TW: This book, and to a lesser degree this review, features bugs, gore, references to attempted genocide, the death of children, and discussion of ableism/disfiguremisia. There are some mild spoilers up to about midway through the book.

Alefret, leader of pacifist group The Pact, has been a conscientious objector to the war between his country Varkal and the enemy Med’ariz ever since it began. When a bomb from his own side goes astray, however, he’s captured, interrogated and tortured by the Varkallagi — until he’s given the opportunity, or rather the order, to infiltrate the last of the Meddon’s flying cities. Alefret would rather die than be part of the war effort — but at the same time, this might be the last chance to end it once and for all.

This book is so, so, so damn good.

I fell in love with Premee Mohamed’s Beneath the Rising a few months ago, which takes place in a world…not quite like ours, but almost. SOBG, by contrast, is high fantasy (or is it?) with two countries fighting a terrible, terrible war. Varkal uses bioweapons for everything; Med’ariz, by contrast, is a country of machines and cybernetics. The reason the two are at war is as vague as it is for so many — one side says one thing, the other says another — but Alefret, along with his compatriots in the Pact, don’t care. They won’t fight. Violence only begets more violence…and Alefret’s ideals are tested all the way through the book.

As someone who cherishes pacifism but also strains against it in difficult times, I love reading about someone who’s a pacifist and non-violent even when it’s difficult, and who is imperfect about it. This is even more important because while the book takes a little bit to give you the full context — it’s told from Alefret’s perspective, after all, and he knows what he looks like — Alefret is disabled and disfigured. He’s about seven foot five and described as having a “monstrous” face, and is big and strong enough that people simply assume he must be violent, bringing their own assumptions about him to the table. The book is brutally honest about the cruelty he faces, too — he’s a science experiment for the doctors of Varkal, a eugenic aberration to the Meddon, and dead weight to his minder Qudur despite being far cleverer and better at infiltration than he is. Nor does Mohamed put in any token ‘good’ characters who automatically see Past His Ugliness; everyone, even later allies, have those biases to unpack.

If you’re thinking that this sounds like a terribly lonely way to be, then you’d be correct. Alefret is an unusual character in fantasy, even dark fantasy — he is tremendously and utterly alone. But that’s what makes him such an engaging and powerful read where he could so swiftly have become dull. It’s Alefret’s thoughts and perspective we’re tied to all the way through; his isolation, his uncertainties, his doubts and his fears while in a position where there’s no one he can truly be honest with. As a disabled reader it’s both a harrowing and a cathartic experience to read something where we are neither inspiration porn nor have the sharp edges of our lives smoothed over — instead, the harshness of what we go through is placed in its full context especially against the brutality of war and the difficulty of having to choose a side.

Siege of Burning Grass is a phenomenal read, and I’m very lucky to have gotten my copy signed by the absolutely lovely Premee Mohamed (who is also putting up with me going on about how Alefret needs a boyfriend. HE DOES, THOUGH–). It also, for my ace and aro friends, a book with no romance or sexual subplots — which is nice to know ahead of time! Find SOBG at your local library or bookstore.

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