Fire is a "monster" an impossibly beautiful woman who can entrance people with her beauty and influence and even control their minds. This ability comes with costs. Animal "monsters" are drawn to her blood and wish to devour her. While Fire's father misused his power to manipulate the former king for his own personal gains. Fire does not want to follow in her father footsteps so has chosen to live a quiet life on the outskirts of the kingdom. However events conspire to draw Fire into a larger world, a mysterious poacher with a strangely empty mind is murdered under strange circumstances and The new king Nash and his brother seek Fire's aide in averting civil war.
This novel's biggest strength is the the well realized protagonist and her journey of self worth and discovery. She is well supported by a well developed cast of support characters. However pacing is a major issue with a very slow beginning and conclusion. I think the story could have been better balanced by perhaps including another point of view character as since Fire lacks knowledge and interest in some of the wider events in the war it can seem very vague.
Overall Fire is a wonderful example of character-driven story-telling but could have been a better balanced read. 7/10.
