Fire
Fire is the second book by Kristin Cashore. It's a prequel to Graceling, but there's only one character who appears in both books and Fire takes place thirty years earlier in an entirely different world.
Both Fire and Graceling take place on the same continent. But there's a mountain range running down the middle of the continent that it so treacherous to cross no one attempts it (or even wonders what might be on the other side). The world is effectively divided into a western part (where Graceling is set) and an eastern part (where Fire is set). In Graceling, there are people born with extreme skills, marked by mismatched eyes. They don't seem to exist on the other half of the continent at all. Instead there are monsters, and Fire is the last human monster. Monster versions of every animal species exists, from bugs and fish to wolves and raptors. Monsters are distinguished by their vivid coloring and their ability to read and control minds.
The novel focuses on a seventeen year old girl named Fire, the last human monster. Her father was a tyrant, but she was mostly raised by others people and managed to develop a conscience. Because of this, she mostly keeps herself apart from society. She's pretty content with her little life until she starts being targeted by archers (who then get killed when they're brought in for questioning). She and her friend Archer go to consult their friend, who happens to be the queen and Fire gets tangled up in all sorts of political intrigue. There are mysterious people wandering around the king's quarters. There are two other major political parties vying for power. The entire kingdom seems to be on the bring of war. And they want Fire to use her mind reading abilities to help the spy network figure out what the hell is going on.
There's no clear right or wrong in this story and a lot of the motivations are pretty Machiavellian. The ends almost always justify the means, but the characters aren't entirely comfortable with the decisions they have to make. Fire really struggles with whether to help the king or not. She struggles with whether she wants to have children or not, and how far she's willing to go to prevent a pregnancy. She also struggles with the men in her life. She's content to have just a physical relationship with her friend, Archer, and to let him pursue other girls as well. But he proposes marriage to her several times, which makes the situation a whole lot harder.
Basically, this is a story where there are no easy answers, no perfect people, and no time to delay decisions that have to be made. I loved it.
If you read Graceling first, you'll be able to figure out part of the plot. Actually, you'd be able to figure it out based on the prologue. There's one character, Leck, who appears in both stories, as a grown man in Graceling and as a boy of ten in Fire. I don't want to give too much away (and reading this book first will definitely spoil a major plot point in Graceling), but it was interesting to see that person from a different perspective.
At the same time, the storyline involving Leck seemed shoved in to provide a link between Graceling and Fire. There's enough plot without him to sustain the book. He's an interesting character, but this book may have been stronger without him. The 50 or so pages he spends kidnapping Fire and then letting her escape almost immediately may have been better served to describe the climactic battle at the end of the book.
That battle was basically skipped over. The first arrow is shot, and the next page has the Epilogue, which takes place several months later. The entire thing ends up feeling rushed and forced. I thought this about Hunger Games, too, though Collins fell into this trap more often than Cashore does. I think the YA authors may be under more pressure to keep their books under a certain length so kids will actually be willing to pick them up. At least, that's the only sensible explanation I can come up with for why it feels like plot points occasionally get skipped over.
If you like YA fiction with strong female protagonists and magic, I would definitely recommend Kristin Cashore. She writes a lot of complex characters. Her books are incredibly sex positive. Both Katsa and Fire have fulfilling sexual relationships outside of marriage and manage to avoid the children they don't want. She has a third book in the works which would be an actual sequel to Graceling. It is tentatively titled Bitterblue, and if you've read Graceling, you'll known which character that refers to (Cashore creates some weird names for her characters, but I think this is a symptom of the genre). There isn't a set release date yet, but I'm looking forward to reading this book when it does get released.
Both Fire and Graceling take place on the same continent. But there's a mountain range running down the middle of the continent that it so treacherous to cross no one attempts it (or even wonders what might be on the other side). The world is effectively divided into a western part (where Graceling is set) and an eastern part (where Fire is set). In Graceling, there are people born with extreme skills, marked by mismatched eyes. They don't seem to exist on the other half of the continent at all. Instead there are monsters, and Fire is the last human monster. Monster versions of every animal species exists, from bugs and fish to wolves and raptors. Monsters are distinguished by their vivid coloring and their ability to read and control minds.
The novel focuses on a seventeen year old girl named Fire, the last human monster. Her father was a tyrant, but she was mostly raised by others people and managed to develop a conscience. Because of this, she mostly keeps herself apart from society. She's pretty content with her little life until she starts being targeted by archers (who then get killed when they're brought in for questioning). She and her friend Archer go to consult their friend, who happens to be the queen and Fire gets tangled up in all sorts of political intrigue. There are mysterious people wandering around the king's quarters. There are two other major political parties vying for power. The entire kingdom seems to be on the bring of war. And they want Fire to use her mind reading abilities to help the spy network figure out what the hell is going on.
There's no clear right or wrong in this story and a lot of the motivations are pretty Machiavellian. The ends almost always justify the means, but the characters aren't entirely comfortable with the decisions they have to make. Fire really struggles with whether to help the king or not. She struggles with whether she wants to have children or not, and how far she's willing to go to prevent a pregnancy. She also struggles with the men in her life. She's content to have just a physical relationship with her friend, Archer, and to let him pursue other girls as well. But he proposes marriage to her several times, which makes the situation a whole lot harder.
Basically, this is a story where there are no easy answers, no perfect people, and no time to delay decisions that have to be made. I loved it.
If you read Graceling first, you'll be able to figure out part of the plot. Actually, you'd be able to figure it out based on the prologue. There's one character, Leck, who appears in both stories, as a grown man in Graceling and as a boy of ten in Fire. I don't want to give too much away (and reading this book first will definitely spoil a major plot point in Graceling), but it was interesting to see that person from a different perspective.
At the same time, the storyline involving Leck seemed shoved in to provide a link between Graceling and Fire. There's enough plot without him to sustain the book. He's an interesting character, but this book may have been stronger without him. The 50 or so pages he spends kidnapping Fire and then letting her escape almost immediately may have been better served to describe the climactic battle at the end of the book.
That battle was basically skipped over. The first arrow is shot, and the next page has the Epilogue, which takes place several months later. The entire thing ends up feeling rushed and forced. I thought this about Hunger Games, too, though Collins fell into this trap more often than Cashore does. I think the YA authors may be under more pressure to keep their books under a certain length so kids will actually be willing to pick them up. At least, that's the only sensible explanation I can come up with for why it feels like plot points occasionally get skipped over.
If you like YA fiction with strong female protagonists and magic, I would definitely recommend Kristin Cashore. She writes a lot of complex characters. Her books are incredibly sex positive. Both Katsa and Fire have fulfilling sexual relationships outside of marriage and manage to avoid the children they don't want. She has a third book in the works which would be an actual sequel to Graceling. It is tentatively titled Bitterblue, and if you've read Graceling, you'll known which character that refers to (Cashore creates some weird names for her characters, but I think this is a symptom of the genre). There isn't a set release date yet, but I'm looking forward to reading this book when it does get released.
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