This book is the prequel to Graceling and starts with an introduction to how evil King Leck's grace advanced to the point where he could manipulate others simply with his voice.He re-enters the story later as the fighting between kingdoms heat up but in the meantime the story shifts to Fire, a beautiful monster girl and her relationships with the royal family. Monsters are enhanced and exceptionally beautiful versions of animals and their presence has peculiar effects on people-positive or negative. Fire assists the king through her abilities to manipulate people's thoughts and to read minds and motives.
This book is marvelous. I think the writing is superior to Graceling and I loved that book so I guess that means that I adore this one. Once again Cashore captures the reader with her creativity and imagination. The books can be read in either order. She wrote Graceling first but there is really nothing in this book that would spoil it if you read Fire first and vise versa. A word of caution, however, these books aren't really meant for a younger audience---there are lots of references to sexual activity, though nothing is too graphic. I reserve my recommendation for high school age readers and above.
I want to read this series!! I will get to it eventually. Thanks for keeping me up on the best YA lit. :)
ReplyDelete