FLOOD of Fire, the final installment in Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy, is a meticulously researched fictional account of the events leading to the first Opium War (1839-42) and the British acquisition of Hong Kong. Over 600 pages long, the book seems a little intimidating at first sight. Sea of Poppies, the first part of the trilogy, followed the exciting journey of Ibis, introducing numerous characters along the way; the second, River of Smoke, shows us the fate of some of those characters in Canton in addition to introducing some new ones.

Flood of Fire picks up the narrative shortly after the events of River of Smoke. British colonialism is at its peak; free trade is the new goddess worshipped by all. The tension between the Chinese government and the British is at its highest. When the Chinese persistently refuse to halt their crackdown on illegal opium trade, the British declare war.

A vessel called Hind travels to China with a diverse cast of characters. The primary narrative voices belong to Mrs Modi, the widow of the Parsi merchant who was one of the key figures in the second book; Zachary Reid, the beloved sailor from the first book; and Neel, the disgraced raja who found his true self in exile. Readers who were disappointed to find some of their beloved characters from Sea of Poppies missing in River of Smoke will be pleased with the final volume in this regard.

The narrative flawlessly flows back and forth across years and countries, creating various subplots and minor characters, each fascinating in its own accord. Ghosh also uses reminiscences and flashbacks to deepen our understanding of some characters. Caught in the middle are Indian characters, some fighting for the British; whereas others find themselves on the Chinese side. Both are confronted by a massive conflict of loyalties.

Kesri Singh and Neel; the first, a soldier fighting for the East India Company; the latter, an exiled raja, help the Chinese prepare to battle the British. Among the many passionate characters Neel’s is the voice of reason. However, the betrayal of the British has left a permanent scar on him; he realises he has no choice but to help the Chinese because he does not want them to suffer the same fate as him from “Britannia’s all-seeing eye and all-grasping hand”.

Nevertheless, he cannot shake the feeling of being a victim of circumstances: “It is madness to think that knowing a language and reading a few books can create allegiances between people. Thoughts, books, ideas, words — if anything, they make you more alone, because they destroy whatever instinctive loyalties you may once have possessed”.

However, the Ibis trilogy is not just a critique of colonialism; it brings to us a cast of carefully-drawn characters caught in the whirlwind of rapidly changing times; their destinies tied to the immense impact of colonialism in Asia. Moreover, Ghosh helps bare the corruptive nature of the opium trade, greed for more money and influence, as well as the challenges of encountering different customs and traditions. Freddie (Ah Fatt in River of Smoke), Mr Modi’s illegitimate half-Chinese, opium-addict son, sums up the nature of affairs rather profoundly: “It is they who are slaves, ne? Slaves to money, profit? They don’t take opium but still they are slaves to it. For them opium is just incense, lah, for their gods — money, profit. With opium they want to make the whole world slaves for their gods”.

Despite a large cast of characters, Ghosh’s focus remains tethered to a handful of them. He brings together most of the characters from the previous two books; for most of these meetings, however, Ghosh generously uses motifs such as chance and coincidence and often the character’s progression seems inconsistent.

Mrs Burnham’s character, for instance, seems so alien from how we saw her in Sea of Poppies that is hard to believe she’s the same person. Moreover, her rapid transformations throughout Flood of Fire seem somewhat forced. I was quite disappointed to find that three of my favourite characters — Paulette, Deeti and Baboo Nob Kissin — remained in the margins, never quite coming into focus.

Ghosh’s interest in intertextuality, language adaptation and appropriation is not only the highlight of his already rich writing style but also a commentary on how fluid identities are made. Nevertheless, some of the readers have found his attempt at an authentic voice rather tedious and difficult to follow; there is also the perception that such obsessive appropriation can be self-serving, creating art for the sake of art. However, Ghosh’s diction is not purely a scholarly pursuit or an attempt at merely being faithful to history — his work is the very embodiment of the spirit of that time.

A fitting and a remarkable trilogy, Flood of Fire offers a pleasurable reading experience due to the teasing tension between the familiar and the new. In addition to an intellectual richness, there is often an understated humour or — as in the case of Reid — black comedy. In short, brimming with energy, populated with fascinating characters and compelling historical details, Flood of Fire is an unforgettable novel of epic proportions.

The reviewer is an Ankara-based freelance writer and critic.

Flood of Fire

(NOVEL)

By Amitav Ghosh

ISBN 978-0719569005

John Murray, UK

624 pp.