Flight of the Fire Thief

The fire thief in question, who has already appeared in a preceding book, is Prometheus. He may escape his punishment for stealing fire for humans if he can find a human hero to impress Zeus and Hera, since they are becoming tired of watching the antics at Troy. Achilles and Paris aren’t up to the job description, so Prometheus heads for the future, to Eden City in 1795. He’s been there before – in 1858. Yes, this is a confusing book. It switches back and forth between Troy and Eden City, and between Greek myths and the story of Helen of Eden City and her showman dad. They get embroiled in a dispute between the grubby colonialists of Eden City and the Wild Folk who live in the lands beyond their barricades. Helen and Prometheus use their wits, wings and hot air balloon to rescue the Wild Folk’s princess. In the process, Prometheus is nearly caught by the Avenger (sent to drag him off for punishment) and has to leave without discovering who the human hero in the Temple of the Hero is. This denouement is left for the third book in the trilogy.

No-one seems to write anything but trilogies these days, but surely each book in a series should be able to stand on its own? If you can cope with only getting the middle of the whole story, this is an amusing romp with plenty of action. The style is very lively and broad humour and sarcastic footnotes add to the appeal. The novel is, however, thin on characterisation and motivation and the plot lacks drive. The juxtaposition of the two stories feels forced: neither adds to the other, and considered individually, neither is particularly engrossing.