Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She 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 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.

Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Series: Fire and Thorns #1
Published: September 20th 2011 by Greenwillow
ISBN: 0062026488 (ISBN13: 9780062026484)
Barnes&Noble|Amazon

I'm not going to lie, the only reason I even bothered picking up this book was because Cinda Williams Chima, who is one of my favorite authors, commented it was such a wonderful book, and I was disappointed. The concept of the novel could have surpassed some of my favorites, but it was executed poorly. When I had reached about 100 pages into the book, I was fairly convinced the book wasn't going to get any better, and I might as well put it down. However, Kayla convinced me to keep reading, and I will admit the book did get better. I think the thing that made me the most upset about this story was the fact that it could have been amazing, and it could have had an interesting, original plot. Notice the word the key word "could." 

As I started the first chapter, I was enthralled. A fat, ugly princess was arranged to get married as a political alliance to King Alejandro, who happens to be swoon-worthy handsome, and unlike other men, he couldn't have cared less she wasn't beautiful. Right after the wedding, the book goes downhill. Alejandro claims he would like to be friends with Elisa, but he was never around to even have a decent conversation! The book contained more details about the meals she ate than her actual relationships with other characters. In the first part of the book, all we heard was how she felt sorry for herself for being fat and ugly...but then going to the kitchens to eat away her depression afterwards. Even when she got captured and might have DIED, all she could worry about was what her next meal would be. When Elisa lost some weight, she did get stronger and the book did get somewhat more interesting when it moved away from her daily meal plans, but each time a relationship finally grew between the princess and her love interest...it was whisked away within moments. That got tiring after awhile, but because the details on the characters were so minimal, I didn't even blink when they died. I couldn't really bring myself to care. I think my favorite character out of the whole story was Alejandro's son, Rosario, who was so painfully honest...I loved him. When he first meets Elisa, he starkly points out that she's fat in front of the whole breakfast table, and to me, it was actually quite funny. Finally, the last error in the story was the fact everything that happened was so convenient. All Elisa would have to do was pray and poof! All their problems were solved. 

I can't believe the average rating on goodreads for this story is 3.87...seriously, please go read some books that are actually decent. Will I be reading the next book in this series? Probably not...unless I feel like wasting a few hours out of my day. 

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” -Oscar Wilde
Book Nerd and Proud,
C.J.