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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
3.5 Stars
The Girl of Fire and Thorns was one of my more anticipated YA fantasy novels. The hype for this series is massive and almost every review I’ve seen has been almost glowingly positive, unfortunately I don’t think mine will be. In short I enjoyed the overall fantasy and political intrigue, but lagged through much of the books.
The world-building for The Girl of Fire and Thorns is one of the things I really enjoyed. The landscapes and language is different than other fantasy novels and I loved that the land was rich with it’s own history, religion, and people. However I came to tire of religious aspect as it became a very big part of the story. I’m not big on religious feeling books but most of the time fictional religions, even those reverent in nature, don’t bother me. However it felt like I was being preached at, which I’m not fond of in general, but when it’s a religion that only exists between the covers of the book I get really irritated. The religion does lend some rather interesting new ideas, like the Godstone, and I did like seeing Elisa’s journey in becoming the one chosen by her god to change the world. The way Elisa plotted and planned for war and intrigue was fascinating and as the conflict built up I progressively became more interested. Unfortunately most of that occurs in the last third of the book.
Elisa has a lot of pros and cons as a main character. I was initially very excited to see a main character who isn’t the typical thin or athletic girl. She likes to eat and she doesn’t really like doing physical activities, so she’s clearly a girl after my own heart. BUT, she is incredibly negative…and it went beyond low self esteem. It honestly felt like negativity for the sake of negativity. She’s very down on herself about her weight and she feels shame when she eats large portions, but at no point does she attempt to stop doing the thing that causes her such shame…in fact there are moments where she does it in spite of the looks and giggles aimed at her. You can’t be ashamed of an activity only to wear it as a shield two seconds later. So I was somewhat relieved and disappointed when she loses some weight and becomes a bit more fit. I understand the necessity of her loosing weight and I even understand the bolster in confidence, but I was disappointed that no one (not even Elisa herself) bothered to make her feel like a normal person. And if they did have a high opinion of her most of them kept it to themselves until after her change in appearance.
I did like her friendship and budding relationship with Humberto, who was by far the sweetest person in the book. He was incredibly kind to her from the moment her met her onward, and to me he was probably one of the best side characters. Cosme was a great addition with her multifaceted skills and seemingly cold exterior.
I’m glad I stuck with the book instead of giving up like I wanted to around the 30% as it did get better and the overall conclusion was very satisfying. I see that Elisa has grown more confident in herself so I’m not worried about that aspect moving into the second book, I’m hoping that book two improves on some of the things that bothered me.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns was one of my more anticipated YA fantasy novels. The hype for this series is massive and almost every review I’ve seen has been almost glowingly positive, unfortunately I don’t think mine will be. In short I enjoyed the overall fantasy and political intrigue, but lagged through much of the books.
The world-building for The Girl of Fire and Thorns is one of the things I really enjoyed. The landscapes and language is different than other fantasy novels and I loved that the land was rich with it’s own history, religion, and people. However I came to tire of religious aspect as it became a very big part of the story. I’m not big on religious feeling books but most of the time fictional religions, even those reverent in nature, don’t bother me. However it felt like I was being preached at, which I’m not fond of in general, but when it’s a religion that only exists between the covers of the book I get really irritated. The religion does lend some rather interesting new ideas, like the Godstone, and I did like seeing Elisa’s journey in becoming the one chosen by her god to change the world. The way Elisa plotted and planned for war and intrigue was fascinating and as the conflict built up I progressively became more interested. Unfortunately most of that occurs in the last third of the book.
Elisa has a lot of pros and cons as a main character. I was initially very excited to see a main character who isn’t the typical thin or athletic girl. She likes to eat and she doesn’t really like doing physical activities, so she’s clearly a girl after my own heart. BUT, she is incredibly negative…and it went beyond low self esteem. It honestly felt like negativity for the sake of negativity. She’s very down on herself about her weight and she feels shame when she eats large portions, but at no point does she attempt to stop doing the thing that causes her such shame…in fact there are moments where she does it in spite of the looks and giggles aimed at her. You can’t be ashamed of an activity only to wear it as a shield two seconds later. So I was somewhat relieved and disappointed when she loses some weight and becomes a bit more fit. I understand the necessity of her loosing weight and I even understand the bolster in confidence, but I was disappointed that no one (not even Elisa herself) bothered to make her feel like a normal person. And if they did have a high opinion of her most of them kept it to themselves until after her change in appearance.
