Fire by Kristen Cashore

 
Title: Fire by Kristen Cashore

Pages: 480

How it was obtained: Purchased on the Kindle for Susan.

Time spent on the "to read" shelf: 7 months.

Days spent reading it: 3 days.

Why I read it: I enjoyed Graceling, Cashore's first young adult novel. Thus I read Fire, her second novel in the same world.

Brief review: In Fire, we sort of revisit the world Kristen Cashore created in Graceling. But we are placed a few decades before the events in Graceling and in a different major nation. Fire is about a "monster" girl named Fire. In this world, a monster is any creature (human, lion, mouse) who was born with a magical twist. Monsters are born with unnatural hair color, like Gold or Green or Blue. They also are able to control the minds of those who are weak willed. Furthermore they attract the attention and affection of anyone they encounter. It's a crazy world.

Kristen Cashore delivers a very unique and surreal world yet again in her second novel. I liked the main character and the plot, but it was just a little less great than Graceling. Here's the thing, if I had never read Graceling I would have thought this book was great. Maybe a 5. But Graceling was spell-binding, and Fire just does not live up to that first introduction to Cashore's writing. I enjoyed Fire. I thought her ideas were once again fresh, but I also know how great her writing can be and this was just a little sub-par. I definitely recommend Fire without hesitation, but I would once again recommend Graceling as a superior work of writing.

Favorite quote: "Brigan, could you attempt, at least, to make yourself presentable? I know this is a war, but the rest of us are trying to pretend it's a party."

Stars: 4 out of 5.

Final Word: Imaginative.