Review – The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Author: Rae Carson

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publish date: August 21, 2012

ISBN-13:  978-0062026507

Available at: Amazon – Kindle – Barnes and Noble

From Goodreads:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.
Most of the chosen do.

Review:

There may be some spoilers in this review.

Elisa is the unlikely princess of Orovalle. She is overweight and insecure making her someone I instantly liked from the beginning of the book. She is also blessed with a Godstone which she feels she does not deserve. It portends a great destiny for her. A destiny that she feels she does not deserve.

After her marriage to Alejandro de Vega and her move to his kingdom Joya d’Arena, she eventually meets the rebel Humberto. Humberto is everything Alejandro is not. He’s warm and much more approachable. He’s also much more relaxed. It’s an interesting love triangle. There isn’t much romance between Alejandro and Elisa but there is the fact that they’re married. There is also the possibility that something could have grown between them. Whereas Elisa and Humberto spent much more time together and they were much closer in age as well. My heart was in my throat for the two of them throughout the book.

There wasn’t just romance either. The threat from Invierne is palpable. The Invierne themselves are mysterious and intriguing. The magic is exciting. The rebels that fight against them is thrilling. Through it all Elisa is brilliant. She truly shows her strengths and comes into her own. Her startling transformation was at once a little hard to swallow yet extremely admirable. I swayed between the two.

I really loved this book and the character development in it. There were a lot of surprising twists that I really didn’t see coming. Carson wasn’t afraid to go to dark places with this book. She also showed how much strength she can imbue a character with. I truly look forward to the next book in the series.