Book Review
Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Girl of Fire and Thorns Book 1) by Rae Carson
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 3.5 Stars
After reading the three prequel novellas for this series I was super excited to get into The Girl of Fire and Thorns and dig a lot deeper into Elisa’s story especially after The Shadow Cats and The Shattered Mountain where she appears in both stories, giving hints to some events that happen in the series without any major spoilers. We meet Elisa on her 16th birthday and wedding day to King Alejandro de Vega who we met in The King’s Guard, he isn’t married to Elisa in that story but we realise that The King’s Guard happened about six year before. Alejandro’s first wife is now dead and his son, Rosario is now 6 years old. Elisa is being looked after by Ximena and Aneaxi as they head to Alejandro’s land accompanied by Lord Hector, one of the King’s personal guard. However, the journey isn’t easy as there is war with Invierne and the Pereditos are watching the jungle. They are attacked by Pereditos resulting in Aneaxi’s death which is heart-breaking for Elisa. Upon arriving, Elisa is sent Cosme as a maid by one of the court in order to spy on her but Elisa uses her power in order to gain some advantage.
Despite not having a romantic or even physical relationship with Alejandro at this point, he asks Elisa to be his friend and essentially be a spy within his own court although the reason for this is unknown right now. Elisa agrees but she has many questions that won’t be answered from a while especially since her sister warned her not to trust anyone except Ximena, Aneaxi and Alejandro when in the desert lands and she takes this to heart. After this Alejandro informs her he is leaving to collect his son and he won’t be back for a month and for her to make a note of anyone who approaches her wanting to use her influence and power and to keep the fact she is the bearer of the Godstone a secret since many people want it for reasons unknown to Elisa and she agrees. After being visited again, Elisa is invited to the Quorum of Five but this is slightly overshadowed by the reveal that Elisa doesn’t really know anything about the Godstone on purpose as she has been kept in the dark. She is introduced to the Afflatus, a book of prophecies about the Godstone and its bearer. Alejandro also returned with Prince Rosario and after the Quorum, Elisa takes him out into the city with her and the pair begin building a friendship that was so cute to read about. The Quorum was also interesting as we get to see Elisa asked her opinion on the brewing war and she has an indirect confrontation with Condesa Arina. Arina seems to be the mistress of Alejandro although I believe there is more to this, and Arina wants Alejandro to send troops to the mountain region to help her people. Elisa counters this by explaining that the enemy will have the advantage there and they should allow the war to come to them in the desert where they have the advantage and many others including Alejandro agrees.
However, that night Elisa is kidnapped from within the palace itself and awakes in the hands of people she doesn’t recognise. These are desert dwelling people and it is revealed that Cosme is one of them. I believe Cosme is behind the kidnapping but whether this was her own plan or one she was forced to conduct by Arina remains to be seen. In the desert, the group seems to be taking her somewhere and from The Shattered Mountain we know it’s a remote region. However, Alejandro was planning to announce their engagement and Arina is definitely going to take advantage of Elisa being missing but she is much more important that Arina even realises. Travelling through the desert is hard for Elisa at first especially since she feels completely alone but by the time they reach their destination a month later she has come to know some of the group really well. We also get to see the continuation of The Shattered Mountain when Mara and Elisa meet and what happened after the end of the novella. Seeing Elisa becoming a little more independent and bit more comfortable in her own skin especially after she lost a little weight in the desert was nice and made her feel like a more confident person to read from even though she is still pretty naïve and clueless.
She learns she was kidnapped to help save the mountain people as the war has been on their doorstep for years and they are unable to hold back the enemy for much longer. Elisa is forced to tell these people that they won’t get any help from the King except in the form of evacuation because that was the course of action decided before Elisa was kidnapped. However, in revealing she is Alejandro’s wife and the conditions of their marriage she is able to get the people to trust her because she can make Alejandro honour these people if they are in support of the King rather than against him. Together they come up with the plan to use the sneakiest methods to deal with the enemy rather than direct confrontation which they won’t be able to win but for the plan to work they need to know more about the enemy. It is decided that a group of containing Elisa, Cosme, Humberto, Belen and one other will go and observe the enemy to gather information.
On the journey there Elisa learns Humberto is upset with her because she declared she was married when he has developed feelings for her but she doesn’t ward him off. Her Godstone also saves them from a returning party as it warns her of the oncoming danger but the closer they get to the camp the colder she is becoming and the only way for her to continue is constant prayer. They get to their destination but are seen by the enemy and have to flee but Humberto, Cosme and Elisa are cornered but Elisa stays to give the others a chance to escape hiding from the enemy. I do have to mention the kiss here and unlike in other young adult novels where there is insta-love or these scenes feel forced this one didn’t and I really like Humberto as a love interest. While this works at first she is soon captured and taken into the enemy camp where they want to know about her and her companions and when she refuses to give them the information they take her blood to test it. The leader there known as The Cat wears a Godstone and it resonates with Elisa’s when he cuts her but he doesn’t understand the meaning behind this. Elisa manages to use her brain to escape drugging The Cat and then taking some of his clothing and the Godstone when she leaves so she won’t be recognise before setting fire to the tent. As she moves through the camp making her escape she recognises Belen and realises that they weren’t found by chance but they were betrayed by one of their own.
Elisa escape is hard on her as she isn’t built like the others despite living in the desert for months but she does manage to make her way back to the camp or at least stumble upon Humberto who was still looking for her. As he tends to her wounds and they slowly make their way back to the hidden camp, Elisa debates over and over whether Belen betrayed them or whether she read the situation wrong but her gut instinct hasn’t led her astray just yet. When Belen’s betrayal is revealed it hurts Cosme since they were going to be married after the war but this changes when he arrives back at the camp injured and with a warning for Elisa. Belen tells her that the enemy want her Godstone as it would be the tenth one they have and with it they believe they can unleash magic upon the world once more but they would need the two godstones that Elisa carries. It is decided that Elisa a small company with travel to the home of the nearby Conde since they received a message about an alliance and this Conde is Arina and Cosme’s father although Cosme is an illegitimate child. Upon arriving they are essentially kidnapped by the Conde but not before they manage to poison the supply train heading for the enemy. The Conde is a cruel man and demands the location of the hidden camp as he wants to trade Elisa for peace with the enemy and she refuses which leads to Humberto’s death. This is a crushing blow for Elisa as they had been talking about their relationship and what they would do if she could free herself from her marriage with Alejandro and that has been taken from her. However, a little too late for Humberto, Lord Hector comes to her rescue and explains that Alejandro had to make their marriage public knowledge after her kidnapping but all too soon they learn the war has come to them. As we move into the final section of the novel, the war is going to begin in earnest and I am excited to see the role Elisa, the Godstones and magic will play in it and how the events that have passed are going to change her relationship with Alejandro.
As Elisa is taken back to Alejandro’s palace where she reveals herself as the leader of the desert people and returns to Alejandro’s side as his Queen we know she is going to play a vital role in the war. However, as Invierne forces advance upon the city the pacing means this “war” is going to be more of a battle. While they defend the city gates to keep the Animagus out for now, they don’t have long for Elisa to find her hidden Godstones and use them to save everyone. Elisa realises that the only person who could have taken the Godstone is Arina and enlist Rosario’s help in getting them. There she learns the amulet she took from the Conde is Roldan’s amulet and he was another bearer and she realises it is important as are the tiles in her room. As the enemy breaks through the gates and comes for her she thinks of fleeing when everything clicks into place. As the Animagus descend on them, Elisa puts the old Godstones into the amulet and brings it into contact with her living Godstones. While she isn’t quick enough to prevent Alejandro from being hurt, the blast of magic she unleashes kills all the Animagus as the Godstones are connected and quickly ends the war. Alejandro ends up dying from his wounds leaving Elisa to rule alone but she swears to take care of Rosario before his death. In the aftermath, Elisa realises her Godstone still lives and knows her act of service isn’t finished yet. For me the pacing at the end of the novel seemed really rushed and I didn’t really care about Alejandro or Humberto’s deaths because we didn’t spend that much time with them but I am looking forward to the sequels and seeing how well Elisa copes with becoming a Queen and mother virtually overnight.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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