Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1) by Rae Carson

3.5 stars! ***

Author: Rae Carson

Title: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1)
 

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.

I don't know what exactly I expected but it wasn't what I actually recieved. The blurb is a bit misleading - at least it was to me. I thought that when she is forced to marry someone, they'll end up in love and be happy. That's how it goes usually. But it's good that wasn't that way, I guess..

When Elisa was born she became a chosen one by God who placed a stone in her navel. She's been protected and sheltered her whole life (well, all sixteen years of it). She's been studying and reading and praying. And eating. Elisa is fat and she uses food to eat away her sadness, which makes her fatter.

Now she is forced to marry a complete stranger. A king of another country. He's young and handsome and he is nice to her. But Alejandro doesn't want to be her husband, not really. He's got his mistress and he wants Elisa to be just his friend. That's the saddest kind of frienzone.

Then there's Hector. And he's got a mustache.

A beard? Okay! Beard's cool. But a mustache? Why? What did I do?

Back to the story.

Many people want the Godstone. With the bearer or the thing alone. And so it happens that Elisa is kidnapped. From a castle with many guards. But her kidnappers aren't actually bad at all. Their part of country is being destroyed by an enemy and they think that either she or the stone can help them.

Elisa becomes close with her "companions." Especially with Humberto, who's just the sweetest thing. I'd fall for him too if I could. But her.. newly found friendship isn't going to help her prove herself. She's got to do that on her own.

At first I couldn't get into the story. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. They annoyed the living hell out of me. Elisa (who I though I'll have a lot in common, but she was so concentrated on herself) was doing nothing. She wasn't trying to do anything, she seemed really lost. Alejandro is a king? If he was my ruler I'd try to assassinate him myself. He was cowardly, indecisive and so damn afraid. Hector wasn't saying much. Probably his mustache weighted too much for him to open his mouth.

After she was kidnapped it's gotten all better. There was finally some action and adventure. Some things about the stones was finally cleared up.

To be honest I was kind of disappointed to see that the more weight she lost the braver, more out-going, popular Elisa became. Yeah, it's great that she stepped out of her shell but if the author choses to create a main character that is fat, shouldn't that character become comfortable in their own skin to show that it's okay not to be thin or muscular to be happy (or popular, sucessful, brave).. Can only thin people be those things?

And then when I started to really enjoy this, it suddenly transformed into a Game of Thrones. People were dropping dead often.. Okay, maybe not often. Two times. And one of those death really affected me. I finally find a character that I like and you kill him? That's rude. And totally like Game of Thrones (I still haven't got over Rob's death :'/).

All in all, it was alright. The idea is original, the writing itself is great and I think that the other part will be better and more enjoyable.