Flood of Fire

June 1, 2015
Ghosh’s final novel in his Ibis trilogy (after 2008’s Sea of Poppies and 2011’s River of Smoke) is set during the First Opium War in China, from 1839 to 1841. Ghosh’s cast of characters is lengthy, and many change identities; relationships and events begun in the first two books are referred to frequently here. Sorting out who is who can be confusing, especially if the reader is not familiar with the other two novels. Still, Ghosh’s firm grasp of the British empire’s war with China over opium imports is colorful and insightful, and ultimately a powerful indictment of European imperial arrogance, using force to secure economic concessions from a Chinese dynasty. Havildar Kesri Singh is an Indian sepoy (soldier) in the East India Company Army, sent to China with his officer, Captain Neville Mee, as part of the British campaign to force the Chinese to pay reparations, allow opium imports, open free trade ports, and cede Hong Kong. An immoral American sailor, Zachary Reid, sees riches in the opium trade, partnering with a rich businessman while bedding his wife, later blackmailing her, destroying her marriage, and causing untold grief to others. Woven throughout are historical depictions of British imperialism and duplicity, the Indian caste system, the tragic suffering and the tremendous profits in war, European-Asian enmity, and grim portrayals of vicious naval and land battles in which cannon and bayonets inflict slaughter. This is an excellent history of the First Opium War, and a fitting capstone to Ghosh’s trilogy.

June 1, 2015
Ghosh completes his epic Ibis trilogy with a book focusing on the First Opium War of 1839 to '41 and culminating in battles between the British navy and Chinese ports. As befits a saga of this magnitude, there's no center but rather a cluster of subplots and a dazzling variety of characters and relationships, both personal and professional. Foremost among them is 21-year-old Zachary Reid, who at the beginning of the novel is acquitted of murdering the first mate of the schooner Ibis. He continues his career under the watch of Mr. Burnham, who eventually settles on Reid to help move his cargo of opium from Calcutta to China-and to use the "free market" to sell opium for a substantial profit along the way. Meanwhile, Reid comes under the sway of Mrs. Burnham, who spends a great deal of time puritanically warning him about the dangers of "onanism" ...and then begins a torrid affair with him. Another subplot involves the military maneuvers of Kesri Singh, a sepoy officer with a regiment of the Bengal Native Infantry. He and his commanding officer wind up in the center of battle as the action moves from India to China. Yet another subplot involves Shireen Modi, whose husband dies and who is thus forced to take over his business activities, including the potentially bankrupting loss of a huge opium shipment. Somehow, throughout the machinations of the characters and the logistics of business and militarism, Ghosh brings everything together as ships and troops converge on China for a climactic battle. At times slow-moving and repetitive, this novel still provides a satisfying sense of closure to the political and personal issues Ghosh opened up more than a thousand pages earlier.

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Starred review from July 1, 2015
The final novel in Ghosh's dynamic trilogy (Sea of Poppies, 2008; River of Smoke, 2011) about India's involvement in the Opium Wars between England and China is rife with antic lust, lost love, and foul greed. Ghosh's ebullient fluency in the colorful argot of the contentious worlds he brings forth distinguishes this passionately researched series as much as his wily and zealous exposure of entrenched discrimination pertaining to race, religion, gender, caste, and class. Once again Ghosh proves himself to be a virtuoso scene-setter and action writer as the Ibis' scattered crew and passengers find themselves reuniting in unexpected ways in China, circa 1840. Sailor and carpenter Zachary Reid, a mixed-race American, becomes entangled with a British opium magnate and his lonely wife. Kesri Singh, a career soldier serving the East India Company, finds his loyalties severely tested. Disgraced raja Neel is working as a translator, and opium trader Bahram's widow, Shireen, bravely seeks the truth about her husband's life and death. Forbidden and betrayed love are the primary forces here, enacted with bawdy comedy and outright melodrama amid family concerns, secret deals, brutality, military battles, and the horrors of the drug trade. This feverishly detailed, vividly panoramic, tumultuous, funny, and heartbreaking tale offers a vigorous conclusion to Ghosh's astutely complex and profoundly resonant geopolitical saga.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2015

British, Indian, and Chinese cultures clash in this final book of Ghosh's trilogy (after River of Smoke) about the first 19th-century Opium War, launched when China embargoed trade on the drug. There are many different characters' stories here: wealthy ship merchant Mr. Burnham, who will stop at nothing in order to establish an opium trade with China; Zachary, a ship's carpenter, who aspires to both Mr. Burnham's wealth and his wife; Captain Mee, whose warrior's bluff hides a broken heart; his havildar (a noncommissioned officer in the Indian Army) Kesri, who must walk a tight rope between the British officers and the Indian soldiers; the widowed Shireen, who breaks with her Parsi tradition to sail to China to recover her family's fortune; and opium addict Freddie Lee, who struggles with his mixed-race heritage and his grief for his murdered parents. All these characters and more intersect in surprising ways as the events race to a climactic end. VERDICT Filled with politics and personal struggles, sex and sea battles, this suspenseful tale with well-researched detail and compelling characters will be of particular interest to fans of historical novels with a military focus. [See Prepub Alert, 3/2/15.]--Joy Humphrey, Pepperdine Univ. Law Lib., Malibu, CA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015

Ghosh wraps up his "Ibis" trilogy, begun with Sea of Poppies (short-listed for the Man Booker Prize) and River of Smoke, with the British foreign secretary ordering the colonial government in India to launch an attack on China. It's 1839, and China has angered Britain by embargoing the financially rewarding opium trade. As a transport ship called the Hind sails for Hong Kong, characters already featured in the trilogy come aboard, and war is in full swing when the ship drops anchor.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.