Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

ISBN: 9780062026484
Release Date: September, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Series: Fire and Thorns, #1
Page count: 432 pages

     GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

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:

WHAT I LIKED:

• The Spanish-influenced culture in the story is fascinating. I am Hispanic, so its nice to see something other than regular old America or a European country. I'm interested to do some research on where she got it all from - the language, etc., since I was able to understand most of it.
• Elisa wasn't perfect. OK, I think she talked about eating just a little too much in the story, but I liked that she was a big girl and I liked that even when she lost weight, she wasn't suddenly skinny or hot nor did she stop wanting food, she was like an average large teenager.
• Elisa developed a lot from a childish scared girl to a confident, powerful young woman. You go girl!
• Elisa's king wasn't perfect either. I actually kind of disliked him a little but that was more realistic for me. Not every girl gets married off to a handsome, loving king.

WHAT I DIDNT LIKE:

• A lot of the plot twists came from no where in a way that some of it didn't make sense or was something that never was alluded to at all  before. At least give me SOMETHING to go on.
• I wish the world-building was a little more in-depth. I want more history about the Godstone, about the history of the kingdoms, about Elisa's life. I just felt like there was some stuff missing and I wanted more.
• I was super interested at first but it slowed down in the middle for me while Elisa was in the castle and I was just a little bored. Maybe this is attributed to me reading more than one book at a time and all of my attention wasn't focused on this but I enjoyed this one, just didn't love it.
• Some of the time was skipped over and characters developed feelings for others and I just couldn't see the connection, because it felt like they came from no where. I wish these formations of some relationships were explored more rather than just say "so and so likes so and so now because they were in such and such place for a month".
• Bad things happened to Elisa or characters close to her and the reactions of the characters didn't seem to match the bad things. ***spoiler***Basically, how can you like your kidnappers and instantly become friends with them and want to help them?***end spoiler***
• I hated how the characters gasped and grinned at everything at inappropriate times. I don't think people grin or gasp that much. Maybe that's just me though.

RATING: ★★★

I enjoyed this book, but surprisingly it didn't move enough for me. I know Elisa went all over the place and didn't stay anywhere, but I felt like this was a set-up book, for all the crazy stuff that might happen in the second and third. It set Elisa up as a queen, as a more mature young woman, giving us a story as to how it all happened, rather than having to imagine it. I'll admit the book wasn't as awesome and exciting as I wanted it to be, but I think I will enjoy the next two books even more. Im looking forward to reading them soon and finding out how Elisa completes her service as the Bearer.

Have any of you read this book? What did you think? Do you agree or disagree with what I thought about this book?

A.