Kristin Cashore
Author of Graceling
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
Kristin Cashore has been writing in-house type educational publications for several years; those nonfiction early readers in topics such as history, politics and biology are written by the SAME Kristin Cashore who authored (novels) Graceling and Fire. Please do not split the author!
Series
Works by Kristin Cashore
Making Pictures (Vocabulary Readers) 26 copies
A Vet for All Animals 2 copies
The Traveling House: A Novel 2 copies
Graceling Realm 5 Books Set 1 copy
Die Wahrhaftige (Die sieben Königreiche 4): High Fantasy mit starken und unvergesslichen Heldinnen (German Edition) (2022) 1 copy
Take the Subway 1 copy
Water on Earth 1 copy
Swamp Life 1 copy
Predator and Prey 1 copy
Exploring Motion and Force 1 copy
Swamp Life 1 copy
Exploring Motion and Force 1 copy
Water on Earth 1 copy
What is Light? 1 copy
How to Grow Tomatoes 1 copy
A Man of The Wilderness 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1976-08
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Simmons College (M.A.|Children's Literature)
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA - Occupations
- dog runner
packer in candy factory
editorial assistant
legal assistant
freelance writer - Agent
- Faye Bender
- Short biography
- Kristin Cashore grew up in a rural area of the northeast Pennsylvania, as the second of four daughters. During her childhood she read constantly. She received a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a master's from the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College, where she worked with Liza Ketchum and was named a Virginia Haviland Scholar. She has worked as a dog runner, a packer in a candy factory, an editorial assistant, and a legal assistant. She is a freelance educational writer who writes content for textbooks and teacher editions, as well as book reviews for The Horn Book Guide and other publications. Since 2008 she also wrote fantasy novels for Young Adults.
She has lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Sydney, Boston, Cambridge, Austin, Italy and even London before settling, for the moment, in Massachusetts. - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- Kristin Cashore has been writing in-house type educational publications for several years; those nonfiction early readers in topics such as history, politics and biology are written by the SAME Kristin Cashore who authored (novels) Graceling and Fire. Please do not split the author!
- Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Discussions
Found: Young adult fantasy, Red haired protagonist w/ evil father in Name that Book (September 2021)
GROUP READ: Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Spoiler-Free Thread) in Hogwarts Express (March 2012)
Reviews
I want to write a long essay about truth and reconciliation, and how sometimes, in recovery from a national tragedy, too much truth can prevent reconciliation, and too much reconciliation can obfuscate truth. I have a baby; no long review essays. This book is an amazing treatment of that contradiction.
Fire is the companion-novel-presequel to Graceling set in another country, 30 years earlier.
Neither the preview chapters online, nor the next few chapters (which I read when I found it in the bookshop) grabbed me - at that point I didn't like it very much. But I gave Fire a chance because I loved Graceling and I am so glad I did.
I took a while to settle into Fire because the setting is unusual - a land which is plagued by beautiful yet dangerous monsters who resemble normal animals but are show more stunningly coloured, with the ability to control humans' minds. The Dells is dealing with the bitter legacy of the previous king and his late adviser, the manipulative human monster Cansrel, who together left the country on the brink of war.
Cansrel's daughter, seventeen year old Fire, is the last human monster. She has a monster's mental abilities and mesmerising appearance but not her father's taste for power, attention and manipulation. She lives on a remote property, away from those who desire, fear or wish to harm her.
But as the threat of war and political tensions increase, the king asks Fire to come to the King's City and use her abilities to assist in their investigations.
In the city, Fire has no privacy and must be constantly guarded; Nash is infatuated with her, his siblings are suspicious and distrustful; and Fire is reluctant to use her abilities in any way which emulates her father. Yet if they are to defend the Dells from their enemies, they must find a way to work together.
Oh, how I loved this! As a fantasy story about impending war and political intrigue, it is a captivating, rich and intricate tale, with clever mysteries and foreshadowing. However, it is the characters, the relationships and emotional intensity of Fire that I feel in love with.
