Review

"Fast-moving and exciting." --School Library Journal (starred review)

"A smart, complex fantasy with stellar characters... Carson's mature writing style, thoughtful storytelling, appealing characters and surprising twists add up to a page-turner with broad appeal." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Elisa is a wonderful, believable hero, the kind that every reader can imagine as herself. I charged through the book in two days, savoring Elisa's realness and her unique, wonderful world! Engrossing." 

- *Tamora Pierce, author of New York Times bestseller *Bloodhound

"A delicious debut." *Paolo Bacigalupi, Printz Award-winning author of *Ship Breaker

"Rae Carson's heroine is a perfect blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I loved her." 

- *Megan Whalen Turner, author of the Newbery Honor Book, *The Thief

“Distinctive for its luminous prose, its hint of romance, and Elisa, a strong, smart heroine that readers will truly fall in love with.” (Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief )

“Set in intrigue-filled courts, battlefields, and windswept deserts, this riveting fantasy tests its heroine’s limits as she struggles to fulfill a destiny wrapped in an ancient mystery. A breathtaking adventure in a fascinating, richly-drawn world.” (Leah Cypess, author of Mistwood )

“I stayed up until 2AM reading this last night. Intense, unique. . . . Definitely recommended.” (Veronica Roth, author of the best-selling Divergent )

“I LOVED this book! It’s a transformation story that both teens and adults can believe in. Rae Carson has delivered a unique magical system and built a world with strong series potential.” (Cinda Williams Chima, author of best-selling The Exiled Queen )

Product Description

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  

• Hardcover: 432 pages

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (September 20, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062026488
• ISBN-13: 978-0062026484
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review:

4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews) * Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

86 Reviews

5 star:

(37)

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(40)

3 star:

(8)

2 star:

(1)

1 star:   (0)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (86 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Strong Female in Fantasy, August 24, 2011

By 

Alexandra Cenni "Poisoned Rationality" (hamilton, nj USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Hardcover)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Going into the book (which I read an ARC version) I had completely forgotten what it was about. It was on my list of 'Must Read Immediately Upon Getting' books and I had made a notation about 'fantasy' next to it, but otherwise I had forgotten. Something pushed at me to pick it though and thus did I spend an entire Friday night (after my show) reading this glorious, wonderful and otherwise fantastic novel.

It would honestly be hard for me to categorize this as a 'young adult'. If this had been written in the 90's then it may very well have been shelved with the mainstream fantasy books despite the narrator, Elisa's, age of 16. Carson questions the nature of love (familial, first love and enduring love), religion (faith, doubt, belief) and duty (to one's self, to one's country) without holding anything back. Elisa learns some very hard lessons in a relatively short amount of time and realizes some hard truths.

Elisa, in short, is my hero. Not because she saves the day. Not because she's clever and quick-witted and brave. Not just because of those things at least. Elisa is my hero, and would have been my role model for life as a teen, because she doesn't judge herself. She doubts why she was Chosen. She looks back at the way she was in her home kingdom with horror, but she doesn't ever say 'I'm a useless person'. Whenever she uses the words 'useless' and 'fat' she is repeating what others have said behind her back (or in at least one case, to her face).

She is self-conscious, she envies other women for their slim forms or graceful bearing, but she doesn't deride herself for not being that way. She is strong, just as many of the characters say she is, but she shows that strength in subtle ways. Standing up and remaining firm with the young Prince, keeping her calm when faced with a duplicitous lady of the court, keeping her wits when confronted with a terrifying enemy. Elisa's development is spurned onwards at first by her need to be useful to her husband, but it doesn't take her long to realize that she should change to be better for herself.

I admit I didn't like her husband, I didn't trust him or his motivations. I didn't think he was a bad man, but the way he was using Elisa just made me frown. I felt bad for Elisa though, wanted more for her, but at the same time I wanted to scream that not everything has to be about him.

Carson gives us quite a cast of characters to be entertained by. I was quite fond of some of them, though I suppose I didn't quite trust any of them? Even her old Nurse, who obviously wants to protect Elisa from everything and everyone, made me wary. Elisa was the pawn in a very powerful game, several powerful games in fact, and until she realizes her own power it was disheartening how easily she was manipulated or misled. How eager she was to believe certain fallacies because she was so desperately lonely and unfulfilled.

There are several times when Carson tempers the cleverness that Elisa shows with hard truths. Consequences for her decisions and actions, especially as we grew closer to the end, proved themselves to Elisa and I applauded her for being able to...move past them and regroup quickly. Even before she came into herself Elisa didn't just wallow, not when there was something else she could be doing. She had her moments, but then she was is still young, thrust into a terrible War that no one cared to explain to her.

