Fire by Kristin Cashore

This book was the second in the Graceling series, and I liked it even better than the first. I loved the character of Fire (although I wish she had a better name) and the new world that Fire lived in. Fire is a monster, which means that she is a ridiculously, magically beautiful non-human that can read and control people's minds. She has spent her whole life trying to avoid doing this--until she gets caught up in trying to help the king and his family to put down the rebellions that are happening and destabilizing their world. She has to decide how far she is willing to use her power and what her role is in the world.

I thought it was pretty amazing how Cashore created this other world that is connected to the old one, and how she connected the story of the villain from Graceling and added him to this story, at a different time period but with the same malevolence. I liked Fire's determination and her abilities, and I liked the romance that developed between her and Brigan and how they slowly got to know each other. My only complaint, once again, was that she was only 15 and having sex with multiple men. And how come they were using this teenager to basically run the country? But the rest of the story was really great and even with those flaws, it was well worth the read and very well done.