Graceling Realm discussion

The second book in the series. What I really liked about this book was the romance which made up for the lack of action.

I actually read this book first, by accident, and i wasn't put off by the lack of action, it was always going to be much more of a psychological book because of the nature of Fire's ability.

Becky wrote: "I actually read this book first, by accident, and i wasn't put off by the lack of action, it was always going to be much more of a psychological book because of the nature of Fire's ability."

Lol! Yes. I can agree with you on that.

If you really think about it, Graceling included these books don't have a TON of action in them. Sure Katsa is the best contender here but she only really sparred a lot, snuck around a lot, faced a few guards and faced a mountain lion. Otherwise the focus of her story was traveling and, appropriately, survival. And of course growing as a person and coming to terms with her identity.

Fire faced a fair bit of action even if she wasn't doing the fighting. The book won me over when she galloped out to draw the raptors to save the men. But she certainly faced action when she was kidnapped and I loved all the discussion on warfare and the politics. That's still a sort of action even if it's not first hand.

But yes...the romance. And maybe this is too telling about me but did anyone else love the tension in the moment where Brigan grabbed her arm and hurt her without realizing, and then his chagrin when he realized though he still hated her?

Finally I loved how slowly they fell for each other, just as Brigan fell in love with Fire for her deep emotional core I fell in love with the book for the same reason.

i didn't like the bit where Brigan grabbed Fire, but i kind of understood why he did it. but i did love how they fell for each other, and especially the bit where she told Brigan how she considered entering his mind to help him sleep and his answer....oh it just made me melt! and i loved the bit with her fiddle and her horse, hell i loved the whole book!!!

I LOVED FIRE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! FIRE WAS GREAT, BRIGAN WAS AWESOME, ARCHER WAS FUNNY, AND NASH WAS HILARIOUS!!

AND CREEPY LECK - AHHHH!!!!! POOR ARCHER!!! I WAS SO SAD :( AND NASH ALMOST DYING WAS SOOO SCARY!! EEEK!

I LOVED IT !!! YAY!!!

I'm just gonna go out on a limb here, but did you enjoy Fire?

yes actually, I did :)

hahaa. Its my favourite one out of the trilogy so far! :D

I have to say I like this a little more than Graceling because it was like a tighter version of Graceling, less traveling and the inner turmoil Fire feels towards romance is a little more justified. I still love Katsa and I completely understood why she couldn't marry Po, it's just her nature, but Fire's reason was a little better, and she overcomes it anyway so the resolution is more satisfying. And it still had the KC 100+ page road trip, but it was a good foil for Brigan and Fire to grow to respect each other. It had similar themes of monstrosity and dark powers that lead to destruction, but I liked Fire's power a little more. Katsa finds out her "curse" isn't really real, she's not graced with killing, so she's like "Phew, dodged that bullet." Fire doesn't get to escape her powers and she has to make major sacrifices to keep others safe.

out of all the books, Katsa doesn't really compromise at all, Fire does a little but she gets everything she wants anyway, and Bitterblue sacrifices everything for her kingdom. That's just how I see it though.

That's a really interesting way of looking at the characters. I hadn't really thought about it before but I see what you mean. I've always like Fire best out of all of them because I felt I understood her more than the others, plus I liked Fire's inner turmoil better than Katsa's. I just felt she had more reason to be that way than Katsa.

Plot twists!

It would be cool to read a book about Hanna, wouldn't it?

Isabeau wrote: "It would be cool to read a book about Hanna, wouldn't it?"

Mhm!!! I'm sure Kristin could make her another brilliant female lead.

I loved Graceling, and I just bought this book and I'm so excited to read it! I'm sure I'll love it just as much! Just a quick question; When I bought the book, the cover of the book looked a little cut-off? Is it like that for design? I checked the other books on the shelf and it looked exactly the same. Either way, Love it :)

Hello Marz! Thanks for commenting. I hope you love Fire as just as much as we do. Where does your cover look cut off yet?

Marz wrote: "I loved Graceling, and I just bought this book and I'm so excited to read it! I'm sure I'll love it just as much! Just a quick question; When I bought the book, the cover of the book looked a littl..."

Hey Marz! Hope you're liking Fire just as much, it's a little less action oriented than Graceling, but the writing style is much more skilled. It's actually my favourite book.

Matthew wrote: "Hello Marz! Thanks for commenting. I hope you love Fire as just as much as we do. Where does your cover look cut off yet?"


I'm not sure if it was a mistake or not but, at least 1cm width apart from the actual pages. The back of the book is perfectly aligned with the rest of the pages though. And yes I do LOVE IT!! I finished it in one day i couldn't stop reading >.< !

Hm... it might just be a printing error. Happy that you loved it! Tell us more.

