Round Table Discussion: Field of Fire by Jon Connington

Field of Fire, by Jon Connington
Format: Paperback, 376 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace, ©2010
ISBN 10: 1452827893
ISBN 13: 978-1452827896
Series: Book 1 of The Storm at the Center of the World
Copy: proof provided by author
Reviewers: Victoria, Tyson and PeterWilliam

Back of the Book: "A village burned. A boy taken into slavery. A lost treasure of a fallen empire. So begins the tale of Macsen, a farmers son, an orphan, taken from the ruins of his home to a distant land, made a slave and sent to die in the arena. But he escapes, falling into a life of adventure across a world where lands float in the endless skies, whose beating heart is a mighty Storm ten thousand miles wide. Adrift and alone, with only his will to sustain him, Macsen swears vengeance against those who shattered his life, to seize his destiny and shape it with his own hands. He becomes a warrior, a pirate, a captain, leading his fearless crew to fortune and glory in war-torn skies, blazing a path of courage, of vengeance...and ultimately of salvation. FIELD OF FIRE - the first book of The Storm at the Center of the World!"

Plot
Tyson- The plot to Field of Fire is revenge with a lot of events thrown in before Macsen, our hero, can reach his ultimate goal. There are loves lost and adventure to be had as our protagonist learns many of life's lessons as he attempts to survive and prosper in what remains of his shattered life.

Pete- One gets the sense that this story, as good as it is, merely scratches the surface of what Connington either can, or should, plan to do with it as each installment unfolds. Connington has managed to create, seemingly, an entire universe upon one planet in which to culture a fantasy fiction adventure.

Victoria- This story had a lot going on, and some really interesting themative threads. The one thread and influence I really enjoyed was the Roman empire. You could tell that part of his world was heavily influenced by the the Roman political culture in which the plebians were used to hand outs and games to keep them happy and under control. I did find, however, that some of the themes could have been expanded upon, and the novel would have been richer for it.

Characters
Tyson- I found every character enjoyable and fairly well fleshed out. Every person depicted in Field of Fire seems to come with a background and motivation for their actions. From the slaves to the various pirates. Macsen goes from a care-free youth into a hardened leader of men. Even though there are more books to come in the series there is a lot of continued growth for Macsen as there are a several loose ends to tie up until he ultimately meets his destiny. The character has yet to reach his full potential. I for one am interested in what he will finally become.

Pete- Again, I see vast potential for Connington to expand into. This story was a strong debut effort, in my opinion. However, with what we've only had the chance to glimpse at, there is certainly oceans more of content that Connington will be able to bludgeon and sate his readers with.

Victoria- Unfortunately, I'm at odds with Tyson's assessment. I thought that there were too many characters that did not have enough flesh on them, so to speak. Some just popped in and out, and we, the readers, were expected to accept them the way they are. I have to admit, I wasn't quite enamoured with a lot of the characterization in the novel.

Style
Tyson- Connington's style in Field of Fire is pretty straight forward. While he does a decent job of describing the events and surroundings, he does not waste words. I thought that the story was paced fairly well. Connington does his best not to bog us down in world building and infodumps and throws in lots of tension and action before a major lull can occur. It read an a nice clip which I found enjoyable.

Pete- Connington approaches the reader through the oft-used third-person approach. As Ty mentions, there is little to no infodumps - largely because the reader travels with a callow youth who knows next to nothing about the world anyway. As the reader, you are right there with Macsen, being alleviated of your ignorance simultaenously with the protagonist.

Victoria- The style of Field of Fire is where I had the most problems. I found that it jumped around from viewpoint to viewpoint in a seemingly random manner which had be confused more often or not. I'm not talking about a chapter for each point of view, but from paragraph to paragraph, and it wasn't always entirely clear as to who's view point we were looking at something from. This is especially true during the first half of the novel.

And I disagree, Pete, I do not think that my ignorance was alleviated simultaenously with Mascen. There were parts in the novel where events were described, as if from Mascen's point of view, that he couldn't possibly have known, such as when he's on the slave ship. He was on one level of the hold, and drugged, yet he told us everything that was going on in the ship. And it wasn't just at that point. This was an aspect of the novel that really didn't jive with me. The point of view and the narrative voice just were not consistent enough for me, I'm afraid.

Setting
Tyson- Field of Fire is set in a world where islands and continents are free floating. There are three levels of islands: high, middle, and low and the higher the land the better off economically you are. In order to travel you take ships that fly from location to location. I thought this was a great idea, my only complaint with it is that we are only told how the ships are able to navigate and stay afloat through the use of runes. Yet we are not told anything as to how the land is capable of sustaining afloat. This bothered me as it would constantly pop into my head and I would think on it for several minutes at a time. While I like a little mystery and unanswered questions in my novels, this particular issue would take me away from the story from time to time. However, this was made up for with the inclusion of pirates, lots and lots of pirates. We have a huge community of pirates that meet up in secret locations to off load their booty and engage in all kinds of nefarious activity. The corsairs in Field of Fire are the stereotypical buccaneers who like to get drunk, plunder, and then hit the closest port of call for some evening entertainment. All of this is depicted in the book, but Connington also gives each person in the crew a background and motivation which surpassed the stereotype most books and movies would have us believe.

Pete- The setting is the largest part of the vast potential Connington has given himself to expand into, as further stories are released. The setting/world for this story is several vast islands/continents/cities/floating asteroids all orbiting about some sort of gravitational inducing mass/core. In this first story (I certainly hope there will be more), there are a few locales the reader becomes familiar with, but there remain areas of the Higher realms and Lower realms, to say nothing of what truly lies "over the side," which the reader can't even begin to speculate about. Field of Fire feels as though it could merely be a prologue to a story that could immeasurably, and hopefully in my opinion, grow - reaching a monstrously epic scale (my favorite).

Victoria- I agree that the setting has an enormous amount of potential. The idea of floating landmasses is great, and it's obvious that Connington put a lot of thought of the people and the cultures within his world. I did find, however, that some of his descriptions of the societies in which Mascen associates within, were at times redundant. I found that instead of being immersed in the world, I was reading a lot of description. That said, this world does have a lot of potential, and I'd be interested to see where Connington takes this.