I did like her friendship and budding relationship with Humberto, who was by far the sweetest person in the book. He was incredibly kind to her from the moment her met her onward, and to me he was probably one of the best side characters. Cosme was a great addition with her multifaceted skills and seemingly cold exterior.
I’m glad I stuck with the book instead of giving up like I wanted to around the 30% as it did get better and the overall conclusion was very satisfying. I see that Elisa has grown more confident in herself so I’m not worried about that aspect moving into the second book, I’m hoping that book two improves on some of the things that bothered me.
I’ve been seeing the cover for this book at the library the last couple of months and it always grabbed my attention. While I got off to a shakey start, by about a third of the way through I loved it, and by the end I was doing a happy dance in excitement of how awesome I thought this book was.
Tomorrow I go to the desert country of Joya d’Arena to be its queen. I leave the jacaranda tree outside my bedroom window to bloom lilac without me. I leave my painted adobe walls and trickling fountains for stone castle a millennium old. I leave a newer, vibrant nation for an enormous beast of a country – one scorched by the sun, and stale with the traditions that made my ancestors leave it in the first place. I’ve not had the courage to ask papa and Alodia why. I’m afraid to learn they are glad to be rid of me. But the most frightening thing of all is that I am about to be someone’s wife.
Princess Elisa has spent her life in her sister’s shadow despite being the bearer of the Godstone, a small stone in her belly believed to be gifted by God to one person every four generations. As the story starts she is being married off to the King of another country – a man she has never met – for reasons that have yet to be explained to her. Elisa is in a new country but being hidden by her husband who won’t reveal their marriage to his people. The country is now on the brink of war, with several sides wishing to claim her Godstone, many not caring if she is alive to bear it or not.
Elisa and I did not get off to the best start, but by the end of the novel I found her to be one of the most developed, likeable characters I have read in a long time. When Elisa starts the novel, she is very much the entitled, naïve child one would expect a princess to be. She has lived a sheltered, privileged, idle life being taught by a tutor and cared for by her two ladies in waiting. None of these aspects about her bothered me as much as the constant references to her weight – from both herself and outside sources. I don’t care how much a character weighs, and while I can see that this was used to display how much Elisa changes over the course of the novel, this aspect was far too heavily referenced and frustrated me so much I was very tempted to give up trying to read through it.
I see my life in sudden clarity. The hush whenever I walked into a room. Glances exchanged between my tutor and my sister. Hand-guarded whispers. Reassuring platitudes delivered from behind worried countenances. I thought it was because the world holds me in contempt, because I am so unlike my sister. Because I am fat.
By the time Elisa reaches her husband’s country I saw several examples of the possibility of more depth to her. On the journey to her new home, the party is attacked and Elisa responds with a cool, logical head in the face of danger that saves many lives, including that of her new husband. As the novel progresses, and Elisa is humiliated at court by her husband who won’t give up his mistress, is kidnapped and forced to trudge across the desert or be killed by her kidnappers, is kidnapped again, betrayed and captured, and finally, must lead the defence against the invading masses.
Elisa shows determination to succeed, resourcefulness and ingenuity when she recruits a guerrilla army of children to attack the oncoming forces with a series of annoyance tactics – harassing them in the dead of night, poisoning water supplies, and blocking food trains. I loved seeing Elisa determined to make a difference, and involve the children who desperately wanted to fight back, while still making sure not to endanger them. It was great to see her assume the role of leadership, especially when her husband is hesitant to take any action for fear it’s the wrong decision. What really made her such a great character was that she did all these things despite being terrified, despite never having a plan or any training and despite the losses she suffers throughout the novel.
