Why I read it:  I decided to listen to one of my own audiobooks for a change.  I have lots of review books to listen to but every now and then, I like to sneak in a just for fun listen.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads)  Set in a world of stunningly beautiful, exceptionally dangerous monsters, Fire is one of the most dangerous monsters of all – a human one. Marked out by her vivid red hair, she’s more than attractive. Fire is mesmerising.

But with this extraordinary beauty comes influence and power. People who are susceptible to her appeal will do anything for her attention, and for her affection. They will turn away from their families, their work, and their duties for her. They will forget their responsibilities to please her and worse, crush nations, neglect kingdoms and abuse their power.

Aware of her power, and afraid of it, Fire lives in a corner of the world away from people, and away from temptation. Until the day comes when she is needed – a day when, for her king, she has to take a stand not only against his enemies, but also against herself.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I adored this listen. I was immersed from the prologue (which was creepy) and engrossed as Fire’s life (Fire being the title character) became the main focus of the story.  Fire is set chronologically before Graceling but there is information in the prologue and toward the end of the book which would be kind of spoiler-y for Graceling, so I’d recommend reading them in order.  I understand Bitterblue, the third book (which is awaiting me on my iPod) doesn’t really have any relationship to Fire so I gather you could read books 1 and 3 without missing out on much.  But, I really loved Fire so I’d say whether you read/listen to Bitterblue or Fire first – don’t skip Fire altogether.

Some of my friends found Fire lacking in narrative drive.  Some of them liked it okay but didn’t love it.  And others, love this book the best out of the trilogy.  I loved Graceling but I have to say that I was even more immersed in Fire.  Sometimes that is a function of planetary alignment – when you listen at just the right time.  But I wasn’t ever bored in Fire and I found it terribly, deeply, romantic.

There are wonderful layers and subtexts to Fire and I don’t know that I have captured them all so I expect it is a book which will retain its magic on a re-listen. There is interesting discussion regarding the nature of beauty, of fathers and their offspring, of what makes a father and whether the child must follow in the father’s footsteps.  There’s probably more. At its heart, Fire is a story of a girl coming into her own, learning to harness her power and understand its risks and rewards, learning to forgive herself, of loss, and of finding love and family.

The story is set in the Dells.  It is separate to the Seven Kingdoms referenced in Graceling and they have, apart from one significant personage, revealed in the prologue, no interaction with each other.  In the Dells, there exist “monsters”.  Monsters are just like any other creature – a monster squirrel looks like a squirrel, a monster human looks like a human – except they have great and unusual beauty.  So the monster squirrel might be bright green.  And, in Fire’s case, she has multicoloured hair the colour of fire, with pinks and oranges and reds and all the other colours that make up a fire. It is lush and lavish and it grows so quickly there is no point in cutting it.  Monsters are attracted to other monsters and monsters crave the taste of monster meat.  Monsters can also bewitch and mesmerise and, Fire, like her father before her (Cansrel) has the ability to enter someone’s mind and, for example, make them believe they are not in pain, that they cannot see a thing they see, that they wish to do a particular thing they did not want to do, that they wish to share information. Fire is the only remaining human monster.  Her power is both awesome and fearsome.  Common reactions from the general populace to her monster beauty include vicious, fearful, attacks, suspicions and lusts or a more benign attraction and adoration.  For Fire, being female, things are particularly risky because the lust of men is often (and very easily) aroused by her monster beauty.

There are people who have learned to guard their minds from monsters and they are able to keep control of themselves and also limit (or disallow completely) Fire’s access to their minds.  Fire wishes to only use her mind-bending powers in her own defence but this is challenged when she is called upon by the King of the Dells to serve and preserve the kingdom.   In the process, she meets Prince Brigan, younger brother of King Nash and Commander of the Army of the Dells.  Brigan has particular reason to hate Fire – her father, Cansrel, tried to kill Brigan many times and Cansrel’s unhealthy relationship with the previous king was what brought the nation to the brink of ruin.  He has seen, first hand, the damage a human monster can wreak.  Is she her father’s daughter?  From that information, romance readers will immediately know he is the Fire’s love interest.

