The Fire & Thorns series by Rae Carson is one of the best YA fantasy series I've read a long time. I wasn't sure I'd like the first book, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, at all when I first heard about the series. The whole premise of Elisa's "godstone" seemed a bit too far-fetched and "sci-fi" for me, but once I started the novel I could hardly put it down. I read through the next two books, The Crown of Embers and The Bitter Kingdom, the same way.
The final book in the series, The Bitter Kingdom, is wonderfully satisfying without being too cheesy or wrapping up all the plot lines too easily. The story line picks up just after the second book leaves off, with Elisa and her small group of allies on the chase after the Inviernos who captured Hector. There's enough drama and plot twists that the 400 pages of the novel feel more like 200.
One of the reasons I love this series so much is because of Elisa's character. She is so believably written with all of the flaws and doubts that teenagers, especially girls, face in their daily lives. Mix that together with the fact that this young teen marries the ruler of a foreign country who faces threats of war, throw in lots of fantasy, some romance and a whole lot of adventure and man, you've got a great story. I loved the way Elisa's character progressed and matured throughout the entire series. Even at the end of the series when she still feels some insecurity about her powers, Elisa finds strength and confidence in her own skills, magical or not, because of the relationships that have developed with the people closest to her.
I highly recommend this whole series for teens in grades 9 and up, especially girls who are fans of the fantasy genre.
Reviewed from a digital ARC provided by Edelweiss; available August 27, 2013 from Greenwillow Books.
No comments:
Post a Comment