Buried Fire

Michael, Stephen and Sarah live in a small English village. Sarah is the responsible older sister and the other two are her younger teenage brothers. The story opens with Michael out in a beautiful summer day, on a hollow on a hilltop, when a power sweeps through him and envelops him, setting fire to the book beside him. He's not sure what it is, but as he comes down the hill he finds himself seeing strange things, so his first thought is sun-stroke. But it isn't, it's the power of a trapped dragon bubbling up and trying to find a way to help him escape the trap he was put in. The Dragon is helped by the fact that a stone has been unearthed and broken, a stone with runes and an intertwining dragon on it. It's not up to the level of his Bartimaeus trilogy, but it's not a bad story of the meeting of the ordinary and magic. The ending feels a bit rushed and there would be space for a sequel here. These boys have been touched by the extra-ordinary and I'm not sure that the ordinary will ever really satisfy them.

Forget Bartimaeus. This is not a Bartimaeus novel. This is England, its henges, mounds and burrows, with landmarks left from an earlier age, and the people that live there carry their secrets just as the landscape. This is, at its heart, an Alan Garner novel. In the confines of a small village, a drama is going to be played out, not for the first time, but it may be, with luck, the last time. A dragon sleeps in a mound near the village, sealed in its underneath cave by a 6th century saint. Its dreams change the villagers, in the past, but more rapidly now since the new vicar has unburied - and broken - a strange cross beneath the village church. Will the dragon awaken? Will two boys, with strange new powers inherited from the dragon's dreaming, play a role, either way? I loved the setting, the storyline, the distanced description. It was as if Alan Garner had written a new book, after Red Shift, the Moon of Gomrath or the Owl Service. Thank you, Jonathan Stroud.

The Buried Fire teaches us a leason of arrogance and power. When Tom Aubrey digs up a Celctic Cross with one arm in the dirt on the Church Ground an evil is awakened. While on the same day Michael MacIntyre had been sleeping on the Wirrim Hill. When woken up everywhere hurts, mostly his eyes. At first he thinks it's Sunstroke and tries to hurry back home, but when he sees a man and woman with sheep heads he thinks he's going mad. Finally when he's in bed and has woken up on the next morning he hits the truth: Something had happened and he can see what people really are.(example: if someone is a tattletail and a rattter he'll see a rat with swirling colors) His Brother Stephen thinks he is mad so Michael takes him to the exact place where it happened ,Wirrim Hill. So it is on the same day that someone stole the remaining arm of the Celctic cross that Stephen also has the sight. Then as the story goes on Michael and Stephen realize there are 4 powers, sight, fire, flight, and reading minds all of with belong to the dragon. There are also more people with the powers who's identities are revealed and they kidnap Michael. Then Michael is stuck with a choice, help the others and realese the dragon to avoid the mind live death or help his family to destroy the dragon and all it's evil. Stroud has again put an amazing plot into literature. It certainly helps with the book that Tom reads so that we understand what that folklorist thought. The others are very evil so it darkens the plot a bit. The end is very arupt. Maybe next time put a couple of more chapters to round it out Stroud. Still all in all The Buried Fire is a spinning fantasy adventure in which Stroud has put an excelent plot and all fit charecters.

Jonathan Stroud reached fantasy fame with the wizard-and-djinn Bartimaeus Trilogy, but it wasn't his first foray into the fantasy world. Recently rereleased is "Buried Fire," a simple but well-written fantasy adventure, with a dark lesson about arrogance and power. In a small English village, a boy named Michael fall asleep on a hillside, and is consumed by the thoughts of a sleeping dragon deep underground. Elsewhere in the town, workmen come across a strange Celtic cross buried in the church's foundation -- with a dragon on it. Then Michael staggers home, suffering a strange fever and a drug-like high -- and claiming he can see INSIDE people. Unsurprisingly, the stodgy vicar Tom thinks he's on acid. But when his brother Stephen follows Michael to the spot where he slept, he's given the same strange powers. At the same time, Tom. The boys have no time to savor their powers, because they are not the only ones who have them -- and the other people in the village who have the four gifts of the dragon are using them to try to bring the dragon back. Now Stephen and Tom may be the only ones to stop them -- and to save Michael from becoming one of them. They say that power corrupts, and it corrupts quite a bit in "Buried Fire," where the magic and action literally starts on the first page. Stroud lightly sprinkles his story of ancient dragons and magic with a bit of old folklore, and carefully crafts a back-history for the mysterious "witches" that surround the dragon's influence. "Buried Fire" starts slow, and takes some time to really get moving beyond Michael's strange powers. The ending, on the other hand, is extremely abrupt -- how about another chapter or two to round things out? But Stroud has a good prose style: detailed, rich and very intense. Particularly imaginative is the first power -- the "sight" -- and how it allows Michael and Steven to see the kind of souls that people have. This could have turned out silly, but Stroud adds an otherworldly feel to it. Michael seems to be the lead at first, but later he shares the stage with his brother Stephen, who is not as powerful, but is not corrupted by the malevolent Mr. Cleever. Both are strong characters, with Michael falling victim to a longing for power and dominance, and Stephen desperately trying to save his brother. And the villains are all the more sinister because the dragon's thoughts seem to be warping them. Think you knew dragons? Think again. Jonathan Stroud's "Buried Fire" is an intriguing, somewhat dark fantasy adventure, putting a few new twists in the stories of unexpected powers and hidden monsters.

After reading The Amulet of Samarkand, I had to read more Jonathan Stroud. Of course, his other books can't be found here in the U.S., so I ordered Buried Fire from the U.K. Fortunately, the book arrived quickly. Unfortunately, the book was ruined during the torrential rainfall at the Kentucky Derby before I could finish it. Undaunted, I ordered a second copy. Thank God! The premise of the story is that under a hill near a small English village, a dragon lies sleeping, held prisoner by an ancient spell. Although the dragon is comatose, its will is potent enough to possess and influence humans. One day, a boy from the nearby village falls asleep on the hill and is consumed by the dragon's thoughts. He gains unnatural powers and begins to transform into something not quite human. Meanwhile, an ancient cross is discovered buried under the local churchyard. Evil happenings then occur. The book completely possessed me. Except for the interruption of the ill-timed thunderstorm, I read the book straight through. The only (minor) complaint I have is that the ending seemed a bit abrupt. That being said, the book is a very satisfying read and I highly recommend it. ---------------------------------------- Michael Mihalik is the author of Debt is Slavery: and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About Money. Learn how to gain control of your finances, pay off your debt, and create financial security!