Fire (2009) (edit title/settings)

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• Lady Fire: Protaganist. Only remaining human monster left in the Dells. Being a human monster makes her exceedingly beautiful and gives her the ability to read or control other people's minds.Also her beauty attracts other monsters. Quite good at playing the fiddle.
• Lord Arklin (aka Lord Archer): Fire's best friend since childhood; he is also her neighbour and lover. He is one of the best archers in the kingdom, hence his nickname.
• Cansrel: Fire's monster father, the closest adviser of King Nax. According to Fire, he was incapable of loving anything except her. Unlike his daughter, who was brought up by Brocker while he was away in King City, he used his monster powers for his own gain. He kept animal monsters in cages and enjoyed provoking them. He was said to have commited suicide.
• Prince Brigandell (aka Brigan): King Nash's brother and right hand man, as well as the military commander of his army.
• King Nashdell (aka, Nash): King of the Dells and brother to Brigan, Clara and Garan.
• Brocker: Archer's father and like a second father for Fire. He was once the commander of the king's army, but is now confined to a wheelchair.
• King Nax: Previous King, led kingdom into destruction with the 'help' of Cansrel.
• Queen Roen: Mother of Nash and Brigan, Nax's widow. Queen of the Dells. She is an old friend of Brocker, and friends with Archer and Fire.
• Jod: An archer.
• Princess Hanna: Brigan's six-year-old daughter, she is the next heir to the throne after Brigan himself. She often gets into fights with other children in order to defend those she loves. Hanna has a puppy named Blotchy and is friends with Fire.
• Blotchy: Hanna's puppy.
• Princess Clara: Nash and Brigan's illegitimate half-sister who, with her twin brother, is in charge of the king's spies. Nax never named her as an heir and so, despite being older than Nash, she will never be queen.
• Prince Garan: Clara's twin brother and King Nax's illegitimate son, he works as head of the king's spies even though his health is badly damaged and he is often ill, due to the fever he had when he was little, which killed his mother. He is not an heir to the throne.
• Cutter: A smuggler of monsters and any rare and wanted animals, he was Cansrel's favourite animal dealer. Cansrel bought Fire's horse, Small, from Cutter. Fire thinks Cutter is positively vile.
• Small: Fire's horse, who Cansrel bought for her from Cutter. He is so named because Cutter thought he had a small mind. He is Fire's trusted friend, and is brave and loyal.
• Big: Brigan's warhorse whom Hanna named.
• Immicker (aka Leck): A strange boy with one grey eye and one red eye who came from the land west of the Dells with his father and has the power to control people with his spoken words. His power does not work on Fire. He enjoys hurting small animals.
• Larch: Immerick's father, who looks to his young son for advice as he becomes more and more forgetful and confused.
• Krell: One of Archer's guards who sometimes plays music with Fire.
• Musa: The head of Fire's personal guard, and her friend.
• Mila: A young soldier girl from the south mountains of the Dells, she works in the royal army as one of Fire's guards in order to support her sister and her sister's family.
• Margo: Another of Fire's guards.
• Neel: Another of Fire's guards.
• Aliss: Archer's late mother.
• Jessa: Fire's mother who lived in King City. She worked in the royal nurseries before she died. Jessa was said to have been very beautiful.
• Tess: An old woman who takes care of Hanna when Brigan is away.
• Lord Mydogg: Traitor Lord in the Dells who, with his sister, plans to overthrow the royal family and become king.
• Lady Murgda: Sister of Lord Mydogg and traitor to the Dells.
• Lord Gentian: He and his son plot to take advantage of the recovering kingdom's weakness and kill the king.
• Gunner: Lord Gentian's son.
• Welkley: The king's first steward

Quotes edit see section history

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• “If we knew a person was going to die, we'd hold harder to the memories." Fire corrected him in a whisper. "The good memories.”

  Brigan and Fire

• “But the world doesn't care who wins. It'll go on spinning, no matter how many people are slaughtered tomorrow. No matter if you and I are slaughtered. I almost wish it wouldn't, if we aren't allowed to go on spinning with it.”

  Nash

• “And she hadn't recovered, not nearly, for her heart was small and shivering, and it seemed that she couldn't stop crying.”

  Narrator

• “While I was looking the other way your fire went out, Left me with cinders to kick into dust, What a waste of wonder you were, In my living fire I will keep your scorn and mine, In my living fire I will keep your heartache and mine, At the disgrace of a waste of a life”

  Dellian Lament

• “It seemed to her that it shouldn't be so easy to make a man into a fool”

  Narrator

• “Flame was the way, in the Dells, to send the bodies of the dead where their souls had gone, into nothingness. To respect that all things ended, except the world”

  Narrator

• “As often as the power of her beauty made one man easy to control, it made another man uncontrollable and mad.”

  Narrator

• “Well said, Lady. The world may be falling to pieces, but at least the lot of us can have a bath.”

  Brigan

• “The fellow who tends the green house gardens? Trust me, Lady, you'd let him stake your tomatoes.”

  Princess Clara

• “...if we're to be judged by our parents and grandparents, then we all may as well impale ourselves upon jagged bits of rock" P.g 404”

  Princess Clara

• “...love is stupid. It has nothing to do with reason. You love whomever you love”

  King Nash

• “We're all walking paths we would never have chosen for ourselves”

  Mila

• “We are not made of money”

  Prince Garan

• “You're good at love," she said simply, because it seemed to her that it was true. "I'm not so good at love. I'm like a barbed creature. I push everyone I love away.”

  Fire

• “Some people were too terrible, no matter if you loved them; no matter that you had to make yourself terrible too, in order to stop them. Some things just had to be done.”

