Fire (Seven Kingdoms Trilogy #2)

I obviously genuinely enjoyed Graceling by Kristin Cashore; I understood why everyone was so in love, even if that particularly intense emotion never paid me a visit while reading Cashore’s first novel. But the potential is like fire—haha—in that you can’t ignore something so violent and vivid, especially when it’s capable of destroying you. Cashore’s writing has that capability. Her stories feel like old tales bound in leather and passed by many hands. There’s something familiar and almost timeless; I can clearly picture sitting somewhere and listening to a very gifted storyteller regale me with accounts of multi-colored beasts and a heroine so beautiful it sometimes hurts—hurts herself and others. Fire by Kristin Cashore is not just about the fantastical, it’s also about self-acceptance and doing what’s right even when the whole world is ready to destroy someone so vulnerable, strong, and thoughtful.

Fire—as in the protag—has all this power at her disposal, and, like her dreaded father before her, is more than capable of letting loose and caring little, if not at all, for the consequences. She could be a selfish, cruel, and careless character with her gift, but she makes a decision in every moment to fight the ghost of what her father was, however satisfying it would be to just give up and let go, in spite of how she is treated even without intentionally causing harm. Everywhere she walks she is loathed, revered, envied, and adored so much so that beauty is an outright curse. How can she know all the love and affection she craves without it being an extension of the reactions to her face and body? It’s heartbreaking to see why she can keep close only so few in a circle and never reach out beyond that, for so many minds remain weak and tainted by something far out of her control. Her capacity to help and do good is stunning when so few have given her a reason against wreaking the havoc she could undoubtedly unleash on a whim.

Her sacrifices and harsh decisions, her scarred heart which matches her body, her past which constantly bleeds pain into her present, make Fire a truly beautiful and accessible character where Katsa is not. The characters already a part of her life and the ones she comes to know each realize this in their own way, and, in giving her a chance, they become things of beauty as well. Her eventual slow-simmering romance with a brooding, stoic, and unfriendly Prince Brigan feels like reward and relief, even as it brings along tension, confusion, and many misunderstandings. What starts out as a one-way loathing acquaintance—as Fire has irritation but no hate for the outstandingly brutal prince—unravels to something tender, friendly, and unavoidable. Fire and Brigan are so similar in so many ways even as certain aspects of their personalities veer away from the other. They balance and fit at the same time, and it’s cause to yearn for more moments between them in Fire by Kristin Cashore.

The plot is so inherently layered and overlaps in all the right places—threads dangling to be pulled only when Cashore feels the story is ready. The intensity, the action, the mysteriousness and the wondering all make this story so interesting and engrossing. War politics, courtly intrigue, and a few gorgeous handfuls of battles—WHICH I LIVE FOR—put all those aforementioned elements to use until we’re spinning in uncertainty with every suspicious character that surfaces and secret that’s discovered. Villains tangle and interchange, constantly shifting, so that the characters are cornered from all sides and are never quite safe, quite able to go unguarded. And all the hardwork clears the way for an exciting and satisfying closing.

Fire by Kristen Cashore is bitterness, despair, tentative sweetness, profound prose, richness, and full of invention. Each memory, hardship, and emotion are well-written gifts laid in every page. Although I’m unsurprised by the skill woven into the story, it’s brilliance as a story, I am a little astonished by the depth of feeling I have for this second novel.

If you'll note the rating I gave to Cashore's other book, Graceling, you'll notice that there is a huge difference between that rating and this rating, because I found this book so much more compelling and beautiful and well-written. After Fire, I went back to read Graceling, wondering what I missed, only to realize that I hadn't actually missed anything—Cashore just made that huge of an improvement from one book to the next.

Characters first. Fire, as the protagonist, has lived a pampered, sheltered life—she even admits this to herself at one point in the novel. She is very afraid of her power because she has seen the destruction it can bring, and therefore, she is timid. But she has also shown moments of bravery and courage, moments she does not recognize well enough, so she continues to doubt herself. Don’t worry—she doesn’t spend the entire novel moping about how awful her power is, and how she could never use it. One aspect Cashore improves a million fold in this novel compared to her last is the development of more minor characters. There’s Brigan, Nash, Clara, Garan, Roen, Archer, Hanna, Brocker, Small, Mila, Cutter, Leck, and a random, unnamed river mare, and yet, despite the huge cast of characters, it’s so easy to know and understand and empathize with each and every one of these characters because they are all somehow so unique in their personalities. Oh, and the best one wasn’t even alive during the course of the novel—Cansrel, Fire’s father, who is cruel, but passionate and loving, and who is met only through Fire’s memories.

I hate using dog-earring pages in my books…but with this book, I just couldn’t help myself. I find myself constantly going back to reread my favorite parts, and very often, I end up rereading the entire thing because I have that many favorite parts.

Fire is darker than Graceling, with some more serious issues, like war and rape, but that’s part of the reason I preferred Fire; instead of focusing so much on creating a plot driven by characters, there are also more worldly and wide-scoped themes. There was not one annoyingly flawless character in the book (though I suppose you could make an argument that Fire comes somewhat close to it), I felt that the romance in the book was well-paced (well, the course of the novel takes place over more than a year), and overall, it was just an excellently written book, with those deep moments that just make your heart melt and all those light moments.

