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A review by nicolemhewitt
Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine
4.0
This review and many others can be found on my blog - Feed Your Fiction Addiction
NOTE: Ruby's Fire is a standalone sequel to Stine's Fireseed One, which was published in 2011. While the book could certainly be read on its own, I thought that reading Fireseed One first really enhanced my reading of Ruby's Fire, so you might want to check it out!
This book centers around a girl named Ruby who escapes the cult she has been raised in only to find herself faced with new dangers outside in the hostile world she lives in. When she and her younger brother find themselves at a boarding school for teens, they aren't exactly welcomed with open arms and Ruby wonders if they are truly safe anywhere. Then, a competition is announced - the students need to find an innovative new use for Fireseed, the life-changing plant that Ruby also worships as a God. Soon, she finds that her connection to the plant is becoming more and more strange and she doesn't know whether to be happy or scared.
The negatives:
The love triangle.
I didn't quite buy in to the love triangle in this book. It was hardly a triangle at all - I didn't get the sense that Ruby was really all that into either guy until the last third or so of the book. This would be fine, except that it just made the triangle feel like a plot device (something thrown in to fit the YA mold) rather than a true romantic storyline. However, the romance element of this book did not take front and center, so this was a small issue overall.
What I loved:
The world building.
I talked a lot about the world building in my review for Fireseed One and it's no less interesting in Ruby's Fire. I absolutely love the Hotzone and how vividly Stine paints the Fireseed plants and the world around them. It's really interesting to imagine this amazing plant and all of the different uses for it that the students come up with in their contest too! Stine is so inventive as a writer and she has created an intriguing fantasy world. (I would recommend reading Fireseed One for even more unique world building!)
The hybrids.
I don't want to give too much away, but there are some really unique hybrids that are created in the book and I loved all of the different forms that these hybrids took!!
Ruby and Thorn.
I really connected with Ruby and I loved her little brother Thorn. Their relationship was a highlight of the book for me. Ruby is fiercely protective of Thorn and she understands him better than anyone else in the world. I loved trying to figure out what Thorn was doing and thinking (he mostly doesn't talk). He was a great character!
I thought that Ruby's Fire was an excellent YA fantasy book and would highly recommend it! 4/5 Stars.
NOTE: Ruby's Fire is a standalone sequel to Stine's Fireseed One, which was published in 2011. While the book could certainly be read on its own, I thought that reading Fireseed One first really enhanced my reading of Ruby's Fire, so you might want to check it out!
This book centers around a girl named Ruby who escapes the cult she has been raised in only to find herself faced with new dangers outside in the hostile world she lives in. When she and her younger brother find themselves at a boarding school for teens, they aren't exactly welcomed with open arms and Ruby wonders if they are truly safe anywhere. Then, a competition is announced - the students need to find an innovative new use for Fireseed, the life-changing plant that Ruby also worships as a God. Soon, she finds that her connection to the plant is becoming more and more strange and she doesn't know whether to be happy or scared.
The negatives:
The love triangle.
I didn't quite buy in to the love triangle in this book. It was hardly a triangle at all - I didn't get the sense that Ruby was really all that into either guy until the last third or so of the book. This would be fine, except that it just made the triangle feel like a plot device (something thrown in to fit the YA mold) rather than a true romantic storyline. However, the romance element of this book did not take front and center, so this was a small issue overall.
What I loved:
The world building.
I talked a lot about the world building in my review for Fireseed One and it's no less interesting in Ruby's Fire. I absolutely love the Hotzone and how vividly Stine paints the Fireseed plants and the world around them. It's really interesting to imagine this amazing plant and all of the different uses for it that the students come up with in their contest too! Stine is so inventive as a writer and she has created an intriguing fantasy world. (I would recommend reading Fireseed One for even more unique world building!)
The hybrids.
I don't want to give too much away, but there are some really unique hybrids that are created in the book and I loved all of the different forms that these hybrids took!!
Ruby and Thorn.
I really connected with Ruby and I loved her little brother Thorn. Their relationship was a highlight of the book for me. Ruby is fiercely protective of Thorn and she understands him better than anyone else in the world. I loved trying to figure out what Thorn was doing and thinking (he mostly doesn't talk). He was a great character!
I thought that Ruby's Fire was an excellent YA fantasy book and would highly recommend it! 4/5 Stars.