'Flood of Fire' is the final volume of the Ibis trilogy. I read the second, [b:River of Smoke|9783627|River of Smoke|Amitav Ghosh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1310286525l/9783627._SY75_.jpg|14673463], four years ago so was a little concerned that I'd struggle to keep up with events. Thankfully, 'Flood of Fire' centres upon a slightly different cast, so it was enough to vaguely recall names and the context of the Opium Wars. Ghosh adeptly plunges the reader into the dynamics of colonised India, imperial China, and aggressively expansionist Britain, via a fascinating coterie of characters caught in between them. All are all vivid and compelling. I was especially struck by the story of Kesri, an Indian sepoy who finds himself in China fighting for Britain's ability to sell opium. While less sympathetic, Zachary Reid also has a fascinating plot arc. His affair with Mrs Burnham, which could have been merely sordid, is greatly enlivened by her constant use of hilarious sexual euphemisms. By the end some characters suffer sad fates, notably Freddie Lee, while others escape to the happy future with Deeti glimpsed in [b:River of Smoke|9783627|River of Smoke|Amitav Ghosh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1310286525l/9783627._SY75_.jpg|14673463]. Paulette's ending was ambiguous, suggesting possible of reconciliation with Zachary once he's become a monstrous avatar of capitalist greed. The suicides of Captain Mee and Mrs Burnham were suitably tragic, as well as indicative of the tight grip that propriety exerted even upon the most privileged. Shireen and Kesri, by contrast, manage to break free from social expectations and pursue happiness. Both seemed much more clear-sighted and imaginative than the white British characters.

Having read [b:The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable|29362082|The Great Derangement Climate Change and the Unthinkable|Amitav Ghosh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462497923l/29362082._SY75_.jpg|49607520] and [b:Gun Island|42436500|Gun Island|Amitav Ghosh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551563543l/42436500._SY75_.jpg|66156716] in recent years, I could see in 'Flood of Fire' seeds of Ghosh's strong interest in climate change fiction. Baboo, a major character in the previous book if I recall correctly, takes only a cameo role in this one. However his occasional pronouncements place the whole plot in the wider context of fossil fuel-based imperialism. Early steam ships, including the first to have an iron hull, are deployed against the Chinese during a series of battles that constituted the first Opium War. These of course required great quantities of coal. Baboo appears to foresee the climate chaos that will be unleashed by so-called free trade, and seeks to accelerate it by encouraging greed amongst the opium traders he works for. The novel as a whole certainly shows the violent reality of so-called free trade in 1839 very effectively. It is only free for the British, because they have the naval forces to impose the terms of trade they desire. Ghosh depicts the brutality of the first Opium War partly through the eyes of children employed as fifers and drummers by the British forces, which is especially moving.

Overall I enjoyed 'Flood of Fire' a great deal, albeit not quite as much as [b:River of Smoke|9783627|River of Smoke|Amitav Ghosh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1310286525l/9783627._SY75_.jpg|14673463]. Unusually, the middle book in a trilogy proved to be my favourite! That might say as much about my mood while reading each as about the novels themselves, however. 'Flood of Fire' is due back at the library tomorrow so I intended to read it over the weekend, then finished it on Saturday. That certainly speaks to how involving I found it. The quality and style of writing are very consistent throughout the trilogy. World-building through language is a particular strength, coupled with the high density of historical details. Although I assumed the progression of the Opium Wars was historically accurate, I was disconcerted to discover from the afterword that at least some of the characters depicted were real people. I'm unsure how many of them, though. Given the indignity and intimacy of how closely the reader observes their fictionalised actions in the trilogy, I felt somewhat embarrassed on behalf of the real people involved. Such details certainly give the narrative a lot of texture and conviction, though, bringing a turbulent period of history vividly to life. ( )

Eeek, this wound up a lot bleaker than I expected. Lots of cannon fire and troop movements as the opium war erupts. How the free trade rhetoric is just a cover for cut-throat greed... Ghosh shows how personal this gets. Tracing the roots of our present global crisis.... well, back to 1841, anyway! ( )

Welp... Flood of Fire (Book 3) felt like a middle ground between the character driven narrative of Sea of Poppies (#1) and the more historical focus of River of Smoke (#2). As such, I enjoyed it somewhere in the middle, too. I don't mind historical novels but I felt that this got bogged down for the last third. Anyway... It was well worth my time and I'd recommend the Ibis Trilogy. ( )

This is an interesting read, as you seldom come across books with the Opium Wars as the setting. In this regard, this book is interesting. Ghosh also writes fairly well, keeping you gripped on the plot. But there is one thing that irritates me - Freddie likes to use 'lah' when speaking (Singaporeans call this Singlish). This is normal when the setting is contemporary but the setting took place more than 100 years ago. I am pretty sure back then people do not use Singlish. Also, Freddie's use of Singlish comes across as very deliberate and unnatural. ( )

It took a while, but I finally persevered and finished this series. It wasn't easy in many ways, but well worth the effort. In this 3rd book of the series, many people from previous books come together for the conclusion, where the some of them sail off into the sunset (hopefully, this won't be a spoiler).

It's hard for me to write a review of this series; anything I say will seem small compared to the power of the story, and the writing of a great author. The story was truly epic.

I learned a lot about the opium war (one of them, I suppose), and I'll have to say that the Chinese outlook made a lot more sense to me than that of the British, Indian, and American rationales. The poor viceroy, Lin, that was appointed to take care of the problem, thought it should be simple. After all, opium was illegal in Britain, and if the Chinese were to try to sell opium there, Britain would surely object, so why should the reverse not be true. But he underestimated the greed of the opium sellers, and the pride and hypocrisy of Britain - not to mention the effects of the trade imbalance between China and Britain. Britain was buying a lot of goods from China, and was forced to pay for them with silver, which they needed to purchase from other countries using gold. So opium was their solution; they used that to get back some of that imbalance.

I think Lin was an honorable man, and I feel bad that he ended up being treated so badly by both his own country and the foreigners. But the Chinese Emperor was far away, and got incorrect reports from his advisors, who were afraid to tell him the real truth, so I blame the emperor for the lack of a workable solution. Perhaps China was just too big for that period to deal effectively with something like this.

The difficult part of reading this is mostly the language used, which Ghosh tried to replicate without explaining; this was harder in the earlier books because after a while, I learned to just let it flow, and got the meanings out of context, or sometimes just didn't worry about not understanding it - much like in normal life, I think. Often, the idioms added spice and humor to the book.

In addition to the idiomatic language, keeping up with the sheer number of characters and their unfamiliar-sounding names made it a bit difficult. And some characters had more than one name.

( )