And the epilogue was so perfect with just the right tone to it, especially one particular line, that I don’t want to give away, though it might not actually spoil any of the plot.

Recommended for: people who have read Graceling, people who want to try something new/different, people who like/can deal with slightly darker themes, etc.

Reader reviewed by Mairi

Fire is a destructive force unto herself, and she knows it, too- she is the monster daughter of a monster man. Though Fire loved her father, Cansrel, after a fashion, she understands that he is wicked and fears that, if she comes to rely too heavily on the monster powers that are her birthright, she will become just like him. Fire's country is falling apart at its seams, however, and Prince Brigan believes that her ability to tap into other people's minds might be the only thing that could pull it back together again.

I read Graceling only a few months ago, but I got a copy of Fire as soon as it came out, and I almost wish I hadn't- it would have been fun to spend a bit more time anticipating a return to the world that Kristen Cashore has created. Anyway, the long and short of it is that I loved Fire as much as I loved Graceling- at first I did not think it would be as good, but it was. Everything that Graceling has going for it, Fire has in greater quantities- this time, our heroine may not be a Graced killer, but she is still someone that the reader can cheer for.

The main way in which Fire defers from Graceling is that it is far more cynical in tone, making it even less of a wholesome YA book than Graceling was; I would recommend this book for older teens.

Reader reviewed by Erica

Fire
Kristin Cashore
Release Date: October 2009
Publisher: Dial Books
Pages: 480

Rating: 5 stars

Fire, Graceling's prequel-ish companion book, takes place across the mountains to the east of the seven kingdoms, in a rocky, war-torn land called the Dells.


Beautiful creatures called monsters live in the Dells. Monsters have the shape of normal animals: mountain lions, dragonflies, horses, fish. But the hair or scales or feathers of monsters are gorgeously colored-- fuchsia, turquoise, sparkly bronze, iridescent green-- and their minds have the power to control the minds of humans.

Seventeen-year-old Fire is the last remaining human-shaped monster in the Dells. Gorgeously monstrous in body and mind but with a human appreciation of right and wrong, she is hated and mistrusted by just about everyone, and this book is her story.

Wondering what makes it a companion book/prequel? Fire takes place 30-some years before Graceling and has one cross-over character with Graceling, a small boy with strange two-colored eyes who comes from no-one-knows-where, and who has a peculiar ability that Graceling readers will find familiar and disturbing...

Fire was phenomonal, there's no other way to put it! Starting with page 1, it drew you in, leaving you entranced with Fire's world. Once again, Kristin Cashore draws up an outstanding world, just outside of the one we encounter in Graceling. Graceling was outstanding, and when reading Fire I wasn't sure what to expect. Fire surpassed all my expectations and then some.

All the characters were very 3-D, which added a lot to the novel. Fire was such a great character, her past was revealed as part of the story. So you not only got what was going on now, but also what happened in the past. All the characters really draw you in with their emotions, and that's a big part of the novel. I loved the romance between Fire and Brigan, it was slow building, but it stuck out at readers like a red hot poker.

The fact with the "monsters" that was really great was that monsters had the same effect on everyone and the effect wasn't gender specific. In most novels, it's the female character that gets people to do their bidding, but in Fire Fire's father had people groveling to do his will.

Definately a must read! (Though make sure to read Graceling before you read Fire, or you ruin Graceling.)

Reader reviewed by Elise

This book is a prequel to one of my favorite books of all
time--Cashore's Graceling. I had high expectations for this book from
the moment I first discovered it, and let me say this: my expectations
have never been so wildly surpassed.

Fire evoked such raw
emotion in me that I was astonished at myself. I have never been so
empathetic to a character as I was to Fire, the beautiful and cursed
girl whose story is thought-provoking and deeply moving. Cashore's
writing is natural and hypnotic, with the kind of perfect, earthly
voice that I find myself unconsciously using for days afterward. Her
imagery is clear and easy to create mentally, thus making the story as
a whole more intimate and believable.

The Dells, for me, are as
real as the Seven Kingdoms of Graceling, or the factual countries of
today. All of them have cruelty, corruption, politics, and war as well
as beauty, peace, and humanity.

In both of Cashore's books, she
explores the complications, joys, and pains of love, providing
situations and feelings that are far from perfect, and so heartfelt and
human. Fire is a welcome contrast to Graceling in this way, although
the raw passion and purity of love is equal in both novels. Also in
Fire, Cashore furthers her exploration of the human mind and its
strength that she began in Graceling, giving the reader an amazing
insight into humanity as a whole. She also repeats the theme of the
exploitation of women, magnified in Fire to a major point of focus.

But
aside from these more academic aspects, Fire is truly an amazing piece
of literature. A happy, welcome addiction that I hardly realized I had
refused to let go of until long after I had finished. It was an
experience that both traumatized and refreshed me, and I will not soon
forget it. Trust me on this, readers--Kristin Cashore is an artist of a
higher caliber.