Neon Monsters

Fire

By Kristin Cashore

Fire, the name of the main character, is a monster. Monsters are animals, but with unusual bright colouring. Fire's hair is bright, bright red. Both loved and hated, she can control the minds of those around her – human and animal. Instead of abusing her power, like her father, she controls it and hides it to protect innocence being harmed. But when the King calls on her to aid in spywork, she is torn between using her abilities and harming those she loves.

A companion novel to Graceling, one can read this book without having read the first. At first, I was disappointed not to follow the characters from book one, however, I grew to love this new cast equally. Cashore has an ability to create loveable, yet complex, characters.

For the first third, I was confused. Fire's mind is difficult to understand at first because of her monster nature. The world took a while to wrap my head around. However, I devoured the book in two days.

I enjoyed the different worlds Cashore creates as well as a brief cameo by a character from the first book. Spoiler: It's not Katsa as I so wanted it to be.

5/5 STARS

Classroom: Definitely not. Recommended for the fantasy reader.