“What a waste of the wonder you were.”

Title: Fire
Author: Kristin Cashore
Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy
Publication Date: 2009
Purchase Price: $18.00 (hardback)

I know, I just talked about Graceling, and I won’t shut up about my love of YA fiction. But I just can’t help myself: when I find a great author like Kristin Cashore, I gobble up every word I can find.

Fire‘s subheading reads, “A companion to Graceling,” and when I first found it, I thought it was a sequel. Instead, it’s a bit of a prequel.

Fire is set about 35 years prior to the events of Graceling, in a land east of Katsa’s home known as the Dells. The people of the land are at war, not only with each other, but also with the brightly colored monsters that fill the land, sea, and sky. The monsters are twice as deadly because they have the ability to control the minds of humans.

Tucked away in the home of a former Army commander is Fire, the last remaining human-monster. Equally feared and wanted by people, Fire has spent every day of her seventeen years trying to come to terms with what she is.

But when spies with “foggy” minds begin appearing in the forest around Fire’s home, the young woman must decide whether to stay hidden, or to exert her enormous power to save those for whom she cares.

Short and sweet

What else is there to say? Strong female characters, smart independent thinkers who speak their minds and kick butt. Big mysteries, just enough gore, and a touch of romance.

I love Fire because she doesn’t let her father’s monstrosities dictate who she is, and who she will become. She forges her own path, irrespective of what others think is “best.” She’s brave and never gives up, and the reader loves her for it. I love her for it.

The best part? It’s only three months until Bitterblue comes out!

Suggested Soundtrack:

Serenade (Schubert)
Galadriel’s Mirror (David Arkenstone)

Kick-ass Quotes:

“She woke, blinking her eyes against a torch’s violent light, held over her by a man she recognized as one of Brigan’s squires. Behind her Brigan stirred. ‘Eyes on me, Ander,’ he snarled in a voice very awake and very unambiguous about its expectations of being obeyed.” (p. 435)

Who are some more strong female characters? Are you waiting for the next installment of any book series’?