While the ending lends itself well to being self-contained, there are two more books and the acknowledgement that more adventures await Elisa in the closing. An important plot focal point remains unanswered and to be truthful I want to see what the new Elisa can do with her strength and new found purpose.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved, Loved, LOVED this book!, September 15, 2011

By 

Candace Robinson "Candace" (Vancouver, Wa USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Hardcover)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Honestly, I'm not sure there are words to portray my love for this book. The awesomeness that is between the pages. It was truly a thing of beauty. Rae Carson is a genius. I felt like everything was exactly, exactly how it should have been. It's not often that through a story I'm thinking the whole time that the author is genius but I was in this one.

Elisa was a character I truly, completely connected with. She had a personality that I loved and she was flawed. She was real. First of all, she struggles with her weight. She really really loves food and it's a comfort to her when she's stressed. How often do you see that in a young adult fantasy? Like NEVER! It made her more real. To see her go from having such low self esteem to finding her strength and her purpose was a fantastic journey. She was afraid, she was deathly afraid. But she pushed past her fear and her feeling of being inadequate and she did what she had to do when she had to do it. She was an amazing character. I really couldn't rave enough about her.

Okay, so I'm struggling with words here. But let me see here what I can come up with. Okay, I mentioned I love Elisa. Well, all the characters in this book were perfect. Each role they played was perfect. Whether it was a good guy, a bad guy or just someone who needed to be there. It was perfect.
The action, the plot, the story line. Perfection. I was on my toes the whole time. At one point in time I looked up and realized that an hour had passed since I'd last looked at the clock. I have small children! That's not good! Luckily they were just playing and being good, but it could have been bad! So be careful the book doesn't suck you in too much. The thing is, it will! I read the whole thing in a day. And it's fairly large at 400+ pages.

This book is going on my favorite list. If I could get it higher than 5 stars I would. I absolutely loved it!

Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book free of charge through amazon vine for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique fantasy, strong girl character, October 1, 2011

By 

Alison "AlisonCanRead" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Hardcover)

The Girl of Fire and Thorns is an unusual book. A book where the main character does a complete 180 throughout the course of the plot, in looks and personality. A book that emphasizes the characters' faith in a way that fits seemlessly with the plot and is never preachy. A book that starts out weak and grows stronger and stronger. A book that incorporates Spanish language, culture, food, architecture, and more. A book where romance is present but not nearly as important as the protagonist. A book with major plot twists.

Elisa is one of the best fantasy characters I've read in a long time. She starts out this novel at a low place. She's fat, lonely, and undervalued. At least she thinks she's these things. Elisa was born with a great gift: the godstone - a stone embedded in her navel - only one person receives this gift each century and each is endowed with some great, unknown duty. For a girl who holds a position even higher than the princess she was born as, she sure is underappreciated. No one thinks anything of Elisa. Even her beloved nanny coddles and overprotects her. Her family is tough on her. Her new husband is embarrassed by her. Elisa's only friend is food. While it's difficult to see a nice, smart girl constantly berate herself and use food as a form of comfort, the author did a fabulous job of making Elisa relatable. I cared about her and understood why she felt so horribly about herself.

All this changes when Elisa is kidnapped. In fact, the entire book changes. It goes from being a slow, somewhat depressing novel, to being a action-packed, girl-power thriller. Elisa undergoes tremendous physical and mental change as she walks through the desert for days with her captors. And as she learns more about the world around her - the world that was hidden from her during her sheltered childhood - her idea of who's right and who's wrong begins to change. Elisa is ready to fight and to assume her birthright of the godstone bearer. And fight she does. Don't underestimate Elisa.

There's a great cast of side characters. I loved Elisa's nanny Ximena. One of the few people from Elisa's childhood who truly cares for her. And she's no Mary Poppins. I loved the complexity of Ximena's fighting skills as well as what Ximena hid from Elisa. Elisa's kidnappers are also an interesting lot. They start out as enemies and slowly turn into friends. Each had their own personality and relationship to Elisa. I especially loved Humberto. Sweetest guy and so perfect for Elisa! It added a nice element of romance to this story. Even Elisa's sister, who spends much of her time degrading Elisa, serves a valuable role for Elisa as she grows stronger.

The culture and world-building of the godstone was well done. My main problem with this book was the idea of the "chosen one" having a gemstone in her belly button. Snicker snicker I am apparently not mature enough to get entirely beyond that. But otherwise, I loved how the author took the framework of a familiar religion and imbued it with an entirely different mythology. By the end of the book, I felt familiar with the various kingdoms, politics, and long-standing wars. The reader is in the dark for the first third of the novel about most of the book's religion, culture, and history - but so is Elisa. We learn alongside her.

Girl of Fire and Thorns ends on a strong note. I will say that there is a shocking shocking twist near the end. I admire the author for taking that route. The story has a logical conclusion - no big cliff-hanger - but leaves plenty of plot options open for future novels. Elisa finishes the book at the top. She is confident, brave, and ready for more. I can't wait to see where she goes next.

Rating: 4 / 5

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