The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

RCarson-Girl of Fire and Thorns

RCarson-Girl of Fire and ThornsI have heard nothing but good things about The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, so I was really excited to read it. Unfortunately, I quit reading it shortly after I started because Elisa, the heronie, was annoying the crap out of me.

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.

I am not a very religious person; and I don’t mind if a character prays to God for help or guidance every once in a while. Elisa was God’s chosen one, and therefore was constantly thinking about God or praying to him. When I say constantly, I mean it was happening every other paragraph. I understand that as God’s chosen, they have a special relationship – but it was a one-sided relationship. Maybe he showed up later on in The Girl of Fire and Thorns, but since he hadn’t shown up at all during Elisa’s entire life, I doubt he did.

Elisa faked her confidence in front of others, which I thought was really awesome of her. However, she had a continual monologue of self-doubt and self-loathing that never ended! Ever! Yes, it did make Elisa realistic, but please stop. I don’t want to know she thinks her lips look like slugs or she thinks her eyes are too beady and her cheeks look like pomegranates. It was beyond annoying.

I quit reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns before anything really happened in the plot. The little bit that I did read was slow and dull; not counter balancing Elisa’s annoying-ness at all or encouraging me to continue reading.

Maybe The Girl of Fire and Thorns got better later on in the book, or even ten pages after I quit. Or maybe it stayed the same, and I just have a very different opinion from everyone else. Either way, I was too annoyed with Elisa to want to go back and try again.

About Casey 203 Articles
Casey is the founder of Heart Full of Ink, Director at Reading Until Dawn Con, and a full time cheese addict. She's been ranting and reviewing for Literary Escapism since 2010, and is part of the trio #3Bloggers1Series podcast. When she's not reading, looking for new books, or stalking authors online (waiting for more books), she can be found binge watching Netflix. But really, her life is all about DEM BOOKS!

1 Comment

  1. I had heard such great things about this book and I got it through Amazon Vine, so I had to read the whole thing, but I ended up rating it a C and might have put it down if I hadn’t had to finish. The action does pick up, but I didn’t buy the character arcs. Elisa changed so radically over a very short time period in the book and I didn’t find that to be believable. I also thought there were some very big plot holes. So don’t worry, you are not the only one that didn’t like it.

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