Book Review: Fire

Title: Fire 
Author: Kristin Cashore
Category: Fantasy/High Fantasy; Young Adult (in my opinion, Adult!)
Length: 461 pages
My Rating: 1 – Did not finish

From Goodreads.com: It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. The young King Nash clings to his throne while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. The mountains and forests are filled with spies and thieves and lawless men.

This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she had the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.

Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City, The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.

If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.

My Thoughts

After torturing myself for 116 (very long) pages, I decided not to finish this book. It did not keep or hold my attention, I was completely uninterested in all of the characters (except perhaps Queen Roen—she was the only one who seemed to have any depth whatsoever), and am tired of Cashore's anti-marriage/children theme. After deciding not to finish, I read several of the poor reviews (with spoilers) at Goodreads.com and am confident I made the right choice. The book was going exactly where I predicted (nowhere), and the things I was really hating about the book, thus far, only got worse for readers with the same opinion as I.

This is disappointing, as I really enjoyed Graceling and was hoping the series would be more promising and enjoyable. I am so glad I checked-out the other books from the library rather than buying them. I read the first couple of chapters of Bitterblue last night, but found that I'm just not interested in continuing on with these books at all.

My daughter is just finishing up Graceling and I told her this morning that I found the other books to be dull and too inappropriate for her age (if it had just been the former, I would have let her make the decision for herself). I think there is way too much sex in the other two books for this to be considered Young Adult. And, really, it's not that there is too much sex, but more because all of the sex that is happening is pointless and does not further the plot whatsoever. If I wanted my t(w)een to be exposed to random sex and teen pregnancy, I would simply turn on the Maury Show. Does the fact that it's not explicit make it more marketable as Young Adult?

And, lastly, I don't care how Cashore chose to end Graceling. Forever more, in my world, Katsa and Po are together (unmarried is fine, but they are committed), and making it work so that they are both fulfilled in what they are doing. So there! :P