Yeah, agreed! I liked what she was trying to do in Bitterblue best, but Fire was so much better constructed that I'd rather spend time in it by a large margin. Fire was also by far (and for very good reasons) the most adult protagonist in the most adult world of the three books. Neither Katsa nor Bitterblue felt their age to me, Bitterblue especially; Bitterblue obviously had reasons for this, but it still was more fun for me to read someone who, while sometimes immature and still definitely acting in a YA context, was capable of thinking through political situations in a more careful and reasonable way, since all three characters insisted on doing it. *g*