Fire was my favorite of the three because it perfectly combined action, intrigue and romance.

Fire is my favourite too! What's your favourite scene?

I like "Great! Now we know he has indigestion, we can torture him with cake!"

Definetly one of my favourite bits! I also love:

You're the queen, and it's the queen's house, and whatever Brigan may accomplish, he's highly unlikely ever to be queen.


“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.”

Becky wrote: "Definetly one of my favourite bits! I also love:

You're the queen, and it's the queen's house, and whatever Brigan may accomplish, he's highly unlikely ever to be queen.


“Well then," Roen said ..."

I love those too! Fire is my favourite book in the series as well, and like you I read it first by accident. :) Aside from the humour and the writing, I think Fire was the most beautiful book in the series, and the emotions... I don't know. It just made me cry more than the others, which for me is usually the sign of a good book. :D

same. Fire's emotions were just so real in it. I cried my way through it too, especially the ending with the fire and stuff, my mum thought one of friends had died, it was a bit embarrassing really

:D For some reason I can't usually cry when people are around - though sometimes Deathly Hallow Part 2 is an exception - so my Mum has never seen me crying about Fire.

Real is a good way to put it - it just feels like everything she goes through, the writing allows you to feel her pain, and it's so potent...
And I also love the fact that Cashore explores so many different kinds of love throughout Fire. Fire's love for Brigan, for Nash, for Clara and Garan, for Small, for Archer, for Cansrel, and for Rowan - every loving relationship is different, but still so strong.

The immediate examples that come to mind - though I cried at a lot of other times - are when Garan tells Fire that her illness and sadness is killing him, and a bit later on where Fire is clinging on to Nash, asking him with her mind not to let go. *sniff*

I know that bit had me in pieces on the floor! Plus I'm a sucker for a bit of morality

:D I generally just need a handkerchief for reading that book.

How did you feel about Archer? I know some people weren't all that fussed about him dying, because of the way he treated Mila and Clara and Fire.

whoooa.

I was so confused reading that because I thought it was all the same person posting.

Phew.

Anyway, the scenes with Garan and Nash are beautiful, and also the scene when she finally sees Brigan for the first time since the kidnapping.

Oh noo and when she saw how badly Small was hurt by the raptors. And the hardest I cried was the Nash scene, but the beginning when he brings Small to her.

Becca wrote: ":D I generally just need a handkerchief for reading that book.

How did you feel about Archer? I know some people weren't all that fussed about him dying, because of the way he treated Mila and Cla..."

I bawled! And then she set that huge fire for him!

And Samantha everything with Small and Fire and Brigan is beautiful!

Samantha The Escapist wrote: "whoooa.

I was so confused reading that because I thought it was all the same person posting.

Phew.

Anyway, the scene with Garan and Nash is beautiful, and also the scene when she finally sees B..."

:D

When she sees Brigan for the first time after the kidnapping, I do kind of just burst into tears - especially as Brigan and Fire's relationship is (obviously) my favourite in the book. In the way it progressed from prejudice and anger and misplaced hate, to the two of them realizing they only had to look a little harder to see the beauty in each other.

Becky wrote: I bawled! And then she set that huge fire for him!

That part where Fire can't find Archer behind the stables, because the light of his mind had gone and only his body was left... that was rough on my heartstrings, seriously. Archer may have been careless with people at times, but he was bright and caring and warm, and always loved Fire. Which is why I get annoyed when people don't care that he died.

And here's one of my favourite quieter moments in the book, but just as sad:
“I'd thought once, actually, of taking your mind, if you asked. I'd thought I could help you fall asleep at night."
He opened his mouth to say something. Shut it again. His face closed for a moment, his unreadable mask falling into place. He spoke softly. "But that wouldn't be fair; for after I slept you'd be left awake, with no one to help you sleep.”

I know! Its one of my favourite scenes, and in fact all the scenes at night between Fire and Brigan when they can't sleep are just beautiful.

Becky wrote: "I know! Its one of my favourite scenes, and in fact all the scenes at night between Fire and Brigan when they can't sleep are just beautiful."

I'm a sappy romantic in that I like my books to have a love story, the things I work on myself always have nice little love stories etc.

But I don't "ship" in the traditional way. I don't adore fictional couples the way so many others seem to, but something about Fire and Brigan (and Katsa and Po) just stirs me. I believe their passion for each other I guess.

But yes, every single night time scene was pure loveliness to me, it's the only book that inspired me to go back and read the moments between them again when I finished.

