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carmensutra 's review for:
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson
DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO A TEEN.
THIS IS WHAT THE GODSTONE LOOKS LIKE. YOU CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND
Below are my incoherent notes, if you care to read them but many people have said them much more eloquently already.
BETTER FEMINIST FANTASY
I understand that this is practically historical fiction when it comes to YA (release date 2012) but it seems so unsophisticated when you compare to:
- The Kiss is Deception by Mary E Pearson
- Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghardt
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
- Myriem and Irina in Spinning Silver
- Aurora in Cora Carmack’s Roar
- Circe by Madeline Miller
VILLAINS
To quote VE Schwab tweet: Readers don't care so much WHAT your characters do. They care WHY they do it. Motivations are the most important aspect of our connection to a hero, villain, or other.
The villain of the story is flat and boring. Also, it could be mistaken for being fat, so...
FAT
In this book thin = beautiful. Fat shaming — how many times do we need to be reminded she isn’t skinny? "Sausage bride" "You’re fat!"
The least she could do is make the insults interesting.
FEMINISMN ROOTED IN LOVE OF A MAN AND HOW HER BODY LOOKS
PROBLEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF ELISA BEING DARK-SKINNED
Constantly discussing how darker skin is ugly in comparison to sister
NO CULTURAL SPECIFICITY FOR HER DARK SKIN ⬇️⬇️⬇️
LATINX, BUT WHICH COUNTRY OR COUNTRIES ARE BEING REPRESENTED HERE?
LATINX MONOLITH
Latinx? Spanish? We are not just cumin and garlic
Colonizer—Spain, Colonized—everywhere else
Reminds me of books based on AFRICAN culture as though an entire continent is a monolith!
LANGUAGE
I bet this is the type of book that italicizes another language:
Lengua Classica
ADOBE ADOBE ADOBE
No book not about architecture has ever mentioned a building material so regularly. This wasn’t because of the author’s love of architecture (it was described very sparsely) so to me it was a CODE for LATINX WORLD *waves hand generally around*
But also yellow tiles with blue spots — generally Mediterranean & Spanish
STOCKHOLM SYNDROME
Umberto is so much nicer within 2 days than Alejandro ever was—Insta-Stockholm Syndrome
She’s just...part of the rebellion now? No questions or conflicts??
RELIGIOUS ELEMENTS
Is the magic system praying? I don’t understand what it’s supposed to be?
Is this RELIGIOUS fantasy?
FEMALE HATE
Female hate. She hates every female in the boom except her servants. Poor misunderstood princess.
I DIDN’T FEEL ANYTHING WHEN UMBERTO DIED
And you know I love romance, problematic and all
THIS IS WHAT THE GODSTONE LOOKS LIKE. YOU CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND
Below are my incoherent notes, if you care to read them but many people have said them much more eloquently already.
BETTER FEMINIST FANTASY
I understand that this is practically historical fiction when it comes to YA (release date 2012) but it seems so unsophisticated when you compare to:
- The Kiss is Deception by Mary E Pearson
- Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghardt
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
- Myriem and Irina in Spinning Silver
- Aurora in Cora Carmack’s Roar
- Circe by Madeline Miller
VILLAINS
To quote VE Schwab tweet: Readers don't care so much WHAT your characters do. They care WHY they do it. Motivations are the most important aspect of our connection to a hero, villain, or other.
The villain of the story is flat and boring. Also, it could be mistaken for being fat, so...
FAT
In this book thin = beautiful. Fat shaming — how many times do we need to be reminded she isn’t skinny? "Sausage bride" "You’re fat!"
The least she could do is make the insults interesting.
FEMINISMN ROOTED IN LOVE OF A MAN AND HOW HER BODY LOOKS
PROBLEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF ELISA BEING DARK-SKINNED
Constantly discussing how darker skin is ugly in comparison to sister
NO CULTURAL SPECIFICITY FOR HER DARK SKIN ⬇️⬇️⬇️
LATINX, BUT WHICH COUNTRY OR COUNTRIES ARE BEING REPRESENTED HERE?
LATINX MONOLITH
Latinx? Spanish? We are not just cumin and garlic
Colonizer—Spain, Colonized—everywhere else
Reminds me of books based on AFRICAN culture as though an entire continent is a monolith!
LANGUAGE
I bet this is the type of book that italicizes another language:
Lengua Classica
ADOBE ADOBE ADOBE
No book not about architecture has ever mentioned a building material so regularly. This wasn’t because of the author’s love of architecture (it was described very sparsely) so to me it was a CODE for LATINX WORLD *waves hand generally around*
But also yellow tiles with blue spots — generally Mediterranean & Spanish
STOCKHOLM SYNDROME
Umberto is so much nicer within 2 days than Alejandro ever was—Insta-Stockholm Syndrome
She’s just...part of the rebellion now? No questions or conflicts??
RELIGIOUS ELEMENTS
Is the magic system praying? I don’t understand what it’s supposed to be?
Is this RELIGIOUS fantasy?
FEMALE HATE
Female hate. She hates every female in the boom except her servants. Poor misunderstood princess.
I DIDN’T FEEL ANYTHING WHEN UMBERTO DIED
And you know I love romance, problematic and all