Listen to this chapter!
So, this book is amazing. That’s how I feel after setting it down. It’s been quite a long tale up to this point, and I’m a bit dazed at how things have turned out for the characters. Calling this simply a “story” is a disservice to the work. The Fire Hunter series is something truly extraordinary. It surpasses anything I’ve seen or read before. Puzzle pieces quietly fall together, directed by the author’s hand. Rampaging monsters, combusting humans, and scenes of terrible violence and struggle are desperately transcribed onto paper. Such scenes are so vivid and immediate that they could leap off the page into our world.
And so, the third volume of the series has come to a close.
At the end of Shadow of Flame, the second book, Touko has gone blind. She’s been severely injured fighting Fire Fiends and has witnessed the death of Shuyu, a Tree Person. The third book opens in that same uncomfortable place. There are no convenient skip-ahead scenes or easy resolutions to problems. The third book picks up exactly where the second leaves off and thrusts readers right into the thick of the same conflict again.
To be honest, it’s not an easy read. Some pages made me gasp or hold my breath. It was hard to know when to put the book down—the characters are constantly in peril.
After Touko’s eyes are healed by Kiri, she gets no time to recover. She travels to the relative safety of Okibi Estate and leaves almost immediately to chase after Kira. Meanwhile, Koushi heads to the industrial area to operate cannons full of lightning fuel bottles.
As the story alternates between Touko’s and Koushi’s perspectives, we catch glimpses of the world’s power structure, which is hopelessly tangled and complex. Fire, which is usually seen as beneficial (if dangerous), cannot be used like it could in the past. If people get too close to natural fire, they will combust and die. An ancient war that took place before living memory spread a pathogen that causes combustion as a way to control overpopulation or eliminate whole swathes of enemy humans in one fell swoop.
That ancient war is over, but the pathogen persists. People rely on Fire Hunters to hunt down Fire Fiends, terrible monsters whose blood can be used like lamp oil and gasoline. Fire is a necessity of life: for cooking, for heat, for light, etc. The depiction of this world where fire is a precious commodity that is tightly controlled is quiet, but shocking.
Touko’s grandmother had her eyes sealed shut as a baby so that she would be able to work in darkness and not rely on light. Koushi’s mother died of environmental pollution caused by the factory where she worked. It is clear that things have gone very wrong somewhere. There is peace on the surface of things, but that peace has been bought by the extravagant suffering of countless people.
And now, even that surface-level peace has been broken. Or rather, it has rotted and collapsed. The Guardian Gods who are supposed to protect humanity have split across clan lines. The Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Wood Clans have never truly been united, and when the Spiders attack the capital, they fracture further and either refuse to cooperate or withhold important information.
Meanwhile, the Spiders—former Guardian Gods who were exiled to the Black Forest long ago—have learned how to make themselves immune to the human combustion pathogen. They have control over both insects and natural fire. They use these powers to drive the Fire Fiends around the capital crazy so that they will attack without any regard for their lives. The Spiders also plant spies inside the capital and around it. They lure in Fire Hunters like Akira and Roroku, hoping that they will burn to death.
The Spiders’ surprise allies are humans inside the capital. The Spiders have promised them salvation after death in exchange for aid. Eerie new humans who no longer need fire to survive now run rampant—the result of a cruel but successful experiment by the Guardian Gods’ Water Clan. I was speechless when I learned the true identity of the Guardian God who created these strange new humans. Hinako was transformed by them, and Kira was taken away to become the unwilling vessel of the Millennium Comet.
Tree People who have spent most of their lives isolated underground help Touko and the others to safety. Cannons that shoot lightning fuel that Koushi designed prove to be effective in stopping the Spiders from conquering the capital.
So much is happening that it’s hard to even summarize. The situation complexifies moment by moment. I was asked to write this commentary, so I reread this book a few times. No matter how many times I reread it, I still don’t feel like I’ve fully grasped everything that happened or what it all means. Touko and Koushi’s world is entirely out of control.