“…Our goal will be to harass them. Weaken them. Terrorize them. We will be the spirit of death that visits them in the night, the hidden viper in their path. We will be the Malficio, the curse on their existence…If we are very clever, very careful, I think we can give the king a huge advantage. I think we can help him win this war. But there can be no heroes, no honour in senseless death. Our goal will be to sting them only, and live to sting again.”
Apart from the characterisation, I really enjoyed the plot. Carson’s writing flows easily and there is plenty of action throughout to keep you racing through the pages. There are only a couple of main settings; the castle, the desert and the enemy camp, but they all came alive in my head and I enjoyed my time in all of them. Carson does a great job of showing us the people in all of these places and how all the different lives form the country Elisa has inherited. I especially loved Elisa’s time in the desert, and the people she got to know along the way. As I said earlier, a lot of them are children, but they have such an amazing strength of spirit considering that they’ve been exiled by the enemy, blown up, tortured and seen their parents and village die before them.
“They believe this is God’s will,” I say softly.
“Acquiring a seaport? Invading another country? Killing innocent people? Which of their actions, exactly, are they going to blame God for?”
Religion plays a very interesting role in this novel. I’m not a religious person and I will usually shy away from books that have a big religious theme. At first I was a little sceptical when there was talk of a “Godstone” placed in the navel of a child on her naming day but the story really grew on me. Far from just being a story about worship, Carson uses the novel to point out some of the hypocrisies about religion; that several countries, all sharing the same faith, have such different interpretations of common beliefs and that all of them use “God’s word” to excuse mass-murder and the conquering of other countries.
Fire and Thorns ended up being the first novel in a long time that I actually wanted to fangirl about. I thought the transformation of Elisa into a strong, in control person was fantastic and definitely the most enjoyable part of the novel. Carson made a few surprising decisions with her characters and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next.
“Oh, Ximena, he was right to choose me, but not because of my worth. You, Cosme, Hector, even little Rosario, were already willing to be heroes. You didn’t need to be chosen. But I would have done nothing, become nothing, were it not for this thing inside me. So you see, God picked me because I was unworthy.”
“But you rose to the choosing. You gave hope to your people…”
Understanding hits me like a rock to the gut, and I gasp a little. I know God selected me because I needed a push, but Ximena is right too – I rose to the choosing. I didn’t need faith in God so much as I needed faith in myself.
Tomorrow I go to the desert country of Joya d’Arena to be its queen. I leave the jacaranda tree outside my bedroom window to bloom lilac without me. I leave my painted adobe walls and trickling fountains for stone castle a millennium old. I leave a newer, vibrant nation for an enormous beast of a country – one scorched by the sun, and stale with the traditions that made my ancestors leave it in the first place. I’ve not had the courage to ask papa and Alodia why. I’m afraid to learn they are glad to be rid of me. But the most frightening thing of all is that I am about to be someone’s wife.
Princess Elisa has spent her life in her sister’s shadow despite being the bearer of the Godstone, a small stone in her belly believed to be gifted by God to one person every four generations. As the story starts she is being married off to the King of another country – a man she has never met – for reasons that have yet to be explained to her. Elisa is in a new country but being hidden by her husband who won’t reveal their marriage to his people. The country is now on the brink of war, with several sides wishing to claim her Godstone, many not caring if she is alive to bear it or not.
Elisa and I did not get off to the best start, but by the end of the novel I found her to be one of the most developed, likeable characters I have read in a long time. When Elisa starts the novel, she is very much the entitled, naïve child one would expect a princess to be. She has lived a sheltered, privileged, idle life being taught by a tutor and cared for by her two ladies in waiting. None of these aspects about her bothered me as much as the constant references to her weight – from both herself and outside sources. I don’t care how much a character weighs, and while I can see that this was used to display how much Elisa changes over the course of the novel, this aspect was far too heavily referenced and frustrated me so much I was very tempted to give up trying to read through it.
I see my life in sudden clarity. The hush whenever I walked into a room. Glances exchanged between my tutor and my sister. Hand-guarded whispers. Reassuring platitudes delivered from behind worried countenances. I thought it was because the world holds me in contempt, because I am so unlike my sister. Because I am fat.
