Fire, by Kristen Cashore

Hey all! 

For the read-along Erika and I organized, we just finished reading Fire, by Kristen Cashore! 

"It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. The young King Nash clings to his throne while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. The mountains and forests are filled with spies and thieves and lawless men.

This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she had the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.

Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City, The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.

If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.”

So like fro Graceling, I’ve read this before, a few years ago. I enjoyed the story behind Graceling so much better! But this book was a good second book, even though it did suffer a bit of a second-book syndrome. 

So unlike in Graceling, Fire doesn’t have graced people specifically. Instead, this world includes monsters - people and animals who are different by their blood, and can be distinguished because they are an unusual color (purple horses, green cats...). Fire, the main character, is a monster - her hair is a mix of reds, golds, oranges, and even pinks, and people are always awed by her. She’s a good archer and is fairly emotional. 

Archer, her friend, is (obviously) a master archer, and has quite a unique personality. To be honest, I didn’t like the relationship between Fire and Archer, basically as a ‘friends with benefits’ friendship. I wish they were more like siblings or something, it would have made their connection more believable in my opinion. /: With others, I honestly thought Archer was a bit of a jerk... 

However, Brigan was a great character! He was genuinely caring and kind, although he was often gone. He was one of the only ones able to detach himself from Fire, in the sense that he isn’t immediately awed by her. He had this little thing where he just really liked horses. 

I still really like Cashore’s rhythm and way of writing! The unique fantasy she creates and the way she puts it across to the readers is so great! 

A big negative for me for this book is that even after reading it twice, I still can’t really say what the plot was... I mean I understood the main events, but a 450+ -page book should have a more concrete plot, in my opinion. ... I wish the plot was put forward, rather than the characters and the relations between them. /: 

OOOH OH OH one thing I really really liked is how this book basically gave us a part of Leck’s backstory! It would have been cool to have a bit more of his backstory though, maybe a novella?! o.o

SPOILERS!!! 
Cashore is amazing at bringing out the feels! Like Cassandra Clare, actually! She makes one event that changes everything and leaves you sitting there feeling devastated. In this case, Archer’s death just crushed me! 
I think Fire and Brigan go really well together! :3 
Done with spoilers

I’m giving this a 3.5/5 feathers! I wish the plot was more developed! 

Have you read Fire? What did you think of it? Let me know!