Published: August 13 2012
Number of pages: 423
Format: paperback
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Genre: fantasy, magic, heroine, romance
Audience: YA
Rating: 3/5 owl hoots
Summary:
Elisa has always felt powerless but when she turns sixteen, she becomes the secret wife of King Alejandro who needs her to be the chosen one on the throne. But he is not the only one seeking Elisa’s power; the savage enemies are hunting her down for the Godstone she possesses since birth. But then a handsome young revolutionary finds her and is determined that Elisa will help save his people and looks at her in a way no one else has. This is Elisa’s chance to become someone different and to fulfill a secret prophecy using an ancient power hidden in the Godstone.
My Review:
Last month I read Fangirl because of all the hype from everyone on Goodreads. The same reason applies when I chose to pick up The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Most people on Goodreads reviewed this book with positive comments so I went and ordered a copy.
Before I started reading I was getting really excited and if you’ve been following my comments on Goodreads you would have noticed there was a change from “I like how this story begins” to chapters later, “I really want to like this book I really do.” That’s because the story started out pretty slow with the Princess living her new but boring palace life with her equally boring husband. King Alejandro is handsome and charming but he doesn’t pay enough attention to his wife as he should be. It was pretty obvious that Elisa’s life as queen is miserable until the story escalates with a twisted turn of events and it finally got interesting.
Elisa has always felt powerless and useless while growing up in palace life. Her husband was the first man who saw her differently and made her feel like she had potential. But sometimes I felt that everyone at the palace were holding her back and treating Elisa like a child. She changes from a sheltered princess to a brave rebellious leader who doesn’t give a damn for royal luxury when there is a war coming and her only priority is protecting the people.
I love reading about heroines, which is what drew me into reading this series. What I didn’t anticipate were the repeated references to God’s will that I thought was dragging on a bit. Apart from that I did enjoy watching the character transformation of Elisa and was completely taken aback from the surprise twist in the end. After reading the first book I am curious to see how the sequel opens so I will be continuing this series. I’m not a huge fan of the cover art though.
I had a hard time rating this book until I gave it a 3/5 just because the story was ok but took a long time for the plot to finally escalate into something good.
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