Ruby is 17 years old and has already been promised to an older man in her cult, Fireseed, since she was just a child. On the night when she is to consummate that promise, she grabs her little brother and goes on the run. She ends up at a school for orphaned teens in the middle of nowhere and thinks that finally she and her brother are safe. As you can imagine, things rarely go according to plan, and Ruby is no different.

The world building in this book was done very well, the characters were likeable, and the plot was interesting and kept me engaged until the very end. This was the second book in the Fireseed series but could be read as a standalone and easily followed.

Recommended.

4/5 stars. ( )

What if plants were more than just plants? What if they did more than provide you with food? What if they could talk to you and you to them? Imagine the excitement such a plant would create in our world.

Author Catherine Stine’s latest science fiction novel, RUBY’S FIRE, takes the reader to a futuristic world where seventeen-year-old Ruby and her younger brother, Thorne, have fled from their home to escape Stiles, the man that claimed Ruby when she was a child and who she fears will kill her. As Ruby and Thorne seek a new place to live, they meet others their age and soon are caught up in a life Ruby never had imagined. The author describes their world in such detail that I could feel the heat of the land. (And I thought Texas was hot.) I could picture the fields of Fireseed and hear their whispers as the plants talked to Ruby and Thorne.

The relationship between Ruby and her brother is one of the most beautiful parts of the story. She’s so gentle and caring with him, and, even though he seldom speaks, he clearly loves her. And he knows things about the Fireseed others do not know. As Ruby struggles to keep them safe, she faces one challenge after another, not knowing who to trust. She’s also falling for one of the young men she’s met at the school where she and Thorne have been taken in. RUBY’S FIRE is a story about greed and evil. It’s also a story about friendship and love. I highly recommend it for science fiction lovers and for readers who enjoy a good story with characters that make you hope their lives have happy endings.
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Futuristic world where the temperature gets close to 200 degrees and people have to wear protective clothing- The Hotzone (once known as the United States). If you live in the Hotzone, it's a tough life. Daytime temperatures can kill you and also sand storm and radiation. The Hotzone residents must ware a special suits (burn suits) and masks or stay indoors and come out at night. when the children forage for beetles with long sticks, and insect meat loaf is the result. It's alleged to be delicious once you get used to the idea. Hotzone residents who try to escape to the North had earned the derogatory nickname "refs," not only for themselves but for all Hotzone residents.Varik's father an genius inventor succeed to create an hybrid between Agar plant and Fireseed and this hybrid used as food source all over the Hotzone.

**Unfortunately I didn't read the 1st book, so all my knowledge is based on tide bites along the 2nd one... but I still think that the 2nd book can stand all by itself as the characters are the next generation and have their story to tell. What we have now?
- the Fireseed desert cult - A cult of crazies who believe that the Fierseed is a god. In this cult the young daughters pledged, from a very young age. The problem is that age difference is not a factor in the equation and to the parents there is no saying in this matter.
- According to this - for Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the the only chance to evade this destiny, is to escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn leaving he mother behind. The perfect time to this is when the moon is full and Stiles who is going claim her plan to execute the match (every full moon 2 girls had to go through this process).... later Ruby will learn that the name to this assault is rape.
- She don't know much about the world outside the cult beside the frightening stories that the elders use to tell, but in her escape they caught a ride with a corrupt glider driver and trying to escape from him they Arrived at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running.
and how is she going to stop her dependence on Oblivion, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?
- The Greening is not what it seems. there she meet Nevada who running the place and the other students (Blane, Bee, Jan, Radius, Vesper and ans another outsider like her but a one that share an history with Nevada - Armonk). Each of those students has a troubled history behind him that can explain his behavior. When Students are rampaging out of control they cross some lines and, Ruby and her brother experienced a frightening physical changes.
- Romance - Love triangle? Ruby long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk.
- George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea come and convince the to take a part in a student contest to develop something based on the Fierseed plant. He offers a huge cash prize for the winner. each of the students has his own project, even her brother Thorn and Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult by using her talent as a maker of salves.
- Thorn - Ruby's brother don't talk at all. According to Ruby in the cult burned the words out his mouth. No one was sure if he is smart or not. with Ruby he could communicated sometimes with few words and she had to interpret the meaning all by herself. I must admit that here the author weren't clear enough and I couldn't understand what happened to him and why he had to behave as he behaved. Anyway, his project was the best one. So best that somebody try to steal it out of his head..... here I must stop the reader have to read this by themselves.

***Anyway - I liked the plot very much because, the main idea of it, place the book in the world of the classical sci-fi and remind somewhat of Arthur C. Clark. Well once Biologist always biologist - Give me science, plants and genetics to dwell on, and I'll be happy. But really, you don't have to be bio. to love it so I can recommend it with all my heart ( )

You know when you get a book, and it's much better than you thought it was going to be? Well, Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine was definitely one of those books! I absolutely loved it, and it's definitely one of my favorite books that I've read in 2013!

Ruby is a 17 year old girl who, with her 8 year old brother Thorn, escapes from a cult which pairs young girls with much older men. Ruby and Thorn arrive at a school known as The Greening. Here she meets a whole cast of characters. When an act of bullying goes horribly wrong, Ruby and her brother Thorn are left with extreme changes that alter their DNA. When a contest in announces with a prize of a hefty cash sum, all the students are The Greening are excited! However, this competition reveals that all is not what it seems.

