Hah, in general I liked the cipher stuff, but my biggest problem was that it went on and on about ONE kind of cipher which always turned out to be the key to everything. There are other kinds, I'm fairly sure . . .

Graceling I think definitely has the best balance of action and character! It's less ensemble-y, which is the other reason I like Fire more -- I like seeing sets of characters interact -- but it's definitely the clearest in terms of things ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

I keep hearing this about reviews on Goodreads and it BOGGLES me. I don't understand!