Fire, Graceling's prequel-ish companion book, takes place across the mountains to the east of the seven kingdoms, in a rocky, war-torn land called the Dells.
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 colored-- 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 the 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.
Review: After reading Graceling I didn't think Kristin could come up with something any more brilliant, and then I read Fire and was proved wrong. What made this such a great companion to Graceling was that it was still in the same world and had over-lapping characters (okay, only one over-lapping character).
And even though a lot of the story was just traveling through the woods or explanations of politics, it was still wonderful because these things were written for a unique world and were therefore different and interesting! And the characters, oh the characters. All of them were amazing and wonderfully written. It was great to watch Fire's relationships with Archer and Brigan and to see them developing in different ways.
It simply astounds me how the author has once again written such an amazing book. It is definitely one of my favorites this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment