After reading Graceling, I thought I would read Fire, the 2nd book in the series. 
 Quite honestly, I was bored. Nothing particularly interesting happened, and while the world-building was good, the story felt a little convoluted. Things didn't really make sense to me, and Cashore didn't really explain things. Fire is half-human and half-monster, and is really attractive. But...some people want to kill her and others want to sleep with her. It seemed a little weird. Oh, and she needs a guard when it's that time of month because it makes her even more attractive? How on earth did Cashore come up with an idea like that? 
 While it was nice to see another part of the world that Graceling took place in, it didn't have the same charm that Graceling did. Actually, there are a lot of similarities between Graceling and Fire. It's almost like they're the same book, just with different characters and a different world. 
 The prologue was great, but unfortunately, it went downhill from there. Things mentioned in the beginning randomly showed up in the book. Like Leck, a character introduced in the prologue. He randomly shows up halfway through, only to disappear again. 
 I didn't really like any of the characters. Fire was obnoxious, especially because she felt sorry for herself. She was pretty bratty, and I'm not entirely sure if we're supposed to love her or if we're supposed to hate her. 
 Overall, it gets a 2 out 5. It was okay, and the world was cool and interesting. It's just too bad the characters weren't so interesting.