Fire by Kristin Cashore

Title: Fire

Author: Kristin Cashore

Genre: YA Fantasy

Target Audience: Older teens and adults (violence, sexual and dark themes)

Number of Pages: Hardcover - 480 pages

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, violance, 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 reccomend reading Graceling first, since that is the order it was published.

Cover (US Hardcover Edition): 4/5 - Though in fashion with Graceling, with the cover depicting a weapon and a gradient of one color, I prefer the cover of Fire. Though slightly mediocre amidst jungle of the bookstore, this cover is artfully designed, and pretty despite being a tad bit bland. There seems to be something sinister and mysterious lurking beneath the layers of crimson, caputuring the mood of this novel. My only complaint is that the bow on the cover pertains to Archer, Fire's friend, more than it pertains to Fire herself.

Rating:

4 hoots

Source: School library and friendly librarian :).

 For a review of Graceling, click HERE. 

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Genre: YA Fantasy
Target Audience: Teens and Adults (contains violence and mild sexual themes)
Number of Pages: Hardcover - 480 pages

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight--she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po's friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace--or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. Katsa and Po go on a dangerous quest to uncover one of the land’s most disturbing mysteries, and learn the truth of a twisted king. - Taken from Amazon.com

This book owes me pages of missing homework and three hours of lost sleep.

I stayed up into the wee hours of the night to finish Graceling. This vivid novel will always remain prominent in my mind; Graceling will never melt into the blur of YA fantasy. It is the type of book that I will be quite sorry to return to the library; I have the strong desire to place it on the prized section of my bookshelf. With a flawed yet likeable ensemble of characters, a fast-paced plot, and an original concept, Graceling is one of the top five YA novels of the year. The actual idea of Gracelings is amazing; it made me jealous that I didn’t think of it first. Gracelings are gifted with a supernatural power at birth, and the sign of this power is shown by eyes of two different colors. The Graces that Gracelings can be born with can be as useless as the ability to rotate one’s entire torso, or as powerful as the ability to read minds.

The characters are one of the strongest aspects of this book. Eighteen-year-old Katsa, the main character, is a fierce heroine who defies all weak women stereotypes. It’s quite refreshing to have a female protagonist who can protect herself and those around her, opposed those stereotypical, helpless women who never engage in a battle. Katsa’s character develops beautifully, and her mental journey is centered on her humanization and finding the ability to cope with love. In the early pages of the novel, Katsa reflects upon herself:

“She knew her nature. She would recognize it if she came face-to-face with it. It would be a blue-eyed, green-eyed monster, wolflike and snarling. A vicious beast that struck out at friends in uncontrollable anger, a killer that offered itself as a vessel of the king’s fury.” – page 137

Then we have Prince Po, who is a superb character. The only personal problem I have with him is his name – Whenever I read “Po”, two other people jump into my head: Po from Kung Fu Panda, which is sort of fitting since both characters are gifted in marshal art skills, and the more dissimilar one, Po from Teletubbies*. Besides that minuscule and forgivable downfall, the author executes the romance between Katsa and Po fantastically by letting their relationship develop naturally, not at all like the annoyingly unrealistic sudden-true-love-within-twenty-four-hours romance scenarios in Twilight.

Another aspect I like about this book is the villain. The author counters Katsa’s powerful ability to kill anybody she desires by gifting the villain with an equally powerful skill, causing the plot to take many extremely interesting turns. Surprising us with unsuspected movements of the storyline, this book is not as predictable as it may seem.

Though simple and clean, in some places, Cashore’s writing bothers me. It is slightly choppy, and I would not agree with the praise on the book's back that describes her writing as “elegant, evocative prose”. Fortunatly, the dazzling plot and characters outshine her mediocre writing. On the contrary, I noticed that Cashore manages to make her description, which is often the more boring part of a book, very exciting to read, sometimes by integrating it with the action. For example:

“She couldn’t believe the coldness of this passageway over the mountains. She couldn’t believe wind couldblow so hard and so insistently, without ever easing. Every breath of this air was a blade gouging into her lungs. Her arms, her legs, her torso, especially her hands – every part of her that was not covered with fur burned with cold, as if she had thrown herself into a fire.” – page 352

Cashore describes the freezing conditions while still engaging my attention, which is part of the reason why this book is such an addicting read!

In conclusion, this novel is a rich, well-blended medley of action-packed battles, violence, mystery, suspense, romance, heroism, snappy dialogue, and superpowers. If you have not read Graceling, go get it from your library, or even better: buy it! After finishing this book, fans will ravish down its prequel, Fire, and eagerly await the release of Bitterblue.

Cover Rating: 3.5/5 - I love the sword in the background and the color scheme, and the eye reflected in the sword adds more essence. Especially after reading the book, I realize that the pretty cover is quite well done, capturing the book's charm. Though it captures the feel of this novel, I wish it was more distinguished. Something about the cover reminds me of other fantasy novels, and I probably wouldn't pick it up if I was in a bookstore.

Rating:

4.5 Hoots

Source: The school library and a friendly librarian who made me take the sequel Fire too. :) 

Teaser Tuesday x 2

Rica Eat World and Okapi present to you our first Teaser Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.. Since you're a lucky duck, you get two Teaser Tuesday excerpts; there's one from each of us.


Okapi is currently reading Fire by Kristin Cashore, the amazing prequel of Graceling. Here is her two-sentence tidbit:

Next, a team of hairdressers yanked and braided Fire's hair to distraction, exclaiming at the range of reds, oranges, and golds in her hair, its occasional astonishing strand of pink, its impossibly soft texture, its luminosity. It was Fire's first experience actually trying to improve her appearance. - Fire by Kristin Cashore, page 314

Look for a review of both Fire and Graceling in the coming week!

Rica Eat World is currently reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.. Her contribution:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels. A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. - A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, page 26

~ Love, Okapi and Rica Eat World ~