You see, I'm so not a romantic sap so the fact that Cashore has me going all gooey is a huge achievement. I think the reason Fire and Brigan and Katsa and Po are such good couples is because their relationships are so real. They don't just see each other and fall in love, especially Fire and Brigan. But I also like Fire and Archer's relationship, although for different reasons

Becky wrote: "You see, I'm so not a romantic sap so the fact that Cashore has me going all gooey is a huge achievement. I think the reason Fire and Brigan and Katsa and Po are such good couples is because their ..."

Exactly. I see a sincerity in all manner of relationships Cashore portrays. It's clear that she really sits down and examines what each person feels for the other. And it throws into sharp relief the lack effort so many other authors put into the relationships that aren't considered important. (or even the actual important ones for that matter)

Yeah, I know what you mean. But which is better, Fire and Brigan, Fire and Archer or Katsa and Po?

Becky wrote: "Yeah, I know what you mean. But which is better, Fire and Brigan, Fire and Archer or Katsa and Po?"

I actually preferred Fire and Nash and how they developed.

But romance wise, Fire and Brigan set my heart aflutter. I love them all, but those two in particular.

And lets not forget Bitterblue.

Haha, wait for me!

I think you are both right in that the realness and sincerity in Cashore's relationships is what makes them wonderful and special and beautiful. Personally, I did like Fire and Nash's development, but I liked Fire and Archers development too - I guess because both were tricky relationships, and they came right in the end in their own ways.

And of course romance wise Fire and Brigan win. :)

If we're not forgetting Bitterblue... how did you feel about the relationships in Bitterblue? I wasn't entirely happy with all of them myself.

Becca wrote: "Haha, wait for me!

I think you are both right in that the realness and sincerity in Cashore's relationships is what makes them wonderful and special and beautiful. Personally, I did like Fire and ..."

Oh I adored them actually. I quite liked the bittersweetness between Saf and BB.

My problem, however, is in the fact that I lost respect for Saf when he was acting like a nincompoop. The whole crown debacle was exceedingly frustrating, in-congruent and in the end, unnecessary.

It is one of the few examples of things I truly disliked about Cashore's writing.

But the unique nature of Bitterblue's relationship with him was actually very compelling to me. Bitterblue learned how to heal her whole kingdom by first learning to heal a damaged young man and I thought it fit quite sweetly.

I guess you are right, it was unique and in a way it was sweet. But I suppose I just didn't like it as much as the others because I was hoping Bitterblue would get together with Giddon - who was much less of a nincompoop than Saf, this time.

I liked the bit with the crown, I thought it highlighted how stupid people can be when they've been hurt, or think they've been hurt. Saf was just angry at Bitterblue for lying and also for all the injustices he thought she was responsible for. I kind of understand where he was coming from.

Becky wrote: "I liked the bit with the crown, I thought it highlighted how stupid people can be when they've been hurt, or think they've been hurt. Saf was just angry at Bitterblue for lying and also for all the..."

Well, that bit I didn't like or dislike all that much. On the one hand I understood it, like you, but on the other it was a bit over the top.

(And she still should have got together with Giddon! :P)

Oh yeah! Now we are talking! That would be a great pairing!

LOL. Didn't you ever feel like it was going to happen? Despite Saf, throughout the whole book, I was going; "Come on, seriously, when are those two going to fall in love, they're great together!"
And they were - Giddon was much less of an ass this time, smarter, less stubborn, and more caring.

I love Bitterblue's reaction when Giddion's land was taken from him. They just remind me of Po and Katsa, though I'm not really sure why.

It's been a while since I read it, I can only vaguely remember Bitterblue's reaction. I remember Giddon was crushed, which endeared him to me even more - and I thought it was cute that those puppies survived, and how happy he was about that.

And I just remembered this quote:
“I wish people would stop hitting Po," whispered Bitterblue.

"Well," Giddon said. "Yes. I'm hoping Skye is following my model. Punch Po; go on a long trip; feel better; come back and make up.”

I love when Giddon gets upset about the journals and their subsequent discussion.

I actually quite thought they'd end up together as well, but I suppose we can all pretend that happened later when she had time to actually think about romance (never?). Whether we see it in a book or not, I'm certain that it was hinted intentionally.

And I really love that notion because they would be the only major couple who spent so long being just friends, never hating each other or attacking each other.

Samantha The Escapist wrote: "I love when Giddon gets upset about the journals and their subsequent discussion.

I actually quite thought they'd end up together as well, but I suppose we can all pretend that happened later when..."

Oooooh, I love all those notions! You've just made me a much happier girl. :D

I'll just pretend that Giddon and Bitterblue got together, until the next book - assuming there is one. Does anyone know if there's going to be another Graceling book?

And you're right about them being the only couple just spending time being friends without hating each other - even Bitterblue and Saf had their fair share of annoying each other... a lot.

What about Fire and Archer? They were just friends before they were more than friends. Plus they never really hated each other, they just kind of drifted apart