Luka And The Fire Of Life By Salman Rushdie – Now, This Is Fantasy!

OK.  Let’s kick start the new year with a writeup on Salman Rushdie’s latest novel.  One of the seven books I have read when I was on holiday.

Born in the video gaming era, Salman Rushdie’s new novel “Luka and the Fire of Life” talks to me.  As the main character Luka transverses through the World of Magic, on a quest to save his storytelling father (the Shah of Blah) who has fallen into a deep sleep, Luka needs to face magical creatures not too far off from those found in the World of Warcraft, and gods and titans that remind me of the game God of War.  Even down to the details of leveling and ‘ding’ (commonly known among the gamers as getting to the next level), save points, number of lives, and the concept of game-over (or in the book, it is termed as ‘permination’ – Permanent Termination).

On the surface, “Luka and the Fire of Life” draws from the same source of inspiration similar to many of the video game titles today – fantasy.  Where does fantasy come from?  Legend, tradition, mythology, religion, and science – Rushdie’s new novel has done a marvelous job in meshing up a vast repertoire of fantasy from all over the world and presents them in a concise manner.  A 216-page novel, as compares to the last Rushdie novel I have read, is indeed concise.  This book is an easy and entertaining read.  How the story develops reminds me of the sci-fi writer Piers Anthony’s Mode series.  In that series, a little girl is able to step into an alternative reality and has to take on endless quests in order to complete a certain goal.  In “Luka and the Fire of Life”, a ten year old boy together with a dog named bear and a bear named dog step into the World of Magic.  From there, Luke gathers new fiends, faces new enemies, and together, they have to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in order to attain an impossible goal – to steal the Fire of Life.

In a deeper examination, the author subtly slips in an at times humorous and at times inspirational message where possible.  Why “Big Bang” when there is no medium bang or an even bigger bang?  Do we live in a fated world whereby our future has already been written?  Or we are truly free to write our history?  What if there is no heaven?  And death merely means meeting one’s counterparty – like particles and anti-particles – and when the two meet, in contrast to be as in coming into being, the person simply un-be and vanish?

For those who enjoy reading fantasy stories, folklores, and mythologies, “Luka and the Fire of Life” guarantees to leave you breathless.  There are dragons and flying carpet, beauty contest amongst the goddesses such as Venus and Aphrodite, the Egyptian sun god – Ra – who speaks in Hieroglyph (it is hilarious!), there are heroes and villains too long to be listed, and there are memorable locations such as the Lake of Wisdom, the River of Time, the Mountain of Knowledge, and the Inescapable Whirlpool and above it, El Tiempo (like El Niño).

From the writing style point of view, this book is lively and modern.  The author has even created terms such as P2C2E (Processes Too Complicated To Explain) and made subtle reference to modern technology (“We [the magical creatures] aren’t needed anymore … with your High Definitions and low expectations”).  There are songs and poems.  And there is a character that partly speaks in Spanish.  I have observed a degree of dualism in the book to link real life characters (within the book of course) and the corresponding characters in the magical world.  I have also observed that when possible, the author augments a commonly associated concept to its opposite pole in order to keep ideas fresh (such as fire of life instead of fountain of life).  From the narration point of view, Salman Rushdie is without a doubt a master storyteller.  He draws you close into Luka and his companions.  Each character is distinct and they are intelligent.  The environment is magical.  Above all, Salman Rushdie has done something probably few have done – a good fantasy story does not have to be lengthy.  And it can be modern too.