REVIEW {32} RETRO REVIEW {6} The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS

SERIES: Fire and Thorns #1 | OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES: The Shadow Cats #0.5; The Shattered Mountain #0.6; Crown of Embers #2; Bitter Kingdom #3

AUTHOR: Rae Carson

EDITION: Hardcover, 423 pages

PUBLISHED: September 20th 2011 by Greenwillow

ACQUISITION: Own; ebook

CATEGORIES: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Magic, Adventure, High Fantasy, Paranormal, War, Review, 4 Star Rating, Book 1 In Series, Greenwillow Publishing, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson, Fire and Thorns Series

RATING: 4.00/5.00 | GOODREADS RATING: 3.86/5.00

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT: 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.

MY THOUGHTS: This was my first foray into fantasy, and I was very hesitant to even give it a try. But when I stumbled upon it at the library, I decided, what the heck, let's get it. And I am so glad that I did, because I was not disappointed!

In one word, I found this book to be very unique. I can't think of any other book that I would compare it too; but again, at this point I hadn't read very much fantasy. I felt that the book started out a bit slow, and was slightly difficult for me to visualize Elisa's world; but once I finished Part 1 of the book, I realized that Part 2 really throws you into the meat of the book - and I was hooked!

One lovely thing about this book, is that it takes place in several different settings - all of which are unique in all aspects - landscape, inhabitants, purpose, and beliefs. Carson marvels at creating one unified world with these individual microcosms within it. When I wasn't reading the book, I was thinking about it. There really weren't any times where I knew what was going to happen - save for maybe one or two scenes. Otherwise, Carson kept you guessing until the end.

I really didn't like Elisa when the book first began. She was this helpless, almost dumb fat girl who at all the freaking time and never did anything worth mentioning in her life. Cut to Part 2 and I love Elisa. Love her to bits! She is the perfect heroine! She's smart, sassy, and steps up to the plate and fights for what is right. She's very selfless, never thinking about herself, and puts others ahead of herself.

King Alejandro also bothered me. He's pitiful and pathetic, but gains my respect by the end of the book. He likes to sit back and let others do his fighting and dirty work, and doesn't take an active role in his son, Prince Rosario's life. He also is in love with his mistress, Arina, and keeps his marriage to Elisa a secret.

Another amazingly wonderful character is Cosme. Cosme, who begins as a treacherous maid for Arina - doing her spying for her - despises Elisa. And in the end, it's safe to say that they are probably as close to best friends as two girls can become. She's smart and she's been hurt and betrayed so she puts on a frigid, icy front but it's to protect herself.

The issue that I had with the world building was that it had a very Spanish feel to it with the names and place names, but the description of the land being desert-like yet very hilly was making it a little difficult at first to connect everything together. I also thought that being a fantasy, the spiritual being would have a different name than "God", but this does use "God" as the spiritual being and every century he chooses one person to be a "bearer" meaning that they have a "Godstone" in their navel. They then are supposed to do something amazing, maybe even miraculous. So there was a pretty heavy religious tone to the story, which typically is not my cup of tea, but it was done in a unique way that didn't bother me at all. I think Carson handled the themes and tones of the book perfectly.

I also have to commend Carson on her ability to kill off characters. Holy heck is that a breath of fresh air! I haven't been so ticked off at an author for killing off characters since J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series! Yes, I said Ticked Off, but what I mean is, thank you! Thank you for not creating a picture-perfect book with the 'happily ever after'. Carson cares what her fans think and feel and want, but she also doesn't herself or her story in the meantime.

Carson did exactly what I love with the ending too - gave a lot of closure, but left enough open to make me want, need, crave more! It ended absolutely perfectly, and sets up the main theme (at least what I think the main theme is... ) for the rest of the series.

SIMILAR READS: The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke | Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta | Witchlanders by Lena Coakley | The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton | The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab 

Happy Reading!