continues, in Neville's long anticipated sequel: The Fire.

    2003, Colorado: Alexandra Solarin is summoned home to her family's ancestral Rocky Mountain hideaway for her mother's birthday. Thirty years ago, her parents, Cat Velis and Alexander Solarin, believed that they had scattered the pieces of the Montglane Service around the world, burying with them the secrets of the power that comes with possessing it. But Alexandra arrives to find that her mother is missing and that a series of strategically placed clues, followed swiftly by the unexpected arrival of a mysterious assortment of houseguests, indicates that something sinister is afoot.

    When she inadvertently discovers from her aunt, the chess grandmaster Lily Rad, that the most powerful piece of Charlemagne's service has suddenly resurfaced and the Game has begun again, Alexandra is swept into a journey that takes her from Colorado to the Russian wilderness and at last into the heart of her own hometown: Washington D.C.

    1822, Albania: Thirty years after the French Revolution, when the chess service was unearthed, all of Europe hovers on the brink of the War of Greek Independence. Ali Pasha, the most powerful ruler in the Ottoman Empire, has angered the sultan and is about to be attacked by Turkish forces. Now he sends the only person he can rely upon-his young daughter, Haidee-on a dangerous mission to smuggle a valuable relic out of Albania, through the mountains and over the sea, to the hands of the one man who might be able to save it.

    Haidee's journey from Albania to Morocco to Rome to Greece, and into the very heart of the Game, will result in revelations about the powerful chess set and its history that will lead at last to the spot where the service was first created more than one thousand years before: Baghdad.

    Blending exquisite prose and captivating history with nonstop suspense, Neville again weaves an unforgettable story of peril, action, and intrigue.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 14, 2008
    ISBN9780739357095
    Unavailable
    The Fire: A Novel
    Author

    Katherine Neville

    Born in 1945, Katherine Neville has had an extraordinary life, living in almost every state in North America. Aside from her work as an international bestselling author, she has worked as an international computer executive, a painter, photographer, and a waitress. Katherine lives in Virginia, Washington and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Visit the author's website at:www.katherineneville.com

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    Reviews for The Fire

    3/5

    457 ratings107 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This is a complicated adventure novel involving a centuries-long search for a famous chess set and the solution to its mysteries. Parallel stories set in present day and in the 1820s track the efforts of the Black Team and the White Team to find the missing game pieces and figure out just who is on which team -- and if it matters. This is definitely an adventure story rather than a thriller. It is full of symbolism and riddle-solving, all interwoven with history, but it is more Mists of Avalon than Da Vinci Code. The story drags as the characters dither and, while the plot is interesting enough, it is not a particularly exciting book.
    • 2/5
      Nearly a DNF for me . . .
    • 1/5
      The Fire was a major drag to get through. I only slogged on because I got it as an ARC with a request from the publisher to send them my thoughts (although, I suppose my thoughts could have been, "God, this book is boring" and then I wouldn't have had to finish it). My biggest problem with the book is that everyone comes across as melodramatic because the author is pushing for it to be a thriller, but none of the events convey the urgency that a thriller should embody. So the urgent reactions that half the characters have are completely unwarranted. Plus, the main character, who is also the narrator through most of the story, has this "huh, that's weird" mentality and petulant child attitude that makes all the major plot points, as well as the reactions of other characters, seem like minor inconveniences; nothing to worry about really. The repeated emphasis on this supposedly "dangerous Game" became annoying quickly, given that nothing remotely dangerous happened past the prologue. There's no one pointing guns or being particularly menacing and nothing terribly mysterious happens (like a body falling out of window or something). Just the continued use of the word "dangerous," which wasn't terribly convincing. I'm sure if I were the main character I would have told everyone to go have their head examined. Although, if I were the main character, I