Monster, but Pretty

 Fire by Kristin Cashore 

It has been years since I read the first book and I had to re-read my review to know what was going on. But, it really didn't matter since this is a completely separate story from book 1. This has a different cast of characters, who don't even know about Gracelings. This is a land over the mountains where there are monsters and the main character is Fire, a monster girl. Think of the most beautiful person you know, Fire is better. More. Because of this she keeps herself hidden so as to not deal with the issues that come with people seeing her. Her best friend and sometimes lover is Archer, so named because he's the best archer anyone has ever seen. He's also jealous and a whore. Fire travels to the King and during her travel she meets his brother, commander of the military. He gives her a personal guard who are great. She gets to the castle and after a while starts using her powers to interview prisoners trying to discover plots and plans about the upcoming war. She also spends more time with Brigan, the commander. She gets kidnapped by Leck, a grace who fell through the mountains and ended up in the Dells. She escapes him with the help of a horse. Before she gets away she finds out that Archer is dead so she burns his body, and the entire house. She is found by her guard. The war is well underway. She helps in the hospital and with interrogations. She finds out that Brigan is really Brocker's son, not the former king's and that is why Brocker is in the wheelchair. Also, two of the characters are carrying Archer's babies. They win. She confesses to Brigan that she loves him and the queen gives her a house; the same house Brigan has been living in with his daughter. I am expecting that all of this is going to be relevant to the first book in some way in one of the three upcoming books. It was good, fast paced, and enjoyable. I will be interested to see how this links back to book 1.