WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!
For some reason, I really enjoyed The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, but at the same time I
felt completely emotionally unattached to it. It could be because I was still
emotionally drained from finishing Champion
by Marie Lu, or I just didn’t care, I’m really not sure…
Elisa has
always thought of herself as the fat, useless princess of Orovalle; her sister,
graceful and powerful, seemed like the complete opposite, worthy of being a
queen. However, it’s Elisa who is married off to King Alejandro, the ruler of
the largest territory, Joya d’Arena, on her sixteenth birthday. However, their
marriage remains a secret, for Alejandro is afraid that his court may discover
that Elisa holds the Godstone, a stone bestowed upon her on her naming day,
prophesizing that she would complete some great will of God. Meanwhile, Joya
d’Arena is on the verge of war with the neighboring country, Invierne, which
has the use of animagi at its disposal, men that can burn people with the
necklaces they wear around their necks. They seek the bearer of the Godstone,
for they believe that it can increase their powers. At the same time, another,
revolutionary group is also searching for her, looking for a savior. With so
many people wanting her for her Godstone, who will Elisa side with? Will she
even live to join a side at all?
Elisa is a
strong character; physically weak, but mentally tough. There were times that I
found her a bit annoying, but most of the time she was fine. I didn’t really
like her at the beginning, but by the end I found that I liked and respected
her a lot more, which I think was what the author was trying to do. Alejandro
was at first a likeable character, but by the end I saw him as nothing but a
weakling and a coward. I think I was supposed to be sad when he died, but I
felt nothing and I actually kind of enjoyed it… Is that bad? It’s not like I
hated him or anything, but it just felt like he was getting in the way of the
story. Humberto and Rosario (the young prince, so adorable!) were the only
characters that I actually liked, and of course, Humberto dies in a way that
elicited absolutely no emotion whatsoever. I think it may have been because I
was expecting Humberto to come back to life or something; it seemed so sudden,
but at the same time I saw it coming. It was obvious what was going to happen,
really, but I still felt confused when it actually did. I just looked up from
reading and said “What” out loud a few times, then continued reading.
The story
was good and kept me reading; I was never bored and the world was interesting.
It was fun to see what would happen next and to fit the pieces of the puzzle
together, but too many of the main characters died, which was kind of strange.
Well, at least Rosario didn’t die, that’s all I really cared about. There’s not
really much else for me to say on the point because I really don’t know what to
feel. Hopefully I can give you a more coherent review on the next one!! J
This book was really interesting! 4 Smileys!!
