Fire is labeled as a companion to Graceling. It actually takes place before Graceling and there is only one character that is in both of the books. As far as location, it is in the same world, but not anywhere we heard of or knew about in Graceling. It is a world called The Dells and there are no gracelings there. They have monsters. It appears that every species of creature (leopards, bugs, birds, mice, humans, etc) have a monster version. The monster version is always brightly colored. For example, a monster kitten may be bright blue with yellow streaks and purple eyes. The other difference is that the monsters have an ability to lure their prey in with their beauty and control their minds. The more intelligent the monster the more control they have over someone’s mind.
There is only one human monster left and her name is Fire. She is very beautiful. She lives in a house near the estate of her only friends, Archer and Brocker. Brocker is Archer’s father and Fire also considers him like a father. Archer is obsessed with Fire and they have what appears to be a “friends with benefits” type of relationship.
Fire is attacked in the jungle outside the compound where she lives. This isn’t something new, but it is strange in its own way and sets off a string of events. Archer and Fire journey to the queen’s house. At the same time, King Nash (who is the queen’s son) and Prince Brigan (who is the commander of the king’s army) are also visiting the queen. This is Fire’s first encounter with the king and the prince. They have vastly different responses to her. King Nash proposes immediately and Prince Brigan attacks her. Prince Brigan’s mind is different though, he has learned to protect himself from monster mind invasion.
This meeting triggers the rest of the story. Fire ends up in the royal city as a monster advisor who is trying to help the king and royal family determine who are loyal and who is a traitor for there are two factions of people who are trying to overthrow King Nash. There are too many side stories to cover a synopsis of the entire plot. It was very good, but I didn’t like it as much as Graceling.
The main reason that I didn’t like it as much was because I didn’t like how little time Fire spent with her love interest. (It appears this might be a spoiler if I revealed who it is because of the way it is revealed to the reader, although I will say I had it figured out. *smugly smiles while typing this*) The romance was still believable and I enjoyed the time it took to develop, but I just wished they had gotten to spend more time together instead of stolen moments here and there.
Another reviewer pointed out that there was a lot of sleeping around and until you get to the end you don’t fully understand that truth until you learn who is this person’s father and that person’s real father. I didn’t like that either.
Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the monsters. I loved Fire and her love interest. The world of the Dells was amazing. It is a bit pricey for a kindle book at $9.99 and therefore if you can get it from a library I would recommend that.
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| It appears that there is another cover for this book, possibly for another country but I like it as well so I am including it. |
Favorite Quote: This isn't so much a favorite quote but one of my favorite parts:
At this Fire smiled, and held the handkerchief out to Musa. "Thank you."
"It's not mine, Lady, It's Neel's." Fire recognized the name of one of her male guards.
"Neel's?"
"The commander took it from Neel and gave it to me to give to you, Lady."
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