Fire: Graceling Realm, Book 2

This book is beautifully written and I've reread it probably 10 times! though I definitely wouldn't let my 11 year old sister read it because of the ideas it portrayed like having sex before marriage is ok if your hurting and need comfort, also their was some violence. I first read this book when I was about 10 years old, but I was very mature for my age and nothing I read ever really bothered me so I'd say just know what your child can handle and decide by that if this book is right for them.

Fire is the companion novel to Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Its one of my favorite series and all fantasy lovers will enjoy. There is a lot of violence in the book, however none of it is described graphically. Rape is a topic in the book. Fire, who is the main character deals with the lust of men, because of her irresistible beauty. Nothing actually happens to her, she just mentions their feelings, because she can read minds. Her father was a horrible man, and it is stated that he did rape some women, however they don't dwell on it in the story and never provide any details. Sex is implied a couple times, but it is never described. There is a couple unplanned pregnancies because of this. The main character also takes birth control because she is afraid of having a baby. There is a little bad language in the form of b**** and a**. This book is exciting and very well written.

This is an amazing book! However, it's not for younger kids.

I am not exaggerating when I say that this book changed my views on so many things. It made me cry and laugh. I loved Fire and felt her pain. It is so well written and well planned, it grips you. I once read Fire twice in one day. Not a book you would ever regret reading.

This book is really good but very complicated and quite hash in all aspects, particularly violence. I'm not a squeamish person, but there were some scenes that made me go ew

Graceling far surpassed my expectations, which had me eager to read Fire. And with about 60 pages left, Fire had begun to lose my interest. That being said, Fire had many great qualities, but some flaws made it an arduous read: First, the constant, and when I say constant, I mean incessant, talk of a woman's "bleedings". Every chapter, Fire has cramps, aches, and headaches. Making her sound as if she suffers like no other woman can doesn't make her sound stronger, but whinier. Characters are hard to grow fond of with their incessant sleeping around. Fire's best friend has slept with nearly every woman in the country, from princesses to servant girls to the last remaining human monster. Fire has had a few love affairs, not all of them being men. A different world within a series can be nice, but completely abandoning (aside from one character) the original world is a bit of a tailspin going down for fans ready to hear more tales of a Graceling female protagonist and her adventures. These traits don't ruin Fire completely, but doesn't help it surpass it's predecessor. I had those five chapters left to go, and decided to push myself to read the end, and my opinion of the book didn't grow any fonder after finishing it. I was disappointed with the companion to a great book, and I probably won't tune in for Bitterblue.

Fire is a mid-teenage girl living with a special ability – to sense minds and to understand emotion, truth, and action. She can also control people. She is what her people call a monster: an animal of any species with a colorful body. These animals are vicious and can not only sense and read minds but will also try to hurt and kill other monsters. Fire is the last human monster. Her father named Cansrel, a monster as well, was the King’s advisor. He used his ability to control the King’s thoughts and, in turn, turned the kingdom into chaos. Though he is dead, Cansrel often hunts Fire’s dreams and frightens her. Fire lives in a rural castle with her overprotective and flirty romantic interest, a young lord named Archer. One day while she is out in the woods, Fire gets shot by a foggy-minded archer. While not killed, Fire’s arm is injured. The archer is killed before he can tell who he works for. After a few more “incidents” all involving minds that were tangled and not quite there, Fire goes to the King’s City to discover whether the strange assaults were the fault of two lords each trying to take over the throne. The two lords, Gentian and Mydogg by name, have been each planning an attack on the King to overthrow him. Thanks to Fire’s special ability she will be able to get information out of people and tell whether they are lying. While in the King’s City, Fire meets Brigan, the Prince and Commander of the King’s Army. At first he is distrustful of her, but then he learns be friends with her – and maybe even a little bit more. Fire creates an elaborate plan with the closest and most-trustworthy companions at the castle to get information out of the two lords to reveal their battle plans. At the January gala, fire tricks Gentian to revel his and Mydogg’s secrets for the war that will soon happen. The war is now in the King’s favor after the opposing army’s plans are discovered. But the war is the least of Fire’s problems. Far away, an unseen force is the one attempting to control Fire and the Kingdom itself. They are smarter, wiser, more cunning, and deadlier than any rebel is. Will Fire be able to stop them and save the kingdom, or will they get the best of her? Find out in this epic companion to Graceling. I really enjoyed this book. The writer has a very beautiful style and will entrance you with her words and smooth sentence structure. Again, the characters were likable and understandable, same as in Graceling. In places where there was action, it was described very well. Unfortunately, this book was good but not great. While the writer had good voice, sentences, and even better characters, the plot was overall, only mediocre. The plot often stopped in some places and gave unnecessary detail that did not fit with the book. Other times, it became so confusing I could not tell what was going on. It was as if the writer expected me to get something without an explanation. There were parts like that where you could just move on, but some ended up making the end more confusing. But the most annoying part was the fact that the prequel did not even sum up the book it was taking place before. I expected to know more about Graceling and to have a deeper understanding of it. In the end I hardly knew much more about the characters in the previous book and it did not enhance my understanding of it, which was the reason why I read it. For a prequel, I had high expectations that this book did not meet. However, if you have already read Graceling, don’t hesitate to give this book a try. I liked it!

It wasn't a quality book, the main characters were immature and rude, and the content could be inappropriate at times.