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adubrow 's review for:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
(Originally posted @ CSI:Librarian.)
I was totally unprepared for this book to be the love child of Philippa Gregory and George R. R. Martin. But I am beyond delighted that it was. The richness of detail, ritual, and tradition had me hooked from the very opening page. The brutal fantasy aspects, while less frequent than in other books, were similarly unexpected but just as pleasing. There was a lot of intrigue, betrayal, romance, danger, and action too.
At the heart of any great book is its main character, and Elisa is the sort of female protagonist that I would have longed to read about as a teen. In most respects, I was more than happy to read about her now that I am older. She was equal parts believable and endearing while coming to terms with the fact that she has lived a very sheltered life and has quite a large destiny to pursue. Fans of Daenerys Targaryen who were not fans of the less consensual and decidedly more unpleasant aspects of The Game of Thrones will definitely fall in love with Elisa. I know I did.
I also really appreciated that Carson had her be overweight and struggling with accepting herself and being accepted by others. Although Elisa does lose some weight as a result of certain plot points, I think Carson did a great job keeping the focus on how Elisa is transformed by her experiences from only soft, insecure, and scholarly to proud, fierce, and determined as well. She never forgot who she was, never changed completely, and continually played to her strengths as she grew in a beautiful, organic way. The minor characters were great too and sort of all over the place in terms of the roles they played which was excellent. I especially loved Rosario, Humberto, and Ximenia, but Cosme and Alejandro had important roles to play and I came to care for them too.
I did, however, have an issue with The Girl of Fire and Thorns. I wish I could articulate my feelings as eloquently or clearly as Thea does in her review on The Book Smugglers, but I wasn't really happy to discover that the religion in the book was virtually identical to Judeo-Christianity. Yes, I liked how real this world felt as well as the borrowing from Spanish culture and medieval history. Yes, this book has sorcery, evil animagi, magical blue stones, and other differences, but honestly I have no interest in reading any Inspirational Fiction titles and I hated having the uncomfortable suspicion that I was reading one. I also found myself wondering what this connection did to the overall message of the book or what it meant for how much Elisa was in control of her own destiny, will, and/or abilities. This aspect of the book won't bother all readers, but it definitely bothered me. Happily, it never bothered me enough to stop reading altogether.
In conclusion, a mostly excellent and very engaging book. Fans of George R. R. Martin, Philippa Gregory, Tamora Pierce, and Jacqueline Carey will enjoy this immensely. Those who dread the idea of investing in yet another series with cliffhangers and years between releases will also be happy to learn that The Girl of Fire and Thorns tells a very complete story all on its own.
I was totally unprepared for this book to be the love child of Philippa Gregory and George R. R. Martin. But I am beyond delighted that it was. The richness of detail, ritual, and tradition had me hooked from the very opening page. The brutal fantasy aspects, while less frequent than in other books, were similarly unexpected but just as pleasing. There was a lot of intrigue, betrayal, romance, danger, and action too.
At the heart of any great book is its main character, and Elisa is the sort of female protagonist that I would have longed to read about as a teen. In most respects, I was more than happy to read about her now that I am older. She was equal parts believable and endearing while coming to terms with the fact that she has lived a very sheltered life and has quite a large destiny to pursue. Fans of Daenerys Targaryen who were not fans of the less consensual and decidedly more unpleasant aspects of The Game of Thrones will definitely fall in love with Elisa. I know I did.
I also really appreciated that Carson had her be overweight and struggling with accepting herself and being accepted by others. Although Elisa does lose some weight as a result of certain plot points, I think Carson did a great job keeping the focus on how Elisa is transformed by her experiences from only soft, insecure, and scholarly to proud, fierce, and determined as well. She never forgot who she was, never changed completely, and continually played to her strengths as she grew in a beautiful, organic way. The minor characters were great too and sort of all over the place in terms of the roles they played which was excellent. I especially loved Rosario, Humberto, and Ximenia, but Cosme and Alejandro had important roles to play and I came to care for them too.
I did, however, have an issue with The Girl of Fire and Thorns. I wish I could articulate my feelings as eloquently or clearly as Thea does in her review on The Book Smugglers, but I wasn't really happy to discover that the religion in the book was virtually identical to Judeo-Christianity. Yes, I liked how real this world felt as well as the borrowing from Spanish culture and medieval history. Yes, this book has sorcery, evil animagi, magical blue stones, and other differences, but honestly I have no interest in reading any Inspirational Fiction titles and I hated having the uncomfortable suspicion that I was reading one. I also found myself wondering what this connection did to the overall message of the book or what it meant for how much Elisa was in control of her own destiny, will, and/or abilities. This aspect of the book won't bother all readers, but it definitely bothered me. Happily, it never bothered me enough to stop reading altogether.
In conclusion, a mostly excellent and very engaging book. Fans of George R. R. Martin, Philippa Gregory, Tamora Pierce, and Jacqueline Carey will enjoy this immensely. Those who dread the idea of investing in yet another series with cliffhangers and years between releases will also be happy to learn that The Girl of Fire and Thorns tells a very complete story all on its own.