Monsters are brimming with desires to inflict humans with the most extreme extent of their emotions. Humans are attacked, seized, raped, and murdered to satiate these needs. Fire is the last human monster, leaving her equally hated and adored. Her ability to influence the mind places her in a unique position. King City is desperate to use Fire’s abilities to serve the kingdom. ( )

I am really enjoying this series and its setting and its feminist themes.

As I finished this book I realized it reminds me strangely of the Twelve Kingdoms. Both Fire and Graceling are about a teenage girl deciding who she will be and how she'll use the power she has. Also, the monsters remind me of the youma from the Twelve Kingdoms, the stories take place in different parts of the same world and focus on different characters, and the world itself feels like someone may have built it on purpose. I'm probably wrong about that last part though.

I'm curious about the worldbuilding. While reading the first book, I didn't realize that the existence of gracelings was a local phenomenon. Here it turns out that across the mountains, nobody is born a graceling, but instead, beautiful and captivating "monsters" with fantastic coloration are found in every species of wildlife. Are the phenomena related? ( )

magic, fantasy, adventure, YA, young adult

Treinta años antes de que Graceling salvara su reino... Al otro lado de las montañas al este de los Siete Reinos en una tierra rocosa y asediada por la guerra que se llama Dells, Fuego tiene 17 años y es la última monstruo del reino con forma humana. Es preciosa en cuerpo y mente, tiene una cabellera de color rojo brillante que ondea al viento como una llama y comparte el poder de leer la mente y ejercer su influencia silenciosa sobre los humanos con sus congéneres, pero tiene un gran defecto que hace que estos no confíen en ella, la odien, la aparten: sabe distinguir entre el bien y el mal. Cuando la conspiración estalla para derrocar al rey, Fuego deberá elegir entre la fidelidad a los suyos y el amor por un príncipe en cuya cabeza no puede penetrar.

Mixes just the right amount of romance with action, but it drags on quite a bit. ( )