Cashore's success with Graceling has brought about an interest in what happened to the mysterious world of Katsa and Po. Readers are no brought to a neighboring kingdom called the Dells, where they meet Fire. Fire is a young girl, whom many refer to as the last of the human monsters. Monsters are generally viewed as animals of any type that have interesting coloring, whether in pelts or feathers. In humans, the unique look, which for Fire is her amazingly red hair, is often accompanied by a talent. Unfortunately, everyone fears the monsters.

Fire's talent is the ability to connect with, communicate, and even control the minds of those around her. it is not something that she likes, particularly in light of the horrible things her father did with a similar talent. It is because of this talent that she captures the attention of the royal court of the Dells, which is filled with intrigue and infighting.

At first, she feels as if she only has the support of her reliable horse, Small, and Archer, the son of a formerly influential general who had been exiled to the countryside where she grew up.

As she gets more comfortable in the King's Castle, Fire finds herself being drawn deeper and deeper into a complex civil war that the Dells is on the verge of falling into. Her talent is one of the few tools that can help the country stay united, but she is not sure she is willing to use it because she doesn't want to do the horrible things her father did. If she doesn't, though, her country could fall apart and be destroyed.

Little does she know it, but her talent isn't only wanted by her allies, but other people might be willing to do anything to get control of her and her talent.

I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed in this one. It has nothing to do with the characters. I think they were well designed and interesting, though, they were a bit cliche-ish for those who read a lot fantasy.

My biggest struggle is that it does seem to move along slowly. Looking back, I realized that not all that much actually happens over the course of 360 pages. While I did enjoy the storyline, I just wish it was a little more tightly written so the tale was told more quickly.