Fire, by Kristin Cashore - Book Review

Fire by Kristin Cashore is a captivating fantasy full of adventure and romance. Fire is the companion book to Cashore's first book, Graceling, a 2009 ALA Best Book for Young Adults. You needn't have read Graceling to love Fire. This is simply an engrossing tale of fantasy with real lessons of truth, forgiveness, and love.

The adventure of Fire by Kristin Cashore starts when, Leck, a three-year-old changeling from the seven kingdoms, falls through a rock into a new land. The Dells is rocky, bleak, barren, grey, and full of colorful monsters and war. This is a fast paced tale that will charm you.

The central character in Kristin Cashore's book Fire is Lady Fire, the last human monster. She possesses mesmerizing beauty and the ability to read and control minds. Many love her and many more fear her. The animal monsters who wish to eat her and those who wish to use her, hunt her. Fire is a wonderful character, easy to connect to and smashing female stereotypes at every turn. She is at once multi- layered, funny, shy, strong and scared.

Sixteen year old Lady Fire is an orphan whose ordinary mother died soon after she was born. Her father was Cansrel, a depraved human monster and malevolent companion of King Nax. King Nax was a cruel and weak leader. Cansrel didn't have to push too hard to turn Nax into a vicious puppet that sank lower and lower into a world of parties, drugs and women. These were dark and dismal days for the Dells; the country was plagued with war and danger while Nax and Cansrel indulged in their own wantonness. The depravity caught up to the king when he died of a drug overdose leaving the kingdom in desperate shape.

Cansrel took his infant daughter to his estate in the northern Dells far from King City where he left her to grow up under the care of servants. He visited Fire often, honing her powers and trying to plant a seed of evil that was his legacy. After he commits suicide, Fire grapples with conflicting emotions over the sins of her father as she struggles to learn who she is. Her best friend Archer lives in the neighboring estate. He is her childhood companion, confidant, and champion turned lover. When Fire refuses his marriage proposal he becomes jealous and possessive.

The suspense deepens in Cashore's Fire when the heroine is summoned to King's City to use her powers to aid in the war effort by interrogating prisoners and spies. Although she fears her power and resents being used she is happy to take a break from Archer's irate behavior and see the city she was born in and has dreamed of. Fierce Prince Brigan and his guard come to take her to the king. The sight of Prince Brigan shakes Fire to her core. Is she feeling fear or something else? Will she be able to take hold of her power to help divert disaster for the Dells? What kind of monster will she become? Through it all Fire gains wisdom relevant not only to human monsters and young adults but that holds true for all of humanity.

Fire is Kristin Cashore's second novel for young adults. This is a beautiful book from the cover art by Kelly Eismann to the last page. Fire is a captivating fantasy full of suspense, adventure, and romance that is sure to please readers.