  Narrator

• “Go safely. Go safely, she thought to him as he left the building and his convoy pounded through the gates. What a silly, empty thing it was to say to anyone, anywhere.”

  Fire

• “No," she said. "Don't fret, it was a small thing. I'm recovered." Which was a lie, for her body was sore still and her heart raw as Hanna's knees. But it was what she hoped would be the truth, eventually.”

  Fire

• “It made Fire so angry, the thought of such a medicine, a violence done to herself to stop her from creating anything like herself. And what was the purpose of these eyes, this impossible face, the softness and the curves of this body, the strength of this mind; what was the point, if none of the men who desired her were to give her any babies? What was the purpose of a woman monster? It came out in a whisper. "What am I for?”

  Fire

• “It's hard to wake from a nightmare when the nightmare is real.”

  Brigan

• “Tell me what I can do to help you feel better." Fire looked into his quiet eyes, and considered the question. -Well. I always like it when you kiss me.- "Do you?" -You're good at it.- "Well," he said. "That's lucky, because I'll always be kissing you." (p.380)”

  Brigan and Fire

• “I know this is a war, but the rest of us are trying to pretend it's a party. (p.265)”

  Princess Clara

• “"Well then," Roen said briskly. "Are you sleeping?""Yes.""Come now. A mother can tell when her son lies. Are you eating?""No," Brigan said gravely. "I've not eaten in two months. It's a hunger strike to protest the spring flooding in the south.""Gracious," Roen said, reaching for the fruit bowl. "Have an apple, dear." (p.119/120)”

  Queen Roen and Brigan

• “Once about every three years, Nax did have a good idea. (p.65)”

  Queen Roen

• “We sit across from each other, we drink wine, they ask me nosy questions that I don't answer about Nash and Brigan and the royal twins, they tell me secrets their own spies have supposedly learned about Gentian, information that either I already know or they've fabricated. They pretend that the king's real enemy is Gentian, and Nash should ally with Mydogg against Gentian. I pretend it's a good idea and suggest that Mydogg pass his army over to Brigan's use as a show of faith. Mydogg refuses; we agree we've reached an impasse; Mydogg and Murgda take their leave, poking their noses into as many rooms as they can on the way out. (p.93)”

  Queen Roen

• “I will be sad, she said defiantly. I will be sad, and confused, and irritable, very often.”

  Fire

• “I'll always be beautiful. Look at me. I have one hundred and sixty-two bug bites, and has it made me any less beautiful? I'm missing two fingers and I have scars all over, but does any one care? No! It just makes me more interesting. I'll always be like this, stuck in this beautiful form, and you'll have to deal with it."”

  Fire

• “"She would gladly make the trade; how blissful it would be to feel impossibly sweet, and look like death." (p.89)”

  narrator

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Brigan, could you attempt, at least, to make yourself presentable? I know this is a war, but the rest of us are trying to pretend it’s a party.”

  Highlighted by 128 Kindle customers

• “The moment I began to love you was the moment when you saw your fiddle smashed on the ground, and you turned away from me and cried against your horse. Your sadness is one of the things that makes you beautiful to me. Don’t you see that? I understand it. It makes my own sadness less frightening.”

  Highlighted by 107 Kindle customers

• “Are you determined to leave me in this world to live without my heart?” Archer asked. “Because that’s what you very nearly did.”

  Highlighted by 104 Kindle customers

• “Now that we know about his indigestion, we can torture him with cake.”

  Highlighted by 96 Kindle customers

• If we knew a person was going to die, we’d hold harder to the memories.” Fire corrected him, in a whisper. “The good memories.”

  Highlighted by 94 Kindle customers

• “You’re good at love,” she said simply, because it seemed to her that it was true. “I’m not so good at love. I’m like a barbed creature. I push everyone I love away.” He shrugged. “I don’t mind you pushing me away if it means you love me, little sister.”

  Highlighted by 93 Kindle customers

• But she remembered having told Archer once that you could not measure love on a scale of degrees, and now she understood that it was the same with pain.

  Highlighted by 91 Kindle customers

• The fire of Brigan’s heart was astounding. Fire understood, and almost could not believe, that the feeling he was sending her was love.

  Highlighted by 84 Kindle customers

• If Brigan didn’t come, he was probably dead, and with that, all things would fall apart anyway, whether they be big, like tonight’s plans, or small, like her heart.

  Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers

• “Well,” he said. “That’s lucky, because I’ll always be kissing you.”

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Eire
• Cansrels Bewusstsein
• Fort Flood
• Fort Hood
• Balkon
• Bergen
• Abteilung
• Antwort
• Händen
• Spione
• Schmerz
• Essen
• Zelt
• Sessel
• Sind
• Bewegung
• Beispiel
• Stockwerk
• Erfahrung
• Hügel
• Welldey
• Sein Bewusstsein
• Tonfall
• Sofa
• Sammit
• Königin
• Königreich
• Befehl
• Ställen
• Süden
• Farben
• King's City: capitol of the Dells
• The Dells: country where the story takes place
• Pikkia: enemy country to the north
• Great Grays: mountain range forming the southern and western border of the Dells
• Roen's fortress

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Rocks: An exclamation, used in place of "wow" or "God." In phrases like "Wow, you did that?" or "Only God knows."

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

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• Beauty vs. Monster: The monsters in this book are brightly colored and are considered beautiful even though they are dangerous.
• Learning to trust: Fire has trouble trusting others, for many reasons.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Graceling, and followed by Bitterblue .

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Kristin Cashore (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.C26823 Fi
• Dewey: F CAS

Notes for Parents edit see section history

There is sex in this novel, though not described, it's implied. Drug use.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › Mythology › Children's Books
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy
• Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction › Love & Romance
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( C )
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Series
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( C )
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy

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