Book Review - Fire

Author : Kristin Cashore

Series : The Seven Kingdoms, #2

Hardcover : 461 pages

ISBN : 0575085118

(ISBN13 : 9780575085114)

My Ratings : ★★★★☆

Book Description : Beautiful creatures called monsters live in the Dells. Monsters have the shape of normal animals: mountain-lions, dragonflies, horses, fish,. But the hair or scales or feathers of monsters are gorgeously coloured - fuchsia, turquoise, sparkly bronze, iridescent green - and their minds have the power to control the minds of humans. Seventeen-year-old Fire is the last remaining human-shaped monster in Dells. Gorgeously monstrous in body and mind but with a human appreciation of right and wrong, she is hated and mistrusted by just about everyone, and this book is her story. 


Wondering what makes it a companion book/prequel? Fire takes place 30-some years before Graceling and has one cross-over character with Graceling, a small boy with strange two-colored eyes who comes from no-one-knows-where, and who has a peculiar ability that Graceling readers will find familiar and disturbing. (from Goodreads)

My Thoughts : There is no doubt in my mind that this book is beautifully written.

But for the love of god, why oh, why the H@#$ did it have to have 60 pages worth of ending? AGAIN? And to be honest only 20 pages were worth reading to me.

As I first started reading this book, I was hopeful. But on the other hand, I knew I was dreading the end result. (there is a reason why I kept this book on my shelf for a year) I still remember how I felt after reading Graceling. Drained and empty.
It makes me mad to think a book that can make me fall in love with it so completely only to betray me at the end with it's own story !
Even as I was reading it, I saw a pattern and that made me nervous to reach the end.
I felt like the author was trying desperately to resolve everyone's problem before the book was finished and that made me a little sad and tired.

Now with the good stuff.
This book is far beyond complex, in a very good way.
I related myself very tightly with the main female character "Fire".
(all the names of author's books are just brilliant, I think)
Her thoughts, her reasons were so explicitly written that it was not hard to understand what kind of a person/monster she is. And I felt very comfortable and eager to know her, for she is wonderful being, inside and out.

Parts of it made me laugh, think really hard and confused at times.
There was this one part where the concept of "Love" was described in a way I just could not understand. (an understatement) I told myself that this is suppose to happen a long time ago, in an imaginary kingdom, far far away. But couldn't quite understand how one can be in bed with someone else when he/she is already, deeply in love.
And it's not like it was one time thing, where you couldn't control your outburst, but several times ! This made me very uneasy, to think there are people out there who are just the same, no matter what era we live in.

I now know that I will certainly read the third book of this installment.
I'll probably drag just like I have with this book, until finally and reluctantly I decide to sit and finish the damn book. Good thing the third book is not out yet.



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