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adkwriter15 's review for:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
Well, I should start off by saying that I could NOT stop reading this book. Literally. I started it LAST NIGHT, stayed up until 1:30 AM and then opened my eyes before 9 to keep reading it. I just had to know what happened. I do enjoy guessing what is going to happen as I read, and sadly with most books I'm hardly ever actually surprised. Not here! I was convinced the book was going to end with some kind of sappy, love-triangle ending as a lot of books seem to these days, but I was wrong. It was very refreshing.
The characters here were no great shakes, except for the main character Elisa. Talk about refreshing. She starts off as a fat, pampered, ignorant child--but not spoiled. She becomes pretty kick butt by the end, but she takes a journey to get there that is believable. Few authors dare to do this these days, and the ones who do rarely do it well. I felt like I could sit down and chat with Elisa, because she was just so REAL.
Granted, Elisa and the book did fall into one YA cliche that makes me sigh. So often in YA books these days, there is no visible growth when the main character falls in love. It is just instant love at first sight, BAM. Does it make the book move along, sure. But it's fairly ridiculous and it annoys me when it happens. At least here, Carson makes an obvious attempt to discern why Elisa feels the way she, and there isn't an instant lovey dovey scene anywhere. Still a little too quick for my taste (and a little too quick for a certain event near the end of the book to have the impact it ought to) but better done then I've seen lately.
The world of The Girl of Fire and Thorns was also great. In places - especially in the beginning - I felt like I wasn't getting enough information to form a clear picture with, but enough information came out as the book went on for me to grasp generalities. The book was clearly setting up for a sequel, so it's entirely possible the world wasn't completely explained for just that purpose. Either way, it worked out well enough. The book flowed quickly and easily.
I read ridiculously fast first time through, and sometimes after that I won't reread a book, but I certainly want to revist this one! Overall, I would certainly recommend this book to fans of fantasy YA fiction. It's different, it's believable and it's interesting. Four and a half stars from me!
The characters here were no great shakes, except for the main character Elisa. Talk about refreshing. She starts off as a fat, pampered, ignorant child--but not spoiled. She becomes pretty kick butt by the end, but she takes a journey to get there that is believable. Few authors dare to do this these days, and the ones who do rarely do it well. I felt like I could sit down and chat with Elisa, because she was just so REAL.
Granted, Elisa and the book did fall into one YA cliche that makes me sigh. So often in YA books these days, there is no visible growth when the main character falls in love. It is just instant love at first sight, BAM. Does it make the book move along, sure. But it's fairly ridiculous and it annoys me when it happens. At least here, Carson makes an obvious attempt to discern why Elisa feels the way she, and there isn't an instant lovey dovey scene anywhere. Still a little too quick for my taste (and a little too quick for a certain event near the end of the book to have the impact it ought to) but better done then I've seen lately.
The world of The Girl of Fire and Thorns was also great. In places - especially in the beginning - I felt like I wasn't getting enough information to form a clear picture with, but enough information came out as the book went on for me to grasp generalities. The book was clearly setting up for a sequel, so it's entirely possible the world wasn't completely explained for just that purpose. Either way, it worked out well enough. The book flowed quickly and easily.
I read ridiculously fast first time through, and sometimes after that I won't reread a book, but I certainly want to revist this one! Overall, I would certainly recommend this book to fans of fantasy YA fiction. It's different, it's believable and it's interesting. Four and a half stars from me!