By the time Elisa reaches her husband’s country I saw several examples of the possibility of more depth to her. On the journey to her new home, the party is attacked and Elisa responds with a cool, logical head in the face of danger that saves many lives, including that of her new husband. As the novel progresses, and Elisa is humiliated at court by her husband who won’t give up his mistress, is kidnapped and forced to trudge across the desert or be killed by her kidnappers, is kidnapped again, betrayed and captured, and finally, must lead the defence against the invading masses.
Elisa shows determination to succeed, resourcefulness and ingenuity when she recruits a guerrilla army of children to attack the oncoming forces with a series of annoyance tactics – harassing them in the dead of night, poisoning water supplies, and blocking food trains. I loved seeing Elisa determined to make a difference, and involve the children who desperately wanted to fight back, while still making sure not to endanger them. It was great to see her assume the role of leadership, especially when her husband is hesitant to take any action for fear it’s the wrong decision. What really made her such a great character was that she did all these things despite being terrified, despite never having a plan or any training and despite the losses she suffers throughout the novel.
“…Our goal will be to harass them. Weaken them. Terrorize them. We will be the spirit of death that visits them in the night, the hidden viper in their path. We will be the Malficio, the curse on their existence…If we are very clever, very careful, I think we can give the king a huge advantage. I think we can help him win this war. But there can be no heroes, no honour in senseless death. Our goal will be to sting them only, and live to sting again.”
Apart from the characterisation, I really enjoyed the plot. Carson’s writing flows easily and there is plenty of action throughout to keep you racing through the pages. There are only a couple of main settings; the castle, the desert and the enemy camp, but they all came alive in my head and I enjoyed my time in all of them. Carson does a great job of showing us the people in all of these places and how all the different lives form the country Elisa has inherited. I especially loved Elisa’s time in the desert, and the people she got to know along the way. As I said earlier, a lot of them are children, but they have such an amazing strength of spirit considering that they’ve been exiled by the enemy, blown up, tortured and seen their parents and village die before them.
“They believe this is God’s will,” I say softly.
“Acquiring a seaport? Invading another country? Killing innocent people? Which of their actions, exactly, are they going to blame God for?”
Religion plays a very interesting role in this novel. I’m not a religious person and I will usually shy away from books that have a big religious theme. At first I was a little sceptical when there was talk of a “Godstone” placed in the navel of a child on her naming day but the story really grew on me. Far from just being a story about worship, Carson uses the novel to point out some of the hypocrisies about religion; that several countries, all sharing the same faith, have such different interpretations of common beliefs and that all of them use “God’s word” to excuse mass-murder and the conquering of other countries.
Fire and Thorns ended up being the first novel in a long time that I actually wanted to fangirl about. I thought the transformation of Elisa into a strong, in control person was fantastic and definitely the most enjoyable part of the novel. Carson made a few surprising decisions with her characters and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next.
“Oh, Ximena, he was right to choose me, but not because of my worth. You, Cosme, Hector, even little Rosario, were already willing to be heroes. You didn’t need to be chosen. But I would have done nothing, become nothing, were it not for this thing inside me. So you see, God picked me because I was unworthy.”
“But you rose to the choosing. You gave hope to your people…”
Understanding hits me like a rock to the gut, and I gasp a little. I know God selected me because I needed a push, but Ximena is right too – I rose to the choosing. I didn’t need faith in God so much as I needed faith in myself.
El desierto siempre tiene algo que hace que la fantasía que se ubica allí tenga un aire más "exótico" de lo habitual, como por ejemplo La Rosa del Profeta o La princesa del desierto. Y sí, para mí es una verdad absoluta. En esta ocasión tengo que decir que yo no tenía puestas unas esperanzas muy altas, sobre todo cuando nada más empezar me di cuenta de que se trataba de otro libro en primera persona de una chica «indefensa» y protegida que daba la casualidad que era la Elegida. Este libro ha conseguido que, a pesar de esa pequeña decepción al ver el camino que iba a llevar, y la capacidad natural de todo lector de fantasía para adelantarse a la historia, disfrute de un relato de una fantasía clásica, casi podríamos decir que anticuada, pero que siempre consigue alcanzar el corazón del lector. Para ello, se vale de varios detalles, el primero, la ambientación, el segundo, un personaje principal con el que el lector pueda empatizar y compadecer, y para terminar, unos secundarios que consigan atraer la atención y demostrarse como criaturas complejas llenas de emociones. Es importante que sea de emociones, y no de pensamientos, para que llegue a lo más profundo del lector.
