Fire

I just finished Fire by Kristin Cashore, which is a prequel/companion to Graceling. It was better than Graceling, but still almost great, rather than plain great. I think some of the syntax was a little awkward at a couple of points, which removed me from the world of the story, however briefly. Its romantic story line was slightly too predictable for me, and mimicked Graceling a very little - enough to make me feel like it was a tad redundant, though I did enjoy it still. Overall, though, the main character in this book seemed to have more development and more complexity that I could learn from. And the main "good" characters were generally very likeable, indeed. It had some interesting points about life, death, power, good and evil, which, in a book like this, are all very relevant points of discussion. Sometimes I feel the same fear that grips a couple of the characters - the fear of your loved ones dying. Well, regardless, I did enjoy this book. It inspires goodness and empathy, and, while it contains battles, doesn't really glorify combativeness, which makes it slightly different from other war/fantasy/adventure books.