The characters are very believable, with satisfying depth and complex motives. Fire is independent, fiery and compassionate, with strengths that are also her biggest weakness. She is a musician - a fiddler! - and at home she teaches children music. I also loved her relationship with her horse.
Fire is grieving for Cansrel who, despite being a malicious and dangerous threat to the kingdom, was also the father she loved. She's trying to reconcile her inherited nature and her father's choices with her own values and desire not to be a monster, and coming to terms with not wanting to pass on the burden of her beauty and abilities to anyone else (despite her desire for children). Then there is her complicated, unhappy relationship with her childhood best friend, and her growing relationships with the royal family, and even her guards... There's so much heartache in this book, so much sadness, but the story is also about dealing with those emotions, about moving on.
The relationships are another part of what makes Fire so fantastic - the romance is beautifully handled, and I love way family is explored. I fell in love with the royal family. Like Fire, they have a bitter legacy left to them but regardless of this brokenness, there is such a strong family bond between them. They argue over how to run a country, they disagree with each other and yet they are so supportive and protective of each other. Ruling the Dells is a team effort and there was something so heartwarming about it.
It might be a fantasy about dealing with the imminent threat of war, but at its heart Fire is a moving story about dealing with difficult legacies - inherited talents and responsibilities, and the choices (and mistakes) made by an earlier generation - and about family.
Both the story and the characters have greater maturity than in Graceling. I didn't find this in the young adult section, and although strictly speaking most of the main characters are young adults, what they are dealing with seems more mature than a lot of books about or for teenagers. Not that it matters one way or the other, but I did enjoy the more mature themes.
Fire was utterly absorbing and when I finished it, it left me reeling from that emotional intensity. This has got to be one of the powerful fantasy novels I have read this year. It has robbed me of my ability to say I loved Graceling, because I honestly love Fire so much more.
There is some sense in reading Graceling first (rather than the other way around) but both novels standalone, and if you were only going to read one of them, I would recommend that one be Fire. show less
Neither the preview chapters online, nor the next few chapters (which I read when I found it in the bookshop) grabbed me - at that point I didn't like it very much. But I gave Fire a chance because I loved Graceling and I am so glad I did.
I took a while to settle into Fire because the setting is unusual - a land which is plagued by beautiful yet dangerous monsters who resemble normal animals but are show more stunningly coloured, with the ability to control humans' minds. The Dells is dealing with the bitter legacy of the previous king and his late adviser, the manipulative human monster Cansrel, who together left the country on the brink of war.
Cansrel's daughter, seventeen year old Fire, is the last human monster. She has a monster's mental abilities and mesmerising appearance but not her father's taste for power, attention and manipulation. She lives on a remote property, away from those who desire, fear or wish to harm her.
But as the threat of war and political tensions increase, the king asks Fire to come to the King's City and use her abilities to assist in their investigations.
In the city, Fire has no privacy and must be constantly guarded; Nash is infatuated with her, his siblings are suspicious and distrustful; and Fire is reluctant to use her abilities in any way which emulates her father. Yet if they are to defend the Dells from their enemies, they must find a way to work together.
Oh, how I loved this! As a fantasy story about impending war and political intrigue, it is a captivating, rich and intricate tale, with clever mysteries and foreshadowing. However, it is the characters, the relationships and emotional intensity of Fire that I feel in love with.
The characters are very believable, with satisfying depth and complex motives. Fire is independent, fiery and compassionate, with strengths that are also her biggest weakness. She is a musician - a fiddler! - and at home she teaches children music. I also loved her relationship with her horse.