Sigue leyendo
Sigue leyendo
Loved this wonderful YA fantasy. Solid prose. Interesting world (not your typical fantasy setting which I appreciate). And great first person narrator in the form of an overweight teenage girl.
I've been trying to not give as many 5 star ratings recently, as it's typically the thrill of finishing another book that makes me love it, but this book deserves it. The writing is absolutely magical and it swept me up. The world Rae Carson built is so enticing, and of course, Elisa is a wonderful character that I can't help but love. It does have a heavy religious background to it, but coming from someone who goes to Catholic school, I had no problem with it. Just be warned if you aren't a fan of religion being heavily discussed in books.
Though this book was wonderful, it is not one of my favorites, as it honestly felt lacking. I'm not sure what of, but it didn't blow me completely away, you know? It was a bit slow at the beginning, but picked up towards the end.
It is definitely worth the read for anyone who is considering reading it! As long as you like the high fantasy/supernatural feel when it comes to books.
Though this book was wonderful, it is not one of my favorites, as it honestly felt lacking. I'm not sure what of, but it didn't blow me completely away, you know? It was a bit slow at the beginning, but picked up towards the end.
It is definitely worth the read for anyone who is considering reading it! As long as you like the high fantasy/supernatural feel when it comes to books.
It's a dnf for me. I just can't. And it makes me so sad, because the majority of the cast is POC, there was fat representation, but in my opinion it was handled poorly, the religious overtones were *really* pushed and bothersome, half the book is spent either describing food or how much the main character hurts because she walked so much, and I'm just not into "the one" stories anymore.
Maybe you guys will love it more, still consider giving it a try if the synopsis is something you'd enjoy :)
Maybe you guys will love it more, still consider giving it a try if the synopsis is something you'd enjoy :)
I have mix feelings about this book. On one hand, there were a lot of interesting plotlines like the religion created in this world, which was fascinating to me. I also loved how the protagonist wasn't your typical badass girl, but instead Elisa was so fucking clever and made a lot of cool plans.
But on the other hand there were things that I didn't like, like the beginning, which was really slow and a little boring to be honest. And obviously, I didn't like King Alejandro and his attitute toward Elisa. He was so annoying. Once she is kidnapped, the story became really interesting to me, especially because the new characters presented in that part of the novel were more intriguing. I really cared about them. But then, something happened with the love interest that left me wondering what was his point in the story in the first place.
Also, this is supposed to be a trilogy and all their problems were solved at the end of this book? There was a nice conclusion to the novel, so I'm really surprised that there are still two more books, when this felt like a standalone novel to me.
But on the other hand there were things that I didn't like, like the beginning, which was really slow and a little boring to be honest. And obviously, I didn't like King Alejandro and his attitute toward Elisa. He was so annoying. Once she is kidnapped, the story became really interesting to me, especially because the new characters presented in that part of the novel were more intriguing. I really cared about them. But then, something happened with the love interest that left me wondering what was his point in the story in the first place.
Also, this is supposed to be a trilogy and all their problems were solved at the end of this book? There was a nice conclusion to the novel, so I'm really surprised that there are still two more books, when this felt like a standalone novel to me.
“Honor from death,” I snap, “is a myth. Invented by the war torn to make sense of the horrific. If we die, it will be so that others may live. Truly honorable death, the only honorable death, is one that enables life.”
So I read this with Denise Marie and I'm so glad I did because we both agreed that the first part of this book was horrible and if we would have read this by ourselves, we would have probably given up on it then, but I'm really happy we didn't because the second part was so good!.
