So much about this story was just right. I’ve read so many books that I have really enjoyed, but there was always something that was just a bit too much or a bit too little, but somehow, Kristin Cashore manages to strike a perfect balance between, well, everything. The length of the book is ideal; it rounds out at about 450 pages, not too short to miss it but not so long it feels unnecessarily extended. There were just enough distinct characters for me to not get tired of the same people and same relationships over and over again (although I’m sure with her skill at character development, even if there weren’t so many they would still be plenty entertaining), but not so many that I was consistently confused about who was who. It was blunt without being unnecessarily explicit or romanticizing serious topics. The plot had enough slowed down, cozy parts for the escapist in me, but also plenty of suspense and action-filled sequences to keep me on my toes (

my personal favorite action scene that painted such a vivid picture in my mind that I had to take a pause just to enjoy it was when Fire rides out on her horse and pulls her headscarf off to distract the raptors from the soldiers leaving Roen’s fortress. So dramatic, I loved it.

). The amount of tragic moments and hopeful, healing moments in the story was also at the exact right ratio. It’s really a wonder how she does it. 

I feel like it is hard to compare this book to any other books I’ve read, because it’s an amalgamation of and improvement on my favorite aspects of many books, but I’ll try. It’s like The Cruel Prince’s political drama, spies, and Jude’s fiery (pun intended) and headstrong personality meets The Song of Achilles’ reflections on war and beautiful way of putting emotions into words meets The Lunar Chronicles’ many star-crossed romances, but with such unique world building and magical abilities that I have yet to read anyplace else. Also, Fire herself kind of reminded me of Genya from the Grishaverse. I guess there’s some kind of trope about

scarred

redheaded women who were hurt by men for being beautiful. 
Also, I may be totally off and incorrect about this, but the story had some kind of Celtic or generally British Isles-region mystical vibes. I don’t know if it was the names, the beautiful landscape or just the fact that Fire has such exuberant red hair (although hopefully it wasn’t just that), but it was the feeling I got while reading the story. 

Another thing I really liked about this book that I’m sure will be more apparent when I reread it is that there is some symbolism. I wouldn’t say it’s an English class-level book, but there are definitely layers to it that make it fun to read when you’re the target audience, but also fun to reread once you’re a bit older. It’s also not symbolism just for symbolism’s sake (a thing that I feel like a lot of classics do which greatly annoys me), the symbols are relevant to the story as well.

There were two specific things that I noticed may be symbols (or maybe I’m just overanalyzing). For one, Fire’s horses. I think Small very much represented her childhood and herself at the start of the story; aiming for comfort, and controlled by her fear of becoming like her father, which all changes at the turning point of the story when she decides to use her powers to help. Meanwhile, while she was struggling to cope with the grief of losing her closest companion of many years and the trauma she experienced from being kidnapped, she meets and connects to the wild river horse, which in my mind represented Fire’s full, gorgeous, powerful and free self that was confident in who she was as a human enough to grow into her monster self. She reiterates multiple times how beautiful and independent the horse is (coincidentally, or not, Brigan makes a similar observation, perhaps reflecting on how he sees fire). Another smaller thing that is a little more obvious; Fire’s hair. As she works on healing and connects with her community, she wears her hair down much more frequently and isn’t nearly as afraid of something happening to her (not that it was her fault at all, she had good reason to be afraid, but her overcoming this was a significant moment).

All in all, an exquisite YA fantasy novel that succeeds at everything it set out to do, and probably more. This is how you write.