would also have been a bit more concerned about the disappearance of my mother at the beginning of the book and probably would not have shrugged it off and flown home without a clue just because I had to get back to work. Who does that?And just as the book starts to get interesting, after 300 pages of pure tedium, the author starts to skip through the story. "Oh, we have to fly from Alaska to Russia to bring back a key player in this Game. It's really dangerous. We could be killed by the elements or captured as traitors and spies!" End chapter. And then, "We're back in Seattle! Woo, that was some trip!" That's literally it. An awesome opportunity to throw in some real excitement and...nothing. And that basically sets the tone for the entire end of the book. My point in this rambling review: This book was horrible. It was dull and unsatisfying, leaving one feeling confused and annoyed (not unlike the main character, I suppose). The only positive thing I can say about this book is it left me with warm fuzzy feelings about the first book (The Eight), which I had slightly less than lukewarm feelings about before; compared to this book, The Eight was a piece of brilliance.
    • 4/5
      Excellent sequel to "The Eight"
    • 4/5
      In this entertaining and well-constructed follow-up (prequel and sequel at the same time) to THE EIGHT of over two decades ago, Neville revisits a few of the characters from the first story while introducing many new ones in a tale--part thriller, part mystery, part many other things--that is once again built around the game of chess. As in the earlier book, the story more or less takes place in two timelines; one is largely Europe of the 1820s and the other is mainly here in the States at the start of this millennium, in the days following our return engagement in Baghdad and Iraq. With one glaring (to me, at least) exception, Neville's research and attention to detail are once again obvious and solid all around. The characters are fascinating--almost too smart and too good to be realistic in many cases--and the narrative is very good overall, although the pacing is inconsistent at times. The resolution is satisfying in some ways and rather disappointing and anticlimactic in others. My biggest complaint is that there would have been little story to tell if the characters had simply been open and honest with one another throughout, instead of pretty much all acting secretively, cryptically, obscurely and what have you. Imagine if I were to tell you that I'd like to get together over lunch, but instead of telling you the name of the place where I would like to meet, I simply left you a partial list of vague clues designed to lead you to the restaurant. You'd probably slap me and tell me to stop being a vague idiot. But I suppose that's true for a great deal of fiction, and mystery fiction in particular. In the end, if you haven't read either of the two books, then you're in for a treat; if you've already read the first outing, then you owe it to yourself to revisit the story to see how things all turn out.
    • 2/5
      I agree with many of the comments posted. I was prepared to enjoy the book having read The Eight when it first came out (I re-read The Eight a few months ago and I enjoyed it much less than I remembered.) I'm a sucker for complicated plots and time shifting story lines but, really, it seems that way too many "important" people of the day are involved in the Game. And, as others have commented, it seemed that the author was stretching to find the symbolism in all of the magic squares she introduced.
    • 2/5
      I've seen several reviews that say the novel started strong, and then lost steam in the middle. I disagree. I feel like this novel was a convoluted mess from the very beginning. "Mystery" characters that weren't very mysterious, "secret" conversations that (surprise, surprise) weren't very secret, and an entire secondary plot that was basically abandoned halfway through the book.It just seems like Neville didn't have enough to say - like she needed a 500 page novel, but she really only had enough story for a 300 page novel, so she just added a bunch of poorly wrought confusion and hoped the reader wouldn't notice. Interestingly, there are places where the novel is genuinely intriguing and even a bit thrilling - it just isn't sustained nearly long enough to be an overall enjoyable reading experience.
    • 5/5
      This is one very hot read! A novel of alchemical proportions -- bringing together in a riveting tale spanning several centuries, the concepts of esotericism in architecture and nature, sacred geometry, etc -- 'as above, so below'.
    • 1/5
      first i must say that i loved "the eight" , but this one was a total disappointment.

