Fire by Kristin Cashore
Series: Graceling Realm #2
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
Ben tends to pick on my reading of YA: the double spaced pages, and according to him there are no YA books with complex sentences or big words. I will admit that many of the things I read are easy to read, though part of it is I enjoy a variety. Yes I like Tolkien and Jordan, though I have yet to read any of Ben’s Warhammer 40K. Complex can be good but these things are not definitive parts of good storytelling. Don’t get me wrong I think Kristin Cashore is an excellent writer, I just love that she can communicate complex feelings and ideas simply. Honestly I think I might have loved Fire even more than Graceling and I am beginning to rank my preference for her up with Tamora Pierce even though I am only on book 2 and she herself is only on book 3.
This takes place before before the events of Graceling across the impassable mountains to the west of the seven kingdoms in a kingdom called Dell. There is one familiar face, but it is not one that you will be glad to see. There are monsters, they are colorful and beautiful and can control the minds of people. The rarest of all is the human monster; there is only one left and her name is Fire. People hate and fear her for her power over them but she is very afraid of herself. Her father almost destroyed the country and now it is up to her to put it back together.
I love Fire, so strong and so vulnerable at the same time. At first the descriptions of her hair with shades of pink and yellow and orange and red was almost too much for me. She seemed almost too alien but I suppose that was the point to make me fall for her just as the others did. I feel like the romance aspect in these books is realistic. Your first love is not necessarily your true love. There were times where I was sobbing while laughing. I would squeal and giggle and read things out loud to Ben who would roll his eyes. I read it in one sitting. I started when I got off work and read past my bed time. I couldn’t put it own, that is the best recommendation I think that can be given.
