Fire

By: Kristin Cashore

Narrated by: Xanthe Elbrick

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction winner, 2010

New Hampshire Great Stone Face Children's Book Award nominee, 2010

New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award nominee, 2012

She is the last of her kind...It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her.

Exquisitely romantic, this companion to the highly praised Graceling has an entirely new cast of characters, save for one person who plays a pivotal role in both books. You don't need to have read or heard Graceling to love Fire. But if you haven't, you'll be dying to listen to it next.

Enchanted? Also listen to Graceling.

©2009 Kristin Cashore (P)2009 Penguin

Critic reviews

"Piercing and elegant." (The Horn Book, starred review)

"Fresh, hopeful, tragic and glorious." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"Readers can enjoy this novel without having read Graceling. And enjoy it they will, with its vivid characters, convincing fantasy elements, gripping adventure scenes, and memorable love story." (Booklist, starred review)

Treads the potential to be better than good

I revisited this book as a 25 y/o after reading it first at 15 and I think this one survived slightly better than the mainline Graceling books. I think it helps that it's a contained story, with a primary focus on fleshing out the cast of characters within it. Fire is constantly threatening me with the possibility of being a more dynamic character, but she never fully makes it there. That being said, I appreciated that her approach to the people around her is moreso inquisitive and observational. There are certain things in this book that makes me sigh (perhaps it's just the times), but overall I wish Fire would find more uses for her power that establishes her as her own person. The most impactful moment of her using it happens sort of offscreen, but it really helps contextualize her struggles and anxiety about her power. That plus another sequence of a more detailed use of her powers were the only scenes that I felt made Fire feel capable and not this weak little FMC you stick in a cage and poke once in a while. She's unique but restrained, and not totally all powerful. I'd love if we saw more creativity and confidence about that side of her as she grew into herself more. I think it's important that more YA books focus on showing young girls how one transitions from girlhood into womanhood; how to set boundaries and react to the events in their lives, good and bad.

The primary romance of this book (and some of the other semi-romantic things) is probably the thing I regard most fondly. I think their relationship is sweet, appropriately built over the course of multiple encounters and finding common ground. It's a classic "bickering strangers > lovers" but at least they seem to know how to communicate beyond misunderstandings and prejudice, even before they get to the "cautious acquaintance" phase.

I have no complaints about the performance! I think Xanthe Elbrick is fantastic at their job in keeping the listener engaged with the story and not being super distracting as a narrator.

Totally Different from Graceling

Unlike the some of the other reviewers, I actually enjoyed Fire more than Graceling. There are some big differences between these two books- they almost don't belong to the same series. However, I really liked Fire, the main character, because she wasn't as hot-tempered as Katsa. I really enjoyed the conflicts between the different parts of the Dells (the country). I found this book to be engrossing, exciting, and smoother overall than Graceling.

Wish I had read the physical book

this is one of those rare books that is just waaay better to read. for some reason it was way easier to get confused/lose the storyline with this one. I loved the last book and truly liked this one but it fell short of the first. I suspect that is because it was audio vs. reading but whatever the case may be I'd say read this one if you can, if not the audio book Iis worth it :)

one of my favorites!!!

really good story and love the performance but the chapters are off, only issue everything else is great!!

Well done audio of one of my favorite books ever!

I revisit this novel now and then as I love all of the themes and characters so I am delighted that the audiobook version is so well done.

I love Kristin Cashore's Universe~

I read Graceling a while back, and I fell in love with the characters and the story's world with ease. I was excited to find out there was an audiobook for the trilogy (Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue). I did like Xanthe Elbrick's narration for the most part, though sometimes when she was narrating someone's voice they either all sounded the same or had a sigh in their voices. I'm just nitpicking, though. Overall, Fire is a great story, and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to start Bitterblue. :D

Read For My Daughter

I read this book at the request of my 23 year old daughter an aspiring author who is nearly finished with her first book. She wanted me to experience a fantasy novel so that I would be able to relate to her own high fantasy writings better and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. It was a great story, well-written and well performed. I would love to see the character Fire be brought to life in a future book bcz she was wonderful. I am now very interested in reading other books by Kristin Cashore! I will be starting the audible version of Graceling soon! I am a now a "50-something" young adult fantasy fan!

love it

one of my very favorites to read and now listen to! definitely would recommend to all

Beautiful story, brilliant narrator

I read this a few years ago and found it engaging and fun- excellent fantasy YA with an interesting world, novel magic and a strong female lead. Listening to it now, I realised that it's more than that; Fire's experience of her own beauty is every pretty young woman's experience magnified. A great book with unexpected layers. Add to that the best narrator I have heard to date bringing it beautifully to life and it is one of my favourite listens to date.

interesting characters

Liked the story. Characters were realistically flawed. I loved how you immediately loved the hero even though she was trying to make him sound flawed too. And I never bought in to her 1at choice so I wasn't devastated by that story line. The amount of sleeping around was tiresome but part of the twists.
Ready for next book but they really seem to jump around. guess I'll figure it out.