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Fire
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Read Fire
The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy: Book 2

Fire (2009) (edit title/settings)

by Kristin Cashore (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

She is the last of her kind...

It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is... read more

Summary edit see section history

A must-read title for all fans of Patrick Rothfuss and Trudi Canavan, Fire is an exceptional fantasy novel. From the deft characterisation to the gripping story, the fast-paced action to the evocative prose, this is one of the strongest fantasy novels of the year.

Set in a world of... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

A must-read title for all fans of Patrick Rothfuss and Trudi Canavan, Fire is an exceptional fantasy novel. From the deft characterisation to the gripping story, the fast-paced action to the evocative prose, this is one of the strongest fantasy novels of the year.

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.

Characters edit see section history

  • Lady Fire: Only remaining human monster left in the Dells. She is the daughter of Cansrel (a human monster) and Jessa (a human). She has vowed never to marry, and never to have a child, as she does not want there to be any more human monsters.
  • Lord Arklin: aka Lord Archer. Calls Brocker his father, although biologically this is not true. Fire's best friend, and occasional lover. He is very protective of Fire, and often struggles with jealousy.
  • Cansrel: Fire's father, an evil human monster, and adviser of King Nax. He had grown exceedingly sad after the death of King Nax, and committed suicide by entering the cage of a monster leopard.
  • Prince Brigandell: aka Brigan. King Nash's brother, son of the former King Nax. He is the military commander of the army.
  • King Nashdell: aka Nash. King of the Dells and brother to Brigan, Clara and Garan.
  • Brocker: Archer's father (not biologically) and a second father to Fire. He was gravely injured at the order of former King Nax, and is now confined to a wheeled chair. The former commander of the King's army.
  • King Nax: Previous King, and father of Nash, Brigan, Clara and Garan. He 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 amazing archer who is working for the enemy.
  • Princess Hanna: Brigan's six-year-old daughter.
  • 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 is often ill with the same sickness that killed his mother.
  • Cutter: A smuggler of monsters and any rare and wanted animals. He was Cansrel's favorite animal dealer, and Cansrel bought Fire's horse, Small, from Cutter. Fire thinks Cutter is positively vile. He doesn't treat the animals very well.
  • Small: Fire's favorite horse. It was a gift from her father Cansrel, after he purchased it from Cutter.
  • Big: Brigan's warhorse whom Hanna named.
  • Immiker: aka Leck. A strange boy, with one grey eye and one red eye (a Graceling), who came from the land west of the Dells with his father. He controls people with his words and when they repeat the lie he has said to someone else the other person believes it as well. His power does not work on Fire.
  • Larch: Immiker's father, who looks to his young son for advice as he becomes more and more forgetful and confused. Does not truly understand what his son's Gift is until it is too late.
  • Krell: One of Archer's newer 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 in order to support her sister and her sister's family. She is selected to be one of Fire's personal guards.
  • Margo: Another of Fire's personal guards while she stays with the King.
  • Neel: Another of Fire's personal guards. He plays music with her.
  • 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, with orange hair. Jessa also knew Brigan when he was a child.
  • Tess: The caretaker of Brigan's house.
  • 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: Traitor Lord in the Dells who plans to overthrow King Nash with the help of his son Gunner.
  • Gunner: Lord Gentian's dashing son. He is one of the traitor in the Dells planning to overthrow King Nash.
  • Welkley: The king's first steward.
  • Donal: Fire's steward
  • Sayre: Hana's history tutor;Garan's love interest
Show all 33 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “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.76)”
    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.110)”
    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
  • “I don’t mind you pushing me away if it means you love me, little sister.”
    Nash
  • “Brigan jumped up and wrestled the branch away from the dog and broke it into pieces, then gave Blotchy back a stick of less hazardous dimensions. Determined, apparently, that if Hanna should have no friends, at least she should keep both eyes.”
    Narrator
  • “"I must stop wishing for things to happen. Because something will happen eventually, and when it does, I’ll be bound to wish it hadn’t.””
    Fire
Show all 30 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

Larch often thought that if it had not been for his newborn son, he never would have survived his wife Mirkra's death.

Table of Contents edit see section history

There are 32 unnamed chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue. These are divided into four parts:
Part One: Monsters
Part Two: Spies
Part Three: A Graceling
Part Four: The Dells

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

  • 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

This is book 2 of 3 in The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy. (standard series)

Preceded by Graceling, and followed by Bitterblue.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Kristin Cashore (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Dial
Country: USA
Publication Date: October 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-0803734616
Page Count: 461

Classification edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

There is implied sex, unplanned pregnancies, and talk of menstration. There is also drug use, and a few instances of the word "b*tch".

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Glint
  • Graceling
  • Finnikin of the Rock
  • Alanna

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • Graceling

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

   
  • Graceling

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • Bitterblue

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