Synopsis:
Tell me how it happened…
Layne was a soldier, conscripted to fight under the Fox in a vengeance fueled march. He, and his friends, were due for a fated confrontation, one that has ended in blood and loss. Now, the inquisitors want to hear every detail of his conscription, his training, and the duel against the assassin in grey.
A backwards narrative full of banter and blood Z.B. Steele presents An Inkling of Flame, a Song of the Damned novella.
Review:
An Inkling of Flame begins with a prisoner of war being interrogated. He is injured and sorrowful. This opening scene instantly drove me to crave the events that led to Layne’s imprisonment.
Layne begins his story by telling a familiar tale of a troubled youth. One mischievous act turned into another, and before he had any grasp on life, he was the kid to watch out for. The kid not to trust. The kid to punish and glare at and tell the rest of the townspeople about. The kid who probably did the bad thing but who could really say at this point? No one could prove otherwise. But before I could judge and dislike Layne, Steele goes deeper into Layne’s backstory. With a father who passed away, a hollow shell of a mother, and a little sister to care for, Layne has layers.
When a group of friends comes to Layne’s aid, he finds his world changed. He has friends, purpose, and a new devotion to the church. The bonds Steele creates between these four characters reminded me, and probably any other reader, of the friends we had when we were young. The best friends I thought I’d know all my life. The people who knew my darkest secrets and worst traits. My goals and fears. I never would have expected a novella to have the ability to bind four characters together with such power, but there I was. Loving the banter and kinship. But as most young friendships do, an obstacle tested their mettle.
The gods are at war and thus, soldiers must be made. The friends find themselves marching and training and preparing for battle. They feel ready. They lust for blood. And they are so very naive. Steele gives us a grim inside look at youthful, eager bodies ready to kill and die for the gods they’ve blindly pledged their allegiance to. The descriptions and emotions were raw and genuine.
Steele depicts a group of friends willing to die for each other, picking each other up when they’ve fallen, and always quick with a humorous insult when the need for comedy arises. One of my favorite lines, “…if it hadn’t been for my peers moving forward, I’d have lay down and died.” This line called to me, invoking all sorts of emotions as a military spouse. I know, secondhand, the way that soldiers urge each other on, provide strength for each other and move forward even if it is only so that the person to their left carries on with them. This is especially important because the friends find out that war is not the practiced song and dance they thought it would be.
An Inkling of Flame is a beautifully written novella. The witty conversations had me laughing out loud. The strong friendships had me cheering them on with every feat. The dark setting was intriguing giving me a deep curiosity about the world Steele built for the characters. Knowing how Layne ended up caused me to keep pressing on through the pages hours past bedtime. My first dive into a Z.B. Steele tale will certainly not be my last.
Leave a Reply