Luka is a boy who lives for two things: the lively tales of his imaginative, storytelling father, and video games. One day at a circus, he curses the tyrannical ringmaster to lose control of his animals, and to lose his tent in a fire. Nobody is more shocked than Luka to discover that both of these take place within the day. Two of the freed animals, a dog named Bear and a bear named Dog, become Luka's steadfast friends. But evil cannot safely be used for good; the ringmaster is entitled to a return curse, which he uses to claim the life of Luka's beloved father, Rashid Khalifa. The agent of this transaction is a being called Nobodaddy, who looks and acts almost exactly like Rashid, but who, Luka suspects, is a monster inside. Nobodaddy allows Luka the chance to save his father by transporting him to the World of Magic to steal the Fire of Life. For this task, Luka will need all of his wits, as well as friends he can only imagine, to overcome the immense obstacles in his way, and to learn just what Nobodaddy and the World of Magic really are.
In case the name Salman Rushdie rings a bell, you may have heard of him as the guy who angered the entire Muslim world with a controversial account of Mohammed in his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. The book was banned in twelve countries, and Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran, even issued a fatwā against him, or a mandate for his execution. So he hid out in the UK for a while. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)
If all this sounds intense, you may be surprised to learn that Luka and the Fire of Life is a children's book comprised of good, old-fashioned fantasy. Most of the characters in a negative position are purely of Rushdie's invention, although he makes Aphrodite and Ra the Supreme look a little silly, among others. I guess he hasn't shaken off the tendency to explore religion on his own terms. In a case like this, I can say he's engaging in healthy inquiry, though of course I haven't seen what he thinks of my own religion. His gods can be a little flat for an adult audience, even while the rest of the story thrives for all ages. In fact, I'm interested that he heaps so much mythology into the story when he's able to invent such rich characters of his own.
I heartily approve of the broad plot structure and the themes used to carry it. Rushdie paints solid themes in such a fresh, new way. One of these themes is childhood interest in video games, to which I'll accept objections. But for the rest he uses imagination, consequence of actions, vanity, time, religion, and friendship to great advantage. No matter how silly the characters, they have some way of linking the themes to values. Thus the memory birds, giant ducks with elephant heads, are Luka's conscience when it comes to his consequences on time and the past, and the Insultana of Ott keeps him humble.
The villains are wonderful as well. Aag is a great example of frothy wrath, the kind of person who can't see reason. The Aalim are characterized so well before we even meet them. Nobodaddy, the bogey behind the whole mess, is no Sauron, but not every villain has to be. I suppose that's my greatest praise for the book: it does what it can without bringing the same old story out of the essential themes. Life, after all, carries the same values no matter whose it is, and everyone's experience gives him a different way of discovering these universal adventures.
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