Fire (Seven Kingdoms Trilogy #2)

This book is not your typical sequel. It is set in the same mythical realm as Graceling (book 1), but the characters are completely different. So, Fire is a whole new story.

Fire starts with the story of a young Graceling, who can compel people and uses his powers for evil. It turns out this is Leck, who is the main antagonist from Graceling (I did not get this immediately, it was a long time since I read Graceling). After this, he does not show up for about three quarters of the book, which I found a bit annoying. I was constantly waiting for him to show up.

Then we meet the protagonist, Fire. She is a female monster who posseses the gift of altering and reading people's minds and she is incredibly beautiful, both of which she tends to dislike. She resides with her friend Lord Archer (who is in love with her) after her evil monster father died. From the beginning I did not like Archer. He seemed to care for Fire, but he was short-tempered and tried to hold Fire on a sort of leach.
Then Prince Brigan came to take Fire to the King's City. At first he was cold to Fire, since her father helped destroy Brigan's father's kingdom. But soon they get to know each other and you can just sense something is going to happen there. In the King's City Fire develops her powers, which she first refused to use. She slowly tries to accept her being a monster and using her powers for good, to question the King's enemies. King Nash, Brigan's brother I found a bit weird. From the beginning he was telling her he was in love with her, even when he did not know her. Later he turns by, but he still can't properly look at her. This makes him look a bit weak.
Brigan has a major character change and turns out to be a very kind, caring man with a secret daughter, Hanna, who Fire becomes friends with. When Archer comes to court, he has a fight with Fire and he takes off on a trip to catch a mysterious archer (who already showed up a few times) but not after impregnating 2 girls. This made me dislike him even more. But after Fire is caught by the mysterious archer, who turns out to be Leck (finally we meet him again), she discovers Archer is killed by Leck. This made her terribly sad, which made me also quite sad and take my disliking of him back. In the end she escapes and is found again by Brigan. A war between the Kingdom and its enemies is now really starting and King Nash gets hurt. But everything turns out well and Brigan and Fire, who have confessed their love for each other, live happily ever after..

I really liked the character of Fire. She is very strong, has good morals and she cares for everyone. Although people tend to dislike her at first because she is a monster and because of her father, everyone warms up to her once they get to know her. She only uses her powers for good and is willing to sacrifice herself for the ones she loves.
The descriptions of the landscape and the characters were very well-written and detailed. She could just see Fire's beautiful hair before you when the writer described it.

What I did not like about this book were all the enemies and their schemes. Fire has to find out who is on the King's side and who's not, because there is the threat of war. This was all quite confusing and I still do not really understand who was on who's side and why.
Also the revelation of Brigan and Archer being brothers was too quickly explained, I do not know how it all fits together. I found this story arc to be unneccesary, just put in to have a little shock before the end.

I would certainly recommend this book. The story is captivating, the characters are well-written and the fantasy elements are beautifully described. I'm looking forward to reading Bitterblue, book number 3.

http://www.evelinesbooks.blogspot.nl

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Reader reviewed by Okapi

To the east of the lands in Graceling resides a kingdom called the Dells, a place where colorful monster animals roam among the normal ones. Monster animals can be distinguished by their vivid, dazzling colors; "A dappled gray horse in the Dells was a horse. A sunset orange horse was a monster." Though gifted with a terrible beauty, monsters are vicious and crave the flesh of both humans and other monsters, making them dangerous, feared foes of the citizens. Seventeen-year-old Fire, who has the ability to control minds and shock others with her impossible beauty, is the last human monster in the Dells. Easily identified by her flaming red hair, Fire experiences a tough childhood as a monster; she is equally loved and hated by the people, and her abilities terrify everyone. 

Meanwhile, King Nash attempts to maintain his rickety rule over the Dells, while furtive rebel lords raise personal armies to unseat him and claim the throne. The land is teeming with bands of robbers and mysterious thieves, and nobody is safe. With war looming on the horizon, the royal family bestows Fire with the duty of uncovering a conspiracy to kill the king, by using her mental abilities to their advantage. Along the way, Fire must face additional challenges including the quest for the approval and then heart of the prince, the problems that come with loving her late father, who was once the most hated man in the Dells, and facing the numerous people who believe that she is as cruel as he was. 

