by Kristin Cashore
Kristin Cashore appeared in the field of Young Adult Fantasy with the well-received Graceling. Her second novel, Fire, takes place in the same world, but in a totally different region with entirely new characters. The two novels stand alone and you need not have read one in order to enjoy the other.
The setting of Fire is a land called the Dells, a realm holding precariously to its security. Troubled by ambitious lords to the north and south, bandits running wild on the western fringes, and infested with blood-thirsty but fabulous monsters, the Dells is not the most comfortable of lands.
The monsters are of crucial importance to this story. Mutated versions of mundane creatures, the monsters bear extravagant colorations and an ability to fascinate, even mesmerize other creatures – which the monsters then prey upon. And Fire herself is the only remaining human monster. Shockingly beautiful with brilliantly flame-colored hair (hence her name) and powerful mental (telepathic) abilities, Fire struggles to find her place in the world. Aside from the effects of her monster heritage, she is an “ordinary” young woman, desiring love and companionship, purpose and a place in society. But her very nature alarms most, fascinates too many in the wrong way, and makes her too useful in the business of interrogations. The security of the realm requires her to use her abilities in the very ways she has tried to avoid. She fears her own nature.
Cashore draws you right into Fire’s cautious heart and plays upon our engagement with the intelligent and brave young woman. Her characters are all well-rounded, often with surprising but fitting quirks to their natures. The dangers feel real, the fragile balance that Fire and her friends seek to preserve becomes important to the reader.
The world-building is well handled. And the thematic heart of the story plays out wonderfully: in a place where extreme beauty is usually the mark of evil and danger, can a “good monster” make a place for herself? Cashore unfolds her answer to that question with great skill.
