Fire (Graceling Realm, #2) in Addicted to YA

Nov 16, 2017 poot rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Oh gosh, this book was slow moving (and I read Shōgun by James Clavell). I felt there was too much exposition at the beginning and I was unable to figure out where the story was heading even 400 pages in.
The whole plot seemed to be building up to an impending war. But, (view spoiler). There is a surprise appearance by a character from the other novels, but the ...more

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Nov 29, 2009 Lisa rated it it was amazing

I love the Graceling series almost as much as the Hunger Games series. Both are extraordinarily written and original. Fire was just as good as Graceling and now I am dying to know how the two disparate tales will ultimately mesh.

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Jan 22, 2010 Alyce (At Home With Books) rated it really liked it

This entertaining prequel to Graceling is full of vibrant characters and a charming story. Fire is a girl with special abilities and she would be the envy of almost any girl (until that girl actually had to live with the consequences of those abilities).

Fire is so beautiful that she captures the attention (both good and bad) of all around her, and her mind-controlling abilities don't exactly help her to make friends. She usually has the best of intentions, but it doesn't help that her father was ...more

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Jun 26, 2013 Cheryl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Well this book is the last of Cashore's that I read. And I was definitely able to connect with the protagonist better than the others. I liked this one best and because I had already read Bitterblue I knew what was going to happen in this book. Gave me a little reassurance.
I still think her writing is very boring at times, but I did enjoy reading the boring parts too. Ha, what does that say about me? I am happy to be done with her books as they have not been great for me, but this was the best ...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Berenice rated it it was ok

Fire is a the last of the human monsters in the Dells, because of their beauty that can drive men and women insane with desire, besides that there's the little problem with their mind controlling powers, because of the treath the present on the Dells they've been eradicated, making Fire an outcast in the Dells. She resides in a secure place where her beauty can't hurt anyone and where she fears she may someday use her powers for evil.
Fire is soon moved out of the safety of her home, for the king Fire is a the last of the human monsters in the Dells, because of their beauty that can drive men and women insane with desire, besides that there's the little problem with their mind controlling powers, because of the treath the present on the Dells they've been eradicated, making Fire an outcast in the Dells. She resides in a secure place where her beauty can't hurt anyone and where she fears she may someday use her powers for evil.
Fire is soon moved out of the safety of her home, for the king needs her to use her powers to help them win the war that is open them. Feeling guilty for it was her fathers fault the kingdom is almost ruin fire goes to their help, escorted by prince Brigan who doesn't trust Fire. Who could trust the daugther of the man that spend his life trying to kill him?
Now Fire must gain prince Brigan's trust, keep king Nash from believing he loves her, interrogate and find the spy's with in the castle and keep herself safe from the mysterious person that keeps sending people after her.

I felt tricked! it all sounded like a great book, she was supposed to have this strange relationship with prince Brigan, her love interest, while the imminent threat of war was upon them. But there was really no real romance there, it was a given they would end up together.
One would think the threat of a war would bring some action or fighting into the book that would draw you in now that you knew where the "romantic" part of the book was going, but not really.
Getting to sympathise with the main character Fire how is this super pretty monster human that it didn't matter how many scars or what happened to her buddy people will always go ga-ga for her mixed with her daddy issues, and always afraid of herself. I just couldn't sympathise there was always something that made her feel unreal, that kept me at bay.
If that wasn't bad enough the story felt all the same, I remember my grade school teacher telling us the way a story works could be compared to a landscape, at first you would find the land flat where they would establish the characters and the story, then you would see little hills that would represent the relevant parts like discovering about the characters past and other stuff relevant to the story, then you would go up a mountain where you would be getting to the climax of the story, and then you would slowly descend to that mountain to find the end of the story. If I where to compared this story to a landscape it would be mostly flat a couple of small hills but never a mountain that would take us to the most interesting part of the story.
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Jun 17, 2010 Cara rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy-fairytale, young-adult, books-read-in-2010, dark-and-creepy, series

I sadly gave it 2 stars because I loved the first 100 pages. I was driven to read to it...and then...it became stagnant with warlike attributes and I was ready for it to be over. It felt like she was stuck in this place that she really didn't belong and I kept waiting for something else to happen. I do love her characters...she's very creative. This is a very imaginative world...and I would definitely read #3 if she writes another. That said, This book took me 2 weeks to read, yes Disneyland was ...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Talia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own-this, fantasy, ya

This was my second read of this book. I still prefer Graceling to this story, but I love the way that Cashore expands on her original universe, making it more complex and mysterious. I like the way she winds the two novels together, giving more substance to the history of both, but I wish there were more connections between the two. I'm about to start Bitterblue, and I hope to find more of these connections.

The fantasy and romance of this book are top-notch, but I find the action a little lackin ...more

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