      did this book have an editor?..... and if it did , he should be fired and never again be allowed to edit another book.

      the plot was not that compelling , and what's with all the conversations that alexandra has with herself?????????????.........40% of the book is her questioning herself and all events and everione around her. it really pissed me off ( all the "how coud this happen...", " why did he/she do that......" and the constant retelling of events that you just read about!!!! ).

      my only advise people is: DO NOT READ THIS ONE
    • 5/5
      What a fantastic story. It was gripping from the first until the very last page. The centre is a very ancient chess which was created in the 13th century with a major secret enwrought in the chess board. Since then different people were trying to decrypt the message but it looks like nobody was able to do so. All people which were involved in those Games have taken a part of a chessman. The Games could be fatal and power was very important. The story is switching between nowadays and earlier times and that made the reading very enthralling. A young woman from the present had to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately, she never knew whom she could trust and that made the task very complicated for her. By and by other players showed up and suddenly old enemies were turning into reliable accomplices whereas friends showed their true faces and had to be shunned.
    • 3/5
      Read Nov. 2013. Sequel to The Eight. A chess set which confers unlimited power. Vartan (White King) and Xie (Black Queen and daughter of Cat and Alexander Solarin from The Eight) complete the quest by their union. Not as good as The Eight. The sections devoted to the past not as absorbing as in The Eight.
    • 1/5
      I was very disappointed. I love The Eight, but I honestly couldn't even finish this book. The characters fell flat, the story didn't flow very well. I felt like Neville was trying to be Dan Brown - a terrible aspiration for any writer.
    • 3/5
      A good sequel to The Eight, which I loved. It falls apart a bit at the end, as did The Eight, but I enjoyed it. I did feel I needed to re-read The Eight to remember enough about the characters to get into the plot.
    • 3/5
      Oh goodness, this book was a bit much for me. It seems like Neville took every element in the historical record, and tried in incorporate it into novel. Besides this, the story really lost its luster about halfway through the book. It is a shame that a novel with such promise really fell off. Too long, too complicated, and just too much.
    • 2/5
      I loved The Eight, and after reading this book, wish that the author had left well enough alone. I've recommended that friends of mine who read The Eight skip this one and read other of Katherine Neville's novels instead.
    • 4/5
      I expected more......I felt let down. The storyline was good but it just missed that final push of excitement that would make this a great book.A chess board and chess pieces that, if all together in one place, held enough power to let the beholder rule the world. So much so it was decided to split the pieces and the set up and hide it away from the two interested groups led by the white and black queens.This search has run for years and at times neared completion. However in 2003 when it discovered that Solaring a chess grand master is alive and not, as recently feared, dead and that one of the main pieces from the chess board may be a replica the game starts again. Can two chess players who last met when they were children join forces and stop the groups gaining all the pieces? Who are they to believe in regards to help as it seems even the groups are splintering amongst themselves...all thinking that they know best and have the ultimate solution.
    • 2/5
      I enjoyed _The Eight_ and was looking forward to this sequel, but wow, was I disappointed. After a promising start, the whole thing just turns into a big mess. Neville is somewhat adept at creating characters, but the plot has no focus or momentum. The thing I hate the most is that the whole book is a series of scenes where one character explains to another a bunch of stuff that happened, but it's written in a way that keeps the reader in the room with the talking characters rather than getting inside the events being discussed.
    • 3/5
      I received this book through the Early Reviewers. Not knowing that it was a sequel to The Eight, I read it first then went back to the other. I thought this was a decent read. Reading the two books, The Eight was definitely the best of them. Something seems to have gotten lost during the years betweent he two.
    • 4/5
      A sequel to The Eight, my all-time favorite book, this one was engaging and adventurous but not quite as gripping.
    • 3/5
      Kathryn Nevilles's The Eight is one of my all time favourite books so when I was wondering through the library and saw this, the sequel, I was very excited. The Fire has the same format with linked narratives in different times and references to chess, physics, history, symbols and plenty of puzzles to solve but it wasn't up to the same standard as the original. The main characters weren't as interesting and to be honest Neville didn't really draw you in to caring overly about what happened to them. I got hooked about three quarters of the way in but the ending was disappointingly rushed and also a little soppy. Overall an enjoyable read but I'm glad I borrowed it from the library and didn't buy a copy.
    • 3/5
      While Neville's The Eight was a favorite of mine, her sequel, The Fire does not quite match its predecessor. The fact that The Eight was so good makes this sequel even more disappointing. Even if you were a big fan of The Eight, you are not really missing anything by skipping The Fire.
    • 1/5
      I only finished the book to find out what happened, but I was very disappointed.
    • 2/5
      There was nothing specific that I could point to where the book obviously failed, but unfortunatly for me it did. I can count on one hand the books that I haved failed to finish in 35+ years of reading and for whatever reason this was one. Maybe I'll take another stab at it later.
    • 3/5
      I put off reading this until I had read "The Eight", which I just recently finished. I really wanted to go against all the not-so-good reviews of this book & find some redeeming qualities. But...I don't think I can. As a stand-alone novel, this might've been okay, although having the background of the prequel is helpful (sort of). But as a follow-up, it just disappoints, as so many other readers have said. The potential was certainly there -- there were quite a few plot lines in "The Eight" that could've been expanded on & "The Fire" really could've been a good, if not great, novel. But it wasn't. The storyline was relatively dull, and the whole "black vs. white" team thing was just confusing. And then the ending -- very weak. For as much work & research as I'm sure Neville must've put into writing this, it just fell flat.
    • 3/5
      I am a huge fan of Katherine Neville. I own most of her books. This one, however, was not as thrilling as the Eight. Historically, the story meshed with actual events. But I just couldn't get into the story or the new characters. I forced myself to finish the book so I could write this review.
    • 4/5
      I couldn't read this book until I went to the library and picked up the first installment "The Eight". After reading both, I was engaged by Katherine Neville's story-telling ability. Details are complex, and constantly changing. Sometimes I did re-read a section to make sure I wasn't missing an important clue. If this was ever made into a movie, think "National Treasure" .It was absolutely worth the time!!
    • 1/5
      This book must be for someone else, because I could not get into it at all. My suggestion is you read someone elses review to get something more from this book.
    • 3/5
      I remember really loving The Eight. This one just didn't grab me in the same way. I don't know if it's because I haven't read as many mysteries in recent years, because I barely remembered the first book, or because this one just lacked the same magic as the first one.In any event, I never really connected with the main character, or most of the others for that matter. I was disappointed in most aspects of the book - some of the interludes with historical figures held my attention, but the rest of it just didn't hold my interest.
    • 3/5
      My only complaint with this book is that it dragged out a bit and that it was published such a long time from the original book, The Eight (which I'd loved) so that I wasn't sure if I should be relating some of the material in The Fire back to that first book.
    • 2/5
      I struggled with this book. I am not a chess player nor a student of mysticism or ancient history. Therefore I found the story convoluted, the characters had to keep track of and the sense of mystery forced. Perhaps if I had read her first book, The Eight, I would have been able to carry the esssence of the story with more ease.