The Element of Fire
- Published
- 1 January 1993
- Pages
- 324
- ISBN-13
- 9780615135717
- Type
- novel
About this book
The Element of Fire is the opening book in Martha Wells's Books of Ile-Rien, published in 1993 at 324 pages. It's followed by The Death of the Necromancer, a novel this catalogue's curator note describes as set a generation later and only loosely connected to it.
Key facts about The Element of Fire
Martha Wells wrote The Element of Fire, a novel on our list. It has been out since 1993. The book has 324 pages.
We list 1 edition of this novel. Since each edition has its own ISBN, search for 9780615135717 to find the main one.
The Element of Fire is book 1 of 5 in The Books of Ile-Rien series. The series has 5 published books. As a result, this is the book to start the series with. The Ships of Air is the latest book in the series with a full release date, out on 1 July 2004.
Additionally, Martha Wells writes The Books of the Raksura, The Murderbot Diaries and The Rising World as separate series. Those series sit on our fantasy and science fiction shelves. Meanwhile, Platform Decay is the latest published Martha Wells book on file, from 5 May 2026.
About Martha Wells
Martha Wells is an American science fiction and fantasy author whose Murderbot Diaries has become one of the genre's most acclaimed recent series, following a self-hacked security android -- who privately calls itself Murderbot -- as it tries to watch its favorite soap operas in peace while reluctantly getting drawn into protecting the humans it's contracted to guard. See every Martha Wells book in order.
Its place in The Books of Ile-Rien
The Element of Fire is book 1 in the The Books of Ile-Rien series. It is followed by The Death of the Necromancer. See the full The Books of Ile-Rien reading order.
Ile-Rien is Martha Wells's recurring secondary-world setting, a magic-using nation with a distinctly Gaslamp, Belle Epoque flavor rather than standard medieval fantasy trappings. The Element of Fire (1993), her debut novel, follows a court sorceress and a captain of the Queen's Guard defending Ile-Rien from both a fae incursion and courtly conspiracy. The Death of the Necromancer (1998), set a generation later, follows a gentleman-thief protagonist whose revenge scheme against the man who ruined his family…
Editions
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780615135717