I want a Grace

Kristin Cashore's second YA novel, Fire, won the Walden Award for YA Fiction this year, so I've been wanting to read it and find out what all the buzz is about. It's a pre-quel, a companion novel to Cashore's first YA book, Graceling. So I read Graceling first, and thought it was pretty rockin'.

Katsa (very close to Katniss, huh?) is a bad-ass, a femme fatale, the adolescent "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (and bad attitude). She is graced, meaning she has a special talent, only hers is killing people. Or so she thinks. It takes meeting a dreamy guy named Po and helping him save the Seven Kingdoms from a bad guy named Leck to realize her Grace might be something she didn't expect after all.

While I thought the book's pacing was uneven and it got yawner long in some places, I can't help but respect Cashore's brand of YA feminism. Katsa will be no one's wife, or mother. She will take Po as a lover, and to hell with anyone who thinks that's wrong. She's a fighter, and decides that she will spend her life training young girls to fight. At one point in the novel she wonders why the weaker gender (in physical strength) never gets encouraged to learn to fight when young, like boys do.

(Got me thinking about my own childhood, how I was encouraged to set the table, do laundry, wear panty hose, while my twin brother was encouraged to play with GI Joe figurines and watch "The Incredible Hulk." Me, spoons and forks. Him, a big green man with bulging muscles, a short temper, and a penchant for violence. Interesting).

The book also made me want a Grace..but what would I want my Grace to be? Mind-reading? I think that would get exhausting, but it'd be fun. Camouflage? That'd be cool. I always wanted one of those capes Harry Potter wore, the one that makes you invisible. Or maybe I would just settle for being able to multiply myself by 10 so I could get everything done in a day that needs to get done. Yes, I like that Grace idea very much.

Cashore's second book, Fire, is the pre-quel companion novel to Graceling, which means it is set some 30 years before the events in Graceling take place. There's one crossover character who plays a big role, but you'll have to read the book to see who that is. My complaint with this one (and this may just be a sign of me getting old) is that I couldn't keep up with everyone and the who's-who of which kingdom. I had to turn back a couple of times and re-read to remember--why is Fire at that castle again? What is she supposed to be doing? Who is Murgda? And Mydogg? (I couldn't tell if some of the names were meant to be funny...I mean, don't you just want to say, Whassup Mydogg?! ha).

But other than that, again, I really like the strong female protagonist. Like Katsa, Fire refuses to marry or have children (for one, she's a human monster, and human monsters are hated by just about everyone, so ethically, there's that issue with bringing another little monster into the world), and like Katsa, she sleeps around, with girls and boys alike. And Fire kills her father because he has a serious screw missing in the morality department. And this book kept me guessing, and surprised (as did Graceling). Not predictable at all.

I like how Cashore doesn't shy away from the dark underside of life that is, well, present in everyone's life, whether we admit or not. Fire has a lot of insight into this underside, since she can read minds. She can also control others' minds, and the book raises interesting questions about privacy and power, and why some people with power choose to do good, while others abuse their power.

I think the book also presents opportunities to talk about the "male gaze"--Fire, as a human monster, is gorgeous--brightly colored and flashy and mesmerizing. You can't help but look at her. But Cashore does a nice job of showing the reader what it feels like for women to be constantly objectified--leered at as objects to be consumed. It takes its psychological toll, in ways we probably don't even realize. Because Fire can read minds, she always knows what the male (and female) gazers are thinking--and wanting--and she constantly has to defend herself, mentally and physically, against their insults.

Ultimately, I think we need more fairy tales like Cashore's. Reminiscent of the Tatterhood tales.

Check out Cashore's blog for more information on the books. Cashore is at work on her 3rd book, Bitterblue. Bitterblue is a character in Graceling.

Check out Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog for more info. about the Walden Award.