Fire is grieving for Cansrel who, despite being a malicious and dangerous threat to the kingdom, was also the father she loved. She's trying to reconcile her inherited nature and her father's choices with her own values and desire not to be a monster, and coming to terms with not wanting to pass on the burden of her beauty and abilities to anyone else (despite her desire for children). Then there is her complicated, unhappy relationship with her childhood best friend, and her growing relationships with the royal family, and even her guards... There's so much heartache in this book, so much sadness, but the story is also about dealing with those emotions, about moving on.
The relationships are another part of what makes Fire so fantastic - the romance is beautifully handled, and I love way family is explored. I fell in love with the royal family. Like Fire, they have a bitter legacy left to them but regardless of this brokenness, there is such a strong family bond between them. They argue over how to run a country, they disagree with each other and yet they are so supportive and protective of each other. Ruling the Dells is a team effort and there was something so heartwarming about it.
It might be a fantasy about dealing with the imminent threat of war, but at its heart Fire is a moving story about dealing with difficult legacies - inherited talents and responsibilities, and the choices (and mistakes) made by an earlier generation - and about family.
Both the story and the characters have greater maturity than in Graceling. I didn't find this in the young adult section, and although strictly speaking most of the main characters are young adults, what they are dealing with seems more mature than a lot of books about or for teenagers. Not that it matters one way or the other, but I did enjoy the more mature themes.
Fire was utterly absorbing and when I finished it, it left me reeling from that emotional intensity. This has got to be one of the powerful fantasy novels I have read this year. It has robbed me of my ability to say I loved Graceling, because I honestly love Fire so much more.
There is some sense in reading Graceling first (rather than the other way around) but both novels standalone, and if you were only going to read one of them, I would recommend that one be Fire. show less
I almost didn't finish this one. There is no doubt that Krisitn Cashore is a brillint writer. Her characters a full-blooded living breathing creatures that inhabit worlds of richness and colour and her plots are engaging and riveting. However, and for me this is an important however, I find the ethical nature of her books challenging.
Cashore has been accused of hating men, marriage, and mothering. Looking at her website, I don't believe this is the case. Nonetheless, I struggle with the show more concept of free sex that I find in her books. In the case of Fire, after reaching the two third mark of the book I had decided to give it up. I was not enjoying a world of free sex, blood hungry creatures, menstrual periods, lust and brutality. But the story dragged my back and I'm glad it did because I did find a resolution to some of the issues that had been bothering me. There were consequnces to actions taken earlier in the book, and a better explanation on the reasons behind Fire's attitudes and actions.
While Fire is marketed at Young Adults it is definitly more suited to older teens. This is for two reasons,one being that while the sexual content is not explicit it is persistent. And secondly, while the moral choices faced in the story are important food for thought, some young readers may not have the maturity to deal with them yet.
So despite my misgivings I am looking forward to the release of the sequel Bitterblue next year, not only to revisit the characters and world of Seven Kingdoms, but also to watch Cashore write and understand better what she is truly communicating in her books. show less
Cashore has been accused of hating men, marriage, and mothering. Looking at her website, I don't believe this is the case. Nonetheless, I struggle with the show more concept of free sex that I find in her books. In the case of Fire, after reaching the two third mark of the book I had decided to give it up. I was not enjoying a world of free sex, blood hungry creatures, menstrual periods, lust and brutality. But the story dragged my back and I'm glad it did because I did find a resolution to some of the issues that had been bothering me. There were consequnces to actions taken earlier in the book, and a better explanation on the reasons behind Fire's attitudes and actions.
While Fire is marketed at Young Adults it is definitly more suited to older teens. This is for two reasons,one being that while the sexual content is not explicit it is persistent. And secondly, while the moral choices faced in the story are important food for thought, some young readers may not have the maturity to deal with them yet.
So despite my misgivings I am looking forward to the release of the sequel Bitterblue next year, not only to revisit the characters and world of Seven Kingdoms, but also to watch Cashore write and understand better what she is truly communicating in her books. show less
Katsa, 18, is the niece of a king in one of seven kingdoms, and she is a Graceling. Gracelings, identifiable by their eyes of two different colors, have some sort of talent or knack that sets them apart: it can be horse handling, or juggling, or sword fighting, or even mind reading. Katsa’s "grace" is killing, or so her reputation holds. And her uncle, Randa, who is King of the Middluns and not a particularly nice person, uses Katsa’s grace to wreak punishment on those who have show more displeased him.