The romance is very subtle but also very beautiful and perfect. I found myself straining for gleanings of the feelings they had for each other.  They were there and it’s not like I had to search for them, but at the same time, they weren’t obvious either. Rather, it was just very cleverly interwoven in the rest of the story.  Usually I would say that a lack of overt romantic intimacy would frustrate me but here it had the opposite effect.  There was something special about their interactions.  Even when they were discussing the mundane or politics or war, there were threads of intimacy being woven and the deep regard that blossoms into the HEA kind of love was just kind of part of the fabric of their conversations.

Each character in the story has a story of their own, a motivation of their own and each, Fire included, is flawed and nuanced.  Even Cansrel had more than just villainy to him.  Fire’s beloved friend and sometime/former lover, Archer, is basically a manwhore – the guy gets around if you know what I’m saying – and he has sulks and tempers but his love and regard for Fire are pure and he is kind and generous.  Brigan is able to understand Fire in a way that others may struggle to do – he also commands terrible power and is at times called upon to do brutal things and at every stage, he has to check himself as to whether his motivations are good and right and noble or whether he is going toward the dark side.  In this, Brigan and Fire are well matched.  It would seem (or at least, it did to me) that Brigan was the only person immune to Fire’s monster beauty.  He found her beautiful in spite of her monster-ness and, really, only once he began to know her.

I knew very little about the story before I started it. I knew that that some of my friends thought it was the weakest of the trilogy.  I went into it with an open mind, hoping for the best and I was blown away by how much this story spoke to me and how immersive the listen was.

Emma Powell is a brilliant narrator for this series.  Her male character voices aren’t terribly deep – they are mainly differentiated by accent or a sort of husk to the voice, but her characterisations are wonderful.  Prince Garron is the spymaster for King Nash.  His health has been ruined by a childhood fever.  He is clearly differentiated by a breathlessness which was both perfectly characterised and well delineated.  There were never any doubting when Prince Garron was talking.  Similarly, Princess Clara had a more strident and bubbly tone than Fire and Cansrel was voiced with a certain oiliness which was indicative of his smooth but murderous charm.

What else?  Fire turns 18 during the course of the story.  In some ways she was much older than her years – her monster beauty and power had seen to that.  In other ways, she was very much her age and some of the losses and experiences she dealt with in the course of the book revealed occasional immaturity.  I don’t mean that in a perjorative sense.  Rather, it was easy to forget, much of the time, that Fire was only 18.  Even Prince Brigan, at 22, seemed so much older.  Again, his life experience and having been Commander from a very young age, had led to that.  Unlike Fire however, Brigan always was mature beyond his years.

I know when an audiobook is working for me because I start doing extra chores or exercise or driving in order to keep listening.  This was one of those books for me.  I loved Graceling too.  I would say that Katsa and Po had a more overt romance and, when I think about what I usually like, it would seem counter-intuitive for me to like Fire better, with its more slow building and subtle romance.  But, as much as I loved Katsa and Po, there was just something about Brigan and Fire which spoke to me. Although they are both so young even at the end of the story, I had no doubt about their long term HEA.

I love the female-positive themes and characterisations in Ms. Cashore’s books. I loved how Fire was able to enjoy a sexual relationship with Archer, without shame and I adored that the author did not go down well-trodden paths and avoided the (dreaded) love triangle. There is something refreshing and unexpected in this series – the HEAs are crafted for the characters and don’t necessarily fit a mould.  Marriage and children; they are things which are right for some, but not all and there is no shame in any of it.

The world-building was superb – rich and immersive and all of the characters were nuanced.  I can’t say how much difference it made experiencing Fire on audio, but I was never bored.  I was savouring every word, while at the same time, straining for more.  I just loved it.

Grade: A

BUY IT:
AMAZON     KOBO     BOOK DEPOSITORY

*The buy links aren’t, unfortunately, for the same version I have.  For some reason, what comes up at Amazon and The Book Depository for me is the audiobook narrated by Xanthe Elbrick.  And Kobo is just the ebook of course.