I finished Fire by Kristin Cashore.
There was a point when I decided that I liked this book better than Graceling, and it was this:
(I said what I said and I’m not taking it back.)
Let’s get into this. As I established above, I liked Brigan as a love interest MUCH better than Po. I know he’s only supposed to be like, 22, but he was giving me some serious Georg von Trapp vibes and I’m not even sure why.
I really like Fire’s overall development in this book. She starts the book feeling inferior and ashamed of her power and beauty. (Because you know, that happens when you use your power to kill your evil ass dad and then spend years being disrespected by men because some men just can’t control themselves). She ends it with more of a family that she had before, and she, most importantly, begins to overcome her trauma and learns that her power can be beautiful, and that it can even save people. This storyline of overcoming sexism/self-doubt/your troubled past resonated with me FAR more this time around than it did with Graceling.
(Also Fire being responsible for killing Cansrel? Didn’t see that shit coming.)
I know Small is a different character but all I could picture in my head is Little Sebastian.
At first I was skeptical of Brigan having a daughter, but the author wrote it in a convincing way, so, in the end, I liked her. She had some cute scenes with Fire, and I like that they bonded because it just added to the charm of Fire and Brigan as a couple. I mean, this girl who was convinced that nobody could truly love her or have children with her not only got herself a man, but also created a relationship with his daughter before even making it official with him. Queen shit
I disliked Nash at first, but he kinda (???) redeemed himself in the end. He learned to respect Fire, but he did it for his brother, which is sweet but also maybe just do it for Fire and stop harassing her? I thought for sure he was going to be the main villain and die in the end, but I was clearly wrong. He just kind of came across as an idiot to me, but I liked him better by the end.
When it was revealed that Brocker was Brigan’s father…I was just kind of confused as to why there are so many secret babies being accidentally conceived of in this fantasy world. It’s called BIRTH CONTROL, and it’s in the form of herbs, y’all. Get on Fire’s level
Poor, poor Mila…but I’m glad that it was implied that she would end up with Nash and become queen. Go get yourself a himbo and a kingdom, girlie.
The inclusion of Leck’s backstory in this book was a neat way to tie this book to Graceling. Not sure it was completely necessary, but it was done well so I can’t complain. My only problem with it is that Leck was disappointing as a villain in Graceling, so the impact of his malevolence here was slightly undermined by that, making me wonder if maybe I should have read Fire, and then Graceling.
(Side note: I will never, ever forgive Graceling for setting up such a formidable foe and then having Katsa kill him in .5 seconds without even a fight. Never ever ever ever ever-)
I did not really give a shit about the war or the spies or Mydogg and all of that. The strength of this story, and the most important part, is Fire’s growth over the course of it, and that part of the story delivered (see above).
There seems to be a lot of feminist themes present in these Graceling realm books, and I can appreciate that, because in its time, it was probably revolutionary in the YA high fantasy world, especially for the young girls who were reading it.
God, I hated Archer. He sucked. I’ve never seen a YA character get not only one, but TWO girls pregnant by fucking around. He was also so controlling and awful to Fire, and you absolutely CANNOT tell me that his behavior towards her didn’t contribute to her trauma. When he died it was the best moment of the book. If Brigan’s roast convinced me that I would give the next book a chance, Archer dying pushed it right from 3 stars to 3.5.
I think that the concept of the monsters is really fun and I liked it even more than the concept of the Gracelings, but maybe that’s just because it was executed better.
At first, I thought that the added detail about monsters attacking Fire more when she was on her period was strange, but then I realized that it could be symbolic of how society has treated a period like something to be ashamed of and quietly hidden away for a majority of, well, human existence, and in the book this is exacerbated by the monsters attacking her more, thus drawing more attention to Fire and giving her shame.
It’s nice that Tess is Fire’s grandma, but I didn’t really care that much beyond the fact that Fire gained not only her confidence, but a family. I will never shut up about that beautiful progression of events.
The romance in this book was SO MUCH BETTER than the romance in the first book. I love how the main focus of the story was Fire overcoming her own demons, and the romance didn’t detract from that, but it still didn’t come out of nowhere. Also Brigan really grew on me as a love interest. Like damn, they’re cute together. The way that he supports her and lifts her up is just >>>
Also, I really like how, in Graceling, Katsa is strong physically, but in this book, Fire is strong mentally but not physically. While both characters do share certain traits, I found overall that, in my opinion Fire was better developed. Her lack of physical strength doesn’t detract from her character, because women can be strong in ways other than physical strength, like in kindness and integrity.
I overall really enjoyed the fairy tale vibe of Kristin’s writing with this book. It just didn’t mesh with a story about an assassin, but it worked better in the context of this story.
Princess Clara is a badass bitch princess and I’m glad that she didn’t seem to shed TOO MANY tears over Archer.
I also enjoyed Garan’s character but I just don’t have a lot to say about him. I just really like this whole chaotic family, okay?
I think those are all my thoughts on Fire! Overall, I liked this book much more than Graceling, and I will continue reading the series with Bitterblue. With this book, I feel like Cashore’s vision became more clear to me, and I have a greater appreciation for the world she has created, and the messages that she is trying to get across.