Though this book is often called the prequel of Graceling, it's more of a companion novel, taking place in the same world though in a different land. Save for one important villain, Fire has an entirely different ensemble of characters than Graceling. When I picked it up at the library, I expected to read some half-thought out prequel that would feed off the success and popularity of Graceling. However, instead of being a weak and watery novel, Fire is something else entirely; it would be extraordinary even if Graceling never existed. After a slow beginning, the pace speeds up as Cashore hurls readers into a fantastical world, where she spins an intricate story riddled with side plots. This book is marinated with medieval politics, and Cashore manages to portray the darker side of the court in an engaging manner. It seems as though Cashore's writing has improved since Graceling, though she still successfully manages to add tasteful details to the plot without tripping the fast-paced momentum. 

A vast array of characters, Cashore forgets about no one, giving personalities to a variety of people including the guards, maids, princes, soldiers, and even the horses. Fire, the protagonist with crimson hair, is extremely likeable; she is gentle, tough, independent, has good morals, and would never to flaunt her unwanted beauty. However, she seems ruled by her situations and her reactions rather than by her true personality; Cashore could have elaborated on her character a lot further. One of the most intriguing parts of this book was the relationship between Fire and her monster father Cansrel, who was once the most heartless person in the Dells before his death. Though Cansrel was a cruel, rabid murderer and rapist who basked in destruction, he truly loved his daughter. Fire loved and hated him at the same time, and her conflicting emotions fuel part of the story. Cashore exquisitely executes Fire's haunting memories, using them to tell the tale of Cansrel, and though he is dead before the book begins, he is an artfully developed character. Later in the novel, a shocking secret about their relationship is revealed, thrusting Fire's character and the reason for her motives into an entirely different light. 

Leck, the only character also starring in Graceling, is an unnervingly creepy child, and as disturbed as I imagined him to be, complete with his two eerily different Graceling eyes. Fans of his role as king in Graceling may be disappointed to learn that he is not the main villain, though he does serve as a pivotal character for the plot. With such a cold demeanor, he mirrors a young Cansrel. 

I was not partial to the romance between Fire and prince Brigan, since their relationship unfurled too quickly; they abruptly go from mortal enemies, to awkward, tentative friends, to lovers, without time to develop in between the stages. Prince Brigan was absent from the palace and the plot for the majority of the time, and I wish he could extended his stay in the pages. 

Fire, though an individually strong novel, shares many aspects to its companion novel Graceling. For example, both books have similar female protagonists who yield an enormous amount of power; for Graceling's Katsa, it is the ability to kill, and for Fire, it is ability to control minds. I often wonder which heroine would be victorious if the two ever battled, because they are both equally powerful in different ways and are weak where the other is strong. These two novels also focus on the humanizing of the protagonist and her inner journey on coming to terms with her own power, a hazardous journey, and a royal romance. Despite being similar, these books are very solid novels that will immerse you in their separate fantastical worlds. It should be kept in mind, that Fire is a lot darker than Graceling; it is full of rape, violence, and lust. Since these two novels are two similar, in my head, I can almost hear them demanding to be compared. Overall, though Fire is sensational, I prefer Graceling because its backbone consists of a strong, more character-driven plot, and it contains more action. I yearn for this duo on my bookshelf, along with Bitterblue, which is due in 2011. 

Overall, Fire is an astoundingly brilliant novel that is a seven course meal, since it consists of everything a book lover's heart could desire: vexing mystery, romance, action, violence, intriguing characters, mythical places, and a layered plot that meanders into unexpected places. I would recommend reading Graceling first, since that is the order it was published. 

Reader reviewed by Daisy

I, a great fan of Kristin Cashore's Gracling, was very much in doubt with this book.  The description of the book held me off for a couple of months, reading other good books, and when I found a copy of Fire in my local library, I thought to give it a try. And I'm glad I did.

Reader reviewed by Lacey Sauvageau

This book is about a girl that fell in love with a devil and ended up being forever with him, I would recommend this book to anyone that likes drama filled lives that come together as your own life.
This book keeps you on the seat the whole time and it makes you never want to put the book down and always read. It is the best book I have ever read.
I liked when she thought she was falling for him and she ended up knowing it was him and he was the one.