grav_ity | Book #6: Fire, by Kristin Cashore

girl power, general all around awesomeness, Really Obvious Romance, everyone is family (well, except for the Epic Love of Destiny), monsters and morality, red heads that Persephone would like VERY MUCH INDEED.

I should warn you all: I am still very much in the "OMG HAPPY DANCE!" hand-flapping stage of literary appreciation. And have been so since about 200 pages before the end. I read the first fifty pages or so of this novel before I really dove head first into Sanctuary (so...second week of January), and then picked at it really, really non-commitally all through February, and then sat down to read it today, and HOLY CATS, I LOVE THIS BOOK.

Because I'm on a monster kick, obviously, and you all know how I feel about Sanctuary so this will actually mean something but: BEST MONSTERS EVER. Seriously. I'm requesting Helen/Fire for Yuletide next year (someone remind me!). I'm not even going to try to explain the monsters here, but believe me when I tell you it is well worth reading the book yourself to find out, because it's just so...epically fantastic.

You know what was awesome about this book? Besides EVERYTHING? The part where Fire became awesome at the exact moment of her choosing, and did so without sacrificing a single piece of herself. (Sound familiar? I HAVE A TYPE, okay?) I'm going through a phase now where I really like Girls Who Have It All (And It Really, Really Sucks), and Fire is about as all as it gets. People love her so much they try to KILL her. All the time! And there's nothing she can really do about it without pushing into their minds and changing them, and she hates that so much that sometimes she lets them attack her, just so she won't have to deal with it.

But then she stops, takes ownership, and realizes that just because she killed her father (which was brilliant, I should add, because you figure it out on your own incredibly organically, and that almost makes it kind of worse), does not mean she's going to become him. And so she lets her hair down (literally), and opens her mind (literally), and pretty much TAKES OVER THE WORLD, and realizes that people are going to love her and that she might be okay with it.

(There's also a bit where she renders herself infertile, just in case, which was heartbreaking and yet amazing at the same time, because she OWNS herself in a very, very true way.)

Oh, and EVERYONE IS RELATED, but not in the way you might think.

I also really adored the part where all four royal siblings, none of whom end up actually being full siblings (well, except the twins, obviously), love each other and work together and just...*hugs them all* It would have been SO EASY to make one of them evil, but none of them are, and it's adorable.

I loved how flawed Archer was, and how much Fire loved him quasi-platonically. And I loved how Nash tried (see above re: sibling non-rivalry, but also because he genuinely hated himself for reacting like that) and how he improved for all the right reasons. And I loved Garan's calm resolution. And I adored Clara, but if that surprises you you should probably go read some of my other book reviews. ;)

Obviously I loved Brigan. And Hanna. That goes without saying.

For a lot of the book, I forgot that Leck was even going to be a player. Except of course he was, and he was perfect and creepy and you can just SEE how he became the Evil Tyrant once the horse kicked him back through the mountains (um...it's a long story. But a good one! You should totally read it!). He was in it just enough to be terrifying, and I think it was his presence that really made me buy the difference between the two worlds.

I think one of the most important things in this book is how it dealt with consent and the issues surrounding it. Because, as you know, that's one of My Things, and the fact that I was able to get through this book without becoming upset says a lot about how well it was done.

I think my real favourite parts were how different this book was from "Graceling". Because at first, I was a bit annoyed that a mountain range could keep the two kingdoms apart, and that they could have developed so drastically separate, but honestly? It set up so nicely for the third book, which is about one of my favourite random minor characters from "Graceling" anyway, that I don't care.

Did I mention she also plays the fiddle?

9 out of 10, for making me smile on a Friday night in St. Albert. And for being awesome.