Fire by Kristin Cashore- Book Review
Fire is the second book in
Kristin Cashore’s Graceling Realm series and is an amazing read. Fire is
written in a more mature style than the first book of the series “Graceling”
and this is one of my favorite things about it. It deals with how people are
misjudged by actions that they themselves never committed, and learn to believe
in their own strength. The plot of the novel and the way it is developed is
what makes this book outstanding.
Fire is set in a land called the
Dells where beings called monsters live.
The monsters in the Dells have the power to break into people’s minds
and compel them to do anything. The most fearful part of a monster, however, is
its overpowering and unnatural beauty. These monsters are mostly animals who
are distinguished from their normal animal counterparts by their bright and
unnatural colors.
Fire, the main character of this
story, is the last remaining Human monster in the Dells. Her father, Cansrel,
was a horrifying monster who used his power to manipulate the king and through
this brought about conflict in the Dells. Because of this the majority of Dellain
people mistrust and fear Fire, who is in reality nothing like her father.
The development of the main
character is brought about in many ways, but mainly by using both her
insecurities and the fear of the people around her. At first Fire is scared of
the power she possesses, thinking that she will overstep and become power
hungry in the same way as her father. When the war for the crown reaches a
boiling point, the current King Nash convinces Fire to use her power to aid the
kingdom and prevent people from plotting against the realm. Using her powers to
help the kingdom in turn helps Fire become comfortable with her nature and
realize that she is not only a vessel for destruction and pain.
The romance in this novel was
also well developed. Cashore uses characters’ hate for Fire’s father to drive
people away from Fire. She then uses the character’s own sadness over these
misjudgements to eventually draw other characters to her. Fire begins to fall
in love with the Dellian prince Brigan, who at first despises Fire for what her
father did to his father (the former King). As the story progresses we see
Brigan overcome his prejudice and accept that Fire is actually nothing like her
father, and is a strong, kind and beautiful woman. He eventually admits that
the moment he realised he was in love with Fire is when he saw her fiddle – her
most prized possession – smashed on the
ground and she turned away from him and began to cry. Brigan tells Fire that
her sadness is one of the things that makes her beautiful.
Cashore also incorporates the villain
from Graceling into Fire, linking the two books in the series together.
Fire is a must read for all ages.
\