Katsa is not happy with her role as King Randa’s attack dog, and furthermore, senses the injustice in much of the pain she is called upon to inflict. She and some other like-minded members of the King’s court, including Raffin, the King’s son and also her best friend, form a “Council” – a secret revolutionary organization that aims to right injustices and restore the balance of power in the seven kingdoms to the people. One of their missions involves rescuing the father of the king of the Lienid kingdom, who has been kidnapped. In the process, she first encounters Po, grandson to the kidnap victim and a Graceling whose powers seem to rival her own.
Po follows Katsa back to the castle in Middlun, and joins her in the quest to find out who kidnapped his grandfather and why. Po also encourages Katsa to gain more control over her Grace and to escape the clutches of Randa.
Soon, the two of them get involved on another Council mission, to rescue Princess Bitterblue, a young cousin of Po’s who is also under threat by the same dangerous force that led to his grandfather’s capture.
As the two of them spend more time together, Katsa and Po each discover new dimensions to their Grace of which they had been unaware. Moreover, Katsa reluctantly develops an attraction to Po, in spite of her vow never to get involved with any man:
"She couldn’t have him, and there was no mistaking it. She could never be his wife. She could not steal herself back from Randa only to give herself away again – belong to another person, be answerable to another person, build her very being around another person. No matter how she loved him. … no matter how much freedom Po gave her, she would always know that it was a gift. Her freedom would not be her own; it would be Po’s to give or to withhold. That he never would withhold it made no difference. If it did not come from her, it was not really hers.”
What happens to Katsa and Po as they try to take on the terrible dark forces at work in the seven kingdoms is tragic at first glance, but with a surprising turn to resilience and wonder at the end.
Discussion: There are many interesting aspects to this novel. Katsa’s best friend Prince Raffin, who is charming, talented, sensible, and lovable is almost surely gay, although none of the characters ever says so openly. He loves Katsa, but clearly not in a romantic sense. He lives with a male companion, Bann, whom everyone seems to accept in a don’t ask-don’t tell sort of way.
Giddon, one of the King’s men but also a member of Katsa’s Council, is in love with Katsa, but unlike Po, Giddon does not know how to help assuage and counteract Katsa’s self-hate, and as a result, Katsa’s attitude toward Giddon seems to be one of “I couldn’t possibly like anyone who liked me.”
[And okay, the names Katsa, Giddon and Po sound alike like Katniss, Gayle and Peeta, and the interrelationships are similar, but we won’t go there…]
Katsa is full of anger, especially toward men, and in particular toward the predatory nature of men toward young women, and this anger defines her attitudes and behavior. Sometimes the only way she can deal with it is to fight – physically - and strike out at whoever is in her way, guilty or not. Po helps her gain the self-control to rechannel this anger into something constructive, and it changes Katsa’s life. Yet this doesn’t alter her conviction not to be bound to a man. Still, while we hear plenty about Katsa’s resolve not to give away her self-determination, I would have liked more discussion on how it would be possible to reconcile it with love.
One constructive approach that is discussed is Katsa’s advocacy of women and girls learning the art of self-defense. She feels in her very bones the injustice of the constant victimization of women, and wants to turn the tables. Katsa may not have the piercings and tattoos of Lisbeth Salander (although she does adopt the androgynous look) but she has her spirit, fight, and attitude, and she wants to spread the sense of empowerment to all other women. This is an unusual and welcome addition to books for young adults, and may contribute to its popularity among females.
