Fire (Graceling Realm, #2) in What's the Name of That Book???

Aug 09, 2011 karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pretty-girls-make-graves, why-yes-i-ya

fortunately, jenn awwww yeeaahhhh is literally half my size. go on - look at my shoulders - i am like a mighty moose to her delicate deer:

there is no way she can make good on that threat.

so i am just going to say it: i liked this book less than i liked graceling.

bring it, tiny creature.

and from a critical standpoint, there is nothing wrong with this book. it has a fine story arc, good character development, a good array of both descriptive and action sequences - i would say that the pacing is a ...more

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May 07, 2009 Wealhtheow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, fantasy

Fire is the only child of the monster who once controlled a kingdom. She is a monster as well, with beauty so incredible that it can lure and entangle minds that see her. Fire struggles with her own powers, her womanhood, and her distrust of her own appearance while trying to save the kingdom her father once ruled.

Cashore is good at complicated inner lives and relationships, and the way she writes action scenes is enthralling. Still, I liked this book, but didn't love it the way I did Graceling ...more

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Sep 26, 2009 Sara ♥ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2009, romance, young-adult, action-adventure, fantasy, wishlist, challenge-winter-2009

December 11-13, 2009

All right. So I really enjoyed this book, but it just didn't flow like Graceling did. I loved the premise. Fire was AWESOME. LOVE Brigan (although he kept taking off, which was a bit frustrating). I thought the two of them together were AWESOME, and I was excited to see what developed between them from the moment Brigan walked onto the pages. There were quite a few surprises along the way...

But the book just didn't flow... Maybe it had something to do with how easy it was to ...more

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Aug 17, 2009 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

War is coming to the Dells, a land already rife with lawlessness and trouble. Fire, the last remaining human monster, knows this better than most.

Part monster, Fire's beauty is enough to strike a man (and some women) dumb. Sometimes her flame red hair and striking eyes are too much. Sometimes those who behold her are driven to violence in their efforts to possess her while monster animals are just as drawn to her hair and blood. It was easier for Fire's monster father. Cansrel loved the attentio War is coming to the Dells, a land already rife with lawlessness and trouble. Fire, the last remaining human monster, knows this better than most.

Part monster, Fire's beauty is enough to strike a man (and some women) dumb. Sometimes her flame red hair and striking eyes are too much. Sometimes those who behold her are driven to violence in their efforts to possess her while monster animals are just as drawn to her hair and blood. It was easier for Fire's monster father. Cansrel loved the attention, loved using his beauty and his mind to control people and get whatever he wanted. Cansrel loved being the monster advisor to King Nax and helping the weak man drive the Dells to the brink of ruin.

Fire doesn't want that kind of depravity and the danger of her powers is frightening. She is content to lead a quiet life in the north away from the intrigue and machinations of King's City where Nax's children struggle to hold the kingdom together.

Unfortunately events soon conspire to draw Fire away from her home. Mysterious archers seem to be hunting her. The royal family seems to want her help; something Fire is unwilling to give lest she turn into the monster her father was. But war, and maybe something else, is coming to the Dells and Fire has a role to play whether she likes it or not in Fire (2009) by Kristin Cashore.

Fire is a companion to Cashore's popular debut novel Graceling and the second book in her Seven Kingdoms Trilogy. It is set about thirty years before Graceling and further east beyond the seven kingdoms readers of the first book would recognize. The two books could easily stand alone though they do share one very important common character.

Though Cashore returns to familiar territory here, she has created new characters and a new story that stands apart from her earlier novel. Fire lacks some of the flash bang action that made Graceling so gripping but it does have an abundance of political intrigue, character development and romance.

Fire is a complex heroine and, perhaps as its title suggests, Fire is very much a study of her character. Fire often felt fully realized and compelling, but other times it felt too much like Fire was being pushed toward certain decisions by Cashore which made parts of the story clumsy and incongruous.

It was at times frustrating because Fire as a character seemed to fall into many of the same patterns as Katsa (Graceling's heroine) even though the two women are really nothing alike. Self-sacrifice and just plain old sacrifice play big roles in Fire--something else that was bothersome about the story. There is a line between creating conflict or tension in a story and creating needless suffering in a story. Fire crossed that line several times.

Fire is a subtle, charming book that will quickly draw in many readers. Unfortunately, it might push away just as many.

Possible Pairings: White Cat by Holly Black, The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta ...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Sara ♥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, young-adult, action-adventure, 2012, audiobook, books-i-own, fantasy, suspense, 2013, 2017

February 1-2, 2017

3.5 years here, too. I don't even remember the hero's name. It's one of the guys in the capital city, but I can't remember which one! PATHETIC! But I know I like this book, so.... here we go!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Good book! :)

August 31-September 1, 2013

The audiobook! *gush* My FAVORITE is the way Brigan says Fire's name... *melts* SO CUTE!! The scene near the end where he comes back from the fighting and she's hurt and doesn't want to talk to him. Oh my gosh. All I have to do ...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Christina rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I feel the star rating is too imprecise. This one gets about a 3.5 stars out of 5; not quite as good as the first. [Edit: definitely not as good as the third.]
I was disappointed because the first half of this book WAS really good. Although the character of Archer was flat and frustrating, otherwise everyone was interesting. This book gets my vote for "Best Ensemble Cast" out of the series so far. As far as the first half goes, the one thing that didn't quite do it for me was the incessant series I feel the star rating is too imprecise. This one gets about a 3.5 stars out of 5; not quite as good as the first. [Edit: definitely not as good as the third.]
I was disappointed because the first half of this book WAS really good. Although the character of Archer was flat and frustrating, otherwise everyone was interesting. This book gets my vote for "Best Ensemble Cast" out of the series so far. As far as the first half goes, the one thing that didn't quite do it for me was the incessant series of hints leading up to a revelation that was really obvious. All I could think of was the end of a really bad movie where the Mystery Science Theater guys kept insisting "We really have to call time on this, movie. We know what the twist is." That's exactly what I wanted to say. Have your revelation out already. But the flashbacks that drew out the revelation were interesting and overall well-done. Then...in the second half...the book...just kind of trailed off in the second half...For example:
(view spoiler)
Also, while I'd like to emphasize I still don't see a "casual sex agenda" on the part of the author's, the (view spoiler) I giggled pretty hard. It was that or throw the book across the room.
I'll be interested to see how Book 3 turns out... ...more

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Feb 10, 2010 RachelAnne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adventures, youngadult, fantasy

Complex and well-realized characters, together with a wonderfully compelling magical world aswirl with political intrigue made this a powerfully absorbing book. I didn't immediately fall into this one the way I was swallowed by Graceling, but once the book drew me in, I was gone. More please! ...more

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Nov 10, 2009 Evan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, youngadult

Solid, but I think she went out of her way to make the story connected to Graceling's world. ...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Jessie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: readaloud

Another book that starts off slowly. Glacially slowly. Geologic time slowly. And then once things get going, they really get going. I love Cashore's writing--her worlds are so vivid and real and alive, I can smell them. The only complaint I had in this one was that Fire complained a lot about her own beauty and how it drives everyone to desire her. Like, "wahhh I'm so pretty I'm the prettiest woman in the world and it sucks." Boo hoo, lady. But after a while I started to see it as a metaphor for ...more

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