I do like the title, and I find it very interesting! However, I don't really get the meaning of it. Maybe I'm just being thick, but it makes no sense to me.

I think the cover does an amazing job at depicting the plot of the book. In fact, this is one of the best book covers I've ever seen that is actually relevant to the book. Whoever came up with this idea for the cover is a genius!

I enjoyed the setting of this book very much! I like the futuristic/dystopian world that Stine has created. Catherine Stine does an awesome job at making this world come alive. The world in which Ruby lives has become unbearably hot, and people must wear masks and burn suits if they don't want to burn. The author paints a vivid picture of this throughout the book. I can very much see this happening in the future.

The pacing was done really well! Not once in the book did I feel like the pacing was going too slow or too fast for my liking. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. If it was possible to eat books by reading them quickly because they are amazing, this would would've been gone in flash!

What an amazing plot! Besides the main plot, there were lots of sub-plots! Will Ruby figure out what is wrong with her and Thorn? Will she choose Armonk or Blane since she cares for both? Can she escape her past? That's just some of the questions answered in the book. Also, there is a fantastic plot twist that I didn't see coming!

All of the characters were written superbly! I loved Ruby and how willing she was to take care of her little brother. Ruby was a very down to Earth character who had went through a lot of hardships. I believe this made her a better person. What I didn't like about her was the fact that she kept going on about how beautiful she was. However, this is probably just a personal thing. I found Thorn to be so cute!! It would've been interesting to see things from his point of view as the book is told from Ruby's point of view. Armonk seems like such a sweet guy, and I loved how he was willing to defend his friends. I feel like Armonk was an all around nice guy. I really loved Blane! I like how he grew as a person going from a mean brute to a gentle warrior. It was nice to see this change in him. Like Armonk, I loved how he was willing to protect his friends at all cost.

The dialogue was fantastic! It is told in a first person point of view with Ruby being the narrator. I usually don't enjoy first person reads as much as third person ones, but this one was done fantastically! Some books that take place in the future have really cheesy dialogue, but Ruby's Fire wasn't one of those books. The dialogue was also easy to understand with no futuristic terms getting in the way. There are a few swear words though.

Overall, Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine is such an amazing and interesting read! While it is a part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone. I usually don't read books out of series order because I feel like I'll miss so much information, but this book can actually be read as a standalone without missing much. (The first book in the series talks about a minor character in this book).

I'd recommend this book to those aged 14+ who want some adventure in their life!

I'd give Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine a 5 out of 5.

(I received a free paperback copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review) ( )

Futuristic world where the temperature gets close to 200 degrees and people have to wear protective clothing- The Hotzone (once known as the United States). If you live in the Hotzone, it's a tough life. Daytime temperatures can kill you and also sand storm and radiation. The Hotzone residents must ware a special suits (burn suits) and masks or stay indoors and come out at night. when the children forage for beetles with long sticks, and insect meat loaf is the result. It's alleged to be delicious once you get used to the idea. Hotzone residents who try to escape to the North had earned the derogatory nickname "refs," not only for themselves but for all Hotzone residents.Varik's father an genius inventor succeed to create an hybrid between Agar plant and Fireseed and this hybrid used as food source all over the Hotzone.

**Unfortunately I didn't read the 1st book, so all my knowledge is based on tide bites along the 2nd one... but I still think that the 2nd book can stand all by itself as the characters are the next generation and have their story to tell. What we have now?
- the Fireseed desert cult - A cult of crazies who believe that the Fierseed is a god. In this cult the young daughters pledged, from a very young age. The problem is that age difference is not a factor in the equation and to the parents there is no saying in this matter.
- According to this - for Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the the only chance to evade this destiny, is to escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn leaving he mother behind. The perfect time to this is when the moon is full and Stiles who is going claim her plan to execute the match (every full moon 2 girls had to go through this process).... later Ruby will learn that the name to this assault is rape.
- She don't know much about the world outside the cult beside the frightening stories that the elders use to tell, but in her escape they caught a ride with a corrupt glider driver and trying to escape from him they Arrived at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running.
and how is she going to stop her dependence on Oblivion, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?
- The Greening is not what it seems. there she meet Nevada who running the place and the other students (Blane, Bee, Jan, Radius, Vesper and ans another outsider like her but a one that share an history with Nevada - Armonk). Each of those students has a troubled history behind him that can explain his behavior. When Students are rampaging out of control they cross some lines and, Ruby and her brother experienced a frightening physical changes.
- Romance - Love triangle? Ruby long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk.
- George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea come and convince the to take a part in a student contest to develop something based on the Fierseed plant. He offers a huge cash prize for the winner. each of the students has his own project, even her brother Thorn and Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult by using her talent as a maker of salves.
- Thorn - Ruby's brother don't talk at all. According to Ruby in the cult burned the words out his mouth. No one was sure if he is smart or not. with Ruby he could communicated sometimes with few words and she had to interpret the meaning all by herself. I must admit that here the author weren't clear enough and I couldn't understand what happened to him and why he had to behave as he behaved. Anyway, his project was the best one. So best that somebody try to steal it out of his head..... here I must stop the reader have to read this by themselves.

***Anyway - I liked the plot very much because, the main idea of it, place the book in the world of the classical sci-fi and remind somewhat of Arthur C. Clark. Well once Biologist always biologist - Give me science, plants and genetics to dwell on, and I'll be happy. But really, you don't have to be bio. to love it so I can recommend it with all my heart ( )