Evaluation: You will find this book is not at all like the usual princess-prince fairytale fantasy, and yet there is redemption and goodness and love to satisfy the most starry-eyed of readers. show less
Katsa is not happy with her role as King Randa’s attack dog, and furthermore, senses the injustice in much of the pain she is called upon to inflict. She and some other like-minded members of the King’s court, including Raffin, the King’s son and also her best friend, form a “Council” – a secret revolutionary organization that aims to right injustices and restore the balance of power in the seven kingdoms to the people. One of their missions involves rescuing the father of the king of the Lienid kingdom, who has been kidnapped. In the process, she first encounters Po, grandson to the kidnap victim and a Graceling whose powers seem to rival her own.
Po follows Katsa back to the castle in Middlun, and joins her in the quest to find out who kidnapped his grandfather and why. Po also encourages Katsa to gain more control over her Grace and to escape the clutches of Randa.
Soon, the two of them get involved on another Council mission, to rescue Princess Bitterblue, a young cousin of Po’s who is also under threat by the same dangerous force that led to his grandfather’s capture.
As the two of them spend more time together, Katsa and Po each discover new dimensions to their Grace of which they had been unaware. Moreover, Katsa reluctantly develops an attraction to Po, in spite of her vow never to get involved with any man:
"She couldn’t have him, and there was no mistaking it. She could never be his wife. She could not steal herself back from Randa only to give herself away again – belong to another person, be answerable to another person, build her very being around another person. No matter how she loved him. … no matter how much freedom Po gave her, she would always know that it was a gift. Her freedom would not be her own; it would be Po’s to give or to withhold. That he never would withhold it made no difference. If it did not come from her, it was not really hers.”
What happens to Katsa and Po as they try to take on the terrible dark forces at work in the seven kingdoms is tragic at first glance, but with a surprising turn to resilience and wonder at the end.
Discussion: There are many interesting aspects to this novel. Katsa’s best friend Prince Raffin, who is charming, talented, sensible, and lovable is almost surely gay, although none of the characters ever says so openly. He loves Katsa, but clearly not in a romantic sense. He lives with a male companion, Bann, whom everyone seems to accept in a don’t ask-don’t tell sort of way.
Giddon, one of the King’s men but also a member of Katsa’s Council, is in love with Katsa, but unlike Po, Giddon does not know how to help assuage and counteract Katsa’s self-hate, and as a result, Katsa’s attitude toward Giddon seems to be one of “I couldn’t possibly like anyone who liked me.”
[And okay, the names Katsa, Giddon and Po sound alike like Katniss, Gayle and Peeta, and the interrelationships are similar, but we won’t go there…]
Katsa is full of anger, especially toward men, and in particular toward the predatory nature of men toward young women, and this anger defines her attitudes and behavior. Sometimes the only way she can deal with it is to fight – physically - and strike out at whoever is in her way, guilty or not. Po helps her gain the self-control to rechannel this anger into something constructive, and it changes Katsa’s life. Yet this doesn’t alter her conviction not to be bound to a man. Still, while we hear plenty about Katsa’s resolve not to give away her self-determination, I would have liked more discussion on how it would be possible to reconcile it with love.
One constructive approach that is discussed is Katsa’s advocacy of women and girls learning the art of self-defense. She feels in her very bones the injustice of the constant victimization of women, and wants to turn the tables. Katsa may not have the piercings and tattoos of Lisbeth Salander (although she does adopt the androgynous look) but she has her spirit, fight, and attitude, and she wants to spread the sense of empowerment to all other women. This is an unusual and welcome addition to books for young adults, and may contribute to its popularity among females.
Evaluation: You will find this book is not at all like the usual princess-prince fairytale fantasy, and yet there is redemption and goodness and love to satisfy the most starry-eyed of readers. show less
Lists
Next in series (4)
check for sequel (1)
Pageturners (1)
Female Author (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 76
- Members
- 26,588
- Popularity
- #785
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 1,198
- ISBNs
- 320
- Languages
- 20
- Favorited
- 110
