this may be the creepiest thing i’ve ever read, no joke

Dudes. This book is MESSED UP. I kind of can’t even believe how disturbing it is.

I mean, I’m positive that I’ve read books where more objectively disturbing things have happened, but there’s something about the combination of what happens in this book mixed in with the fact that it takes place in a book aimed at pre-teens, and also, just the way she structures it so that it completely messes with your head . . .

Cold Fire is the third book in the second series set in Tamora Pierce’s Emelan world, featuring ambient mages Sandry, Briar, Tris and Daja. Each book in this series has followed one of the youngins as they travel the world with their mentors and each come across a new student to mentor, and a danger they must overcome. They are sort of formulaic, which is something I’ve struggled with. But at the same time, the last book was so well written, and this one was, too, and the fact it’s NIGHTMARE FUEL sort of sets it apart despite that formula existing.

This book belongs to Daja. She and Frostpine are chilling up in the north with his childhood friends, while Daja learns new things and such. It’s their twin daughters she ends up tutoring, but they are barely a focus. Daja strikes up a friendship with local widower Bennat Ladradun that is really the center of the book. He trained with a famous fire mage, and even though he has no magical powers, has made it his mission to practice and teach fire safety to all the villages in the area. He’s seen as something of a local, especially since his wife and child died in a fire years before. Their stories intertwine as a series of fires begin devastating the area, which is mostly made up wooden buildings.

SPOILERS AHOY: Please turn back now and don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to be entirely spoiled while I work out my feelings about this book.

Daja and Ben hit it off right away when they meet. Daja helps Ben contain a fire and saves some people in the process. He is somewhat in awe of her, and she views him as a hero, and a good man. But almost immediately, Pierce starts slipping warning signs in there about the way Ben’s head works. Things that you could write off as sort of weird, but what are you going to? But then there are just more and more of them, and you can’t deny how creepy the guys is, particularly since we spend time in his head. And then we learn that Ben is the one that’s been setting the fires, ostensibly to give his firefighters something to practice fighting. But really, he’s a burgeoning arsonist/psychopath, and he’s just in denial about his own motives. The reason this is so creepy is that we’re in his head the whole time, and we and he are the ONLY ones who really know what’s going on. Daja and the others have no clue and continue to treat Ben like he’s the first man to ever Hero. It’s entirely devasting when she finally learns the truth.

OKAY, SPOILERS GONE. You are safe, chickens.

This is a standout book in this series just because it does some things I’ve never seen before in children’s fiction. And maybe it shouldn’t? Nah. Anyway, so creepy. But interesting and engaging. The first book in this series was so ‘meh,’ but books two and three have made up for it. Hopefully Shatterglass (Tris’s book) isn’t as creepy as this one, but just as good.