My problem with the first part was 100% Elisa, her insecurities and shallowness didn't let me enjoy the world nor the writing or any of the brilliant parts that I got to see later when she started to shut up. Also, I didn't like that the Condesa was like the normal bitch that's shown in a lot of YA novels putting girls against each other.
Overall, what I found more interesting about this book was the religious part, the faith and the prayers and their relationship with God and the fulfilment of the Destiny. Especially Elisa's. It felt like she was part of something bigger. I also adored the character development in her, the fact that I liked and understood her at the end speaks volumes because I hated her at the beginning. I appreciate all the diversity in the characters, not only in body sizes which was very clear, but skin colours and languages and financial status.
I loved the secondary characters though. Like Hector and Humberto were my favourites by far but I also appreciated how well the other characters were portrayed. Like they didn't only fight for her but they all had their own lives and stories and needs and wants and I thought that was very important. Like I could read a book about every one of them.
I'm a big fan of books with political intrigue, wars and religion. So when we got passed all the problems with Elisa, I was really immerse in the story. I really enjoyed the Spanish influence as well.
I think there are some plot holes, though, that I hope will be explained further in the series, like how the magic works and why God answers sometimes and sometimes it doesn't.
I also think this series is very characterized by Elisa's fatness and it shouldn't even be that big of a deal. Like I've seen so many people complain about her getting thinner but that's what happens when you don't eat and are dragged hundreds of kilometres in the middle of the desert. I don't know, apart for her mentioning it a lot at the beginning I really didn't care about it as part of the book.
So I read this with Denise Marie and I'm so glad I did because we both agreed that the first part of this book was horrible and if we would have read this by ourselves, we would have probably given up on it then, but I'm really happy we didn't because the second part was so good!.
My problem with the first part was 100% Elisa, her insecurities and shallowness didn't let me enjoy the world nor the writing or any of the brilliant parts that I got to see later when she started to shut up. Also, I didn't like that the Condesa was like the normal bitch that's shown in a lot of YA novels putting girls against each other.
Overall, what I found more interesting about this book was the religious part, the faith and the prayers and their relationship with God and the fulfilment of the Destiny. Especially Elisa's. It felt like she was part of something bigger. I also adored the character development in her, the fact that I liked and understood her at the end speaks volumes because I hated her at the beginning. I appreciate all the diversity in the characters, not only in body sizes which was very clear, but skin colours and languages and financial status.
I loved the secondary characters though. Like Hector and Humberto were my favourites by far but I also appreciated how well the other characters were portrayed. Like they didn't only fight for her but they all had their own lives and stories and needs and wants and I thought that was very important. Like I could read a book about every one of them.
I'm a big fan of books with political intrigue, wars and religion. So when we got passed all the problems with Elisa, I was really immerse in the story. I really enjoyed the Spanish influence as well.
I think there are some plot holes, though, that I hope will be explained further in the series, like how the magic works and why God answers sometimes and sometimes it doesn't.
I also think this series is very characterized by Elisa's fatness and it shouldn't even be that big of a deal. Like I've seen so many people complain about her getting thinner but that's what happens when you don't eat and are dragged hundreds of kilometres in the middle of the desert. I don't know, apart for her mentioning it a lot at the beginning I really didn't care about it as part of the book.
3.5 stars from me. I liked this and thought it was compelling, but I had a couple problems with it.
1. High fantasy (which I define as fantasy taking place in a made up world complete with made up cultures) deserve a map in the book and a glossary at the back. This book has neither and I found myself really wanting (and somewhat needing) one.
2. I know we live in a post-Harry Potter world and all, but... authors, please stop killing off characters you spend the whole book getting me to love. It just makes me angry at the book and think I might not be able to love your sequels because that character won't be there. It could be petty, but it's the way I are.
1. High fantasy (which I define as fantasy taking place in a made up world complete with made up cultures) deserve a map in the book and a glossary at the back. This book has neither and I found myself really wanting (and somewhat needing) one.
2. I know we live in a post-Harry Potter world and all, but...