The Girl of Fire and Thorns by
Rae Carson
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I just finished Rae Carson’s first book The Girl of Fire and Thorns a few days ago and I am IN LOVE. It was fabulous and amazing and I’m going to tell you why (no spoilers).
First, I’m going to admit that I only read this book because someonne (I can’t remember who!) posted a picture of the cover and I saw Tamora Pierce said that it’s “engrossing.” Growing up I was head over heels for anything by Pierce so I thought I’d give Carson a chance.
The first couple of chapters of this book started off a little slow, admittedly—the main character, Princess Lucero-Elisa (we get to just call her Elisa), is a little whiney and anxious with an unhealthy relationship with food. She’s crying because she’s about to get married to a man she hasn’t met yet (which I get, I’d totally cry too) and by page four she’s in the kitchen eating her feelings.
Elisa is the bearer of something called the Godstone, which isn’t explained much at first. By the end of the book we get more information (at the same speed as Elisa) but I still have a LOT of questions about it. The Godstone is probably the most interesting part of this tale for me because so much of the story is hinged on its existence and the mysteries surrounding it, but Elisa (and we the readers) know so little about it. I’m hoping the next two books explain the concept a lot more!
As you can probably tell by the phrase “Godstone,” religion plays a big role in this book. There are two kingdoms in the book and it’s explained that Joya D’Arena came first and the settlers of Orovalle (where Elisa is from) split from Joya D’Arena for religious reasons. The Orovalle settlers felt that the religion was becoming too liberal and wanted to stick to a more strict interpretation of the Scriptura Sancta, their bible. The difference between the two sects of their religion is a major aspect of the plot and I’m very curious about how this plays out over the next two books. Elisa, as the bearer of the Godstone, is a very religious character, though her faith wavers throughout the book.
Elisa’s character is marvelous. I’ve already mentioned that she has an unhealthy relationship with food, cries, and is anxious but even just in the first part of the book, she endures a lot: she marries this stranger, travels for a month to a foreign land, gets attacked and kills a man, and meets probably a dozen people who just hate her. She responds with anxiety, overeating to the point of being sick at one point…but she grows. She learns. She responds to worsening situation and some major revelations that the way she was raised was wrong with elegance and strength. People begin to look at her differently (for a variety of reasons) and her character development really, truly impressed me. She’s an amazingly written character, traveling through a well-written plot with grace.
I already have the next two books from the library and the box set in my Amazon wish list. I definitely recommend this book to fantasy fans—it’s high fantasy, set in a detailed world that I really feel like I can see and feel. There isn’t a lot of magic yet (mostly it’s frowned upon at this point and only comes from people who stole Godstones and use blood as a catalyst…how? That’s one of my questions!), but I feel like this is likely to change over the next two sequels. I’ll let you know.
Happy reading!
