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sagacious 's review for:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
I'm conflicted on this one. I wanted to at least praise it for its diversity/inclusiveness, but at the end of the day I'm not sure I can.
I really enjoyed Walk on Earth a Stranger, so I was hoping for good things from this, which has been on my tbr for a long time. I realize Walk came out after this, and that gives time for the author to grow, etc, but the difference in quality between the two books is significant. In particular, Girl of Fire and Thorns suffers from poor world building and a serious case of "telling" instead of "showing".
I'd be more willing to be lenient with that if the book had really been a standout in terms of characters - particularly more diverse characters than you usually, sadly, see in YA. And certainly the cast is noted as having darker skin, which is something, at least. But in terms of the main character representing heavier body types.... ehn, no, I'm going to have to give a fail here. Elisa starts out as ambiguously "fat", as observed by a small child, and obsessed with food. Like. Really obsessed. And she's shy, and more or less self described as useless, unless it comes to getting some more scones, because she's on top of that shit. Then she loses a bunch of weight, and suddenly boys want to date her and girls want to be her friend, and she's a mover and a shaker and a world leader. Huh?
The magic "system" isn't very well explained, and the Godstone thing is oddly ambiguous for being a central point. (Also, how big is this thing? It's supposed to be in her navel, but everyone who randomly brushes against her seems to feel the damn thing.) The god also seems like kind of a jerk. "Oh, you're going to freeze to death? Well, better get up every few hours to pray!" I felt like none of the characters had any real agency of their own - a symptom of the 'show don't tell' thing, I think.
I dunno. I was disappointed.
I really enjoyed Walk on Earth a Stranger, so I was hoping for good things from this, which has been on my tbr for a long time. I realize Walk came out after this, and that gives time for the author to grow, etc, but the difference in quality between the two books is significant. In particular, Girl of Fire and Thorns suffers from poor world building and a serious case of "telling" instead of "showing".
I'd be more willing to be lenient with that if the book had really been a standout in terms of characters - particularly more diverse characters than you usually, sadly, see in YA. And certainly the cast is noted as having darker skin, which is something, at least. But in terms of the main character representing heavier body types.... ehn, no, I'm going to have to give a fail here. Elisa starts out as ambiguously "fat", as observed by a small child, and obsessed with food. Like. Really obsessed. And she's shy, and more or less self described as useless, unless it comes to getting some more scones, because she's on top of that shit. Then she loses a bunch of weight, and suddenly boys want to date her and girls want to be her friend, and she's a mover and a shaker and a world leader. Huh?
The magic "system" isn't very well explained, and the Godstone thing is oddly ambiguous for being a central point. (Also, how big is this thing? It's supposed to be in her navel, but everyone who randomly brushes against her seems to feel the damn thing.) The god also seems like kind of a jerk. "Oh, you're going to freeze to death? Well, better get up every few hours to pray!" I felt like none of the characters had any real agency of their own - a symptom of the 'show don't tell' thing, I think.
I dunno. I was disappointed.