Fire

Kristin Cashore's Fire is a companion piece to her debut, Graceling. While Fire is set in the same 'universe' as Graceling it takes place in a completely different part of it that is almost completely separate from the first novel.

In this book, the kingdom called Dells is in habited by what are called 'monster' counterparts to every living being. These monsters are beautiful and deadly, they have the ability to entrance people with their beauty and their mental abilities. There are monster insects, monster raptors, monster rodents, and one last monster human – the titular character, Fire.

Fire is living in the shadow of the memory of her father Cansrel, the advisor to Nax the previous king of Dells. Cansrel drove the king and the kingdom to destruction using his beauty and mental abilities in order to enjoy a life of women, drugs, money, and violence. His memory, in both her mind and the minds of others, is negative for he had a very destructive influence on the kingdom for many years before his death.

Now that her father and the king are dead, the king's children and their allies are attempting to set the kingdom back to rights, but other Lords are preventing them from doing so and war seems more likely by the day. Into this situation steps Fire, she finds that if she would only let go of her fear of being like her father she could use her abilities to benefit the kingdom and be part of the solution to the problem that her father created.

And hey, with such an interesting set up, what could go wrong? Well – as much as it pains me to admit it, this novel was disappointing and kind of boring to read. The 3 stars are earned by the good writing style, lyrical and descriptive it captivates the audience from beginning to end. In addition to that, the world and its rules and history also earn a star, it's a very fascinating take on the fantasy novel quite original this world was fun to discover and observe. The other thing that earned a star was the liberated way that female characters were depicted in this novel. Fire herself was very much a character who took charge of her own emotions, sexuality, and future. She did not allow the men around her to define or confine her and I enjoyed that aspect of her personality. Aside from her there were numerous strong and independent female characters who were fully formed and interesting. The Lady Queen Roen who ruled her own lands, Musa Fires' main guard, and Clara – princess/spy, are all admirable characters. There are many female characters that stand out and I loved that, and even though – yes – some of the characters did look to love and sex and romance, these things never eclipsed the plot and the important thing in these ladies lives – kingdom, duty, honor, and pride. It was refreshing to read such a depiction of female characters in fantasy literature.

But—and there is always a but, for all these positive qualities the novel still fell flat. The author spends a large amount of time establishing the world and the plot and even for all that it still feels incomplete and lacking – I enjoyed the world very much but it seemed only partially formed. I know that they say "show don't tell" but in this case I wouldn't have minded some telling since the showing here wasn't adequate. There was a similar problem with the plot. The book seemed to have no purpose for the first 150 pages or so. Sure things were going on but there was no real direction and the characters seemed to be going on about their days with no motivation or goal. Even once things started to pick up it the plot still felt very thin and the whole thing was aimless.

Aside from this, the fact of the matter is that for all her strength as a woman, Fire was a bit of an annoying and thinly fleshed out character that only slightly grew as a consequence of the events of the novel. I found it intensely difficult to care about her character and it would have much more interesting to read this book from the point of view of Musa the soldier or Clara the princess/spy. Instead we are forced to engage in this world through the lens of a rather boring and transparent main character that only got the part because she is the last human monster – and not for any other reason than that.

In the end it wasn't a bad book and indeed if a teen asked I would recommend it. But for adult readers who enjoy a YA book from time to time I'd advise them to read Graceling and move on.