Touko, Koushi and Akira all bear such heavy burdens. Touko is eleven and Koushi is fifteen. They are children who should still be protected by adults. Until very recently, they lived ordinary lives, though they each had their own challenges. Now their world is changing before their very eyes, and they must confront it. How many times have they been forced to simply watch the scene before them, powerless to act? If I could, I’d reach into the book and pull them out. I’d like to ease their pain with a warm meal and a safe bed for the night. The events that unfold are too much for children to bear. Like them, all we can do as readers is sit and watch—and hope that their story will grant them safety someday.
Akira is an adult, but events are too large for her to control, though she certainly tries. Her brother was murdered by the Guardian Gods, but she’s still trying to live out his last wishes. She wants to become the King of the Fire Hunters and end human suffering. She faces every problem and every obstacle with a smile and a swing of her sickle. She is an encouraging presence in a discouraging world. She is also a quintessential Fire Hunter: a warrior who brings fire and light and hope to humanity.
There is a legend that the Fire Hunter who slays the Millennium Comet will become the King of the Fire Hunters. The King of the Fire Hunters is supposed to have the power to restore the safe use of natural fire to humanity. This legend pits humanity against the Guardian Gods. The Guardian Gods wish to use the Millennium Comet to replace their current leader, Princess Teyuri.
The Millennium Comet made a very brief appearance in Shadow of Flame, but she is a major character in this novel. Surprisingly, she is not a standard satellite or a recognizable machine, but a humanoid robot in the shape of a starving child. She is not all-powerful or all-knowing. She’s just another kid caught up in the chaos. The Millennium Comet is just as bewildered as Touko is at times.
What will happen to the Millennium Comet in the end is something the next volume must settle. For now, we know that the Millennium Comet is not a weapon or a savior, but a confused girl with the same feelings and desires as Touko and the other human characters.
Touko and the Millennium Comet have much in common. Touko has learned to put the needs of others before herself. She stubbornly refuses to listen to others who tell her to stay behind or stay out of conflict. Her story began with her attempting to repay a life debt to the Fire Hunter who saved her in the Black Forest. The Millennium Comet also wishes for the common good above her own needs. For many years, she orbited the planet and tried to help, but more often than not she could only watch as people died. She is angry at herself for her own ineffectiveness. Both Touko and the Millennium Comet are aware that they are two small pieces on a vast game board. Their power to alter events is limited, but they still try to protect others.
Koushi also suffers greatly in this story. He designed and then operated a weapon that takes many lives. This burden weighs heavily on him. Was it worth it? He made the weapons he uses in this volume to protect his home. Only time will tell if the outcome is worth the cost.
I mustn’t forget about the dogs who share the fate of the people they fight beside. Each has a distinct personality, and their little antics provide a bit of levity. Kanata, Mizore, and Temari all sense people’s feelings keenly and serve as emotional support. They are all good fighters and protectors, but they are also guard dogs of the human soul. Without them, no one could have made it this far… not even the story’s readers.
What choices will Touko, Koushi, and Akira make in the future? What will human society look like after the battle for the capital is over? Will the world change because of the story’s characters?
The desire for the world to change is an undercurrent that runs through the whole series. Change is a double-edged sword: it can make things better or worse. It’s like being caught between the jaws of a Fire Fiend. It seems like that situation can lead only to certain death, but there is always a way out in stories. How will the series’ characters escape these terrible circumstances? I am sure this question weighed heavily on the author’s mind while she was writing.
Volume 4, Starfire, is the conclusion of the series. It is time to see what kind of ending Touko, Koushi and Akira will create.
Yamanaka Yuki of Tsuyata Co.
Translator’s Note: Tsuyata is a Japanese company Culture Convenience Club (CCC), which operates the Tsuyata chain of bookstores and video rental stores. Yamanaka Yuki is a cinematographer and a spokesperson of Tsuyata.
I should also note that the third book of the Fire Hunter series has the worst rating and reviews in Japanese out of all the books in the series, so Yamanaka Yuki’s commentary goes against popular opinion.
As for my opinion (no one asked my opinion): I think the author should be under psychiatric care for bathing her child protagonists in buckets of blood for hundreds of pages on end, but that’s neither here nor there.
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